Mercury News
The Giants were supposed to win with pitching and defense. Lately, the pitching hasn't performed up to par.
And come to think of it, the defense isn't looking so good, either.
Second baseman Mike Fontenot botched a routine ground ball, another single sneaked past the suddenly statuesque left side of the Giants' infield, and Jimmy Rollins ensured that the Phillies made the most of the fourth-inning opportunity.
Rollins broke open the game with a three-run home run, sending Matt Cain and the reeling Giants to an 8-2 loss at Citizens Bank Park Wednesday night.
The Giants have lost three consecutive games for the first time since they broke a seven-game slide July 3. And not to suggest they are panicking, but their manager already is using the dreaded "there's a lot of baseball left" cliché.
"We're back to where we were a couple months ago," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We came out of that. We'll come out of this. "... There's a lot of baseball left. This team has been resilient. But we're going to have to bounce back here really quick."
The Giants are disappearing in the NL West, which the streaking San Diego Padres lead by six games. And the Giants face a two-game deficit in the wild-card standings to the Phillies, who won for the 20th time in 25 games.
"They're a good club," Bochy said. "I mean, they're a great club. When you play good clubs, you've got to play well. "... They're a team that takes advantage of a few mistakes, and we're making them right now. That said, we're stuck on two runs. We've got to get some more offense going." Rollins also singled and tripled off Cain, improving to 6 for 10 lifetime against him. Although three of Cain's runs in the fourth were unearned, he extended the Giants' streak to 14 games without a victory from a starting pitcher. "If you panic and press, then you'll go backwards," said left-hander Jeremy Affeldt, who gave up two runs in his first appearance off the disabled list. "We've got to believe we can do it, and maybe it'll start going our way." In the series opener Tuesday night, the Giants waited until the eighth inning before the wheels came off. They used the breakdown lane a bit earlier this time. Andres Torres led off the game with a home run against right-hander Joe Blanton, but Rollins tripled and scored the equalizer in the third. The Phillies moved ahead in the fourth, after Jayson Werth hit a leadoff single and moved up on a ground out. Fontenot botched Ross Gload's easy grounder to put runners at the corners, and Carlos Ruiz placed his bouncing ball through the left side for a tiebreaking single before Rollins took Cain deep. The Giants have made concessions to their defense all season in search of more run production, but for all the joking about water buffaloes in the outfield, their lack of athleticism hasn't hurt them too badly. But they have committed at least one error in five consecutive games -- seven overall. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval is noticeably slower than a year ago, and shortstop Juan Uribe isn't blessed with great range, either. The Giants' offense is going down too easily these days. Pat Burrell hit a home run for the second consecutive night in his Philadelphia homecoming, a solo shot in the sixth, but the Giants didn't have much fight for Blanton. Sandoval popped out on the first pitch to strand two runners in the first inning, and after consecutive singles knocked out Blanton in the seventh, Torres grounded into a double play against Chad Durbin. The Giants haven't drawn a walk in the series; their last walk came in the third inning Sunday, when Tim Lincecum drew a free pass from the Padres' Wade LeBlanc. Bochy called Sandoval "hard to figure out" and pointed to his hot hitting at home, calling him "two different guys." The Giants will have a bunch of different guys in the lineup for the series finale. Bochy plans to rest Aubrey Huff, who has a .140 average over his past 13 games, giving him a day off against left-hander Cole Hamels. Buster Posey will move to first base, backup catcher Eli Whiteside will start, and Freddy Sanchez will return to second. Should the Giants play with a little anger? "Oh, sure, I think you should play mad," Bochy said. "But under control. You can get in that press mode, and we've got a couple guys going hard now."
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