Very Bad Things: Dodgers 11, Giants 1

The fanboy optimism is officially dead.

I'm not giving up on the Giants this year or anything, but those Spring dreams of a dominant rotation, a solid bullpen, and a surprisingly decent offense leading the Giants to a Cinderella season are long gone. Right now, I'd take a .500 season and 3rd place in a heartbeat.

We all knew this year would be a growing experience, but the learning curve may be a bit steeper than some imagined. After following up the not-so-lowly Padres (6-2 now, by the way) with a blowout loss to the Dodgers, it's clear this team has some serious strides yet to make before they start trying on any glass slippers.

I didn't see one minute of the game -- I was at work, and though it's on my TiVo I have no intention of watching. Usually during this part of the season, I'll watch parts of games I know the Giants have lost just to experience the sensation of seeing my team play real, meaningful baseball. But the brand of baseball the team's been playing lately -- get down early, never come back -- gets old real easy.

The team has been awful since hitting the road. The starting pitching has been abysmal, the offense anemic, and the defense atrocious. That's four A's, which is coincidental, because the Giants are playing like a team of AAAA players. Luckily for them, the Diamondbacks have been just as bad, so the 2-5 Giants have some company in the NL West cellar.

TOMORROW: No game. What, no game?! On a Tuesday?! Who the hell made this schedule? Why wasn't the off day today? Can someone explain this to me? Oh well, the way the Giants are playing, a day off can't hurt.

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW: During this poor start to the season, few players remain blameless -- Brian Wilson and a couple of relievers, due to their lack of playing time, and Matt Cain due to his great start (the only quality start from a Giant in '09). Cain takes on Dodger youngster Clayton Kershaw.