Yes, it's going to be that hard every night

You might go to bed before the game is over, thinking, "I hope they don't waste this Sanchez start."  You might wake up in the middle of the night wanting to walk to the computer or hop on your phone and check the score.  But waking up bright and early to find the Giants pulled it out and that the hero was amazingly, incredibly Daniel Ortmeier, is a sweeeeeeet way to wake up.  

That's usually going to be me on nights I've got the kid.  We head to bed around 9 to 9:30, put on "Bee Movie" for the 57th time or "Spongebob" or something, and I don't get to see the end.  Last night I was able to see the game into the seventh, when Valdez came on to bail out Sanchez in his only rough inning.  I actually had a dream about the ending.  A Hoffman save preserving a 0-1 Giants loss in which Jim Edmonds drove in the go-ahead run.  

Sanchez had probably his best game in the majors, striking out 10 and lowering his ERA by 9+ points.  Tyler Walker is still managing to get guys out, having more K's than hits allowed and a WHIP of .92.  Tasch: beard.  Valdez: stud.  And in a night of every guy having mattered - hmmm, actually every win is going to be like that - Ortmeier unloaded a shitpile of weight with his game-winner.  I think we've all been pulling for him, feeling the simultaneous mix of worry and dread and tempered optimism recognized by those who've witnessed the ascension and flailings of the J.R. Phillips and Lance Niekros and look at Aurilia at first base and want more.  So maybe Ortmeier's hit is the start of something bigger.  Oh, god I hope so.  

At 3-6 this might be the closest the team gets to .500 this season, but that doesn't matter.  These victories are multiplied in our minds, meaning more than the 2002 or 2005 version of me could have understood.  Those teams were supposed to win, and we were a spoiled group.  This team is supposed to blow, and real victories on top of moral ones bring a joy the old me only dreamt of.  Already I feel closer and more invested in these Giants than I ever did at any point during the Felipe Alou, post Kent era.