NL West	W	L	GB
LA	81	62	-	Age versus youth tonight.
GIANTS	77	66	4	This all started with San Diego.
Wild Card	W	L	GB
GIANTS	77	66	-	Home field no tonic yet.
New York	76	68	-	Wild-card their only hope.
St Louis	75	68	.5	Cubs could clinch tomorrow.

Yesterday

Giants lost at home to San Diego, 4-0.

LA defeated the Yankees in New York, 8-2.

New York lost at Washington, 8-1, and St Louis lost to Chicago, 4-1.

Today

Giants host San Diego again; 7:15 at the 'Bell. Alberto Suarez faces Clayton Richard, whom the Giants have not seen this season but know well from recent years. Good pitcher.

LA faces the Yankees at the Stadium again; young Julio Urias against venerable CC Sabathia.

New York is at Washington; St Louis hosts the Cubs, whose magic number is now 3.

Last Night's Game

It all started with the Padres, didn't it? Coming off a big surge out of the All-Star Break, the Giants opened with three "gimme" games in San Diego-- so we thought. The Pads swept all three, and the Giants haven't been the same since. We were reminded of this in spades last night as Paul Clemens, whom no one likely ever will mistake for Roger Clemens, pitched enough like the great one to fool the Giants. Five hits was the total; Jeff Samardzija's lonely double in the fifth plus four singles, two by Hunter Pence. Three times the Giants got a man as far as second, to no avail. "Shark" pitched reasonably well, but with no margin of error he lost his 10th game, against 11 wins. Back when we were the best in the business, he was 7-2. So it goes. We're not ready to give up yet, but this series-- against a team 24 losses to the bad, with all our opponents facing quality teams-- is certainly a must-win, if not a must-sweep. St Louis comes to town on Thursday, with road series in LA and back in San Diego again next week. If the Giants can't make it here, can they make it anywhere?