Week 3: Mixed Feelings

• Giants had a bit of an up and down week...
• The bad: They went 2-4, and were swept by the Padres, who have usurped the NL West throne for the time being by winning 8 in a row.  (Why does it always seem like we always visit Petco when the Padres are red hot?)  Cain continues to be winless and Wellemeyer continues to suck.  The offense has begun to show that it's nowhere improved from last year, stranding God-knows-how-many-runners-at-3rd-with-less-than-1-out, and it seems like another frustrating season at the plate looms ahead.  They'll have their work cut out for them on Monday too, as the Giants will have to face the 4-0 Roy Halladay and the reigning NL champion Phillies in a 3 game set.
• The good:  They did manage to take 2 out of 3 from the Cardinals, widely considered the best team in the NL Central.  Lincecum pitched brilliantly on Friday despite lacking his best stuff, but he was outshined this week by none other than Barry Zito - that's right, Barry Zito.  Zito struck out 10 Cardinal hitters and blanked them for 8 innings in an epic pitching duel with Adam Wainwright.  His performance was so inspiring that he had the entire crowd chanting "BAR-RY! BAR-RY! BAR-RY!" throughout his final innings and in the 8th, he finished off his brilliant start by striking out the side, sending AT&T Park into a frenzy.  More importantly, it rejuvenated the Giants and gave them the momentum they needed to finally scratch out 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th for a 2-0 win.  Wilson would get the save in both games.
• From an overall perspective, things still look bright.  Getting swept in San Diego was frustrating, yes, but the Padres were on a roll.  If the Giants can may be find a way to improve their situational hitting, whether through internal coaching or signing a big bat, there's no reason not to expect playoffs this season.
• The Tampa Bay Rays have been on fire - surging to a 14-5 start that included a 4 game sweep of the reeling Red Sox who now find themselves at 8-11, 6 games back in the AL East and in fourth place.  The hot start has the Rays on top of the AL East, 1.5 games ahead of the mighty Yankees, who have had a strong start of their own.
• Usually, 7 ER in 6 IP means a loss, but this was not the case for Dan Haren.  Haren decided to make up for his shoddy pitching performance with his bat - going 4 for 4 at the plate and nabbing an RBI of his own to help the Diamondbacks plate 9 runs in a win over the Cardinals.  
• Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez hit a new low on Tuesday, as he allowed NINE stolen bases.  Granted, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was a huge reason for most of them (knuckleballers are easy to steal off of because of their slow delivery time), but nine??  What's more shocking is the fact that the Red Sox still somehow found a way to win thanks to some late heroics by means of a game-tying omerun and a walkoff hit from rookie Darnell McDonald who was just called up earlier that day.
• Brewers handed the Pirates a humiliating defeat on Thursday, outscoring them 20-0.  (Compiled highlight of all 20 runs here.)  The sad part is that the Brewers had already outscored Pittsburgh 16-1 in the first two games of the series.
• Dodgers were 2-4 themselves, so we're still a few games ahead of them.  They were blanked 1-0 today by the Nationals behind starter Scott Olsen.
• Livan Hernandez has a 0.75 ERA?? WTF?
• Hughes fails epically in losing his no-hit bid, but the Yankees still won that game 3-1.  Surprisingly, the A's continue to sit atop the AL West.  Maybe the Bay Area is finally turning it around...
• Baltimore still sucks, Houston - not so much anymore.
• The NL East is being hotly contested.  Phillies still reign with a 11-7 record, but three teams - Florida, New York, and Washington - are right on their tail with 10-9 records.

Other news:

• Sharks found their rhythm just in time to avoid a choke and overcome shooting two game winning goals into their own net for Colorado.  Pavelski's overtime goal gave the Sharks a pivotal Game 4 win in Colorado on Tuesday, the Sharks rolled to a 5-0 win on Thursday, and a 4 goal outburst in the final period gave the Sharks a 5-2 win in Colorado on Saturday to wrap up the series.  Things are good, but they gave up TWO goals to an ASIAN guy this series.  HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN??  I'm not sure if this is a testament to how surprisingly good that guy actually is, or if the Sharks just really suck.  They'll have to wait a few days to find out their opponent in the conference semifinals - it will be the lower seed of three teams: Nashville (7th seed), Detroit (5th seed), or Phoenix(4th seed).  Vancouver also joined the Sharks in advancing to the 2nd round by knocking off the Los Angeles Kings tonight.
• 49ers have a good draft - no Jimmy Clausen, two big offensive linemen in the first two rounds to augment their smashmouth style, and safety Taylor-Mays (from USC... but I'll suck up my Cal pride for the greater good.)  Hopefully, they'll have what it takes to finally win the West and make the playoffs this year, but Seattle's making a big push of their own.
• Lakers struggling to get past Oklahoma City, getting blown out consecutive days on the road to drop to 2-2 on the series.  Do I smell an upset coming??
• Jon Stewart is brilliant, South Park needs to be uncensored and Revolution Muslim can go to hell.
• One more week of real instruction before dead week...