Where Have You Gone, Jack Thomas?

You just had to know that former mercenary Giant Jose Cruz, Jr., entering the series in a 3 for 37 slump, would hurt us before the series was over. He did, as did Sir Lance Berkman and Keiichi Yabu's throw to the ghost of J.T. Snow, leading to a late 7 runs for the Astros and a 7-3 margin.

Ugly loss in another game in which the Giants were in the driver's seat. Also disconcerting: after sitting for a week with forearm tightness, Merkin Valdez did not look like his dominant April self, setting the table for the decisive Houston rally in the eighth. Everyone send good vibes to the oft-injured Valdez.

Ugh.

Let's focus on the positives the rest of the way, shall we?

- By Zito's standards, a decent start: his first quality start of the year as well as his first no-decision - baby steps, people. As the 'Stros showed, Zito's a guy without an out pitch. To his credit, he's been a better pitcher in his last two starts. The Zit's heeding Rags' advice to pitch as if the extra 5 MPHs aren't coming back and in the process, he's looking eerily similar to Kirk Rueter: relying on changing speeds and location, throwing any pitch on any count from the arsenal of the 84MPH fastball, the change and the hook.

It's not pretty, but, as we are painfully aware, it could be much worse.

- Bowker's recent run of good hitting was lacking in much power until last night's fourth inning shot off Roy Oswalt. Most encouraging is that JB hit a pretty good curveball over the brick facade. And once again, man continues to show leather at his home of, oh, a few weeks at first. Guy's bounced back and is now looking like a big part of the future.

- As OBnB Godfather Jeremy pointed out, FLew lost the compact swing that served him well in April once he picked up a Splash Hit last homestand. Slump ensues as longswingitis sets in. Carney calls it, and Lewis started cooking again - another reason to like the new coach.

- And finally, I know I've been harping on his decline, but Vizquel has come back from the DL and has hit the ball hard. Even better, he's doing his best Jake Taylor as I spotted him giving pointers to Manny Burriss (who started at second) throughout the game. That's good stuff.