Monday, September 13, 2010

The 9th Inning

The Giants have played 144 games or 8/9 of the the season. One-ninth of the season remains--18 games. The first six at home, followed by a day off. Three with LA, three with Milwaukee. The next six on the road, again followed by a day off. Three in Chicago, three in Colorado. The last six at home: three with Arizona and three with San Diego. Then it's a lot of days off. Or, just a day or two, getting ready for crazed, short-season baseball.

Baseball Prospectus Postseason Odds says the Giants have about a 56% of making the playoffs. About a 43% chance of winning the West, and about a 13% chance of being the Wild Card. Sounds reasonable. In this irrational and unreasonable time, it's nice to have a little reason. Yeah, the Giants have a damn good shot, assuming they keep playing the way they are playing. If they lose 10 in a row, the odds change a bit for the worse. If they win 10 in a row, they get a damn sight better. Funny, we've had a team in the West do each of those things this month, and Colorado's win streak is still going! Anything can happen, as we know, we've seen it all. We're Giants fans. We've watched every kind of gut-wrenching loss you can imagine. The Giants are The Greatest 2nd Place Team of All-Time. We know what's it's like to lose at every level the game offers: the Series, the playoffs, the tie-breakers, the season, the season series, the home series, the away series, Spring Training, winter ball, rookie league, and the off-season. So this mad rush to the playoffs is a rush to madness. It's a crack high, it can't last, and you know it can't last, but you want it anyway, want it so bad you'll sell your soul (or at least a few of your less important organs, I mean, do you really need a spleen?). And if you get into the Devil's Bingo Game, and you get on a roll, you just might win the 11 games you need to get the Big Prize. So the crash from the crack high will be worth it, you see. After an insane month of playoff baseball, after all the MOST IMPORTANT GAMES OF THE YEAR have been played, you'll come tumbling down like Yosemite Falls. If the Big Prize is there, you can always rub aloe into the "SF" brand you had seared on your left breast in a moment of drunken revelry. If it ain't, if you come agonizingly close and lose, then at least you won't have a seriously ugly scar.


GO GIANTS! WIN THE WEST!!

--M.C.

5 comments:

Brother Bob said...

The keys will be the performances we get from Zito and Rowand... gag no, just kidding, let's pray to the baseball gods it doesn't come down to that.

Anonymous said...

w00t!

Greg Wurz said...

the Giants have the best overall staff in the west, The Rockies won't win on the road and the Padres have finally come back down to earth. These will be the keys to a successful September. Well that and the Giants offense realizing that they can bat higher than .205. Food news though. Pablo is Batting .330+ in SF!

campanari said...

I suppose that Greg Wurz meant GOOD NEWS about Pablo's high home BA, but, given P's pudge problems, I like the typo "Food news," esp. from someone whose last name means "spice" (in German).

M.C. O'Connor said...

Padres beat the Rockies in Denver last night. Colorado leads the season series 11-5. They play two more with SD, have an off day, then go to LA. SD goes to St. Louis for four (Thu-Sun), then have an of day.