Giants lose to Dodgers 10-7

Andrew Baggarly - MercuryNews

The Giants paraded eight pitchers in a 10-7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night, none of whom is a lock for next season's bullpen.

In fact, some of them probably hastened their exit.

Jack Taschner issued two bases-loaded walks to snap a tie in the seventh inning, Manny Ramirez took curtain calls to chants of "MVP" after each of his two home runs, and the N.L. West-leading Dodgers won in front of a sellout crowd to reduce their magic number to five.

With the Arizona Diamondbacks winning and the N.L. West at stake, the 4-hour, 3-minute game was anything but a spring-training affair. But even split-squad games in Tucson aren't this ugly. The Giants issued 11 walks and they were 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position before pinch hitter Pablo Sandoval hit a bases-loaded double in the ninth.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy hopes for more timely hitting in 2009. But more than anything, he wants his pitchers to fix a bloated walks total that is one behind the Pittsburgh Pirates for the most in the league.

"Oh, no question,'' Bochy said forcefully. "We've got to pound the zone with quality strikes.''

The game might have been a preview of February for the Giants' bullpen, where only closer Brian Wilson and probably right-hander Sergio Romo can claim chairs.

Can the Giants find a dependable strike thrower among the rest?

"We've got a fine system here and we're trying to get them to throw strikes,'' Bochy said. "That's what we've got to work on the rest of the year and talk about in the winter and spring. You're going to get beat, but when you beat yourself, that's when it hurts.''

Sandoval didn't start because of a sore left quadriceps, and lacking his spark, the Giants' lineup returned to its dull and disposable ways. Yet the Giants rallied for a 5-5 tie without the benefit of an RBI hit. The Dodgers issued two bases-loaded walks; other runs scored on an error, a wild pitch and a groundout.

The Dodgers squandered a lead built on Ramirez's three-run home run and Matt Kemp's two-run shot. Both deep drives came off Brad Hennessey in the third inning, and they might have impacted more than the score.

The Giants' arbitration caseload has been light in recent years, but they'll have decisions to make on several players in a few months. Hennessey, Taschner, Kevin Correia and Tyler Walker are eligible for arbitration and the club could decide to cut them loose rather than tender contracts.

Hennessey gave himself a chance when he made consecutive solid starts, including a career-high eight innings last week at Arizona. But he sacrificed some snap on his slider while trying to improve his fastball command, and his stuff was too straight and tame to get past Ramirez and Kemp.

With the Giants in an early hole, Bochy pinch hit for Hennessey in the fourth.

After that, it became an open audition for 2009. Correia pitched a scoreless inning, but only because shortstop Omar Vizquel speared Ramirez's hard liner to strand two runners.

Keiichi Yabu tossed two scoreless innings, with third baseman Rich Aurilia making a diving stop behind him.

But Eugenio Velez couldn't make the play to support Walker in the seventh. With one out, the erratic second baseman let Kemp's grounder bounce off his chest, spoiling a chance at what would have been an inning-ending double play.

Velez flipped to second base for one out, the inning continued and Taschner entered to face left-handed hitter Blake DeWitt. The Dodgers sent up pinch hitter Nomar Garciaparra, who walked to load the bases. Taschner followed by missing on four pitches to Angel Berroa, the last one nearly wild, to force in the tiebreaking run.

Then Taschner battled Delwyn Young to a full count before the pinch hitter drew another walk.