Giants 9, Diamondbacks 5

Live and learn.

The work-week finished with a beer bash and some Quake-ing. Then I went to Borrone for the evening, where I finished reading Alastair Reynolds' first novel, Revelation Space, which is quite good. It avoids some of the problems with "sweeping hard SF mysteries", though it doesn't quite manage to completely follow through on its premises. I think I like Ken MacLeod better, but not by a lot.

The good news this week is that I seem to finally be losing weight. I hit an in-recent-memory low on Wednesday (then promptly bounced back up a pound), and I'm starting to feel thinner. I don't know if I actually look thinner. But it certainly encourages me to keep up with my current exercise regime.

Much of this week has been given over to baseball.

For instance, on Thursday, the Giants clinched victory in the National League West division, guaranteeing themselves a playoff spot. For a team that's struggled to make the playoffs the last four years, whose expectations this year were modest despite a shiny new ballpark, and which started the year with a 3-9 record, this is a remarkable and exciting thing! The Giants and their fans all believe they have a real shot at a World Series Championship (which would be their first since the team moved to San Francisco in the 1950s), and I think they do, too. Competition will be stiff (the Braves, in particular, have done well against the Giants this year), but the Giants have good pitching and good hitting, and other than the lack of a Pedro/Randy-quality ace, no obvious holes. Even their bullpen and bench are solid!

Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics have been beating up on their rival Seattle Mariners - in Seattle - and seem to be in the driver's seat in both their division and in the AL Wild Card race. It would be pretty neat if the Bay Area sent both their teams to the postseason, and the A's have a good and worthy team, so I'll be pulling for them.

The Red Sox, of course, are tanking in the wake of the many abysmal trades they've pulled this season, which will also likely drag them down next season. I've jumped on the "GM Dan Duquette must go" bandwagon, since if he's not working wonders with roster management, then he doesn't really have any business heading a front office, given his problems relating to the players and the press. The Sox are very nearly out of it, which is a shame, but it's no more than the organization deserves this year (hard as I know the players have been trying; well, except for jackass Carl Everett, who continues to shoot off his mouth and make enemies).

Lastly, Subrata and I finally got to go to the make-up of the rained out Giants game from last spring tonight. It was the second half of a double-header with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who won the Giants' division last year. After clinching their division Thursday, the Giants dropped the next two games, though we didn't learn that until we'd gotten to the park.

I took a few pictures before the game:

	If you've been wondering what Subrata looks like, here he is at the Park with San Francisco in the background. It's around sunset; I took a photo of the sun setting over the city, but the contrast was too high and I couldn't massage it to make it worth putting up.
	Two pictures of Pac Bell Park from our upper-upper deck seats around sunset. Lots of activity out on the bay! The Giants were just taking the field as I took these photos.

It was a little bit chilly as these things go, but overall a pleasant night. Some fog drifted in from both sides of the stadium, but nothing major.

The game was interesting: The Diamondbacks sent noted non-ace Armando Reynoso to the mound, while the Giants sent Miguel Del Toro in his first Major League start. Both pitchers gave up a lot of runners, but it was the Giants who broke through in the fourth with five runs, keyed by Del Toro's two-run single followed by Marvin Benard's bases-clearing triple (which he rocketed to the deepest part of the park, just over Steve Finley's head). Del Toro lost it in the fifth and allowed four runs, but the Giants game back in the fifth to score four more, and held on to win 9-5.

Something I saw tonight that I hadn't seen before: The Giants in the fifth pinch-hit for both the catcher, Scott Servais in the #8 spot, and the pitcher, Del Toro in the #9 spot. Ellis Burks walked for Servais, and Bobby Estalella hit a double for Del Toro, then stayed in the game to catch.

It was a good game. Plenty to cheer about, which at this point in the season is the best part of going to a game. Robb Nen pitched a scoreless ninth despite it not being a save situation, and we were treated to a long rendition of the Giants' theme song, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" afterwards (it's not a bad song, actually, for something being used as a sports anthem).

Everyone went home happy. And the Giants' quest to get home field advantage by having the best record in the National League continues. Only one more week of baseball left...