SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
The Giants have sown the seeds of a good season by winning 13 of their last 20 games, although the parts of the country that watched them on Fox's broadcast Saturday would be challenged to understand how.
The Giants fouled Dodgers Stadium in an 8-0 loss. In a disappointing follow-up to Friday night's stellar win, they hit a baseball trifecta. They looked awful at the plate, on the mound and in the field, where in one case they literally kicked the ball around.
"We were off," manager Bruce Bochy said. "This was an ugly game for us everywhere. We didn't do too much right today. We know it. We're not going to win too many ballgames that way."
The good news for the Giants is a relative paucity of such games thus far. That does not make them any less painful to watch.
Eric Stults, who had not lasted six innings in any of his first five starts, four-hit the Giants for his second career shutout. In contrast, Jonathan Sanchez allowed five runs in five innings. He got little help behind him but buried himself with two walks that fueled a three-run Dodgers rally in the second inning.
Juan Pierre, a benchwarmer who became the starting left fielder with Manny Ramirez's suspension, had three hits and three RBIs.
The Giants have not been as bad defensively as some had predicted. But in falling to 3-3 on their trip, they fundamentally looked like bush leaguers.
It started at the very beginning, when Pierre led off with a comebacker that Sanchez deflected into very short left field. Pierre's single turned into a double when neither third baseman Juan Uribe nor shortstop Edgar Renteria went for the ball. Pierre scored on an Orlando Hudson single.
Fred Lewis could not make a diving catch on Juan Castro's run-scoring double in the second. Later in the inning, two runs scored as Lewis could not cut off Pierre's second hit, another double, and Aaron Rowand kicked the ball as he backed up the play.
Nobody can pin any part of this loss on Lewis. Those were tough plays he did not make. But he does seem to be having more trouble in left field this season. When asked if he was disappointed with his defense, he said, "I'm not disappointed. Why should I be? You bounce back every day."
Said Bochy, "He's working on it. That's all we can do, keep working on our defense."
In the fifth, the Giants caught Matt Kemp in a rundown between first and second after he singled home L.A.'s fifth run, but he returned safely to first base, which went uncovered. Bochy said Sanchez should have been there.
The coup de grace was Uribe bobbling a double-play ball in the eighth and retiring nobody for the Giants' second error. Three runs ensued.
Sanchez could not throw strikes, particularly with his offspeed pitches, and even took the blame for the poor defense, saying, "When you're wild, your defense is not ready."
These foibles looked even worse when cast against the spectacular glove work of Dodgers center fielder Kemp. Twice he robbed Randy Winn of extra bases with long running catches, the second with two runs on the line. Kemp then saved Stults' shutout in the ninth with an impossible-looking catch on Bengie Molina's gapper.
The best thing to say about the Giants on Saturday was that Tim Lincecum is pitching today with a winning trip on the line. The Giants also could capture a series in a place where they were swept last month to cap a 2-7 start that seems a distant memory, even in the wake of a stinker like Saturday's defeat.
From: MLB.com
 San Francisco (15-14) Lost 1 | LA Dodgers 8, San Francisco 0 |  LA Dodgers (22-10) Won 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 5/9/09 | Recap: SF | LAD | Wrap | Gameday |
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