Oh well. It's a beautiful day.

Poor Matt Cain. All he does is pitch 2-hit ball into the 7th inning AND hit a home run himself and the Giants STILL can't close the deal for him? I mean, really, what can you say at this point?

The bullpen got ugly. Like Elephant Man ugly. Tyler Walker gave up 3 earned runs in one inning. Our main man Brad Hennessey gave up two in 1/3 of an inning. And so on.

ANYWAY, the frustration of blowing a 5-0 lead and losing aside, it was a truly beautiful day at the old ballyard. Around 80 degrees, bright sunshine, all that good stuff. I'm pleased to report that I was misinformed and that beers are, in fact, $8.25, not $9.25 as I was led to believe. $8.25 is still extortionate but somehow it doesn't sound as bad as $9.25, right?

Oh, and I don't want to forget a shout-out to JOHN BOWKER, who, in his very first big-league game, went 2 for 3 with a hit and a home run. Good job, John Bowker!

Moving on, I wasn't going to write anything about Obama's "stupid hicks who love guns and religion because they're too dumb to know any better" comment because it's just going to get beaten to death and we're all going to wish we'd never heard it, but, fuck it, I can't resist.

OK, let's break this shit down. Here's the quote, in all its elitist, Harvard, espresso, Volvo, NPR, library card glory:

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Two things occur to me about what he said: (1) It's indisputably true, and (2) Telling the truth is a really good way to lose an election. What he's actually saying is that when people get bitter, they take refuge in things like guns and religion and hating on Mexicans because those things are familiar and comforting and easy. No doubt, right? Yeah, it sounds like a swipe at religion, and I guess in a way it kinda is, but fuck, man, hasn't religion's big selling point for 2000 years been "We're here for you"?

Anyway, of course none of this matters and the freakshows on the far right (well, and Hillary Clinton, for that matter) are going to say this means that Obama is an elitist snob who thinks that religious people are stupid. Which might be true, but isn't what he was saying. Whatever.

MEANWHILE, back in San Francisco, it's about 75 today and sunny and if God hates us for being depraved sinners, he's doing a crappy job of communicating, because it appears to be one of the finest days you could ever hope for. Go outside and have some fun, sinners! See you later at the Black Mass for the baby sacrifice. Espresso and biscotti in the lobby afterwards, natch.