San Francisco Giants' 2009 Season Is Over: Time To Read the Writing on the Wall

I have dreamed a dream, but now that dream is gone from me.—Morpheus, Matrix Reloaded (and San Francisco Giants fans across the country)

Technically, which means mathematically, the San Francisco Giants are still alive. They sit five games behind the National League Wild Card-leading Colorado Rockies with both teams facing 11 games left in their 2009 seasons. So, yes, the pulse is still there.

But they amount to a brain-dead patient kept alive by motors and tubes.

Even the most optimistic soul must now admit there will be no postseason for our beloved squad.

Sure, the wheels could suddenly blow off the Rox's wagon, and that old refrain "stranger things have happened" still holds, though its grip is slipping. The problem is the Gents would have to make a dramatic U-turn to start playing great baseball, the Rockies would need an equally illogical fall from grace, and it would all have to happen overnight.

That's because the Orange and Black faithful's worst baseball nightmares have materialized in the last four games.

Needing a strong showing on the road in Los Angeles and Arizona to have any hope at the second season, the Gents have delivered just the opposite.

The opener of the series against the Dodgers was actually reason to hope—Jonathan Sanchez took the pill and got battered, but the fellas hitched up their pants and fought back for an improbable 8-4 victory. With the reborn Brad Penny and NL Cy Young candidate Tim Lincecum scheduled for the Saturday/Sunday starts, muted cheer was the order of the day.

Good thing it was muted.

Penny came out and got shellacked for the first time as a Giant, and then Tiny Tim got stepped on by the boys from Chavez Ravine.

Meanwhile, the Blake Street Blurs were busy taking two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Snakes' own yard.

Not a good sign considering Colorado has been almost untouchable at home. Slippage on the road was a requisite for its collapse.

Even so, the San Francisco die-hards clung to that last sliver of hope. Aside from the Chicago Cubs, a team in turmoil, los Gigantes face no other opponent above .500, so a tremendous run wasn't out of the question. We just needed those damn Rockies to stumble.

Needless to say, that hasn't happened.

Tuesday night's contests pretty much sealed the deal.

In Arizona, the Snakes torched Matt Cain, who is having a final month to forget. Instead of sprinting through the finish line, Cainer is face-planting about 100 yards short of it. After Tuesday's horror show, the Kid is 1-3 in four September starts while chucking only 21.1 innings with an earned run average over seven and a WHIP approaching 1.50.

Not good.

Arizona bled the young right-hander for seven runs on Tuesday; Cain recorded an equal number of outs before hitting the showers. The scenario was all the more troubling because the big fella was handed a three-run cushion.

Once he departed, the bullpen—asked to absorb almost six innings of work—understandably coughed up three more runs, and a spirited rally in the top of the ninth couldn't make up the difference.

Hang another loss on the boys.

In Colorado, the Rox watched their own No. 2—Jorge De La Rosa—get obliterated by the San Diego Padres. The difference, of course, was the Rockie bats kept pace with the Fathers and then some. They started teeing off on Edward Mujica and didn't stop once the merry-go-round in the San Diego 'pen started turning.

To complete the asymmetry, the leaders of the Wild Card pack snuffed out a furious Padre comeback in the top of the ninth to win the game by a run.

It's almost a certainty the San Francisco Giants' playoff dreams were snuffed out right alongside the San Diego rally.

In a couple days, when the 2009 season is officially laid to rest, there will be time to reflect on what a triumph the campaign really was. A team nobody outside the City took seriously proved its skeptics wrong and converted a whole lotta true believers.

But faith comes with a price.

Right now, the San Francisco Giants and their fans are paying it.

In full.

**www.pva.org**