Tough times for the World Champion Giants

When I last posted, the World Champion San Francisco Giants were 61-44 and coming off taking 2 out of 3 from the Phillies (78-42) in Philadelphia. And the Giants had just acquired slugger Carlos Beltran, the premier piece on the trade market, from the New York Mets (59-62). The Giants led the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West by 4 games. Things were looking up.

Now, Beltran is on the Disabled List and the Giants have gone 5-13 since my last post. Their record is 66-57 and they trail Arizona (69-53) by 3.5 games in the West. It doesn't help that the Diamondbacks never seem to lose anymore. The Giants are struggling and need to turn it around soon. Real soon. The schedule is approaching September, and the Giants don't want to be too far out of striking distance.

Beltran is far from the only one hurting right now. Stellar set-up man Sergio Romo is also on the DL, and starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez left tonight's game at the Braves (72-51) with an apparent injury. Nate Schierholtz and Jeff Keppinger also have suffered injuries of some sort and their prognosis for return isn't totally certain. Not to mention, Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez are sidelined for the season. It seems the Giants have had more than their share of bad luck.

Still, all is not lost. It stands to reason that the Diamondbacks have to lose a few games and let's not forget, the Giants were even farther behind the Padres around this time last year. So, there's still hope, even if things are looking bleak right now and it kind of feels like this might not be the year. I'll keep paying attention and hoping for the best.

Giants now in virtual tie

The San Francisco Giants (80-62) defeated the San Diego Padres (79-61) 1-0 tonight to move into a virtual tie atop the National League West and take the first two games of the four game series at Petco Park. The only run scored on a fielder's choice in the seventh inning as Aubrey Huff took home on a ground ball to third. The Padres tried to turn an inning-ending double play, but pinch runner Nate Schierholtz had an impressive take out slide at second and Juan Uribe was just able to beat the relay to first allowing Huff to score. The Giants' pitching was great all night (although Jonathan Sanchez had a lot of walks he was able to pitch around them) and Brian Wilson was able to lock things down with a five out save. Wilson was again very impressive and I feel lucky to have such a great closer on my favorite team.

The Colorado Rockies (77-64) defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks (57-84) 13-4 in Denver to win their 8th straight game. They now trail the Padres and Giants by 2.5 games in the West. I'm getting really sick of the Rockies winning. Somebody start beating them. Please.

The Giants and Padres resume the series at 2:10 p.m. MT on FOX Saturday afternoon. Madison Bumgarner goes for the Giants and Tim Stauffer gets the start for the Padres. Hopefully the Giants can take sole possession of first place.

In other baseball news, Blue Jays (72-69) out fielder Jose Bautista hit two more home runs tonight and now has a Major League leading 46 on the year. He's having a monster year at the plate and it's really impressive to see. The Blue Jays are a fun team to watch and I feel like with a little more pitching and experience they could make some noise next year. The Rays (85-55) won the game 9-8 in Toronto tonight despite Bautista's homers and that combined with the Yankees (87-54) losing 6-5 in 13 innings to the Rangers (78-63) pulled Tampa Bay within 1.5 games in the AL East.