Signs and Portents

Pettitte. Oswalt. Clemens.

Or, as those words translate from the seldom-used form of Yiddish spoken in Tibet...

Loss. Another Loss. Sweep.

It isn't as if the Giants can't win a game -- they are countering with Jason Schmidt tonight, Noah Lowry tomorrow, and Brett Tomko on Sunday. The Giants starters have acquitted themselves much better in recent times, so it's not out of the question that all games could be closely contested.

Unfortunately, as the starters have risen, the offense has fallen...flat on its face. In the Giants last 16 games, they have been held to three runs or less 11 times. Eleven of sixteen games. 11 of 16 games. Three (3) runs or less. Of those 11 games, they've been held to a single run five times. One measly run in almost 1/3 of the last 16 games they've played.

To be fair, they've played against some pretty good starting pitching in that time span: guys like John Smoltz, A.J. Burnett, Carlos Zambrano, Ben Sheets, and up-and-comers like Chris Capuano and Jorge Sosa. The only unfortunate thing for the Giants is, they are in 4th place -- the wins have to come from somewhere.

And now they face the task of trying to generate offense agains the Houston Astros, who've been hotter than (insert corny heat-related metaphor here - i.e. hotter than two 20 year-old redheads french-kissing on the Sun).

Doesn't look good, does it?

I do have something to distract me over the next few days, however -- I get to see my beloved Kansas City Royals (with their seven-game losing streak) run up against the Oakland A's, who've been hotter than (insert slightly confusing heat-related metphor here - i.e. hotter than a lit cigarette in between Satan's lips).

Doesn't look good, does it?

I predict a reversal -- the Giants will SWEEP the Astros, and the Royals will SWEEP the Athletics.

Remember, you heard it here first, unless both teams get whipped 2 of 3 or get swept themselves, in which case you've heard nothing. NOTHING!

Lunch today will be...hm, I'm thinking a turkey, bacon, and avocado sammich on sliced sourdough sounds simply super. With some Odwalla orange juice.

Yeah.