Giants Swept By The Dodgers, Tied For First Place

Marco Scutaro guesses where the ball is. Your SF Giants.

The general policy for me, is to overreact to the wins and underreact to the losses. It doesn’t make sense but you should try it! The truth is, I like to win more than I lose, so this policy is convenient to me, mostly because I created it. It makes living a whole lot easier, and keeps most furniture in tact during losses. In today’s baseball action, the Dodgers finished beating the Giants to a pulp, and jumped into a tie for first place in the NL West. It was a terrible, awful, disgusting sporting event. The Giants were shutout in back to back games against the Dodgers, and were swept at home by the worst possible team to be swept at home by. It’s a taylor made panic situation. KNBR is currently experiencing Defcon 1.

At the risk of losing all of my audience, I’m going to digress for a second and talk about receiving my Brett Pill rookie card yesterday. Yesterday, I received my Brett Pill rookie card. I promise this is relevant to the series. But really when isn’t a Brett Pill rookie card relevant? It's valuable! Anyways, remember when looking at the back of your baseball card was the thing to do? You know, when you and your friends would all gather after school:

You: Say guys, whaddya wanna do?

Friend: Let's talk to girls!

You: Nah, let's look at the back of baseball cards!

Friend: Definitely!

You: Yippity yay!

Good times. Anyways, here’s what Brett Pill’s card says:

The nickname “Pill the Thrill” was being thrown around a lot on September 6, 2011. After all, Will Clark had been the last Giants player to do what Brett did that day: hit a home run in his first Major League at bat. Pill went deep the next day, as well, serving notice that those 60 longballs he crushed in the Minors from 2009-2011 were no fluke.

To be clear, this was the give away for yesterday’s game, so it’s a Giants promoted baseball card. They have to say something good about Steve Edlefsen. But golly look at that Brett Pill gushing. Yes, Brett Pill and Will Clark were mentioned in the same sentence. Proceed cautiously with your day. For a lot of Giants fans however, this is their perception of Brett Pill. Brett Pill is the non voluntary representative of the panicked Giants fan. He's the poster child of the knee jerk Giants fan. The calls for Pill's call up are numerous, because people believe Brett Pill can save the franchise. The man hits home runs guys! The charge has intensified over the past week, as the Giants latest slide has coincided with Pill going on a home run binge in Fresno, with 4 homers in his last 5 games. In AAA he's hitting .290/.342/.508. Those are pretty average numbers for the PCL, with a little bit extra power. But we know who Brett Pill is. He was never even a slightly highly regarded prospect, who struggled in the time he was in the major leagues. Brett Pill is not the answer. Not even close. I can guarantee you that. Fans however, are screaming for him.

This is what happens to the fan base after a 3 game sweep to your arch rival, which demoralizes and cripples a fan base. Giants fans have had literally nothing to cheer about for the past 2 days, and were dealt one of the most vicious blows of the season when Hanley Ramirez crushed a 2 run homer in game 1 to give the Dodgers the lead in the 10th inning. I'll be the first to admit that this weekend had that drastic, awful feeling that makes you look for a panic button. Or a Brett Pill button.

But please, stop me if you've heard this one before. It's 3 games. 3 out of 162. Flukey things happen in 3 games. Remember, the Giants are a good team. That's a fact. More facts: The Giants still have pitchers. The offense isn't close to as bad as its been the past few games, even if it has been overrated. Take a deep breath, and remember, this is has been almost worse case scenario. 

The Dodgers weren't as bad as they looked a month ago against the Giants, but they sure aren't this much better than the Giants. In fact, I still think the Giants are a better ball club. Don't be so quick to jump on the Hanley Ramirez Dodgers Hero bandwagon. He's been there for 5 days. For the past 1.5 season, Ramirez has been a middle of the pack shortstop. 5 games shouldn't sway that opinion. It's a team that still will be offensively challenged and its starting pitching isn't as good as it looked the past 3 days. For goodness sake, Stephen Fife shut down the Giants. Oh crap that was real. That probably won't continue. 

The series was horrific, but you don't need me to tell you that. Just try to keep it in context. It's not even August. Lots of baseball to go. 

But seriously did the Giants really do that Stephen Fife thing? I hate this game.