Wow, winter hats, clouds on the field, and candy corn unis--and another loss that makes me want to punch stuff. Hard. Don't these NL teams know we're in a pennant race here in a real baseball league? This isn't a joke.

We put ourselves in the position where we're pissed when we rally, because we know we should be tied already. One lousy insurance run for them in bottom 8 to go up 2 after it'd been a 1-run lead for so long, and of course we get one in the ninth and load the goddamn bases, before finally making the last out.

But the ninth wasn't the only time we loaded the bases and didn't score. We also did it in the sixth. And seventh. And two more in the eighth. 11 runners left on in the last four innings in a one-run game. We had double-digit walks but couldn't win. In the seventh, I was pissed at Cameron. First and third, one out. The pitcher's wild. Sac fly will tie it. You wait for your pitch, then hit a fly ball. But no, he swings at the first pitch, and pops out. The guy probably woulda walked him on four pitches. Next inning, Scutaro stands there and watches strike three to end the inning, again down one with men on.

So we're now 3 back, still tied with Tampa, who were no-hit tonight.

The brightsidery to be seen with these shitty, effed up, suicidal games is that we're putting ourselves in position to win. I am hoping that a Red Sox team at full strength in, say, August and beyond, takes advantage of the opportunities handed to us on a silv. platter, and wins easily. In other words, "we shoulda won" is better than "we got our asses kicked." It's just much more ulcer-causing.

Oh, and the inning where they got their first three runs to tie it (we'd gone up 3-0 on Youk's dong in the first)--ridiculous. Wake with some kind of backhand flip to first that cost us two runs. And their eighth-inning insurance run--Hall with a weird play trying for a force at second and missing it, also causing him to miss getting the guy at first--followed by a passed ball putting the guy on third, and scores on a sac fly. This whole game was just a nightmare. The last four games have been like bizarre dreams....

I never see Freddy Sanchez without thinking of "Still Comma We Believe," as Kim calls it.

Don mentioned Weebles tonight.

Tim Wakefield tried to break up a double play with a slide tonight. Don and Rem pointed out that pitchers on the basepaths will usually just peel off in that situation. I'd like to point out that there are several non-pitchers on Wake's team who prefer to peel off instead of sliding. So, good job doing what you're supposed to do, Wake. Maybe some of your teammates will get the message.

So weird how the linescore on the Giants' scoreboard shows the inning numbers all huge with the runs for each team right over them.

Do Giants fans know about the mock cheer? If a guy walks the leadoff man on four pitches, then throws a fifth straight ball--at that point you're locked into mock cheer mode after the next strike. But that crowd did nothing when it happened tonight.

There have been several cases of our outfielders not picking up balls cleanly. Cost us again tonight as some fat dude scored because of it. Then again, our outfield this season has been pretty much three guys who won radio contests. The 7th, 8th, and 9th callers, I believe.

I love Don and Rem--they're hilarious, while being some of the best announcers in the league (which does have a lot to do with the fact that most of the others sound like Texas high school football announcers. But they seem to miss really obvious stuff and I don't know why. Tonight they thought Youk had maybe made contact with a ball and that's why the ump was waiting to make the call. It was clearly a case of whether he checked his swing or not. Usually after about three replays (remember, we at home have known since the live shot) they figure it out. Happened on that bobble in the outfield, too. We saw it on the original, they didn't. Then we saw a replay of the runner pausing at third before restarting and scoring. Since I knew there was a bobble, it made sense--coach was holding him up, saw the bobble, and sent him, hence the pause. But since neither Don nor Rem saw the bobble, they wondered out loud why this guy hesitated. It seems like someone at that point says something in Rem's ear, lets him know that a replay which will clear everything up (to them) is coming up, and then finally they can fully describe what happened. I think it all has to do with them watching the field and us seeing what the cameras show.

Pedroia fouled a ball off his foot and had to leave the game. He better be back soon. Can't lose him.

It's almost 2 a.m.? Come on. I will hope to wake up tomorrow and find out we actually won. But I'm guessing that will not occur.