SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Just before the tarp was removed before the game, Barry Zito emerged from the Giants dugout and circumnavigated it by shuffling from side to side, sprinting, swiveling his hips and running backward - his punishment for losing to Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain in a spirited rain-delay contest of tossing sunflower seeds into drink cups.
After this trip, they will be good enough to go pro in seed-tossing. The Giants have endured 7 hours, 44 minutes of delays, including an idiotic 84-minute delay before the first pitch Saturday night that began under sunny skies as the Marlins anticipated a storm.
The rain finally came in the fifth inning, nearly three hours after the game should have started, and stopped just in time for the final out of a 5-4 loss that snapped the Giants' three-game winning streak.
Aaron Rowand hit a two-out, two-run single in the ninth, but Leo Nuñez struck out Edgar Renteria with two aboard to end it.
"Despite all the delays, they're still fighting," manager Bruce Bochy said. "But, no question, it wears on a club, that many times."
Bochy made a little news after Andres Torres hit a two-run double against Andrew Miller. Bochy said struggling Fred Lewis will not be an automatic in left field every night. Bochy now will choose among Lewis, Torres and Nate Schierholtz.
"Sure," Bochy said, "we're looking for someone to take that outfield spot, where we can use some production. We tried to get Freddie going. Now, we're at the point where it's going to be competitive. We're going to go with whoever we think is going to be the best matchup that day. We'll see who steps up and takes it."
This is a good time to make that assessment. The Giants completed one-third of their season Saturday at 28-26, on pace for an 84-78 finish, or 12 wins better than last year. One pitcher who has struggled is Jonathan Sanchez, who fell to 2-5 after allowing five runs in 42/3 innings. He wheezed through a scoreless, 28-pitch first inning, allowed a whole bunch of doubles, then left trailing 3-2 in the fifth and watched Justin Miller allow a two-run double by Ronny Paulino that brought two more of Sanchez's runners home.
Paulino really got to sock it to his "old team." Remember, he was a Giant for about 3 hours in March when the Giants got him from Philly in the Jack Taschner deal, then flipped him to Florida for a pitching prospect.
Unlike Lewis, Sanchez is not in danger of losing his job. Bochy said he and general manager Brian Sabean have not discussed removing Sanchez from the rotation, and Bochy thought Sanchez threw more "quality strikes" Saturday.
Sanchez agreed, saying he was in the zone with fastballs, sliders and changeups.
There were two positive developments for the Giants.
Rowand singled in the sixth inning to extend his hitting streak to 16, matching his career high and coinciding with his switch to leadoff.
Slumping Bengie Molina crushed two Andrew Miller pitches a combined 830 feet. One was a 430-foot out to center, the other a double that started a two-run rally.
The Giants might have done more with some patience against a starter with a 4.76 ERA and 1.68 WHIP. Instead, they hacked during the first three innings as if they were late for a hot-tub party with the Marlins cheerleaders, and went down on six, eight and nine pitches.
From: MLB.com
 San Francisco (28-26) Lost 1 | Florida 5, San Francisco 4 |  Florida (27-30) Won 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 6/6/09 | Recap: SF | FLA | Wrap | Gameday |
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