W     L GB

Philadelphia     77 62 Red-hot Marlins arrive Friday

Chicago             76 64         Closing in on first place, too

Miami     72 67    Have won 6 in a row

Arizona             72 68 0.5  Win one, lose one pattern

Cincinnati     73 69 0.5  Mariners staying in AL West race

GIANTS             70 70 2.5 9-21 record since August 3

Yesterday

Giants lost at Chicago again as Cubs completed the three-game sweep, 8-2.

Philadelphia, Miami, and Arizona won while Cincinnati lost. 

Today

Giants have the day off; they fly home and will host Colorado beginning Friday.

Philadelphia and Cincinnati are likewise idle. 

Miami finishes up with the Dodgers.

Chicago hosts Arizona at Wrigley; can the Cubs sweep them too, and clear them out of the way? 

Yesterday's Game

Discouragement set in before the first pitch was thrown as Patrick Bailey went on the 7-day concussion IL as a precaution. Further discouragement prevailed while Alex Wood's 52 pitches were thrown. Clearly still not ready to start, or perhaps to pitch at all, Wood traded seven outs for five earned runs and was gone in the third inning. The only bright spot here is that all the Giants' runs and RBIs were produced by youngsters: Casey Schmitt, Luis Matos (each of whom went 2-for-4) and the forgotten man, Joey Bart, called up in wake of Bailey's injury, who drove in a run with a sac fly. Overall, the Giants did get ten hits, which is good, but drew no walks.  John Brebbia, activated off the 60-day IL, pitched the fourth and gave up a solo homer. 

The Giants now trail their closest rivals, the Diamondbacks and Reds, by two full games. The Marlins, meanwhile, gained six games on the Giants this past week, and a few games on everyone else, too. They're the hottest team in baseball, and how many of you can name their starting lineup-- or even their manager? 

Not that Miami's recent surge hurt the Dodgers at all, despite these last two losses. LA is thirteen games up in the division and will join the 90-game-winning Braves in the first-round-bye club come October. In the Central, the Cubs gained two games on first-place Milwaukee during the sweep of the Giants, and are only a game and half out. As for the American League, Bruce Bochy's once-mighty Texas Rangers are now in third place and trailing in the wild-card race, having lost 7 of 10 and three in a row-- an ominous parallel with the Giants? Houston, predictably, has the lead there with Seattle a game behind. In the East, Baltimore has put a little distance between themselves and Tampa, who began the season looking unbeatable-- remember? The Rays are still a lock for the top wild-card spot, with Toronto currently in third position behind Seattle. Nobody in the Central will challenge for that spot, and Minnesota has a 6-game lead over Cleveland, who, like the rest of that division, owns a losing record.  Sheesh, the Giants would only be three games out of first place if they played over there.