W	L	GB
New York	85	74	-	Citi Field likely to host playoff.
GIANTS	83	75	-	12 yesterday, none today.
St Louis	82	76	1	Again can't take advantage.

Yesterday

Giants lost to Colorado, 2-0.

New York defeated Miami, 5-2.

St Louis lost to Cincinnati, 2-1.

Today

Giants finish up with Colorado; 7:15 PDT (10:15 EDT) at the 'Bell. Johnny Cueto, after eight days of rest, will test his sore groin on the mound with an eye toward a possible playoff start in New York next week. Jon Gray opposes; he pitched very well against the Giants, and against Cueto, back in May in a game that was decided in 13 innings. 

New York is idle. They'll finish the season in Philadelphia.

St Louis finishes up with Cincinnati.

Last Night's Game

From soup to nuts, from 12 runs on 19 hits to no runs on five hits. That's the way it goes, and has been going, for the Giants lately. Jeff Samardzija struck out 11 over six-plus innings, and the "Shark" deserved better than his 11th loss, the latest in what seems like a long string of tough losses and no-decisions. Tyler Chatwood was too good, allowing just three hits through eight. The Giants managed to get the tying run on in the ninth after Kelby (Who Else) Tomlinson led off with a double, but Buster Posey grounded out to end it. 

The New Cain?

It does seem as though Samardzija has suffered an inordinate number of starts with less-than-stellar run support. You'll remember this was a year-in year-out issue for Matt Cain in seasons past, when his won-lost record rarely measured up to his excellent ERA, WHIP, and K/W ratio.  Just looking at the three frontline starters this year, we see the Giants have averaged 4.7 runs per start for Madison Bumgarner, 4.8 for Johnny Cueto... and 3.7 for Samardzija, a full run less. Overall the Giants have scored 689 runs in 158 games, an average of 4.4 per game, so "Shark" gets about 15% fewer runs than the team average, and 20% fewer than the other starters. What this means in the context of his 12-11 record is less easy to figure, but there it is. First impressions are sometimes correct.

Notes 

Madison Bumgarner will open the LA series tomorrow night, and Matt Moore is likely to close it out Sunday. Who starts for the Giants on Saturday is anyone's guess... If the Giants fend off St Louis and make it as the second NL wild-card, Bumgarner could start against the Mets if the NL playoff is pushed back to next Wednesday... A Tuesday game would mean either Cueto or "Shark"...  There has been loose talk about the Giants going with a post-season rotation of "Bum," Cueto, and Moore, with Samardzija as the closer. Farfetched as that seems, it will be interesting to see which relievers make the post-season roster and which don't... Boston clinched the AL East yesterday, while Toronto, Baltimore, Detroit, and Seattle are all within a couple games of each other for the wild-cards...  With the Washington Nationals clinching the NL East pennant, good ol' Dusty Baker becomes the fourth man in the history of the game to manage four different teams in the post-season. Since you asked, the others are Billy Martin (1969 Twins, 1972 Tigers, 1976-1977 Yankees, 1981 A's), Dick Williams (1967 Red Sox, 1971-1973 A's, 1981 Expos, 1984 Padres), and Dave Johnson (1986, 1988 Mets, 1995 Reds, 1996-1997 Orioles, 2012 Nationals). Williams is the only one in that group who led more than one of his clubs to the World Series. Dusty (1997, 2000, 2002 Giants, 2003 Cubs, 2010, 2012, 2013 Reds, 2016 Nationals) could be the second.