Aubrey Huff

On June 16, 2010, the San Diego Padres got out of bed and looked up at the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were white-knuckling a half-game lead in the National League West. The next day, the Pads would move into a first-place tie with the Bums and wouldn't relinquish the catbird's seat for the rest of June.

Or July.

Or August.

Or the through the first 16 days of September.

The San Francisco Giants did three significant things during their humongous four-game series against the San Diego Padres. Call it a pleasant coincidence that the team also won three of the weekend contests.

By taking three of four in Petco Park, the good guys exorcised some serious demons in a personal house of horrors. Since the start of the 2009 campaign, the Giants had only won three of the last 14 contests played in the Friars' home. You have to imagine the lads enjoyed doubling a two-year win total in four days.

Where were we?

Oh, right, nothing about yesterday's game matters once today's game starts.

The Giants belted the Padres 7-3 to win the opener of the important four-game NL West series Thursday in San Diego. Giants fans were roaring that everything had fallen into place.

Then on Friday night, the Giants squeaked out a gut-wrenching and fascinating 1-0 win over the Padres to move into a tie for the NL West lead.

Both Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell had 2009s worth forgetting. 

Huff had the worst year of his career, batting .241, hitting only 15 home runs and racking up 85 RBI between Baltimore and Detroit. 

The Giants' offensive outburst in the first game of the four-game series in San Diego gives them momentum in the NL West showdown.

San Francisco will assuredly keep the momentum gained in a 7-3 win over the Padres if starting pitchers Matt Cain and John Garland can miraculously return to the mound tonight with exactly the same stuff they possessed on Thursday.

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.

Yes, this is an incredibly bold conclusion. Actually, I haven't concluded anything, I've just posed a question.

The fact of the matter is, the Giants have an incredibly fickle nature. Remember in July, when they won 20 games for the first time since September of 2000? Well, right before that month, they had a seven-game losing streak. Are they going to once again bounce back?

Thanks to Marty Lurie of KNBR, I got the idea to write just how good the Giants are and how well certain players are performing compared to previous seasons.
As August begins, the Giants begin a difficult two months to catch the first place Padres. Starting off the second half going 8-1 in the division and 13-4 overall, they're the hottest team in baseball. Giants' players are peaking at the right time and this team is having fun again as they fight for a post-season berth.

It's been an incredible year so far, and fans have a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

The are people who refuse to acknowledge reality and continue to insist that the San Francisco Giants needed to make a blockbuster deal before the trade deadline passed.

The Giants did exactly what they should've done. They gave up a minor leaguer for a veteran right-handed relief pitcher. Then, they traded two players with big league experience, but not much success, for a left-hander for the bullpen.

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.