The Giants have had a habit this season of playing smart baseball on the road only to come home and look out of sorts, not to mention out of their league.
Tuesday night's 6-0 loss to the Florida Marlins might go down as the stinker of all their homecoming games this year. The Giants mustered two hits against Ricky Nolasco, who might have taken a no-hitter into the ninth inning if not for a scoring decision.
Nolasco settled for his first career complete game and shutout. Moreover, he ended Florida's string of 301 games without a complete game, a major-league record.
Until pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval hit a clean double past third base with one out in the ninth, the only hit against Nolasco had been a first-inning single by Randy Winn on a grounder that skipped off first baseman Mike Jacobs' glove into right field as he knelt to grab it backhanded.
Official scorer Chuck Dybdal ruled it a single after watching the replay, but Jacobs said he should have gloved it.
"It wasn't that hard of a play," Jacobs said. "I was kind of surprised they gave it a hit."
If the Marlins spent eight innings in their dugout talking about it, the Giants did not. They had other problems - many, many problems.
"I can understand it was a debatable call," manager Bruce Bochy said, "especially when the guy's got a no-hitter in the ninth. But that's not what's important. We got beat tonight. We didn't play well. When you've got more errors than hits, it's not a good night."
The Giants committed a season-high four errors, all by rookie infielders and two by first baseman Travis Ishikawa that each led to an unearned run against Kevin Correia.
In a tryout year such as this, when the Giants stick more kids in uniform than the Cub Scouts, the team invariably will look awful on some nights. Sometimes the biggest victim is the starting pitcher. So it was for Correia, who had three errors behind him and also allowed a couple of teeth-grinding bloop hits in a three-run fifth inning.
Correia's only real sin in his seventh loss was a fastball that Nolasco, an .093 hitter, lined into the left-field corner for a two-out, two-run double and a 5-0 lead. Correia cursed himself off the mound for that hit. As for all the bloops and errors, Correia essentially said, "Stuff happens."
"As a starting pitcher, you could always have done something better to have a different outcome, unless you throw a perfect game," he said. "You're not going to get better blaming it on other guys. There's always something you can do to keep improving, even if the year is not going the way you expected."
Once Sandoval doubled to quash any what-ifs about a no-hitter, the only debate was which Marlin had the most fun. Was it Nolasco, who had the complete game? Or catcher John Baker, who had three hits and reached base all five times in his first big-league game back "home."
Baker was born in Alameda, attended Concord's De La Salle High, married a girl from neighboring Carondelet High, went to Cal and still lives in Danville.
"Oh, man, it was awesome," Baker said. "I was a big Giants and A's fan. I was 8 when they played in the World Series. I loved Will Clark, but I also liked the A's. In '94, when the Giants re-signed Robby Thompson and didn't sign Clark, I developed a strong hatred for the Giants. Then I got drafted by the A's."
Every time Baker batted Tuesday, he was cheered by a rooting section with shrill screams that were hard to miss on a night when a good chunk of the 33,098 fans who bought tickets elected to stay home.
Baker reached on the second of Ishikawa's two errors, hitting a grounder that went through the first baseman's legs as he ranged right to field it. Ishikawa came to San Francisco with a strong defensive reputation and looked sharp at the position when the Giants were on the road. Alas, they came home, where bad things always seem to happen.
"There's no concern with him. Believe me," Bochy said of Ishikawa. "He's a very good defensive first baseman."
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