Three and Ouch

I know. It's early in the year and blah, blah, blah. One series in April hardly makes a season. But while many stressed how important it would be to start fast and get a jump on the Bonds-less Giants, apparently only the Dodgers took it to heart. The Pads looked anemic this weekend, and it wasn't any fun to watch. They were shut out twice! Now don't get me wrong. Both Weaver and Lowe had filthy stuff, and both are very capable of those types of games throughout the season. But the Pads just looked lifeless against their arch-rivals, and with Greene out for a month will really have to play solid ball to keep from falling too far behind. When you start the season with Colorado & Pittsburgh, you should be better than 5-7.

Some notes: Dodgers are 9-2, and haven't lost a series. So much for Jeff Kent looking old. Apparently he caught whatever Beltre had last year. God forbid Drew and Choi come around soon. Pads only mustered 14 hits and 5 walks this weekend. Nady finally cooled off, with just 1 hit. Nevin looks terrible. This tends to happen to Phil from time to time, where he swings like every ball needs to travel 500 feet. Unfortunately when you're the cleanup hitter in a lineup w/o slugging stars, this really turns into a rally killer. Geoff Blum's 31, and his career PT numbers show stats similar to Greene's. If he can play SS, he might fill in OK. On the other hand, Garcia is also 31, and history has no indication he'll hit at all. Hope he's on a short leash. Redding looked decent yesterday minus the long balls. If he can fix the problem, he'll be a solid #5 starter.