A 3 and 9 ending season road trip is no way to go into the playoff’s but it’s better than not being there

This has not been a good ten days.  The G-Men got swept by the Padres, lost two out of three to the LA Thugs and won two out of three from the Snakes.. The only good news is that they sewed up a wild card spot because the Brewers and the Pirates were busy beating each other up. Now the test for the next four days is the home field advantage which MAYBE can get if they win out the four games left.

The Pirates and the Cardinals have both sewn up spots so the only question there is which is going to be the wild card and which is going to take the division.  The tie-breaker for even records is head to head competition so the Giants (which have a better record against the Cardinals than the Pirates) would prefer to see the Cardinals take the division by a hair. That would assure that next Wednesday’s play-off game would be at AT&T.  That is what we are playing for now, home field in the wild card game.

19 games left in the regular season and the playoffs start today

The G-Men are 3.5 games back of the Dodger’s and in the lead for the first wild card in the play-off’s.. These are the times that try fans souls. The remaining games are all against division rivals who would like nothing better than to knock the Giants out of the playoffs.  For some reason 2004 stays fresh in the mind when Steve Finley’s ninth inning grand salami at Chavez Ravine (following a Cody Ransom – may he be damned forever – error that loaded the bases) knocked the G-Men out of the playoffs.  I was at that game and that moment is seared in my mind forever - -  the lesson is: take nothing for granted.

The Giants are playing very well right now. They are the hottest hitting team on MLB since the All-Star break (replicating April and May) and have fought their way back from an historic June and July meltdown.  To say that this has been a roller coaster season is an understatement. This is simply the most exciting time of the year.