I hate the Bay Bridge Series. I really do. I’ve been very consistent with this opinion. It has nothing to do with my like or dislike of interleague play, or the fact that the Giants tend to play poorly, or the fact that Oakland Coliseum is a sad, forgotten hellhole of a stadium.

No, I hate the Bay Bridge Series because I actually really like the A’s. Those of you who listen to our podcast have heard Thomas berate me for my affection toward the Green and Gold. I grew up watching and rooting for both teams, in equal measure. When I went to college I started hanging out with Giants fans, and that’s when I really started following them more than the A’s. But I still feel for them.

First of all, I have a lot of respect for the organization. If you’ll indulge my nerdiness for just a moment, the 2012 A’s remind me of Ender’s Game. Ender gets stuck with the Dragon Army, a group of young launchies, all of them inexperienced, inept spazzes, and is told to make them into a winning team. But to read Ender’s Shadow, you find out that Bean actually figured out the market inefficiency of Battle School, and designed the Dragon Army to fit exactly to Ender’s strengths.

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THE SGHTINS ahoabout the Giants is thaot asasj othatsreallly cian;’ta ahit snd ashtat’s fareallly aduasndoying.

Just kidding. Not about the wine, but I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have at least a little practice writing with a bit of the ol’ fire water in my system. I think I’ll be alright.

Tonight’s game, along with last night’s game, the one before that, the one before that, and probably the one tomorrow, all collectively show something: the Giants don’t have very many good players. They have some stars, yeah. But after the thin crust of skill among the team’s hot young players, there is miles and miles of hot, molten suck among the position players on this team.

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I can’t wait until Christian Friedrich’s next start. He’ll be found after the game, sitting in the team shower, shivering under the shower head, shivering in his soaking uniform.

“B-b-but I threw the ball! How did they hit it?”

Rockies Pitching Coach Bob Apodaca will turn off the shower tap, and slide down next to Friedrich.

“Son, you’re going to have to learn sooner or later. Not every team is the Giants.”

Today was Christian Friedrich’s second major league start, and he looked pretty unhittable for most of the game. Caveat: Giants, because they Giants.

It’s all downhill from here, kid.

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