“They have the best record in the National League and are leading a division that also contains the Dodgers and Padres, two teams who have pulled off the kind of boldface moves that would make finishing behind the Giants both embarrassing and objectively hilarious.”

– T. Keown, from an excellent article about how the Giants are doing this.

The Giants ended last week in the nation’s capitol with a dismal performance at the plate, scoring just three runs in four games against Washington. They managed a 2-2 split of the series, but the much-improved and vaunted offense that had gone into the weekend leading the league in home runs, simply melted against Nats pitching. We wondered if June Swoon had begun.

But the reward for a tough, hard fought series against the Nats on the road was a four game set at home against the worst team in all of baseball. Maybe the guys knew that on the way home.

This week, the Giants have blown up for 27 runs in three games against the D-backs. They’ve hit eight home runs in this series, including a spectacular game-winning grand slam splash hit by Mike Yastrzemski and five homers in a 13-run explosion yesterday. Wow.

The season is blooming into wild, weird exciting possibility.

Last night, as the G-men were dropping thirteen runs on the hapless Snakes, the Padres lost to the Rockies and the Bums lost to the Phils at Chavez Ravine, which keeps the Giants two games ahead in the NL West. On June 17th. Keown is right … it’s objectively hilarious.

With the offensive explosion against the Diamondbacks, the Giants have now hit a National League-leading 99 home runs, just two fewer than the Blue Jays who lead the AL, and all of baseball, with 101.

Despite that Tommy LaStella, Evan Longoria and Alex Dickerson are on the injured reserve, a next-man-up mentality has spread through the team like … like an infection … a virus … I wish I had a good metaphor – something that has spread entirely throughout the team affecting everyone … well, you get the idea. Everybody is hitting.

(sidenote: don’t be science-denying dumbass GO GET YOUR COVID SHOTS)

The experimenting continues on the mound as the team has yet to find a fifth starter and has used a hodgepodge combination of methods to fill that slot as well as to find decent relievers and a viable closer who can be trusted to finish games without ‘torture.’ But really, that’s no different from years past – even years when we won it all.

And I now trust no one in major league baseball more than Farhan Zaidi to work tirelessly to address our issues with smart, savvy aggression until we are champions again. Fuck Epstein. Zaidi is the man.

Just look at his successes: Vosler, Yasztremski, Tauchman, DeSclafani, Wood, keeping Gausman and Solano. We haven’t even really seen play yet from the first long-term contract Zaidi has given out – the three-years to utility infielder Tommy LaStella.

This guy is the best mind in baseball.

The big difference is at the plate, and being able to sing it loud, sing it proud (btw, the SF Giants became the first team in MLB history to wear Pride colors on their unis this month).

SO SING IT, BABY, SING IT:

and here’s a great story about Russ Hodges by Vin