One More Win

The Giants seem to be operating on of those rare planes of awesome lately. They recognize how important it is to win right now and they are just doing it. They are willing themselves to win in a way that I haven't seen in maybe 17 years. I'm not including the late-period Bonds years, because there were stretches where Bonds carried the team on his back, and the other players just kind of managed their parts well. Now, they are operating as a team.

And my joy at watching this is only matched by my dread. My dread that it will all just unravel. Realistically, it's not likely to unravel, at least before they win their first NL West title in seven years, but that's the dread. They only have to win one measly game to get in the playoffs. One win. The only way they miss the playoffs is if the Padres sweep them in San Francisco to force the one game playoff, then win the playoff game (basically a four game sweep).

Not likely. These are the same Padres who have gotten shut out twice in the last two games and haven't scored more than three runs in one game since probably the 1984 NLCS (I'm just guessing). In fact, if I were an objective observer, I would look at these Giants, look at these Padres, look at the current playoff odds, and I would conclude that the Giants were probably going to sweep the Padres this weekend.

But it doesn't matter how likely things are. The tortured fan inside me knows better. The tortured fan knows it's not over.

I think the fear is that the Giants will want so much to take care of business Friday night in Game One so they can relax over the weekend, that they will start to expect it to happen. Then they won't be able to score, then a few Padres bloops will fall into the outfield, then a few more, they'll lose the game, the Padres will start to feel like they have a little life in them, the Giants will feel upset things didn't go as planned, then they'll get sloppy on Saturday and Sunday, the Padres will force a playoff, they'll be pumped up beyond belief while Giants will feel on the ropes, and by the time the playoff game comes the whole thing will have snowballed...

It's the same way nightmares are structured. One thing goes wrong, which leads to another, then another, soon everything is going wrong and you can't fix it. I know that nightmares aren't real life. I was expecting a nightmare scenario before the Colorado series and they ended up winning two out of three. Bochy seems to have these guys really focused on the moment. For Giants fans there's a lot to feel good about, and for Padres fans there's not. But you know who else didn't have a lot to feel good about? Angels fans in the seventh inning of Game Six. And 24 hours later they had a championship.

I hate to bring up the '02 Series but it's always a reminder of how nothing is sewn up until it's sewn up, the thread is put away, the cat's inside, the lights are off, and you're in bed.

I'm a Giants fan. My guard is always up.