Mercury News
Maybe the Giants made a devil's bargain for all those baseballs that Barry Bonds pounded over the palm trees at old Jack Murphy Stadium.
Or maybe the San Diego Padres have an airtight scouting report on the Giants, and their pitchers are following it to the letter.
Or maybe fish tacos enhance performance.
Comic or cosmic. Whatever the reason, the Giants simply cannot beat their thrifty neighbors to the south. There comes a point when frustration becomes farce, but nobody was laughing after Monday night's 3-1 loss at Petco Park.
It bears emphasizing: The Giants are 0-7 against the Padres and 21-9 against everyone else.
Frustrating, a radio reporter asked losing pitcher Matt Cain?
"Does that really need to be asked?" Cain said. "It's obvious. We need to win. We've got to win."
Chase Headley hit a tiebreaking single off Cain in the fifth inning, and the Giants were unable to rally. Their offense tallied just four hits off left-hander Clayton Richard and two relievers.
The Giants have scored nine runs in seven losses to the West Division-leading Padres, all closely contested affairs.
"The games have been very similar," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "They're pitching a little better, and we're not hitting. It's pretty simple. "... We've been in every game and come up short. The only way it's going to turn is to swing the bats a little better."
After finishing this two-game series today, the Giants and Padres won't renew acquaintances until Aug. 13. Then they will pack in 10 more games against each other down the stretch. Maybe they will match up differently in late summer. Maybe the cash-strapped Padres will have traded Adrian Gonzalez and the Giants will have acquired another hitter or two. Maybe the Padres won't be so fortunate to continue missing Tim Lincecum's start. But for now, what's a frustrated skipper to do? Pull the lineup out of a hat? "Yeah, I know it's been done," Bochy said. "But we're in the thick of things. I don't think now is the time to start doing that." Every Giants mistake is a back-breaker against the Padres, and it was no different this time. Cain missed his outside target with an 0-2 fastball that Gonzalez pounded for a solo home run in the first inning. After Headley put the Padres ahead, they added a run in the seventh when Sergio Romo threw a bases-loaded pitch that plunked Kyle Blanks, who is in an 0-for-26 rut with 13 strikeouts. In case you were wondering, since 1969, when the Padres sprang into being, neither team has swept a season series from the other. The Giants lost 11 of 13 to the Padres in 1996. And thanks largely to a torrent of Bonds home runs, the Giants destroyed the Padres for a 14-5 record each season from 2001-03. As if it mattered, the Giants entered this series as the hot team. They swept the Houston Astros last weekend while the Padres fell cold at home and lost three games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants managed a run in the fourth when Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina and Juan Uribe strung together singles. As usual, San Diego had the final answer. David Eckstein reached on a single that glanced off third baseman Sandoval, moved up on a one-out walk to Gonzalez and scored on Headley's single. Closer Heath Bell's ninth inning was interrupted twice when fans ran onto the field. But after giving up a leadoff double to Aubrey Huff, he struck out Uribe and pinch hitter Eugenio Velez. Nate Schierholtz flied out to end it. The Giants thought they caught a break before the first pitch, when the Padres put Giants killer Scott Hairston on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. But this season, the Padres do not lack for heroes. Not against the Giants, anyway.
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