Casey Blake - Jed Jacobsohn - Getty Images

Ahh, the Dodgers. How I do love thee, especially when you beat the Giants and I drive to work hearing the local talk shows whine and cry about how bad the Giants are. It is a beautiful day, no matter what the weather, one full of hope and joy, and great bragging….

Man I love living up here when the Dodgers beat the Giants. It’s hard to sum it up in words. I listened to the Murph and Mack show today, which I have come to really enjoy because they talk good baseball. Today, they were lamenting the loss last night…lamenting a lot. Got to love Manny being involved and then my boy Casey Blake hitting the homerun. Talk about Giant killers. Those guys just seem to come alive against the Giants.

The talk radio shows had quite the comments today. There was a Dodger fan who pointed out that the Giants just can’t beat a very flawed Dodger team. The Dodgers sat four of their starters and still came away with the win.

There was another fan who pointed out that ever since Renteria came back from the DL, that the Giants haven’t played as well. There is many a Giants fan who feels that Rowand, Renteria and Molina should all sit now and let the young guys get it done. It is too bad to see Molina not doing well. I respect a longtime Dodger killer, but he just doesn’t have it these days.

Also, there is great trepidation regarding Pablo Sandoval. He was the Giant Panda killer last year, but this year, he’s just another meal at Panda Express. People are eating him for lunch and he just seems to have lost his groove.

The best part of last night was the Dodgers bouncing back from the Yankees defeat. The Dodgers are now 19 and 5 against the National League West and seem to thrive against these teams.

We’ll see tonight as Cain may stop them cold, but one up is the way to start.

I’ve decided that when watching the Dodgers/Giants that you might as well wait until the 7th inning to really park yourself and watch the game. It doesn’t matter what day, whose pitching, or even the lineup, the score is usually close or tied until the 7th, and then the game is won. As long as the Dodgers do win it after the 7th (like last night), I don’t have any problems with the strategy. Go Blue.

Well, it all started well, and then the bullpen showed that they still need more work. I had a hunch that it would get closer as the game went on, but what a way to start.  The Dodgers were killing the Giants.

Andre Ethier’s grandslam was epic to see. I literally yelled in my house with joy, as I just wasn’t expecting it and it really blew the game open. He is definitely in the zone right now. To win the game on Thursday night, then hit two homeruns last night, he really must just believe that he can be the difference maker. What a cool feeling.

I give Vincente Padilla credit last night.  He finally looked strong.  Still not the ace, but getting closer if he keeps that up.  I keep pulling for Russ Ortiz to get out of his funk, but it just doesn’t seem to be happening.

If you didn’t see the game in the Bay Area last night, you probably missed some of the “added” commentary by the Giants announcers.  Matt Kemp got one high and tight.  Aaron Rowand got hit by a pitch and it ends up got a concussion and two broken bones in his cheek.  Matt Kemp tried to steal a base with a 9-3 lead.  All those things added up to a lot of tension brewing between the teams.  The announcers were convinced that there will continue to be tension, and I think they may be right.  Who knows, my prediction last year that Casey Blake will start a brawl (click here) may actually come true.  (I lean towards towards Matt Kemp starting it at this point).

The added commentary really came though with the hit on Rowand and the steal by Kemp.  Padilla has a history of “head hunting,” so there was no way to know if the hit was purposeful or not.  In reading the SF Chronicle today, even Bruce Bochy didn’t think it was intentional, but we’ll never know.  With the attempted steal by Kemp, they felt just seemed like poor sportsmanship given the lead by the Dodgers at that point of 9-3.  Again, it was probably a little cheap, but as the end of the game showed, the Dodgers gave up 5 runs in 1 inning, so no lead is truly safe.

The best part of the game for me though was that the Giants finally got knocked around a little.  They have been playing really well, but they showed that even they have weaknesses…ironically in their starting pitching.

Today’s game should be good to watch.  What do you think, is there a brawl brewing?

Ok. So if this was the presidential election, the Giants would be raked over the coals for being Wishy Washy. Talk about a Flip Flop.

The Giants announced the re-signing of Jose Uribe and now Bengie Molina.  Apparently Bengie didn’t get the length or money he wanted from the Mets, so he decided playing for the Giants wouldn’t be that bad.  It is only one year, so he can go seek a longer deal after.  It is good for the Giants as it will give Buster Posey a little more time in the minors, but also because they got their cleanup hitter back….

This news isn’t great for Dodger fans because Jose Uribe and Bengie Molina both had their number last year, so there could be more disappointments this year.

The Giants also recently added Aubrey Huff.  This one made the fans up here kind of scratch their heads.  He will play 1st base (which they have a rookie for), and can hit, but he definitely wasn’t the big bat the fans were hoping for.  

I talked to a Giants fan this week who had an interesting perspective on this year.  Molina and Huff are signed only for one year as well as Jonathan Sanchez.  Aaron Rowand and Edgar Renteria also only have one year left.  This means that in one year 5 of 9 position players (when Sanchez pitches) will be gone.  This signifies that the Giants are really “going for it” this year, or they are just trying to ”get through” this year until next year when they can clear payroll, get some veterans and bring up the rookies.  Given that Aubrey Huff and Mark DeRosa are not star hitters…I lean towards the “get through” approach.  They will have more power, but not that much.

What do you think – Wishy Washy or just frugal?  I’m going to take Wishy Washy and rub it in to Giants fans as long as I can.

Matt Cain - AP - Ben Margot

With the All-Star Game this week, there isn’t a lot to report specific to the Giants.  Tim Lincecum started the All-Star game and was roughed up.  Having said that, there was a little buzz at the end of the week as the Giants played the Pirates.  “Played” is the key word.  I should better say “lost” to the Pirates.  They lost in extra innings, and then got beat again yesterday.  The “concern” has been the sudden loss of the Giants offense against a last place team.  Before the All-Star game their offense seemed to be in high gear.  Aaron Rowand was leading off, Pablo Sandoval was hitting third and hitting jacks, and Edgar Renteria was hitting 5 or 6 and starting to get back to form.  They were doing so well that they were in the top wild card spot and their was rumors of extending the deals of Brian Sabean the GM and Bruce Bochy the manager.

Now after the All-Star game and the loss of the offense, there’s the silence of hoping it is just an anomoly, rather than a real trend.  The truth is everyone’s guess, so we’ll see.  Matt Cain goes today, to try and take one win in the series.

Most Giants fans I talk to don’t think they will make any major moves before the trade deadline.  Apparently the new owner wants to build for the future and everyone knows this team has already exceeded expectations.  Even more, they will have more money at the end of this year, so they can wait.  I still don’t think the Giants have enough to get deep into the playoffs, but maybe that isn’t the goal.  Even just to make the playoffs excites the fans.  Until next week…

Randy Johnson - Haraz N. Ghanbari - AP

Congrats to the Big Unit for winning game 300 this week against the Nationals.  They had a number of rain delays, and his game was even pushed back a day, but he got the 2-1 win.  He even had a diving throw to first which was pretty cool to watch.  He now joins a select 24 pitchers in history who have 300 wins. 

His win was definitely all the talk up here the last few days.  I heard a great radio show this morning that the fans up here really started to get into it.  At the beginning of the season they weren’t sure if they would connect with him because 295 of his wins came for different teams.  Yet, as he was on the verge of history, it became all the more intriguing.  I personally found this to be the same way.  I don’t know that I would have followed it as much had he gone to say New York, or Florida.  But since he was in the Bay Area, I checked up on him a lot and was hopeful that he could get the record. 

I liked one of his quotes yesterday too that he wasn’t as interested in the record, just as much as he could prove that he could do it.  At 45, he still wanted to prove he could play the game and win.  I think that’s what starts to happen in life.  We get older.  We think we can do all that we did when we were young.  We finally realize we really can’t do it as well, and then we spend the rest of the time trying to prove we really can still do it.  High points to you Randy for reaching your own goal and taking us along for the ride.

I did hear a funny thing though this morning on the Giants talk radio.  They felt that the umpire was extremely generous to Brian Wilson (The Giants closer) when he got the 3rd strike call at the end of the game with the bases loaded.  I saw the pitch too, and it did look low.  As they said, it was close enough that the batter should have tried to swing, but it was definitely a low strike.  Had that been a ball, a run would have walked home, and Randy would have lost the chance at 300.  The umpire called it a strike, and the rest is history.

The only other real thing for my Spy Game this week is Aaron Rowand.  He was picked up last year by the Giants at a premium, and he hasn’t been the power hitter they expected.  Actually, he hasn’t even been a very good 7 or 8 hitter.  They switched him to the leadoff spot, and he seems to have found his niche.  I’m not sure what happened, but he has now hit in 15 straight games and raised his average to over .294.  The Giants are playing over .500 ball, and even though they are well behind the Dodgers, they are a lot more respectable than people thought.

Do you like the Spy Game segment?  Let me know if there are certain other things you want me to focus on.  Until next week – Go Blue.