There's a new energy radiating out of Oracle Park, and it smells a lot like lighter fluid.

Tony Vitello's Giants are starting to look like a team that actually wants to win — not just one going through the motions of a rebuild while front office types whisper about "process" and "development windows." The new skipper brought a fiery attitude from his college coaching days at Tennessee, and it appears to be contagious.

Case in point: closer Ryan Walker casually dismissing the reigning World Series champions as "just another baseball team." That's the kind of line that gets bulletin-boarded in opposing clubhouses — and it's exactly what this franchise needs.

For too long, the Giants have played the role of polite little brother in their biggest rivalries, tipping their cap to superior rosters while pointing to some vague future when things might get better. Vitello seems uninterested in that script. Good.

The bullpen, largely overlooked by national media and even some local commentators, has been quietly impressive. Walker and company have been shutting doors that previous Giants relief corps left wide open. It's not flashy. It doesn't sell jerseys. But games are won and lost in the sixth through ninth innings, and having arms that can hold leads is the difference between a team that competes and one that collapses.

Look, nobody's printing World Series tickets in the Sunset District just yet. The rivalry in question has been decidedly one-sided, and attitude alone doesn't close a talent gap. But attitude is the prerequisite. You can't outperform expectations if you've already accepted mediocrity.

Vitello's Giants aren't going to out-spend the mega-payroll juggernauts. But if they can out-compete them — if they can make opponents uncomfortable, make every series feel like a fight — that's a foundation worth building on. San Francisco deserves a team that plays with an edge, not one that plays for draft positioning.

Walker's right. They're just another baseball team. Now go prove it.