MLB.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- Manager Bruce Bochy finished a pregame critique of the Giants' subpar defense by offering what was meant to be a comforting reminder: "But, it's early."
That was the lone consolation for the Giants as they fell Monday night, 6-1, to the Los Angeles Dodgers. San Francisco's offense remained sluggish against Clayton Kershaw, who has become the Giants' chief nemesis. The left-hander worked 6 2/3 innings, extending his scoreless streak against San Francisco to 23 2/3 innings.
The defense that gnawed at Bochy devoured Madison Bumgarner's chances of winning as second baseman Freddy Sanchez made a confounding misplay and left fielder Pat Burrell committed an error. The former helped the Dodgers open the scoring; the latter fueled their four-run fifth inning.
Remember, it's early.
"We just haven't quite gotten in the flow yet, defensively and offensively," Bochy said afterward. "We need to get it going. I think when it's all said and done, we'll do a good job defensively."
That will require making routine plays, which is completely within the Giants' range of skills. But they must wait at least another day to clean up their act.
Los Angeles' second-inning run was decidedly tainted. With one out and Matt Kemp on second base -- having stolen the bag despite having been trapped off first base by Bumgarner -- James Loney hit a line drive that the usually sure-handed Sanchez could not grab. Kemp scored on the play, which was ruled a base hit.
Asked if he could have caught the ball, Sanchez unblinkingly replied, "Definitely. I've got to make that play. That kind of set the tone. If they don't score there, you never know what happens. I thought I was right on it. It kind of sank away from me a little bit."
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly hinted Bumgarner had committed a balk on Kemp's steal. "We kind of feel like those picks were borderline, from what [umpires] told us in Spring Training that they'd be looking for," Mattingly said.
Los Angeles pulled away in the fifth, which began with Rod Barajas' home run. One out later, Rafael Furcal walked and Jamey Carroll singled. Furcal then stole third base, though television replays indicated that catcher Buster Posey's throw and Pablo Sandoval's tag might have yielded a different result. The Giants' unraveling, luckless or otherwise, continued as Andre Ethier singled to produce another run. Kemp also singled, but that wasn't all as the ball slipped past Burrell for an error, scoring Carroll and Ethier.
Burrell acknowledged that mistakes such as his have occurred far too often.
"I've made some bad plays," Burrell said. "We all have. There's no excuse. Routine plays need to be caught. We did that last year and there's no excuse why we can't do it."
Burrell suggested that the same could be said of the Giants' attempts to solve Kershaw (2-1), who's certainly above-average yet becomes invincible when he faces the Giants.
"We have to find a way to have a better approach against him," said Burrell, whose ninth-inning homer off reliever Mike MacDougal accounted for the Giants' only run. "We're not having the best at-bats. You have to give him some credit, too. He has tremendous stuff."
But, Burrell added, "we've faced a lot of tough guys and we find a way to get it done."
None of this immediately helped Bumgarner (0-2), though the left-hander refused to bemoan his luck.
Asked what frustrated him most about the galling fifth inning, Bumgarner said, "Not being able to put guys away and get them out." He added, "A lot of things just didn't go my way."
Bumgarner left the game after the fifth inning, having surrendered five runs and eight hits. But, he said, "I felt good the whole time. It's hard to explain games like that sometimes."
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