DUGOUT: A downward spiral for the San Francisco Giants

Two weeks of baseball remain on the regular season schedule, yet there are virtually no divisional races to keep our attention.

Through Sunday, 13 teams had been eliminated from their respective divisions, with all but the Minnesota Twins having a “magic number” higher than 10.

True, the AL Central divisional race has the potential to be exciting, but that’s largely because the division — being mired in mediocrity — has no chance at a wild card berth, meaning the division-leading Detroit Tigers have nothing to fall back on should the Twins surpass them.

The AL Central race may be the closest, but with Detroit just nine games over the .500 mark, it’s also largely irrelevant. The Twins and Tigers are, in effect, battling for the right to lose to the Yankees in the first round of the postseason.

San Francisco Giants’ fans were in the midst of a postseason run a few weeks ago, but poor execution and an awful offense have doomed them to the point of near-elimination. Before Monday’s game, the Giants’ magic number was four, meaning as soon as the number of ensuing Los Angeles Dodgers victories and Giants defeats add up to four, San Francisco will have no chance to win their division.

Not that they ever really had a chance. The Dodgers have been an outstanding baseball team this year, and were 30 games over .500 after beating Tim Lincecum this weekend. The Dodgers hadn’t been 30 games over .500 in 24 years.

The Giants suffer from a disease that is difficult to cure, yet simple to diagnose. They boast the worst offense in the National League as well as the second-best pitching staff in the league. (The best pitching staff, incidentally, comes from the Dodgers.)

The Giants can proudly claim that they own the arms of Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Brad Penny (even Barry Zito has been pitching well), but they are also forced to admit that just one player on their team has a batting average over .300.

The mainstream media may claim that pitching is 90 percent of baseball, but according to the Giants, a semi-reliable batting order is also a fairly significant element in the recipe of success.

Lincecum, Cain, and Penny have combined for an ERA of 2.67, while the Giants’ three-four- and five-hitters have combined for a batting average of just .283. The Giants seemed to realize that they couldn’t hide their atrocious offense behind their brilliant starting pitchers forever, and it is starting to catch up with them.

San Francisco was four-and-a-half games behind the Colorado Rockies for the NL Wild Card, and is slipping fast.

To make matters wrose, on Sunday, the Giants learned that their most prized prospect, Angel Villalona, was the prime suspect in a murder. Villalona, 19, signed out of the Dominican Republic a few years ago but suffered an injury midway through the season. The murder allegedly took place in a Dominican Republic bar, and Villalona turned himself in on Sunday. The maximum amount of time he could spend in prison is 20 years.

He is innocent until proved guilty, and I obviously hope Villalona’s name is cleared from this tragic incident.

This is also a very tough blow for the Giants. San Francisco started scouting Villalona as a 15-year-old phenom, and signed him in 2006 with a $2.1 million signing bonus. The Giants have countless hours and millions of dollars invested in this baseball prodigy.

The Giants are emerging from the protective wing of their starting rotation with their largely inept, free-swinging offense in clear view. Only time will tell if San Francisco is able to emerge from this latest tragedy with minimal damage.

They may be close to elimination, but there are two weeks of baseball left. Anything can happen.

Andrew Kneeland is a junior at the Arizona Virtual Academy. He is an intern at the Green Valley News.