How quickly things return to normal

Yep those are our Giants. One night after pounding out in 19 hits in at 12-1 victory over Colorado, San Francisco was limited to just five hits and was shut out by Colorado 2-0 Wednesday evening at AT&T Park.

There are no hits in this stupid bat! (Getty Images)

Inconsistency appears to have taken up permanent residency beside McCovey Cove. It's been a familiar refrain for the Giants. On one night they pitch well but can't hit, on another night they hit but don't get the required pitching. Rare are the nights when they all come together. This was not one of those nights.

Jeff Samardzija pitched well but Colorado's Tyler Chatwood was better, probably because the Giants left their bats at home. They could have sent someone down to the Dugout Store for some of those little commemorative bats: at least the wouldn't have appeared to be totally unarmed. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

It was a chance for the Giants to put some distance between themselves and St. Louis in the battle for the final wildcard spot but again they spit the bit, threw their rider and jumped the rail. At 83-72 the Giants remain just a game in front of the slumping Cards. New York has a 1 1/2- game edge on the G-Men for the fourth spot and are ahead by just one n the loss column, but the way San Francisco has played of late, the chances of catching the Mets over the four remaining games seem Iggy Pop slim.

Going into Tuesday's contest it appeared the Giants might have finally found their offense; 19-hit games will spark some hope. But we've seen this all too often in 2016. There are flashes of the team we saw through 90 games, but the hangover is often far worse than the rave. 

The Rockies broke on top in the third, and of course Nolan Arenado figured into it. The perennial thorn in the Giants' side fisted a Samardzija fastball back up the middle to score Carlos Gonzalez, who had reached base on a double off the left-field wall.

Samardzija earned a measure of revenge in the sixth, getting Arenado on a double play to end the inning and escape a tricky situation. After a walk to Charlie Blackmon, Carlos Gonzalez stroked a bouncer back up the middle that Brandon Crawford was in perfect position to field. Crawford had broken to second base with Blackmon going on the  pitch. Crawford lost his footing trying to reach back against his own momentum and ball bounded into center field for a single, putting runners at the corners before the double play in the ending.

The Shark didn't fare as well an inning later. Back-to-back hits leading off the seventh pushed home the second Colorado run and chased Samardzija from the game. In his 6-plus innings of work, he scattered seven hits but struck out 11 before yielding to Steven Okert. An outing like that deserved better but once again the Giants offense lent Samardzija no support.

Chatwood made few mistakes but opened the door to the Giants with a four-pitch walk to Brandon Belt starting off the bottom half of the seventh. Buster Posey immediately grounded into the 5-4-3 rally killer and Hunter Pence struck out. Door closed.

Just so you know, we're not gonna score tonight. Sucks to be you. (Getty Images)

Okert pitched into the eighth, leaving  with one down and runners at the corners. Hunter Strickland battle out of it, getting a non-routine pop-up to short and a fly out sandwiched around a semi-intentional walk.

Chatwood repeated his four-pitch lead-off walk bit in the eighth, this time issuing the free pass to Crawford. And the Giants upheld their part of the instant replay with Angel Pagan grounding into the double play. Joe Panik lined to short for the third out, providing some variety to entertain the masses.

Will Smith mowed down the Rockies in the ninth, giving the Giants one last opportunity with three outs to go. Chatwood was gone, finally giving way to veteran reliever Boone Logan. 

Kelby Tomlinson greeted him warmly, that is if you consider getting torched to be warm. Tomlinson lined a 3-1 pitch to the wall in left for a leadoff double, bringing the tying run to the plate with nobody out. It was the sixth time in the ball game and the third inning in a row in which the Giants put the leadoff man on base.

Gorkys Hernandez and Denard Span  followed with strikeouts while Thomlinson remained firmly glued to second base. Bekt was the Giants'  last hope and he grounded a Logan offering between first and second. A diving stop by Justin Morneau at 1B kept the ball from going through but Logan failed to cover the bag and the Giants had runners at the corners for Posey.

The miscue cost Logan his spot on the diamond and he exited in favor of Adam Ottavino. Alas, the storybook ending was not to be. Posey grounded out to Arrenado at third, and the Giants were done, growing every closer to achieving the same conclusion on for this campaign.

At least it's easy to list the offensive heroes from this one. Span, Belt, Pence, Gillespie and Tomlinson had one hit apiece, with Tomlinson's the only one to go for extra bases.

With the mulligans all used up, the Orange and Black will send a gimpy Johnny Cueto (17-5, 2.69 ERA) out on Thursday for the series (and season) finale against the Rockies. Colorado counters with John Gray (10-9, 4.54). 

- box -