Maybe a real pirate put a curse on the Giants. Yeah, that's it, a curse. He came to China Basin to watch a game and was told he could not bring his parrot into the stadium. So he skulked away, returned to his ship and cursed the Giants through all eternity.
Can you think of a more plausible explanation for why the Giants cannot beat the Pittsburgh Pirates? Yeah, the Giants are not very good. But the Pirates have not had a winning season since the Barry Bonds administration.
But they have beaten the Giants 14 times in their last 16 games and seven in a row in San Francisco. A team that ended August with 10 straight losses continued to torment the Giants on Friday night, winning 7-0. The squads now share 60-80 records.
"For some reason with this club, it goes south in a hurry in all aspects," reliever Jack Taschner said. Asked if the Giants were tired of getting beaten up by this perennial second-division team, Taschner said, "We're tired of getting beaten up by anybody."
In this episode of "Aaaaargh!" every Pirate had at least one of the team's 15 hits while the Giants were blanked on six hits by Zach Duke, who not only was 4-13 but had lost nine straight decisions since last winning June 9. He got his first complete game since August 2006.
But a careful examination of Duke's record reveals one of his four 2008 wins came against the Giants. It all makes sense now.
The Giants' best chance to forestall their 80th loss was in the third inning, when they loaded the bases with nobody out. The rally ended on consecutive swings by Bengie Molina, who grounded into a home-to-first double play, and Pablo Sandoval, who grounded out. Molina's double play was his 22nd of the year.
Even a mild earthquake that nudged the stadium in the seventh inning could not shake the Giants out of their stupor. Maybe another visit from Bonds will. The Giants are expecting Bonds to attend Orlando Cepeda's statue dedication today. The last time he showed, when the Giants honored their outfielders of the past, they beat the Dodgers in extra innings.
On Friday night, the Giants would have settled for a sacrifice fly, like the four Pittsburgh had, the most ever allowed in a game by a San Francisco team.
Duke did keep the ball down and make some pitches, but shortstop Emmanuel Burriss said, "It wasn't so much what he was doing than what we weren't doing. We didn't seem to stick to our approach. We kept doing the same stuff. We didn't adjust. Next thing you know, we're down and he's cruising."
Kevin Correia took the loss and was frustrated because he said his arm, which was tired in Cincinnati last time, felt as strong as it had all season.
Aaron Rowand had his worst game as a Giant. He slipped while chasing what became an RBI double by Adam LaRoche for Pittsburgh's first run and crashed into the center-field fence with a huge thud in failing to catch Brandon Moss' two-run triple against Taschner in the seventh, a ball Rowand might have overrun as it hit the base of the fence. That gave Pittsburgh a 5-0 lead.
When Rowand struck out for the second time to complete an 0-for-4 night, he flung his helmet, bat and shin guard in disgust.
The Pirate with the best night was catcher Ryan Doumit, who had four hits.
Asked about Pittsburgh's dominance, Correia was at a loss.
"We don't play these guys that often," he said. "They seem to put the ball in play. I couldn't get them to swing and miss. They put the ball in spots we just couldn't get to. If we get to some of those balls, it's a different ballgame. It doesn't seem to go that way when we play these guys."
Friday marked the first home game for Nate Schierholtz, who showed off his Olympic bronze medal in the clubhouse. Manager Bruce Bochy said Schierholtz earned the start against the left-hander Duke with his 4-for-5 game in Colorado on Wednesday, which included a hit against a lefty. On Friday, he went 1-for-4.
Fred Lewis, coming off a 1-for-18 trip, got the night off.
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