If that is the case what a ride it's been

Then wheels and spokes started twanging off into the night.First, Tim Lincecum developed a back ailment and had to miss his start.Madison Bumgarner filled in admirably and gave the faithful a momentary reason to forget the larger implications of a missing Freak, but he was gone by the sixth. Subsequently, the bullpen caved under the pressure of minimal run support.Next up, Barry Zito tried to rebound from his first sincerely poor outing in quite some time.Unfortunately for Zeets, the Pads seem to have his number this year and Wednesday wasn't any different. Although the looping lefty wasn't horrible 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 K, 2 BB, and 1 HR he wasn't the same caliber of brilliant as we've seen over the course of the year (especially the second half).By the sixth, the new Barry was gone and again the minimal offense proved fatal.Ouch.Remember those warm fuzzies from the road trip Gone.Remember that momentum Adios.See those playoff tickets on the horizon Dwindling away to nothing.That's what dropping two of three to one of the worst teams in baseball will do to your psyche. Especially when one of the best home performers in all of Major League Baseball lays an egg on its own turf.Even after absorbing the two losses from San Diego, San Francisco only trails the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Detroit Tigers for "Best Home Record" honors.Even buoyed by the two wins, only the Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, and Baltimore Orioles have lost more games away from home than the Padres.I say again, ouch.All is not lost with a strong showing against the Bums and Rox in these next six games, the Giants can reassert themselves in the race for baseball's second season.But they need a healthy Lincecum. They need the offense to go back to being plain anemic rather than hideously pitiful They need the bullpen to batten down the hatches. They need just a smidgen of help from somebody else.Otherwise, this concluded series with the San Diego Padres could mark the beginning of the end.If that is the case, what a ride it's been. .

NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Procter & Gamble(PG.N) willsell $1 billion of floating rate notes on top of the company's$2 billion, two-part bond deal currently being marketed, abuy-side source looking at the deal said on Tuesday. Stocks Bonds Global Markets The floating rate notes are expected to price with a yieldspread of 25 basis points over the three-month London interbankoffered rate, the source said. The addition of the floating rate piece was made on reverseinquiry, meaning that investors contacted the joint leadarrangers showing interest in the tranche without it beingannounced. (Reporting by Tom Ryan; Editing by Tom Hals) Stocks Bonds Global Markets. article-body\">Since Strikeforce has opened up shop a countless number of MMA promotions have fallen by the wayside. The World Fighting Alliance, Bodog Fight, International Fight League, Pride Fighting Championship, EliteXC, K-1 Heroes, and Affliction are just a few of the MMA companies no longer running fight cards.\r\nFrom fiscal irresponsible to the inability to create their own stars that MMA fans would pay to see on a consistent basis are two of the main reasons so many MMA start-ups die on the vine.\r\nStrikeforce has done a lot of things right over the past three years.\r\nThe company, around as a kickboxing organization since 1985, has slowly increased the number of MMA cards it has promoted since they ran four in 2006.\r\n2007- 42008- 82009- 7-9\r\nAided by a steady television presence Strikeforce fights have aired on NBC late night, HDNet, and Showtime.\r\nThough largely a regional promotion with 17 of its first 22 events taking place in California, in 2009 Strikeforce has slowly began to make waves on the national scene.\r\nIn February 2009, Strikeforce acquired the video library as well as select fighter contracts from the defunct Pro Elite Inc (owners of the EliteXC fight brand).

The promotion also signed a three year broadcast rights agreement with the premium cable company Showtime, for up to 16 events per a year, with the option to produce four of those events on CBS at the national network's discretion.\r\nAugust was a huge month for Strikeforce as the promotion set a new MMA ratings record for Showtime with their broadcast of Carano vs Cyborg event on Aug 15. The telecast was the highest rated MMA event in the history of Showtime.\r\nMany industry insiders were surprised by the news that Strikeforce, not the UFC, had signed the number ranked heavyweight fighter in MMA Fedor Emelianenko in early August.\r\nStrikeforce for better or worse is now on the UFC's radar. UFC has already begun to launch subtle and not so subtle shots at its closest competitor. Counter programming, Public Relations campaigns and notable free agent signings have all been made by UFC with Strikeforce in mind.\r\nIn the quest for acquiring talent is where the two leading promotions have taken a different approach as of late. While the UFC has added what you would call MMA veterans with name recognition such as: Phil Baroni, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Frank Trigg. Strikeforce has shifted its focus to stock piling young MMA prospects.\r\nBloodyelbow has compiled full list of the latest signings by Strikeforce.

The argument could be made that middleweight Zak Cummings, welterweight Paul Bradley and lightweight Bryan Travers are the top American born MMA prospects at their respective weight classes: 185-155 lbs.\r\nA surprising move by Strikeforce over the past three plus years is the fact that the company has never chased downed any of the fighters occupying the lower weight classes. From featherweight down to flyweight, Strikeforce has stood on the sidelines and let the Zuffa owned WEC and Japanese promotions control all the MMA talent below 145 pounds.\r\nScouting and locking in young MMA prospects is the easy part. Promoting them and making them relevant in the eyes of the average MMA will be Strikeforce's next challenge moving forward as a MMA promotion.\r\nA few simple yes or no questions can be used as a simple gage to measure Strikeforce's health for 2010 and beyond as a MMA promotion:\r\nWill Strikeforce get one of their events on CBS\r\nWill Gina Carano continue to shift her focus to interests outside of the cage\r\nWill Strikeforce continue to use women's MMA as a way to differentiate them from the UFC\r\nCan Strikeforce and Dream co-exist while pushing their own agendas\r\nCan Strikeforce create stars out of their MMA prospects\r\nWill Fedor Emelianenko re-sign with Strikeforce after his three fight deal is complete The next several months will tell us if Strikeforce will be a long-term number two presence in the MMA game or if they will fade back into just a strong regional entity. There are many reasons why Strikeforce is one of the last big money promotions left standing, now they just have to continue give us grounds to believe that they will still be upright three years from now.\r\nThis article originally appeared at Uniting Locals Through MMA\r\nTommy Messano is the editor-in-chief of . His MMA articles have appeared on , , Fight Ground Magazine and a question or follow me at ","tags":{"name":"Fighting","permalink":"fighting","taggingscount":10323,"type":"Sport","id":14,"synonyms":null,"parentid":null,"newsletterenabled":false},{"name":"MMA","permalink":"mma","taggingscount":12358,"type":"League","id":24,"synonyms":"","parentid":14,"newsletterenabled":true},{"name":"Strikeforce","permalink":"strikeforce","taggingscount":424,"type":"Division","id":6894,"synonyms":null,"parentid":24,"newsletterenabled":false},{"name":"Opinion","permalink":"editorial","taggingscount":131592,"type":"Tag","id":7018,"synonyms":"","parentid":null,"newsletterenabled":false},"author":{"cachedpublicfilename":" ","permalink":"114047-tommy-messano","iscampusvoice":false,"isabozo":false,"onprobation":null,"isfacebookuser":false,"id":114047,"firstname":"Tommy","lastname":"Messano","iscolumnist":false},"priority":2,"feedarticleurl":null,"hasbeenstarrated":true,"userapproval":3,"id":252595,"showfull":true,"renderstrategy":"article","hitcount":428,"authorid":114047,"commentscount":9,"teaser":"San Jose, CA Hailing from San Jose, CA in the heart of Silicon Valley is where MMA's consensus No.