The Giants have scored and allowed almost the exact same number of runs, (645 runs scored to 641 allowed), which is what you’d expect a .500 team to do. They are currently 3.5 games behind the Padres for the wild card spot, with the Phillies and the Marlins also ahead of them. Of these four teams, all are scoring and allowing right around the same number of runs, with the Padres out-performing their expected winning percentage by a decent margin, (mostly due to the 5-game winning streak they are currently on), which puts them 7 games over .500, when they really should be only about one or two games over.
Which is to say, the Giants have as much a chance as any of these mediocrities to be the first round sacrificial lambs to the Mets, right?
These three games with those same Padres are, to state the obvious, critical. Sweep ‘em and the teams would be in a virtual tie. Cain vs. Peavy, Schmidt vs. Wells, and Hennessey vs. Williams. Even a pessimist like me has to like our chances with those matchups. Good looking weekend for sports all around, with the NFL kicking off and the Giants basically playing a playoff series with the Pods.
Go Giants!
UPDATE: The Mets did their part, slapping the Dodgers around to the tune of a 7-0 wipeout.
