What a Difference a Weekend Makes

On Thursday night of last week I was in the dumps. The Giants had been swept by the first place Padres and look awfull during the whole series with all of the breaks falling the other way.

Almost the exact opposite happened against the Astro's who mustbe glad to not be seeing us again until June. Except for the first game of the series the Giants got just enough to win the games with Brian Wilson closing the door in heart attack fashion.

The Padres after the sweep went on and got swept by the suddenly hot Dodgers which brought the Giants back to within a game and a half of first place.

Things looked bad and I was in the dumps and even with things going the teams way I can't help but feel irrational pessimism. Petco is still a park where the Giants lose when they throw one hitters, it is still a place where David Eckstein is as scary of a hitter as Barry Bonds in his prime and the Padres pitching staff is full of Cy Young canidates. There is nothing to like, I want to say that the sweep is a mirage, that Houston sucks and we would suck if we didn't sweep them but gosh darn it I keep wanting to believe.

However I will not be sucked in again. This is a team that will do somethings to build your confidence in them and then blow it all up over the next couple fo days. It is enticing to think that maybe the Padres confidence is shaken but that wasn't the case for the Giants and Astros, so I see no reason to think that the same can't and won't happen for San Deigo. I am not even going to turn on the games (I say this but I am always sucked in to atleast listening) becuase it takes years off of my life. The games will be close and the Giants will lose and if I don't prepare myself the irrational pessimism will only grow.

Matchups:

We have a replay of two of the 3 matchups Matt Cain against Clayton Richard and Jonathan Sanchez against almost perfect Mat Latos. The only way we win these games is if we get two perfect games in a row anything short and the baseball god will smite the team and grant the bums of San Deigo some victories.

Predictions:

I will be annoyed by every single batter in the Padres lineup. The Giants will get lots of opportunities to score runs but fail to get a hit/walk/balk/error or anything that can bring people in. The Padres pitchers will look super human against the Giants lineup as they slice the team up like a Friday night pizza.

The Padres will do just enough and have things break in their favor to win both games 2 to 1 tonight and 0 to -1 on Tuesday.

Prepare for torture.