And to think it seemed weird when Ryan Vogelsong gave up a run in the first inning. The Giants still had hope, and then the 3rd inning happened. It’s hard to characterize exactly what occurred during this inning, when the Hitters with Natitude scored 7 runs, but I’ll try.

Ryan Vogelsong’s command: Zitoesque

Ryan Theriot’s fielding: San Jose Earthquakian (soccer reference … okay, it’s been a rough night for all of us, not just the Giants)

Marco Scutaro: in the wrong place 60% of the time … every time

Bruce Bochy: thrown out in record time (brought to mind some of Bobby Cox’s best ejections here in San Francisco)

The Washington Nationals: playing station-to-station baseball for roughly 138 minutes

I guess it was bound to happen, with Vogelsong getting ridiculous love. For some reason I was listening to Gary Radnich try to stir up some sports conversations this morning, and he asserted that Vogelsong is now the ace of the staff — the guy he’d give the ball to for that vaunted “big game” (that would never exist since pitching rotations are rarely augmented in any way other than to pitch a guy on three days rest every once in a while).

Although it’s probably a cheap shot to blame Radnich, since I wrote this doozy of a love letter a few days ago to Vogelsong and his Cy Young qualifications after his 22nd start of at least six innings in a row, and we all know that Gary reads this site.

Stolen BASGs

– Even when Vogelsong tries to brush off a bad start, you can tell how much it still bothers him:

– You know it’s a bad night for the pitching staff when Kurt Suzuki collects three hits, including a double with the bases loaded. Before the game, some woman in an A’s jersey walked around with a sign reading “We miss you, Suzuki” (or something Suzuki-related, anyway … I admit I wasn’t paying close attention). What was weird was that she walked by the press box, staring at all of us with this weird smile before the game. It was like she knew!

– If I were her I would’ve been carrying the same sign, only about Gio Gonzalez. I can’t believe I ever thought Gonzalez and Jonathan Sanchez were similar pitchers. A pox on my blog!

– Can we all just stop pretending we ever liked F.P. Santangelo now that he’s a Nationals color commentator? I’m not sure which Cumulus executive heard that the Bay Area loves cocky, chemically enhanced former outfielders talkin’ sports from 7-10 pm, maybe the same one who decided gutting KGO was a smart move that the audience would get behind wholeheartedly.

– The majority of fans had left by the 9th inning, but there were still enough people in AT&T Park to create a pretty loud ovation for Pablo Sandoval’s first at-bat since July 24. Sandoval will start tomorrow, and now the question is who’ll sit: Theriot (whose defense was pretty Therrible Thonight), Marco Scutaro (who had a pretty rough night himself at third, although nowhere near as bad as Theriot’s night at second) or Brandon Belt. My guess: Theriot sits.*

– I can’t believe the Giants weren’t charged with an error during this game, just on principle.

– Brandon Crawford’s homer into the arcade was almost as pretty as his flowing, lustrous mullet. Alright, I’d better wrap up this post ASAP…

– Spoiler: this “Brad Penny” thing probably won’t work out in the end.

– The Giants’ promotional team is second to none, but maybe they should make Frank Sinatra Night a one-time thing.

* Belt’s totally getting benched.