Warning! Extreme Realism Ahead!

It seems that the Giants are likely to struggle scoring runs against everybody except the Rockies.

Wait, I already said that here and here.

I understood the measly two runs against Jake Peavy, but Brian Lawrence had been knocked around in his first two starts, so I wrongly assumed the Giants would be able to scratch out another couple of runs.

Nope. What I got for my prediction was another two runs in a 5-2 loss.

Now, some of you may have noticed or heard that the Giants lead (or, after the San Diego series, led) the league in team batting average at a .305 clip. Sounds good, right?

And the Giants, even after tonight, are tied for 9th in the majors in runs scored, at around 5.5 runs scored per game. Not too shabby, right?

Please allow us to take the Colorado Rockies out of the equation.

Against other teams that aren't the worst team in baseball, the Giants are scoring three (3) runs per game.

Against other teams that aren't the worst team in baseball, the Giants are batting .252, which would put them in the bottom half of the league in that statistic, which isn't horrible IF your team is also hitting for power.

Well, let's take a look at the Giants slugging percentage con Rockies, and sans Rockies, to get a good look at what the Giants have done power-wise against the Dodgers and Padres.

The Giants were, before tonight's game, slugging at a .448 clip, good for 4th in the league. Mmm, hmmm...good. However, take out the Rockies games, and that goes to...(drumroll, please)

.357

Um, folks, that'd be good for 3rd...to last in the league.

And not to pile on (but oh, am I going to pile on), but remember, the Giants team batting average and slugging percentage? Yep, those will be a-fallin' after tonight's loss to the Padres, with the team going a collective 6 for 33.

And not to pile on again, but if anyone is waiting for the return of Moises Alou to spark things, well, think again. Alou's main replacments in right field, Michael Tucker and Jason Ellison, are running a .918 and .924 OPS, respectively (Tucker's OPS, again, isn't factoring in tonight's game, but it's still fairly high).

How is M. Alou going to spark the offense when the two guys he's replacing are running an OPS over 900? What, is he gonna do, 1.200 or something? And were anyone to get a funny idea about left field, well, Pedro Feliz is doing an .884, and...well, you get the picture. Alou will not be adding to any offensive production from an outfield position at this point, unless of course he saves his good offensive games vs. teams who are not named the Colorado Rockies, or unless Feliz is moved to 1st base to platoon with J.T. Snow again (and buh-bye to Lance Neikro).

Oh, and just to bring doom and gloom to all around me (evil laugh, mustache twirl, etc.), I'll also add in that it took an 8th inning grand slam and a walk-off in the 9th just to beat the Rockies in 2 of the 5 games the Giants did win from them -- things which, I've heard, aren't exactly common.

I need some Haagen-Dasz to console myself.