You really can't start worrying yet.

Seriously. It's just as reactionary as getting all hyphy 'cause your team jumped out to a hot start. Admit it: If the Giants were cruising through the first few weeks of the season, you'd be all over Twitter and the blog comments talking nonstop smack about how the Boys were on their way to a repeat and y'all better watch out! And if they were barely scraping by like the, ahem, Red Sox Nation, you'd be paging Chicken Little and devising new and exciting ways to kill yourself... slowly. But everybody regresses or progresses to their natural mean at some point. Everybody's gonna win 60 games. Everybody's gonna lose 60 games. It's what you do with the 42 in between that counts.

IMHO, over the 2011 season's first 20 games, the Giants have played 6 of the Middle 42, and they're 4-2 in those games:

124 down. 38 to go.

Some quick hits before Breakfast with the Giants...

> It was shaping up pretty nice for Timmay after three, but Randy's Revenge really shook him up. It may have taken an inning to catch up to him, but he got rattled. He went from that steely eyed, overconfident bundle of limbs to the sweaty ball of goo that's taken the mound oh too many times of late. According to the kid, he's on track, feeling better out there, more in control. But the results just don't show it. I can't stress this enough: Every projection of the Giants' season hinges on Tim Lincecum being Tim Lincecum. If he's not, nothing else matters...

> It seemed like P-Happy was all over the place last night for the Cardinals. A run-scoring triple that easily could've been scored a double with an error on Pat Burrell, but I'm not gonna complain about that one. An RBI single off Mota late in the game to seal the deal. Then there was Pedro's glove. He's got such soft hands. He always has. Even when he was barely hitting above the Mendoza line for us, he could always play the field. Yeah, I guess it's safe to say I miss the bastard...

> Don't need to call me a jinxer. I know it. I write a feature on Pablo and 12 hours later, he goes out and puts up an 0-fer-4 — and leaves 4 men on base in the process. Dagnabbit, Panda...

> For the first time, I had the laptop propped open during a road game, watching the Gameday of Padres at Brewers while the Giants telecast played out on my 47" HDTV.  The Pads game was a little more of a contest, so my attention was drawn to my 17" MacBook Pro. I imagine it'll be like this the rest of the way, especially when I'm in France in a few weeks. More to come on that...

Barry Zito will be Baked Zitti today in the St. Louis heat.

123 down. 39 to go.

I've said it before, but so much in baseball can hinge on one pitch. Last night, the pitch that stood out was the changeup low and out of the strike zone that Pablo Sandoval absolutely nutted into the Cardinals bullpen in right center. It didn't give the Giants a lead, but it did extend their lead. It was a solo shot, so Jake Westbrook avoided a crooked number. But in the context of the season, that pitch and the swing Sandoval put on it meant a whole heckuva lot. Baggs has already opined on the subject here, so I won't regurgitate his stats and observations. From the perspective of a fan who watches most of his games from the couch, it's clear that Pablo is slowly but surely becoming the Panda once again. In his last ten games, he's hitting over .300 with four jacks and five RBI. Two days ago, he laced his first homer from the right side of the plate since September '09. And last night, he fell behind 0-2, fought back to a full count, and crushed a pitcher's pitch outa the park. It's upsetting that his defense has seemingly waned as his offense has improved, but honestly, I'll take that trade off. The Giants have been among the best defensive teams in the league all year, and when they score four runs, they're virtually unbeatable. They're not a perfect team, so they have to distribute their resources as efficiently as possible. Am I ready to say that Kung Fu Pandamonium has returned? Not quite. Too small a sample size. But it's a nice sample nonetheless, and it's encouraging that it's happening at just the right time. As the pitching staff begins to tire in the season's final weeks, we'll need some offense to back them up. Sandoval, Sanchez, Burrell, Huff, Posey, and yes, even Guillen need to be on top of their respective games, because if we can't count on Timmy, we need to mash...

BTW...

> How freaking awesome was it to watch Madison Bumgarner go right after The Great Pujols? Albert progressively got a better look at MadBum's stuff, eventually blasting one out to deeeeeep left center after Andres Torres robbed him of a double at the centerfield wall. But Bumgarner stole the show tonight. I dare anyone to prove to me he's not the ace of the staff right now...

> Sergio Romo seems to have secured the eighth inning gig — for now. No telling if his mini-implosion last night will affect Bochy's late-inning choices, which are already due up for review with Jeremy Affeldt's return to a clean bill of health...

> The sequel to last night's Kung Fu Panda Redux was the Return of the Huff Daddy. Nice game for a guy who's my age yet looks twice as old. And according to Baggs, it was all my buddy Pat Burrell's fault. Be sure to check out the off-day story on these two and the blog that followed. Classic stuff...

> I don't know about you, but seeing Pedro Felíz in another uniform always makes me feel... grateful...

> I have no problem with José Guillen wearing the sacred No. 6, provided he produces with his bat and throws out at least a half a dozen guys trying to stretch singles into doubles. It's obvious his legs are not what they used to be, but that's nothing new for a Giant wearing the 6 jersey. I know I said some nasty things, but so far, so good for the newest Gigante...