Great insight, OMT. Giants are still my pick to win the West. Alou starting to get his timing down, as you noted. Felipe always seems to plug guys in and be competitive, his Expos teams always played with heart. Schmidt got an extra days rest this time around. Durham is dinged up a bit, but nothing serious.
They just need to stay in it till Bonds gets back. I don't see anyone running away with it, believe Zona and LA will fade as the year goes on, which leaves SD and SF to battle it out.
On the Zona side, they come in hot also, Ortiz looks decent so far. He hasn't fared well vs. his former club, though. A few of the SF bats have hit him historically (Snow, Tucker. Matheny, Grissom).