There is no need to call your newspaper repairman. Do not adjust your boxscore. It is correct, strangely correct, and for the Giants, beautifully correct.
They indeed defeated Greg Maddux for the first time in more than five years Friday night. They throttled him for seven runs in five innings, the most Maddux has allowed in any of his 54 regular-season games against the Giants.
Bengie Molina homered and drove in four runs to raise his RBI count to 92, and Pablo Sandoval doubled twice and drove in a pair in the Giants' 7-1 victory before a sellout crowd of 55,589 at Dodger Stadium. Hoping to inch closer to the National League West title, Los Angeles instead remained 3 1/2 games ahead of Arizona.
"He has had his way with us," manager Bruce Bochy said of Maddux, using "us" loosely. The last time Maddux had lost to the Giants, Felipe Alou was their first-year manager. "We had some good at-bats. The guys really played very well offensively and they ran the bases well. It was a well-played game."
Not to be forgotten was Barry Zito (10-16), who carried a shutout into the eighth inning and reached double-digit wins for the eighth consecutive season. He lasted 72/3 innings, allowed a run, walked one and struck out six in the kind of performance that idealizes what the Giants want to see consistently from the $126 million left-hander.
Maddux was a sprite 37-year-old when he last lost to the Giants, in Atlanta, on May 9, 2003. To place that date in context, one day earlier a San Francisco scout had gotten a 16-year-old third baseman from Venezuela to sign a contract.
It was Sandoval.
Ending the Maddux stranglehold was not that big a deal for the Giants, most of whom have been around only a year or two.
"I don't think we were thinking about Maddux for what he's done to us," Molina said. "We got beat four times in Arizona. They were very, very tough losses. I think we just came out to try to win a game."
Maddux shrugged off the whole Giants angle and was more concerned with the effect his beating had on the division race.
"You hate to tip your cap this time of year," he said, "but they hit some decent pitches and a few mistakes."
Sandoval's first-inning double fell into the "decent pitches" category. It was a foot off the plate and with Randy Winn running from first, Sandoval extended his bat and rolled it past third base, setting up Molina's two-run single. Molina's swing produced more runs against Maddux than the Giants scored in five of his previous seven starts against them.
Winn scored easily, but Sandoval had to dance around catcher Danny Ardoin's tag. Sandoval hurt his left quadriceps in the maneuver and left the game after eight innings. His status for tonight is questionable.
Sandoval's second hit, with two outs in the fifth, was a catchable flyball that became a double when Manny Ramirez twisted and turned like an insomniac in bed as he went back to chase it. It landed over his head and two runs scored.
With the inning extended, Molina skied his 15th homer into the seats in left-center to give the Giants a four-run inning and an almost unthinkable 7-0 lead against Maddux.
Sandoval has not been cowed by good pitchers, including a 354-game winner.
"I'm just going to keep doing what I do," he said, "see the ball and swing. I've hit tough guys in the big leagues like Brandon Webb and Greg Maddux. I feel comfortable against them."
Zito was exceptionally sharp and rarely tested until Pablo Ozuna homered with one out in the eighth to end the shutout. Achieving 10 wins, particularly after his 0-8 start, is an accomplishment.
"It's actually been a great season for all the things that I've learned, things in my personal life that affected me that I've changed," he said, without elaborating. "Those things are valuable. You don't learn from success. You learn from pain and failure. If I can come back a stronger man and have more resiliency in the years to come, I'd definitely cherish this season."
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