And the hits keep on coming (just not for the Giants)

As a fan you never want to say "never", especially with 42 games to play. But it would appear that the Giants, who squandered a 6 1/2-game lead in the division and saw their play actually get worse as the pressure had mounted, are done.

It's not fair to say Matt Cain got shelled in Wednesday's 6-5 loss to Pittsbugh. The Pirates would have had to swing the bats to make that the case. Instead the Bucs got all of their runs in a nightmare fifth inning, needing just two hits to erase a 4-0 San Francisco lead and send the Giants to their 21st loss in 30 games.

Snap out of it!

Put together with LA's 7-2 win at Philly, the Giants fall 1 1/2 games out of first place and are tied with St. Louis for the first wild card spot -- and their recent level of play makes the wild card seem like a pipe dream.

This is a tale of teams going in opposite directions. The Dodgers have won 7-of-10 while the Giants' mark is the exact opposite over that span. Set to face wild card contender New York four four games before heading out to LA for a three-game showdown next week, the time to turn it around is now or the Giants can start making other October plans. 

Unfortunately the team shows little sign of life and management has no answers. We're not saying it's been bad since the second half began, That's generous. This has been a disaster. The Giants have won just one series and have been swept three times thanks to Wednesday's fiasco. It was the season in microcosm. They were great early, the pitching blew up in the middle, and in the latter stages the Giants just couldn't get out of their own way.  

A pair of RBI extra-base hits by Brandon Crawford helped the Giants to an early 4-0 lead and Cain cruised through the first four innings, He'd struck out four and allowed one hit; then came the fifth when he single-handedly sunk his team.

Cain hit David Freese with a pitch to open the frame then followed up with consecutive walks to John Jaso, Jordy Mercer and backup catcher Eric Fryer; the later pushing a run across. Talk about a rally for free. The faithful had seen this before. Cain (like Jake Peavy, Jeff Samardzija and most of the Giants pitching staff) can't stay away from the big inning. While the Giants struggle for crooked numbers, the opposition piles on like this was a sick and demented game of Twister. 

As fans in the stands, fans at home, and probably the ghost of Christy Matthewson were screaming for Cain's removal, the Giants bench was slow to the draw. Matt Joyce cut the lead to one with a two-run single and Josh Harrison’s sacrifice fly tied the game. With Cain still inexplicably in the contest, Andrew McCutchen lined a two-run homer to left that gave Pittsburgh a 6-4 lead and mercifully ended Cain’s day.

Manager Bruce Bochy was made to look that much more ridiculous when the shaky bullpen managed to blank the Bucs the rest of the way. San Francisco didn't do much better, putting up empty frame after empty frame. But as they had an night earlier the Giants mounted a ninth-inning rally that was enough to get the fan's hopes up; making the eventual failure just that much more crushing.

The Giants loaded the bases with nobody out and had their best hitter at the plate. A single ties the score and something in the gap wins it. With nobody out a fly ball puts you a run down and in good shape. Posey hit into a double play. One run scored and the equalizer stood at third, but with two down it would take a hit or miscue to score the run. Neither came to pass as Crawford flied out to end it.

Posey slides home; one of the few bright spot. (Getty Images)

After showing some life in two starts against the Nationals, Cain has allowed 11 runs in 8 2/3 innings on this home stand. He's emblematic of a team that has run out of gas and lost directions to the local Chevron. The Giants probably weren't as good as the record indicated though 90 games and they certainly aren't 9-21 bad now. But they're playing an uninspired brand of baseball that isn't likely to produce a pennant run.

Fans keep waiting for this team to clip the switch and apparently so will management, which has done little to bail the boat. That may be a good thing as evidence begins to mount that current GM Bobby Evans may be in over his head.

Matt Duffy and three prospects are gone, replaced by Matt Moore's 0-3 mark and non-factor Will Smith. Of the off-season acquisitions, only Johnny Cueto has paid off and he's struggling. Samardzija is quickly becoming a liability while Denard Span is ... is Span still on the team? We hadn't noticed.

Of course, injuries always play a role but the Giants were performing better when Hunter Pence and Joe Panik toiled on the shelf. Something doesn't add up, and that missing ingredient hasn;t been identified by anyone tasked with doing so.

The final act of a 10-game home stand gets going on Thursday, and the Giants will need to sweep the Mets to break even. One game as a time, right? Madison Bumgarner (11-7, 2.11 ERA) gets the ace's task of stopping the slide against New York's Jacob deGrom (7-5, 2.30 ERA).

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