SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
A Braves television camera scanned the Giants' dugout in the seventh inning Wednesday night and presented viewers across the South a portrait of glumness. The players and coaches on the screen looked whipped, as they should.
The Giants lost for the sixth time in seven games. While they have endured two worse runs this season, this one has a greater smell of hopelessness. Perhaps it was the sight of Tim Lincecum being whacked around in Atlanta's 4-2 victory.
Lincecum has started two of six games on this 1-5 trip and the Giants have lost both. If that does not create a line of sour faces in the dugout, what will?
Told of the TV image, catcher Bengie Molina said, "The way we played before and the way we're playing right now, you don't want to see that. We're not playing with the same intensity. We're not playing the same baseball that we were. That's what that (image) means. We're kind of worrying."
Manager Bruce Bochy does not see a problem with intensity. In fact, he said, "They're fighting till the end."
Indeed, the Giants scored their runs in the eighth and ninth innings after Jair Jurrjens held them to two Molina singles over the first seven.
In the eighth, Juan Uribe thought he had a home run off Jurrjens and lollygagged to first. He then had to be Usain Bolt running to second when the ball bounced off the wall - not a good look for a team playing as the Giants are. Uribe eventually scored on a Randy Winn infield hit. Singles by Nate Schierholtz and Travis Ishikawa in the ninth produced the second run.
In truth, the Giants were toast as soon as Yunel Escobar hit a three-run homer against Lincecum in the third inning to give Atlanta a 4-0 lead. The Giants have not rebounded from a three-run deficit to win this year, much less four.
When a reporter asked Molina if Atlanta's first-inning run put the Giants behind the 8-ball, he said sternly, "We need to learn how to come back if we want to play in the playoffs."
Postseason talk seems absurd now. The Giants have to win a game.
They need a jolt. Fans naturally hope it will come via trade, and team executive Bobby Evans said Wednesday, "We're talking to everybody." But the Giants can help themselves, too.
They need their two 50-RBI men, Molina and Pablo Sandoval, to start rolling together. Molina's stroke seems solid and he has hit his way into today's assignment catching Barry Zito. Bochy earlier said Eli Whiteside would catch. But Sandoval seems to be pressing and is 5-for-26 with one RBI in the second half.
The Giants also need to win almost all of the games Lincecum and Matt Cain start. On Wednesday, Lincecum took his third loss of the year and first in six career decisions against Atlanta.
The five-inning start was Lincecum's shortest since he went three on Opening Day and only the third time this season he did not finish six. He allowed four earned runs for only the third time in 2009. His fastball command was AWOL, which makes his nine strikeouts even more remarkable.
With two on and two outs in the third inning, Lincecum tried to throw a fastball low and away to Escobar. Instead, he threw it belt-high over the plate, and Escobar crushed it over the center-field fence for the first homer by a right-handed hitter against Lincecum this season.
"I was probably just rushing," Lincecum said. "Usually I try to take my time getting my rhythm down. You could tell I was fighting to throw quality pitches."
Still on break?
The Giants have played six games since the All-Star break, and won only one. Here's the breakdown:
Pirates 2, Giants 1: Loses in 14 innings, with S.F.'s only run scored on a Pittsburgh error.
Pirates 2, Giants 0: Great Zito starts are rare, so hurts to waste one.
Giants 4, Pirates 3: Cain is the stopper, but bullpen almost blows it.
Braves 11, Giants 3: This time, bullpen does blow it after quality start by Sanchez.
Braves 8, Giants 1: The fall of Sadowski.
Braves 4, Giants 2: Lincecum looks human, and that's scary.
 San Francisco (50-44) Lost 3 | Atlanta 4, San Francisco 2 |  Atlanta (49-46) Won 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 7/22/09 | Recap: SF | ATL | Wrap | Gameday |
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