One of the things I love about the second half of the season kicking off is that a team can leave all of it’s first half woes behind them.  Got off to a rough start in April?  No big deal.  Dug yourself a 7 game hole with respect to competing for your division?  No problem.  Worried that your free-swinging ways led to the offensive droughts from which you suffered throughout the first half?  No worries.  All of that can be changed/fixed with a fresh start here in July.

     That’s not to say that all of your problems will just magically disappear or anything.  Of course not.  You have to fix the the problems yourself.  But the All Star Break allows to to re-group a little, analyze your situation, and gives you the opportunity to formulate a better game plan for the second half.

     Well, that’s what I thought was supposed to be the case.  Can anyone tell me how the Giants, in all of their “10 games above .500, only 6 1/2 games out of first, leading the wild card by a game and a half” glory, can come out of the gate in the second half against a bottom-feeder like the Pirates and, not only lose 2 out of 3, but plate only 5 measley runs?  You’d think the Pirates brought out Roy Halladay, Johan Santana and Danny Haren for crab’s sake!!!

     If the Giants are going to be the big time players the fans hope them to be this season, it’s not just going to be the addition of a big bat or another big arm that gets them there.  Nope.  These guys that are on the team right now are going to need to do more than just the yeoman’s share of the work. 

     Held to one lousy unearned run by Paul Maholm and company in the opening game was just a disgusting waste of another Tim Lincecum gem.  Getting shutout by rookie Charlie Morton in the second game was ridiculously unacceptable.  And yes, while they won the thrid game to salvage the series and give Matt Cain his 11th win of the season, 4 runs off of Zach Duke ain’t nothing to brag about, not to mention the fact that Sergio Romo almost coughed up the game in the 8th.  This was just an atrocious start to a 10 game road trip and a sure fire way to remove ourselves from being actual contenders this year.

     Now I’m not saying that this one series makes or breaks us in the second half, but this was definitely a golden opportunity blown by a bunch of guys who know better than that.  Surely Carney Lansford took some time over the break to discuss patience and plate discipline, didn’t he?  The thing about a true contender is that they win the games they’re supposed to win.  Games against teams like Pittsburgh, Houston, San Diego and Washington are games that should be won.  Maybe not full sweeps every time, but atleast to take 2 of 3 from them, not the other way around.

     With the exception of San Diego, the Mets, and now the Pirates, we’ve done o.k. in that department.  But certainly we can do better.  Our next 10 games are against teams that we should beat.  4 games against a .500 Atlanta, 3 against the Rockies and then another 3 at home against these same Pirates.  It was nice to see the Dodgers cough up a few to the lowly Astros, but if we’re even thinking about the division, then we have to take care of business in our own house. We can’t sit and hope that the Dodgers will crumble.  We need to overtake them.  Can it be done?  We’ll see what happens tonight when we take on heralded rookie Tommy Hanson and the Braves at 4 PM.

     Wish us luck.  We’ll need it!

My Deepest Condolences

     On another note — a very sad one at that, I’d like to express my deepest sympathies to the entire Burns family as Giants senior general partner Sue Burns lost her battle with cancer the other night and passed away at the age of 58.  She will be missed greatly by everyone within the Giants organization as well as by the fans whose hearts she touched.  We’ll miss you, Sue.