Aaron Rowand

In the digital age, rumors fly much quicker than they used to.  It literally takes only seconds to post a rumor online and create a huge buzz over basically nothing.  The same applies to Phillies free-agent  right fielder, Jayson Werth.  Early this morning, a talk-show radio host mentioned that the Phillies had offered Werth a contract and that it was good enough for him to possibly sign.  Should you give credence to this rumor?  The simple answer is "No."

The Giants have a magic number of one.

The only way the Giants do not win the division is for the struggling Padres to win four in a row against San Francisco.

What I am trying to say is that it's over.

For those who have commented on my articles, I will say it: I was wrong. But I did say the Giants would win the division at the beginning of the season.

The Giants' season-long chase after the San Diego Padres has finally paid off. San Francisco is half a game back of the Padres.

Getting here has been a lengthy and remarkable pursuit marked by the resilience and dedication of the boys in orange and black.

And it isn't over. Much will depend on how the Giants play their last remaining games.

And yet there are some things beyond the Giants control that may happen to hamper their run at NL West Pennant.

Let's take a look at 10 key things to watch for down the stretch for the Giants.

Andres Torres, the center fielder and lead-off hitter, is the most irreplaceable member of the San Francisco Giants' lineup.

The Giants have to replace him, though, because he's out for the remainder of the regular season following surgery on his appendix.

Fans haven't been hesitant to point to the player or the plan that keeps the San Francisco Giants from soaring to the top of the NL West and well past the field in the wild-card race.

As it turns out, though, most things that fans insisted the Giants do to get things going have been done and things haven't gone very well at all in the last month. The club is on the verge of falling out of the division race and has to keep pace with the Philadelphia Phillies, a tall order, to win the Wild Card.

Major League Baseball wasn't necessarily meant to be enjoyed with one finger extended in an attempt to find a target for today's round of criticism.

Oh, the 2010 San Francisco Giants have made it easy for fans who want to affix blame, find solutions to every potential problem, and moan about what will go wrong next from Opening Day through the dog days of summer.

The Giants lost 3-2 to the Padres Friday night in a battle of supremacy for the NL West.

Jonathan Sanchez's prediction was proven wrong, his attempt at becoming a baseball mystic falling short.

But losing the game and the prediction will not be what this game is remembered for in the coming weeks, months, and years.

Tonight was the official death of Aarond Rowand as a San Francisco Giant.

It's tempting for the more seasoned (really old) followers of the San Francisco Giants to sit back and enjoy what has been a fabulous start to the second half of the season.

Giants beat writer Henry Schulman wrote a piece suggesting that an Aaron Rowand for Carlos Zambrano trade with the Cubs would make sense for both clubs if the future contract obligations could be worked out.  It sounds like a textbook case of wishful thinking to me, because the Cubs would be damned fools to trade Zambrano for Rowand.

Who are the 10 toughest players in Major League Baseball today?

While many have been quick to limp to the disabled list, others such as Derek Jeter, Kevin Youkilis, and numerous catchers across the league take their nicks and keep moving forward.

What names belong on my top 10 list?

Let’s begin with an honorable mention…

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