W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        79 66 Braves boss in this division 

Chicago                78 68         Pythagoras has 'em at 82-64

Arizona                76 70   Same record at home and on road

Cincinnati         75 71 1  Took advantage, moved up

GIANTS                74 71 1.5 Couldn't take advantage

Miami                 74 71 1.5  Can Brewers complete sweep?

Yesterday

Giants lost to Cleveland , 3-1, ending their 4-game winning streak.

Cincinnati defeated Detroit and moved up.

Arizona and Miami both lost (and they need to lose again today).

Philadelphia and the Cubs also lost.

Today

Giants finish up with Cleveland; 12:45 PDT getaway day start. Kyle Harrison for the Giants, lefty L.T. Allen for the Tribe. 

Arizona, Miami, and Cincinnati continue at New York, Milwaukee, and Detroit, respectively.  

Cubs face our old friend Ty Blach in Colorado and Philadelphia hosts Atlanta.

Last Night's Game

If anything positive can be taken from such an unnecessary loss, it's that the Giants possibly, just possibly, may have the semblance of a five-mam pitching rotation at long last. Sean Manaea put up five and two-thirds innings of two-hit five-K ball and left with the game tied 1-1. But his last pitch of the night, with two on and two out, saw an inning-ending ground ball bounce right off LaMonte Wade's glove at first, loading the bases. Ryan Walker then came in to face Tyler Freeman-- who ripped a clean single to center, scoring the two unearned runs that decided it.  Meanwhile, the Giants reverted, mostly, to their "Hitless Wonders" persona against Cal Quantrill and three relievers. The one exception was Blake Sabol, who hit a gigantic home run into McCovey Cove in the fifth, and sent center fielder Myles Straw to the center-field wall in the ninth to haul in another blast.

Regardless, perhaps, Manaea may have earned a regular starting turn as the season winds down, and rookie Keaton Winn may have done the same. We'll see  if this continues, or if the "opener" scheme returns. 

We were informed yesterday that after head-to-head record, the second postseason tiebreaker is intradivision record. The Giants are way ahead of Miami in that regard. And so the tiebreakers are all going our way, assuming we need them.

Fair warning!  Our sister site, Niner Boogie  (ninerboogie.blogspot.com) may be showing signs of life after her late dormancy. If you crave useless information about the San Francisco 49ers, then by all means hustle on over, or not.