talkinGiantsbaseball

Freak show: Lincecum shuts down Padres

2011-08-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

Adam Berry
mlb.com
After Tuesday's loss to the Padres and a 17-of-24 losing stretch led Giants manager Bruce Bochy to invoke Murphy's Law, Wednesday night's 2-1 victory at AT&T Park was a more pleasant reminder that sometimes things do go the way they should.

Carlos Beltran, the Giants' biggest Trade Deadline acquisition, hit a huge, tiebreaking homer. Brandon Belt, the franchise's top hitting prospect who has been tossed between the Majors and Minors for much of the year, played like a big leaguer. And Tim Lincecum, San Francisco's ace and two-time Cy Young Award winner, threw eight strong innings and rightfully received his 12th win of the season.

"We needed that," Bochy said, though the Giants still trail the D-backs by two games in the National League West. "With what happened yesterday and our struggles here recently, it takes a great pitching effort, and hopefully that gets you back on track."

Lincecum labored through a 27-pitch first inning but remained effective until his final pitch, a 92-mph fastball to strike out Jesus Guzman. Despite walking five batters on the night, Lincecum allowed only one run on four hits and struck out seven, lowering his ERA to 2.46 -- one one-hundredth of a run lower than teammate Ryan Vogelsong (2.47), who starts Thursday night's series opener against Houston.

Lincecum managed to get through eight innings, doing his part to preserve a bullpen that is without its two best late-inning relievers (Brian Wilson and Sergio Romo) and has been worked hard lately.

"His count was up there a little bit, but he said he felt great, and he pitched like it," Bochy said. "Timmy did what he does best, and that's make great pitches when he has to."

After 3 1/2 innings, Beltran broke a scoreless tie with a solo shot to right field off Padres right-hander Tim Stauffer, his first homer since coming to the Giants from the Mets nearly a month ago and struggling through a bothersome right hand strain.

The injury had kept Beltran off the field primarily because of its effect on his left-handed swing. But the switch-hitter erased any doubts by drilling a 1-1 pitch from the left side into the right-field arcade. Beltran had his hand wrapped in a heater when he sat in the dugout, and he issued another reminder that he might not be able to play without pain for the rest of the season.

"For him to hit a home run his first time back is pretty impressive," Bochy said. "I thought it'd take him a few games to get his timing down, but he got a changeup there and hit it well. ... It's just great to have him back."

Following Beltran's first homer at AT&T Park, the fifth inning brought two more firsts for the Giants and, more importantly, an insurance run. Belt led off the inning with his first Major League triple -- a booming shot to right-center field that likely would have been a home run in most parks. Bochy said he thought it would be the first of many, given Belt's gap power and speed on the basepaths.

Lincecum then aided his cause, driving in Belt with a single -- his first RBI of the season -- a high chopper over Guzman at first base.

Belt finished 2-for-3 with a stolen base. The left-handed slugger is batting .310 (9-for-29) with four extra-base hits since his most recent callup, showing the ability that made many Giants fans clamor for him throughout the season. But Belt said he learned something in every demotion to the Minors, even if it wasn't an enjoyable experience, and he returned to the Majors this time with a focus on consistent production -- and it's paying off.

"I see the confidence growing in this kid and that sense of belonging that you need to have up here," Bochy said. "I like his at-bats. He has a good eye up there. He's driving the ball. He's going to hit a lot of triples, I think, because he can run. He has good gap power, and he's going to hit some home runs. But I do see him getting better and better."

But the Padres quickly cut the lead in half. Cameron Maybin led off the sixth with a single that second baseman Jeff Keppinger had to dive to stop. Lincecum induced a Jesus Guzman flyout to Keppinger to get the first out but surrendered a triple to Orlando Hudson. Beltran dove for the ball, but it bounced beneath his glove and rolled into the right-field corner, allowing Maybin to easily score from first.

Lincecum left Hudson stranded at third and didn't look back, sitting the Padres down in order in the seventh and eighth despite having already thrown 96 pitches in his first six innings. That enabled Santiago Casilla to throw a perfect ninth, striking out two and picking up his first save of the season.

But it was Lincecum, of course, who drew the most praise from the Padres after the game.

"The dude is a two-time Cy Young Award winner. He ain't no punk on the mound," Hudson said. "He has a hard fastball, a sharp slider and a good splitter. And he's a workhorse. What did he throw, 120 pitches?

"He's one of the elite pitchers in baseball. I can see him walk to the podium and grab a few more Cy Youngs. That's the type of pitcher he is."

And he pitched exactly the type of game the Giants needed.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants beat Houston Astros in 11 innings

2011-08-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

HOUSTON -- It was tough to spot the contender over the weekend at Minute Maid Park, which doesn't speak well for the Giants. Their opponent was on pace for a 108-loss season.

But there is no mistaking Pablo Sandoval's All-Star swing.

A beaten-down Kung Fu Panda delivered when nobody else could, lifting a two-run home run to the opposite field in the 11th inning that sent the Giants to a 6-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon.

Although his right shoulder remained too sore to swing right-handed, the switch-hitting Sandoval mustered up the difference-maker off right-hander Mark Melancon, and local boy Brandon Belt popped a three-run homer as part of a career-best, four-hit afternoon.

The Giants used six pitchers and every last muscle fiber to avoid being swept in three games by the team with baseball's worst record. Most vitally, the victory allowed the Giants to inch within 1½ games of the N.L. West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, who lost their fifth consecutive game.

For all their whirlwind of injuries on a dripping, disappointing, challenging and grueling 4-6 trip, it wasn't a widow-maker. The Giants return home trailing Arizona by just a half-game more than when they left the cooler climes of AT&T Park.

Torture? Sure. But there's a different one-word motto this season: survival.

"The best way I can put it is, we survived," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who looked as if he needed his vitals checked. "It wasn't great by any means. To win the last one, we survived it. We're not too far back, for which we're fortunate. We know it.

"That's one of the hardest-fought wins I think I've ever been involved in."

It started off promising enough. Belt hit his three-run shot in the second inning to delight his friends and family, many of whom wore T-shirts with a baby giraffe -- his clubhouse nickname -- and a "Keep Belt Awkward" slogan.

"I was hating life yesterday," said Belt, who was 0 for 4 and once lost track of the outs Saturday. "I was so eager to see all my friends and family, and I didn't do so good. I came in today and just wanted to clear my head and put the bat on the ball. If I can keep it that simple, that's when I'll be at my best."

Belt's home run off former minor league teammate Henry Sosa was the Giants' first three-run shot since Brandon Crawford hit one July 2. Before that, they hadn't hit a three-run homer since Freddy Sanchez on June 2.

In addition to filling their monthly quota, the homer provided a margin that had been safe all season. The Giants entered the game 32-0 whenever they held a three-run lead.

It wasn't that easy, though.

For all the offensive ineptitude that Bochy has witnessed this season, nothing turns his size 81/8 cap into a pressure cooker more than when his pitchers issue walks. Spot starter Dan Runzler issued three of them, including one to Sosa, and checked out in the middle of Houston's four-run second inning.

"Now you're beating yourself," Bochy said. "We knew it'd probably be a bullpen day, but I didn't think we'd start in the second inning."

Belt's single contributed to the Giants' tying rally in the fourth, when Mike Fontenot's sacrifice fly scored Nate Schierholtz.

But the Giants couldn't push ahead. An invisible force field seemingly kept them from breaking a tie as they stranded seven runners over the seventh, eighth and ninth innings -- with each missed chance more calamitous than the previous one.

Sandoval, batting lefty-on-lefty, struck out to strand two runners in the seventh. The Giants also saw Schierholtz thrown out trying to score on a moderately deep fly ball in the eighth; Schierholtz flied out with the bases loaded in the ninth.

But the Giants bullpen held firm. Jeremy Affeldt survived a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the ninth to force extras and give Sandoval another chance.

A day earlier, Sandoval said he felt "like (crap)."

And now?

"I still do. I'm tired," he said, nursing a badly bruised foot, too. "I just look for one pitch. I got it. This is for us. It's important for us."

Bochy said nobody needs Monday's day off more than his All-Star third baseman.

"Well, early on he looked like he felt," Bochy said. "You know I love Pablo. Those last two at-bats were good ones. That's what you hope your 3-4 hitter does for you late in a ballgame."

Late in a season, too -- one in which the banged-up Giants, amazingly, are still relevant.

"We're strong," Sandoval said. "We've got a new team. Guys are playing hurt. The team we've got, if we keep playing like we did early, we'll do a lot of things. We can get there again."

Box Score

Atlanta Braves beat San Francisco Giants, Tim Lincecum 1-0

2011-08-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

TLANTA -- What emotions does it stir to know that Tim Lincecum is an 11-10 pitcher? Anger? Despair? Liquid hot volcanic outrage?

Or perhaps all of the above?

Lincecum sure appeared to bubble, simmer and seethe on the bench during the ninth inning Thursday night, as the Giants put the futile, finishing swings on a 1-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

But afterward, in front of notebooks and microphones, he was placid, earnest Timmy.

"Regardless of it happening consistently, or on an everyday basis, it doesn't matter," he said quietly, after losing on Chipper Jones' home run in the fifth inning. "You've got to compete with what you have on a given day. I seem to have a knack for giving up that go-ahead home run. If I can just eliminate that, I'm sure we'd be a lot more successful."

The obvious follow-up point: Almost any home run Lincecum allows is a go-ahead shot. For the 10th time in his 25 starts, the Giants failed to score one measly run for their two-time Cy Young Award winner.

This one was damaging. The Giants dropped three of four at Turner Field, where they've won just once in 18 regular-season series. So much for tightening up the N.L. wild-card race. The Braves hold a six-game edge again.

"We didn't have too many guys on base and, really, didn't get too many good swings off," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, after left-hander Mike Minor and three relievers held a collection of slow bats to five hits. "Even when you're facing good pitching, you've got to find a way to get a run."

Lincecum held an opponent to one run or fewer for the ninth time in his past 11 starts. He has a 1.17 ERA in seven assignments since the All-Star break but just a 4-3 record over that span.

His 2.53 ERA is third best in the N.L. Yet he's already matched his career high for losses in a season.

This is a trail frequently taken by Lincecum, Matt Cain and Co. But has it reached the point where the manager needs to tell them to buck up?

"I don't think so," Bochy said. "They've done a great job dealing with that. They can't control it. It's natural, don't get me wrong, to be frustrated. Losing isn't fun. But there's nothing else he can do, other than hit two home runs.

"We can't get shut out. That's our fault."

Lincecum continued to say all the right things. But is it easier said than done?

"Well, yeah, but everybody is frustrated in here," he said. "You can't point fingers at any one person. Today was one of those days. Teams will get shut out. You'll have close games, 1-0 games. You've just got to prepare for your next start and put it behind me. Put it behind us, actually.

"I want to go out there and throw a shutout every time I can. Just like all of us. We're perfectionists. That one run is going to be crucial, whether it's ours or the other team getting it."

It's usually not Bochy's style to play for one run. Early in the game, he generally prefers mass production to a manufacturing style that involves giving away outs.

He didn't play for one run in the first inning, after Cody Ross hit a leadoff double. Orlando Cabrera showed bunt early -- a decision he made on his own -- but ended up swinging away and went down on a called third strike.

There was a bit of Bochy's signature buzzard's luck involved. Cabrera barely missed a double in the at-bat when his line drive to right field bounced a foot foul. Aubrey Huff hit a hard out to third base to end the inning, too.

Still, Bochy was asked why he didn't have Cabrera sacrifice in the first -- or after Ross hit a leadoff single in the third.

"In that situation, no, because I've got a professional hitter up there," Bochy said. "He's a foot away from a double there. No, we took three shots at getting that run in."

Cabrera blamed himself, saying, "I really believe if I move the runner, we're still playing right now."

The Giants' chances dried up against Minor. They didn't advance a runner into scoring position after the second inning.

"We've got to get that mojo back," said Bochy, apparently remembering a time when his hitters actually had it.

Box Score

Giants support strong Cain in win vs. Braves

2011-08-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

ATLANTA -- In earlier generations, Matt Cain would have been a test pilot or bare-knuckled boxer. The Marlboro Man or even Dirty Harry might have suited him as a fictional character.

Any alter ego for Cain would have to be unyielding, unafraid and uncompromising. Needing Cain's special stubbornness Wednesday night, the Giants received every ounce of it in a 7-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves that plugged a few holes in San Francisco's leaky hull.

Cain would not be cowed by the Giants' 13 losses in the previous 18 games. The Braves' one-run, last-at-bat victories in the series' previous two games, as well as their 5-0 edge over San Francisco this season, never entered his mind. Facing an Atlanta lineup that featured power, speed and the ability to hit for average -- "You have to pay attention to those guys all the time," Cain said -- the right-hander took the mound with respect but without fear.

Cain allowed five hits and issued one walk to the first 13 Braves he faced. And that was it for Atlanta. Following Dan Uggla's third-inning leadoff double, Cain retired 18 consecutive batters until his eight-inning outing was complete. Displaying a fastball with lively movement, Cain struck out nine, and the lone run he surrendered was unearned.

"You definitely try to make quick innings and keep the guys moving, positive and in a good train of thought," said Cain, who ended a personal three-game losing streak. "If that [means] working fast or kind of being laid back in the dugout, you try to find ways to do that to keep guys energized."

Obviously, Cain was the man for the job as the Giants narrowed their National League West deficit to 2 1/2 games behind first-place Arizona. Asked if he was especially motivated to prop up his staggering teammates, Cain said, "I think all of the starters do that. The bullpen's the same way, but as starters, I think we put a lot of pride in keeping streaks alive and trying to put an end to streaks when things are going bad."

"He's so steady," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's got that calmness you like out there, both on the mound and in the clubhouse. He's a calming influence, I think, on everybody. He doesn't get rattled. He's competitive -- he has his moments like all of us -- but with men on base or a mistake out there defensively, he doesn't let it bother him."

Cain (10-9) responded to the Braves' early challenge by abandoning his windup and working from the stretch position, which enabled him to keep his body balanced and aligned toward home plate throughout his pitching motion. If this sounds familiar, it should. Tim Lincecum often employs this stratagem, which Cain has tried occasionally.

"I kind of did take it from him," Cain said. "You have to find different ways to get things going."

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez noticed a definite difference after Cain's switch.

"We didn't get very good swings out of him the rest of the night," Gonzalez said.

By contrast, the Giants sustained rare offensive productivity. Their four sacrifice flies tied a franchise record previously reached four times, most recently last year. Cain himself launched one of them in a four-run fourth inning against Braves starter Jair Jurrjens (12-5) that snapped a 1-1 tie. Before Cain batted, five Giants in a row reached base safely. Aubrey Huff blooped a double, advanced on Nate Schierholtz's single and scored on Orlando Cabrera's single. Brandon Belt walked to load the bases and set up Eli Whiteside's RBI single. Then came back-to-back sacrifice flies from Cain and Cody Ross.

Pablo Sandoval, sore right foot and all, contributed a first-inning RBI double and a ninth-inning sacrifice fly to the Giants' largest scoring output since they whipped Arizona 8-1 on Aug. 3.

Ultimately, San Francisco needed each and every run. With Cain having thrown 114 pitches, Bochy inserted Dan Runzler in the ninth inning to get some work, and most of the Giants' 7-1 lead quickly evaporated. After the Giants barely missed turning a double play that would have ended the game, the Braves mounted a genuine threat. Jason Hayward lashed an RBI single, Cabrera dropped Michael Bourn's simple popup for an error that enabled another run to score and Martin Prado drilled a two-run double. Suddenly, Brian McCann was batting, representing the tying run.

Huff allowed himself to think the unthinkable -- a home run by the clutch-hitting McCann.

"That probably would have killed us," Huff said.

With sore-armed closer Brian Wilson unavailable, the Giants survived as Jeremy Affeldt fanned McCann on a 3-2 pitch.

"We'll take a win any way we can get it," Huff said.

Box Score

SF Giants' injuries mount in 11-inning loss

2011-08-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

John Shea
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

When Jonathan Sanchez was escorted off the Turner Field mound with an ankle injury, it was a fitting touch to the busiest day of the year for the Giants' medical staff.

Except for perhaps that ill-fated night in late May in which Buster Posey got pummeled at the plate.

That was an isolated case. Tuesday's action was fast and furious, one player after another checking in for treatment or tests, and the Giants were left to face the Braves with only two healthy men on the bench: Mark DeRosa and Eli Whiteside.

The roster-challenged Giants collected their usual five hits and lost 2-1 in 11 innings when old friend Brooks Conrad - whose four errors in October's Division Series were a Giants highlight - doubled off Javier Lopez with one out, advanced on a groundout and scored on Martin Prado's single to right.

It was the second game-ending hit in two nights for the Braves, who improved their wild-card lead over the Giants to six games. The Giants fell 3 1/2 behind first-place Arizona in the NL West.

"As players, it's tough when you see guys (injured), but you can't sulk," Cody Ross said. "We're going through a little tough patch with the injury bug, but nobody feels sorry for us. We've got to step up and play better. We definitely can't start getting selfish."

Until Ross' homer in the seventh inning, the Giants had zero hits off Randall Delgado, who was making his second career start as a fill-in for injured Tommy Hanson.

Initially, it seemed only Pablo Sandoval (bruised right foot) was a casualty from Monday night's opener. Upon further review, three others were injured: Nate Schierholtz (bruised right foot from a foul tip), Jeff Keppinger (sprained right wrist, in a collision at first base) and Aaron Rowand (intercostal strain, caused on a swing and a throw to the plate).

X-rays on Keppinger (who also had an MRI exam) and Schierholtz were negative, and both hope to play tonight, though each was far from 100 percent. Rowand, a surprise entry, grounded out as an eighth-inning pinch-hitter but was unable to play defense.

"If all three can't do something (today), we're going to have to make a move," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We can't be this short."

Earlier, the Giants put Carlos Beltran and Sergio Romo on the disabled list, replacing them with Miguel Tejada (who played third base) and Dan Runzler (a candidate to start if Sanchez is shelved). In the morning, head trainer Dave Groeschner accompanied Beltran to Cleveland for another opinion and a second cortisone shot.

Groeschner was back in Atlanta by the time the game ended, able to assist in the hectic trainer's room.

Thank goodness for Sandoval. "He showed up and came right into the office and said, 'I'm playing,' " said Bochy, whose lineup included several players out of position, including Sandoval at first base.

Sanchez sprained his left ankle in the third inning. He slipped and fell pursuing Delgado's bunt and was done one pitch into Michael Bourn's at-bat. Sanchez used two crutches to get through the clubhouse but said he hopes to make his next start. "I'll give it two days and tape it up and see how I feel," Sanchez said.

Guillermo Mota replaced Sanchez, and Bourn singled home Jose Constanza with the Braves' first run.

Atlanta had a chance to win in the 10th with runners at first and third, but shortstop Orlando Cabrera robbed Alex Gonzalez and turned an inning-ending double play. Other defensive gems came from left fielder Aubrey Huff (robbing Prado in the ninth) and right fielder Brandon Belt (catching Freddie Freeman in the 10th trying to get back to first base on a single).

Box Score

Brandon Belt hits 2 homers, SF Giants beat Marlins

2011-08-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
After hitting two home runs at Sun Life Stadium on Sunday, Brandon Belt might have a jones to play here again. He can, but he'll need to bring pads and a helmet.

With the rookie hitting half of the team's four home runs - yeah, one even with a man aboard - the Giants beat Florida 5-2 in their final game at this park before the Marlins open a new one next season.

Cody Ross hit a two-run homer against Chris Volstad in the third inning to end the Giants' record streak of 21 consecutive solos. They had gone 298 innings and 1,217 plate appearances without a multi-run homer.

What's that old adage in baseball? When one streak ends, you just start another? The Giants scored their final three runs on solo homers, one by Nate Schierholtz in the fourth and the two by Belt in his first game back from the minors.

And, yes, breathless Giants Nation, Belt will start against Tim Hudson in Atlanta tonight.

"He'll be out there somewhere," said manager Bruce Bochy, whose skin must be sensitive to pitchforks. "One homer, you're in the lineup the next day. Two is a no-brainer."

Nor does it require Albert Einstein's brain to understand why Sunday's win, Ryan Vogelsong's 10th, was so important for the Giants.

They not only won a series and back-to-back games for the first time since they visited Philadelphia last month, they gave themselves a running start into Atlanta, where they play a critical four-game series.

The Giants could become playoff longshots if the Braves wallop them as they did over three games in San Francisco in April.

Belt thus becomes an intriguing wild card at Turner Field after he doubled his season home run total to four. Both shots were impressive in different ways.

His first, in the sixth inning, was a tape-measure job to center against the right-handed Volstad. The second, in the eighth inning, was against a left-hander, Mike Dunn, who had not surrendered a home run to a left-handed hitter in the majors in 151 encounters. Moreover, Belt guessed slider on 3-2 and got one.

As the Giants have yo-yoed the first baseman between San Francisco and Fresno, and stuck him on the bench even when he was promoted, the fans started a "Free Belt" movement, asking, pleading, demanding that he play every day.

Belt would love nothing more, though he will not carry any protest signs into Bochy's office.

"I'm tired of thinking what the scenarios are," Belt said. "I want to worry about going out and performing well, playing baseball, seeing the ball, hitting the ball, having good at-bats and playing good defense. If I'm good enough, hopefully he'll play me again and I can stay up here."

Belt helped Vogelsong win another game, and Vogelsong helped the team immensely by lasting into the eighth inning on a day in which Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson were not to be used. Bochy said Romo's elbow was "a little cranky" and Wilson's back stiffened. Both ailments were described as minor.

Vogelsong allowed a Mike Stanton homer in the first inning and no more runs until Emilio Bonifacio's RBI double in the eighth. Santiago Casilla got a big out to end the eighth, and Ramon Ramirez got the save.

Asked what it meant to get his 10th win, Vogelsong said, "Every win is significant to me, after where I've been."

Box Score

Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants shut out Florida Marlins 3-0

2011-08-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

Any time you ask Bruce Bochy about the Giants' odd, record-breaking streak of solo home runs, the manager lets out one of his basso profundo groans.

"I really know what Earl Weaver meant when he said he liked the three-run home run," Bochy said. "We all do."

Weaver also had pitchers such as Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally. The old Baltimore Orioles manager would have enjoyed having Tim Lincecum on his side, too.

Lincecum busted another losing streak while striking out 10 in seven shutout innings, and the Giants got their three runs in three different innings to pull out a 3-0 victory over the Florida Marlins on Saturday at Sun Life Stadium.

A night earlier, Bochy called a clubhouse meeting after the Giants' 11th loss in 14 games, telling his second-place team to straighten up those slumping shoulders and play loose.

That's always a bit easier with Lincecum on the mound.

"Hopefully it'll get us on a win streak and lift morale in here," said Lincecum, who is 4-2 with a 1.11 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break. "Bochy told us we can't hang our heads. This is going to be the toughest part of the schedule going into September. We need to lighten the mood, just go out and have some fun.

"We know where the Diamondbacks are. It's different when you're in the lead. Once they took the lead, it's like we're pressing. We're trying to play catch-up instead of relaxing and playing good ball.

"Nothing comes easy, especially if you're thinking too hard about it. You've just got to go out there with intent and do what's asked of you."

The hitters didn't exactly bust out. Nate Schierholtz scored in the fifth after an error and a wild pitch, and Aubrey Huff's run-scoring double in the sixth was a pop-up down the line that left fielder Logan Morrison dropped.

The Giants' first run, the only one Lincecum would need, came on Jeff Keppinger's first home run as a Giant -- solo, of course. The Giants' 21 consecutive home runs with the bases empty extended a highly undesirable major league record.

"Yeah, we're going to try to set a record that's never going to be broken," Bochy said. "We're in relentless pursuit of solo home runs. But you know what? I'll take them."

So did Lincecum (11-9), who might be re-entering the Cy Young Award race with a very strong second half.

"All our pitchers should be in the Cy Young race, the way they're pitching," Huff said. "Shoot, Timmy could be 20-3 with the Yankees. You can only imagine what they'd do if they had a nice lead."

Once again, Lincecum ditched the windup with the bases empty, confident he could find his rhythm better from the stretch. He did, allowing only Emilio Bonifacio's infield chopper in the third inning and Bryan Petersen's single in the seventh. Lincecum promptly struck out his final two batters, showing little effects from the humid, upper-80s heat.

Little Timmy used to melt like frozen custard in steamy conditions. Now he's simply fitter and more focused than during his winless August a year ago.

"That's where putting on the weight worked to my benefit," said Lincecum, who is known to wolf down three In-N-Out double-doubles in one sitting. "It's not all good weight, but I can retain water a little better and sustain my pitch count."

It's also notable that three of Lincecum's four victories after the break have come against managers who questioned his greatness in recent weeks. He twice beat Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, who called him "good, not great." Lincecum wasn't aware of it, but Florida manager Jack McKeon had criticized Bochy for putting the right-hander, then 6-6, on his N.L. All-Star squad instead of the Marlins' Anibal Sanchez.

"I don't know if it's proving me right," Bochy said of Lincecum's second-half surge. "He's a guy people want to see, so I had no problems with him being on the All-Star team because he deserved it. But, sure, it's nice to see him show what he's all about."

The next question for Bochy: Will he allow recently recalled rookie Brandon Belt, now in his fourth stint with the club, to show what he's all about?

Bochy said Belt is "here to help" as a backup first baseman, outfielder and pinch hitter.

Pressed on why he wouldn't throw Belt out there every day, Bochy said he has "your guys, veterans you still believe in. I'll do all I can to get him at-bats, because I think we need some help. It'll be up to Brandon to come up and handle this well and give us some good at-bats."

Box Score

Streak-busting SF Giants can't handle Marlins

2011-08-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman
SFGate • San Francisco Chronicle

You think the Giants had a bad homestand? The Marlins started theirs with seven consecutive losses. Things only got sunnier in south Florida when the World Series champs came to town.

Four nights after the Pirates ended a 10-game losing streak in San Francisco, the Marlins stopped their slide by beating Matt Cain and the Giants 2-1 on Friday night.

That should sound familiar. Philadelphia beat him by the same score in his last start, in which the Giants scored their run the same way, on a Pablo Sandoval homer.

Ah, but this one was historic. With their 20th consecutive solo home run, the Giants broke a tie with the 1914 Phillies - from the dead-ball era.

The Giants' current run of 11 losses in 14 games is a new dead-ball era. They have scored 31 runs in the stretch, just 14 over the 11 losses.

"Same old song and dance," Cody Ross said. "We've got to do something, and we've got to do it fast. It's getting out of control."

Right now, the Giants are not putting a competitive roster on the field. They need injured outfielders Nate Schierholtz and Carlos Beltran. The news on that front was mixed.

Schierholtz's hip flexor, though not 100 percent, improved considerably. He struck out as a pinch-hitter Friday and is expected to start tonight. On the flip side, Beltran missed his fourth consecutive game with a hand strain and offered little hope of returning soon.

Beltran reported only a slight improvement after Wednesday's cortisone shot. He swung a bat lightly for the first time and said it still hurts when he swings.

Manager Bruce Bochy said today will be a "big day" in deciding whether to place Beltran on the disabled list. Absent a marked improvement, the staff must assume the lingering pain is not from the shot, but the inflammation.

Though even 75 percent of Beltran could boost this lineup, Bochy said this is not a pain-tolerance issue.

"It's so vital to swinging the bat to have your hand healthy enough to take a normal swing," Bochy said. "Once he feels strong enough to handle the bat and take a normal swing, he'll do it. We can't risk losing him for a long period of time. We've got to be smart about it. The hand is a sensitive area."

Sandoval's first-inning homer against Ricky Nolasco was his 14th, one more than his 2010 total. The Marlins immediately struck for two runs in the bottom half against Cain, who deserved better after six gritty innings in the heat.

Cain said his teammates deserved better from him.

"It ends up being my fault that we lose," Cain said. "Pablo got us the lead in the first. It seems like I've been turning those over lately. I've got to make better pitches early to keep the momentum on our side."

The Giants had a shot against closer Leo Nuñez in the ninth, which began with a Sandoval single. With one out, Ross hit a rocket over center fielder Dewayne Wise, just inserted into the game.

In 2009, Wise's leaping catch at the wall saved Mark Buehrle's perfect game. On Friday, Wise took a bad route on Ross' drive, which was about to fall for what might have been a tying triple. Wise went horizontal - more of a fall than a dive - and caught it just off the ground.

"He falls, and you like your chances. That's a tough catch," Bochy said. "At the same time, we've got to be more consistent from the first inning on. We had some good at-bats in the ninth, but it was too late."

Box Score

Walks hurt Sanchez as Bucs sink Giants

2011-08-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Adam Berry
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- The starting pitcher sets the tone for every game, and as Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after Wednesday's 9-2 loss to the Pirates, left-hander Jonathan Sanchez didn't set a particularly good one.

Sanchez exited after only 4 1/3 innings, having displayed questionable stamina and inconsistent stuff, and the Giants couldn't build on Tuesday's six-run outburst to support their struggling fifth starter in AT&T Park.

The tone seemed fitting, however, given the way the Giants struggled and stumbled through a 3-7 homestand, one that Bochy admitted had "shaken" the confidence of the players in the home clubhouse. With the loss and the series defeat, the Giants dropped three straight home series for the first time since 2008, when the club lost six straight sets from May 12 to June 12. And with a win over Houston on Wednesday night, Arizona could take the National League West lead away from the Giants for the first time since June 25.

"When you're in something like this, you think, 'Are we going to come out of this?'" Bochy said. "We will. I really believe we will. I believe this offense will come out of it, too, but it's got to start with the pitching. That's our strength."

But it was the Giants' weakness Wednesday afternoon, as Sanchez walked four batters and saw all of them score. He was wildly erratic from inning to inning, twice sitting down the side in order on 15 pitches or fewer and allowing the Pirates to score in the other three innings in which he appeared.

Sanchez allowed five runs (four earned), including a two-run home run, while striking out six. As is often the case with Sanchez, his walks came back to haunt him.

Sanchez issued a four-pitch leadoff walk to Andrew McCutchen. The Pirates center fielder promptly stole second and scored on Ryan Ludwick's line-drive single to left, giving Pittsburgh an early lead. McCutchen drew three walks and scored four runs, slamming a two-run homer off Sanchez in the third. The left-hander also gave up an unearned run on Matt Diaz's single to center in the third and a fifth-inning RBI single by Garrett Jones.

"We knew the statistics on him about walking guys, so we wanted to just be patient. Wait on a pitch to hit," McCutchen said. "That was the plan we kept throughout the whole game. We got him out of there pretty early."

Sanchez has not made it out of the fifth inning in his last four Major League starts, a troubling statistic that stirred concerns about his stamina and his future in the starting rotation. Bochy didn't want to speculate about Sanchez's next start but admitted he was concerned about Sanchez's physical condition given his short outings since returning from the disabled list.

"We have to be a little concerned because we need [the fifth starter] guy to help us win a ballgame, too," Bochy said. "We haven't had a good start there in I don't know how many now."

Sanchez, meanwhile, believes he can be the same pitcher who posted a 1.17 ERA last September, when the Giants needed him the most. But he also knows one thing has changed since then.

"Last year I didn't get hurt. This year, I'm just struggling a little bit," Sanchez said. "But I know I can be that pitcher I was in August and September last year."

It would also behoove the Giants to start hitting in key situations like they did toward the end of last year. They managed only two runs Wednesday off Pirates right-hander Jeff Karstens: Pablo Sandoval's first-inning solo homer to right -- the Giants' 19th straight home run without a runner on base, tied for the all-time Major League record with the 1914 Phillies -- and Orlando Cabrera's RBI single that scored Aubrey Huff in the fourth.

The Giants went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, putting them at just 7-for-58 (.121) over their last seven games and a paltry 23-for-143 (.161) over their last 20 contests.

"It's tough to go through a stretch like this. It's tough not to hang your head," outfielder Cody Ross said. "We've got to play like champions, and we're not doing that. We've kind of fallen into a rut, and it seems like we can't dig our way out. We've got to do something."

One thing they won't be doing, Bochy said, is making any dramatic changes. They will hope Carlos Beltran (strained right wrist) and Nate Schierholtz (right hip flexor) are ready to go when they begin a 10-game road trip Friday in Florida, but Bochy isn't going to press the panic button with his lineup.

Nor will the players give up on themselves, even as their frustration with their performance and their recent record continues to build. Ross admitted Thursday's off-day couldn't be coming at a better time, and it will give the Giants a chance to start over Friday -- and set a different tone for the remainder of their season.

"We'll bounce back. We've got a lot of heart and a lot of fight on our team. Nobody in here has forgotten that," Ross said. "Other people might have, but we don't. We're going to continue to go out there and play hard and work to get back to where we need to be."

Box Score

Aubrey Huff's power breakout powers San Francisco Giants past Pirates

2011-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Carl Steward
Mercury News

In Game No. 117 of the Giants' season Tuesday night, Aubrey Huff may have sent a significant signal that he is ready to come out of his long hitting hibernation.

Huff, the Giants' offensive leader last season with 26 homers and 86 RBIs, finally flashed some of his 2010 form at AT&T Park with three hits, including a run-scoring double and a solo homer, to lead the Giants past the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0.

"I'm starting to get my timing a little bit better now," said Huff, whose big night raised his average to .249, the highest it has been since April 19. "Hopefully, we'll run off these next two months, and nobody will remember the first four."

Huff wasn't the only hero on a night when the Giants needed a victory to remain in first place in the N.L. West. Madison Bumgarner tossed seven shutout innings and struck out 10, and light-hitting catcher Chris Stewart slammed his first career homer in his 140th major league at-bat, dating to 2006.

But the breakout performance of the Giants' veteran first baseman was surely the most welcome sight for manager Bruce Bochy, who has been exceedingly patient in waiting for Huff to find his stroke.

With Carlos Beltran missing a second straight game because of a hand injury, it couldn't have come at a better time.

"We have a lot of baseball left, and even if you're still having your struggles this late in the season, you can't give up," said Bochy. "You have to keep grinding, keep working, and he's doing that."

Except for his three-homer game in St. Louis on June 2, Huff has failed to serve as much of a power-hitting run producer. Even though he had shown signs of life by hitting .327 over his previous 17 games, he had just one homer and three RBIs during that span. Worse yet, he had just three hits in 21 previous at-bats with runners in scoring position coming into Tuesday's game and was hitting just .233 for the year in such situations.

That changed in the fourth inning of a scoreless game when, one out after Jeff Keppinger's double to center to lead off the inning, Huff slammed an opposite-field double to left-center that brought home the Giants' first run.

Huff struck again in the sixth, when he whacked a 1-1 pitch from Pittsburgh starter James McDonald (7-6) into the right-field arcade. It was his 11th homer, but just his third at AT&T Park this year.

So what has Huff figured out of late?

"Just laying off bad pitches, getting myself in hitter's counts and giving myself a chance," he said. "In the struggles I've had, especially when we're not scoring any runs at all and our pitchers are going out there every night giving everything you got, you're going up there and just trying to do too much."

In between Huff's RBI hits was Stewart's personal milestone blast, a well-struck missile to left field leading off the fifth. It touched off a big party in the dugout because most of the players knew how long the catcher had waited to get his first homer.

"Luckily I lifted weights this morning where that extra curl may have given me just enough to get it out," Stewart said. "I'd expect myself to be the happiest guy, but my teammates proved me wrong. There was a lot of excitement going, so it was fun to get back to the dugout and celebrate with everybody."

Those three runs of support were plenty for Bumgarner (7-11), who limited the Pirates to four hits and a walk over his seven innings. Bumgarner now has a 13-inning scoreless streaking from his past two starts.

Bochy said Bumgarner just keeps getting better as the season progresses.

"He's just getting smarter, and he'll continue to get wiser out there and pitch with more savvy," the manager said. "The thing about Madison is he's aggressive, and he's starting to use all four quadrants of the strike zone."

Box Score

Giants lose 5-0 to Pirates, who snap 10-game skid

2011-08-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman
SFGate • San Francisco Chronicle
The Giants got good news from an MRI exam on Carlos Beltran's right wrist. He has inflammation and a strain. There is no structural damage. As for the team, well, that is altogether different.
After the Pirates wheezed into AT&T Park with a 10-game losing streak and clobbered the Giants 5-0 Monday night, dealing Ryan Vogelsong his second loss, it became harder to view the Giants' run of nine losses in 11 games as a "bad run" and easier to see it as a sign of things to come.
For manager Bruce Bochy, who always takes the rosier view, the Giants will bust out of this.
"We've got to get that mojo back," Bochy said. "We've lost it. We've got to get it back, and it better be sooner than later."
The Giants did have a mojo earlier this season, especially at home. The pitching staff kept it close and the hitters, though not a thundering herd, usually squeezed across the winning run.
Now, during a 2-6 homestand, any opportunity with a runner in scoring position becomes an exercise in false hope. On Monday, against Charlie Morton, they put two runners aboard in the second, fourth and fifth innings.
Those rallies died with a pair of double-play grounders (Aaron Rowand and Jeff Keppinger) and another groundball by Rowand that would have been a double play if not for a generous umpiring call at first base.
Giants management always takes the conservative tack. General manager Brian Sabean and Bochy are not reactionary, preferring to believe in the hitters they put on the field.
There has to come a point, though, at which they summon Brandon Belt from the minors and give him a shot no matter what his rookie shortcomings, because he cannot do worse than the hitters he would be replacing.
The Giants' future does look brighter with Beltran, even if he was struggling too, because he is a good hitter. On Monday morning, his wrist felt worse than it did after he hurt it Sunday. The medical staff opted for an MRI to back up Sunday's negative X-rays.
Doctors found some inflammation on the top and side of his hand and termed it a strain, not a sprain, with no ligament or tendon damage. After a long day of treatment, Beltran said he had better movement.
Bochy said the right fielder could return as soon as tonight. Beltran said he will not unless he can be competitive.
"There are injuries that allow you to go out there," he said. "But the wrist, swinging the bat, throwing, is such a huge part of the game. If I can't go out there and play at a percentage where I can help the team, I won't do it. I want somebody else in that spot."
Vogelsong's start was his 19th since he took Barry Zito's spot in the rotation April 28. That he did not take his second loss until Aug. 8 is remarkable on any team, and an act of hocus-pocus on one that cannot hit.
Four of the five Pittsburgh runs scored after he struck out Derrek Lee for the second out of the first, third and fifth innings. But he could not get that third out before Pirates crossed home plate.
He was down 2-0 after an inning, walked home a third run in the third, then allowed RBI singles by Ryan Ludwick and Brandon Wood in the fifth.
In his first 11 games at home, Vogelsong had allowed only 10 runs. His 1.30 home ERA was the best in the majors.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants' way is never the easy way

2011-08-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

Monte Poole
Mercury News

Giants fans yearning for the team's bats to thaw, awaiting that refreshing 13-hit game, got their wish Sunday.

It was not the fireworks display they might have imagined.

It was a maddening and frustrating 21/2-hour grind that kept 42,366 fans on the edges of their seats until the final out.

They're used to it. So when the throw from second baseman Mike Fontenot reached the mitt of first baseman Aubrey Huff before Jimmy Rollins could cross the bag, recording the final out of a 3-1 win over Philadelphia, the reaction was less of complete satisfaction than of momentary relief.

The Giants had dodged the measure of humiliation that would have come with being victimized by a four-game sweep in their China Basin home.

They also regained their fragile dignity against a Phillies team always in mind, a club San Francisco expects to see again should it find its way back to the postseason.

The Giants did it as they have for the better part of their 292 games since the beginning of last season, reaffirming their identity as more pluck than power, always and forever the determined crew of the Good Ship Panic, staying on course while keeping passengers uneasy.

If ever a team can inspire anxiety while lashing 13 hits and drawing four walks behind a solid Tim Lincecum outing, it is the Giants. For as welcome as those runners were, that only three scored is symptomatic of their perpetual difficulty at crossing the plate.

So constipated is this offense, it sometimes seems easier to squeeze oil from the fog hovering over the ballpark. The Giants raked Phillies starter Roy Oswalt for eight hits over his first 31/3 innings yet scored only once.

"I hate using up all our runs the way we did today," manager Bruce Bochy cracked, smiling at his own sarcasm.

Bochy could grin because his team had avoided the bottom-of-the-well feeling that comes with a winless weekend at home. Or because he knows the next three games come against the Pirates, who have reverted to being the Pitiful Pirates.

The manager also could take comfort in knowing that through it all -- losing eight of 10 and 11 of 17 -- his team remains atop the N.L. West, if by only a half-game over Arizona.

Yet the most satisfying aspect of this day for Bochy and the Giants had to be winning despite spending most of the afternoon spinning a web of despair around Lincecum's artfully resolute pitching. He labored through 63 pitches over his first four innings, allowing one run, before eventually getting a lead and protecting it with the ferocity of a nursing badger.

Hey, Lincecum had a rival to contend with and a losing streak to halt.

"He's going to go out there and try to dominate, regardless," catcher Chris Stewart said of the right-hander. "But, yeah, maybe there was a little extra incentive."

Lincecum also seemed to grasp the value of having a lead, quite the fleeting feeling among Giants starters. The Giants tied it in the fourth and went up 2-1 in the fifth, after which Lincecum responded by retiring the Phillies in order in the sixth and seventh.

Yet the clubhouse hummed mostly with the hope that comes with seeing bats actually make contact. Jeff Keppinger sprayed four singles, Stewart added two, and Pablo Sandoval smacked a single and a double.

"Finally, it's exciting," Sandoval said.

"Getting hits can do a lot for a player's confidence," Bochy said. "I know it's been shaken a bit."

See what the joy of winning, even one game, can do? It allowed the Giants to bask in the glow of Keppinger's four hits rather than wallow in the fact that he scored zero runs. It allowed them to overlook such ugliness as Lincecum's failed two-strike squeeze attempt and the stranding of 12 runners.

Almost nothing got in the way of the vibe. But because it's the Giants, there's always something.

That something was Carlos Beltran experiencing soreness in the back of his right hand, near his wrist. The right fielder said he felt a sharp pain and that his hand felt noticeably weaker, after which the Giants removed him in the eighth. X-rays were negative.

Though Bochy speculated Beltran would be day-to-day, the player seemed to believe he could return soon, perhaps Monday.

It may not be that easy, though, because nothing with the Giants ever is. This is a team that is 11 games over .500 (63-52) despite being outscored 406-399, a team always living on the edge, keeping its fans on the verge of panic.

With 47 games left in the season, expect more of the same from the Giants. It's all they know. It's who they are.

Box Score

Cain on short end of duel with Hamels

2011-08-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Saturday was one of those rare instances when a one-run margin resembled a rout.

That's because Philadelphia's latest victory over the Giants, a 2-1 decision, sustained two distinct patterns: the Phillies' ascent and San Francisco's descent. The Giants, clinging to their status as reigning World Series champions, have lost eight of their last nine games. The Phillies, who possess the Major Leagues' best record, lengthened their winning streak to nine games.

The outcome seemed certain as early as the first inning, when Philadelphia scored both of its runs. The pro-Giants sellout crowd of 42,183 at AT&T Park barely had a chance to celebrate Pablo Sandoval's two-out home run in the ninth before Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels coaxed Orlando Cabrera's first-pitch groundout. That sealed Hamels' second complete game of the season, as the Giants fell to 1-5 on their 10-game homestand.

"When you get in something like this, whether it's winning or losing, you never think you're going to come out of it," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

The Giants have beautiful rings which prove that they ousted Philadelphia in last year's National League Championship Series. They also won two of three games at Citizens Bank Park last week. Friday night's benches-clearing fracas, which wasn't a factor Saturday, underscored the intensity that these teams bring to the ballpark. "We're trying to get to the World Series, and they are, too," Hamels said.

By winning the first three games of this series, the Phillies have proven that they're closer to achieving this goal than the Giants are. Philadelphia has allowed them three runs, while holding them hitless in 17 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

According to the consensus in the Giants' clubhouse, they're enduring a bout of unskilled hitting while encountering top-flight pitching.

Bochy suggested that the Giants, who have scored two runs or fewer in 12 of their last 16 games, try even harder, though he emphasized that their effort isn't lacking.

"You keep working because you have to. You have no choice," he said. "... You have to change your mindset. I thought these guys came out with a pretty good attitude. We just ran into a well-pitched game."

Right fielder Carlos Beltran repeated that he and his teammates must "do a better job." Asked to elaborate, Beltran said, "I think just being able to have good at-bats -- everyone. Sometimes we feel like we have some good at-bats, and sometimes we don't have good at-bats, including myself."

Beltran, San Francisco's most prominent Trade Deadline acquisition, went 0-for-4 to drop his San Francisco average to .244 (10-for-41). His afternoon included a double-play grounder that ended the first inning, a three-pitch strikeout with runners on first and second and nobody out in the fourth, and a bloop to second base in the ninth that immediately preceded Sandoval's homer.

Beltran insisted that he wasn't pressing. "I feel good," he said.

So did Giants starter Matt Cain (9-8), who permitted three hits in eight innings. But the Phillies nicked him in the first inning for their only runs.

Jimmy Rollins doubled off the right-field wall to open the game, and Chase Utley drew a four-pitch walk with one out. It was one of only two free passes Cain issued, but it influenced the outcome. After Cain struck out the dangerous Ryan Howard, Hunter Pence lined a broken-bat single to right field to score Rollins. Utley went to third on the play, sliding in safely as Sandoval mishandled Beltran's throw for an error. That mistake proved critical, as catcher Eli Whiteside's passed ball enabled Utley to score.

Sandoval blamed himself for his misplay. "I need to make sure I get the ball and tag the guy," he said.

Cain was just as self-critical regarding the first-inning runs. "He outpitched me," he said of Hamels, whose outfielders were required to catch only three fly balls. "Going against a guy like Hamels, the way he threw the ball today, that's all they needed."

Even Sandoval's homer unleashed negative factoids. It lengthened San Francisco's streak of bases-empty home runs to 16, dating back to Nate Schierholtz's two-run drive July 6 against San Diego. This reminded the Giants that the long ball, on the rare occasions when somebody hits one, typically isn't enough.

"I don't see guys trying to hit homers," Beltran said. "I think we're just trying to get on base, and we haven't been able to."

Box Score

SF Giants' benches-clearing brawl in Phillies rout

2011-08-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman
SFGate • San Francisco Chronicle
-- Eli Whiteside can be hilariously droll, as he was Friday night when asked about the sixth-inning fastball from Ramon Ramirez that drilled Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino in the back.

"I just called for a fastball inside," Whiteside said. "It was a little too far inside."

So far inside, the benches cleared in a brawl that not only punctuated a 9-2 Phillies rout but surely will stand as a significant waypoint in the Giants' 2011 season.

In the long term, it might ignite a team that has lost seven of its past eight games and is quickly losing propulsion. In the short term, Ramirez's seemingly unprovoked attack surely will lead to a suspension after he, Whiteside and Victorino were ejected.

Victorino lived up to his Flyin' Hawaiian nickname when he escaped the clutch of his 67-year-old manager, Charlie Manuel, charged into the pile and tackled Giants hitting coach Hensley Meulens from behind.

After the fight, which was a bit fiercer than your standard baseball scrum, manager Bruce Bochy was happy that his players (and hitting coach) escaped unhurt. First baseman Aubrey Huff was stuck in the middle of the pile. Whiteside was at the bottom. Pablo Sandoval grappled with Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz before he stopped Victorino's final charge.

As for the future?

"You hope anything gets a team going," Bochy said, "either a good pitching effort or an (eight-run) game like we had against Arizona. You hope that gets the offense clicking. This is a tough little rut we're in. We've got to get out of it. We'll get together and talk about it."

Funny thing was, fight-watchers anticipated action between Jonathan Sanchez in his first game off the disabled list and Chase Utley, whom Sanchez hit three times last year, most famously in Game 6 of the NLCS.

But all was quiet there.

Sanchez allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings, including homers by Victorino and John Mayberry Jr. in a four-run fourth.

The Phillies then pounded Ramirez for three runs in the sixth. Jimmy Rollins delivered two of them with a two-out single. He then stole second with a six-run lead, which surely did not sit well with Ramirez (who left without comment).

Carlos Beltran was not keen on the steal. Asked for his opinion, Beltran said, "You should ask Jimmy Rollins about that. I wouldn't have done it."

After Placido Polanco reached on an infield hit, Ramirez hit Victorino with the first pitch.

Ramirez "was getting hit around, and he was mad, and he was going to plug someone," Manuel said.

Victorino immediately took a few steps toward Ramirez with Whiteside moving between the two. Victorino stopped and later said he was not going to charge the mound.

"I just wanted to know why he was around the plate all night and then the first pitch is at my back," he said. "I just wanted an answer."

As home-plate umpire Mike Muchlinski blocked Victorino, Whiteside hopped around waiting for another charging Phillie. He got Polanco running in from the bases and tackled the Phillie at his feet. Then, the scrum enveloped them.

The action centered on pulling apart combatants on the ground, including Polanco, Whiteside and Phillies catcher Brian Schneider.

Victorino, who might get his own suspension for repeatedly pushing Muchlinski, was yanked out of the pile. When he saw Sandoval and Ruiz fighting, he charged back in and tackled Meulens.

Sandoval then pushed or punched Victorino to the ground. Only then did the pile start to separate.

In the midst of the storm, rookie right-hander Vance Worley calmly continued his domination of the Giants, which now covers 16 innings in two games over the past 11 days, and two wins for the Sacramento native.

Box Score

Short of support, Bumgarner dealt tough loss

2011-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

After beating him twice in Series, Giants can't solve Lee

Adam Berry
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- For all the success the Giants enjoyed against Cliff Lee in the 2010 World Series, beating him twice in five games, Thursday night served as a reminder of just how good the veteran left-hander can be.

Lee scattered seven hits and struck out eight in his Major League-leading fifth shutout of the season, shutting down a Giants lineup nearly identical to the one that put up eight runs a day before, as the Phillies prevailed, 3-0, in AT&T Park despite one of Madison Bumgarner's best starts this season.

Bumgarner gave up back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning, but with Lee on the mound, that was all the Phillies needed.

"I've never seen him off," Giants shortstop Orlando Cabrera said. "That's the truth. Not even on TV."

Lee retired 10 straight batters between the fourth and seventh innings, throwing 29 of 33 first-pitch strikes as he demonstrated pinpoint command of all his pitches. The lefty said after the game he wasn't thinking about last year's World Series, instead focusing on the current group of Giants hitters, and his performance reflected that.

"That was probably the best game I've had as far as commanding the ball," said Lee, who is now 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA in four regular-season starts against the Giants. "Basically, everything was working. It was one of those nights where I was locating everything. That was it."

Lee needed only 106 pitches -- 76 of them strikes -- to shut out the Giants, leaving them with nothing to do but tip their caps toward the dominant lefty.

"He's tough," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "When he's on, he's as good as anybody, and he showed it tonight."

Bumgarner was about as good as he's been all year, though he left pitches up in the zone that resulted in consecutive second-inning homers by Hunter Pence and John Mayberry. After that, however, Bumgarner was on his game.

He retired 12 straight batters until Shane Victorino singled in the sixth, striking out seven batters over that span. He exited after eight strong innings, giving up six hits and two walks while striking out nine.

Bumgarner entered the game tied with Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton for the fewest home runs allowed in the Majors this season by qualifiers, with five. The back-to-back shots to left field by Pence and Mayberry pushed his total to seven, still tied for second fewest in the Majors.

"He made a couple mistakes there in that second inning, but after that, he really did a nice job. Eight innings of great work by Bum," Bochy said. "He should feel good about that outing."

As well as Bumgarner recovered, Lee never faltered. The veteran left-hander, who took the loss for the Rangers in the first and final games of the 2010 World Series, made sure the Giants stayed off the board. He struck out Cody Ross four times, allowed only one extra-base hit -- a Carlos Beltran double in the ninth -- and forced the Giants to strand six runners.

"I think he's one of the best left-handed pitchers in the big leagues right now," Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval said. "It's good to face those guys right now because you know it could happen in the National League finals."

It appeared the Giants might rally in the eighth, as Aubrey Huff led off with a single and Andres Torres reached on an infield single, but Lee struck out Aaron Rowand and induced a groundout by Jeff Keppinger to escape unscathed. Right-hander Santiago Casilla entered for Bumgarner, giving up an RBI single by Pence, a Trade Deadline acquisition by the Phillies who has added a potent right-handed bat to an already imposing lineup.

"Anytime you pick up a player like Pence, you're going to be a better club all around," Bochy said.

And Beltran gave the Giants a chance to score in the ninth, knocking a one-out double to left field, but Lee forced Cabrera to pop out and struck out Ross, putting the finishing touches on a dominant performance.

The lack of support was certainly nothing new for Bumgarner, as he has now been backed by three runs or fewer in 20 of his 23 starts this season. Thursday was the eighth time this year the left-hander received no run support.

But at the end of the night, Bumgarner -- different mechanically but with a similar array of pitches -- was simply impressed with Lee.

"The way he was throwing, it looked like he could've thrown 14 innings," Bumgarner said. "He's somebody that you'd definitely like to model yourself after. He's one of the best pitchers in the game."

Box Score

San Francisco Giants, Ryan Vogelsong turn back Arizona Diamondbacks

2011-08-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

Statistically speaking, Ryan Vogelsong is better than any pitcher in the major leagues at home. For once, the Giants' lineup posted some robust numbers at AT&T Park, too.

The result was an 8-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon that kept the Giants from slipping into second place in the National League West. It also broke their five-game losing streak, which could have turned into a double-digit panic with the fearsome Philadelphia Phillies coming to town next.

For all those reasons, Giants manager Bruce Bochy called the victory "probably our biggest to this point in the season. We had to stop the bleeding."

Vogelsong (9-1) took a shutout into the seventh inning before walking off to a standing ovation, and the new-look offense had its best day of the year at the ballpark beside McCovey Cove.

Hard to believe, but the Giants hadn't scored more than six runs in any of their first 52 home games. They topped that figure by the fifth inning, as Carlos Beltran had three hits -- including his second triple in three home games -- and Orlando Cabrera hit a two-run double to help the Giants avoid being swept by their only challengers in the N.L. West.

Before the game, Bochy was asked why he maintained the belief his offense would turn it around.

"Because I think we have the talent. That's where I'll start," he said. "It's a better lineup, a better offense than we were. You look at our new additions, and they're professional hitters."

Bochy also switched Nos. 3-4 hitters Pablo Sandoval and Beltran in the order, "just to break it up. That's the best way I can put it."

The Giants needed more than an icebreaker. They faced something more resembling a mile-thick glacier while going 53 innings without scoring multiple runs. That streak finally ended in a four-run third, when leadoff man Andres Torres began a parade of four consecutive singles. All came against Jason Marquis, a tough right-hander whom the Diamondbacks acquired because of his success against the Giants.

The former Washington Nationals pitcher gave up Cabrera's double before getting knocked out in the fifth. Then Arizona's other pitching pickup, former A's right-hander Brad Ziegler, gave up a two-run double to Cody Ross on the first pitch he threw with his new team.

The Giants' new guys did better than Arizona's new guys. Jeff Keppinger also had two hits for the Giants; their three trade-deadline acquisitions combined for six hits, four runs and four RBIs.

"You're joining a new team, you're moving your family -- there's a grace period there," Bochy said. "As they get to know each other, they pull for one another.

"These guys are pros. That's why I didn't think the transition would take long, and that's why I'm hoping this game will get us going."

The Diamondbacks had forged a tie atop the division by beating Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum in the first two games of the series. But the Diamondbacks could not conquer Vogelsong, who has a 1.30 ERA in 10 games at AT&T Park this season and rediscovered his cutter along with a hard-breaking curve to disarm a powerful Arizona lineup.

Vogelsong allowed one run. Guillermo Mota struck out three consecutive batters in the seventh to strand two runners and keep Vogelsong's ERA as pretty as possible.

Vogelsong leads the N.L.'s qualifying starters with a 2.19 ERA.

"It's been crazy, definitely something I'm not used to," he said, of all the newfound recognition. "I'm just trying to stay grounded and keep throwing good games."

Bochy said: "The guy on the hill sets the tone."

The difference this time: The offense followed that tone with more than crickets.

"I like to believe if you win the World Series, you have to hit at some point," Cabrera said. "It's pretty much the same team. So eventually, we'll put runs on the scoreboard."

The Giants beat a pitcher who was targeted to face them. Now they'll have their hands full with the Phillies in a four-game series. Roy Halladay is not listed to pitch in the series, but the Giants will get Cliff Lee in the first game.

Beltran faced the Phillies tons in his N.L. East career with the Mets. He'll preach more of the same approach.

"Today was a good example," he said. "Take the walk, try to use the hole, go first to third, put yourself in position for the next guy to drive you in."

And if not?

"Doesn't matter," Sandoval said. "You can still get there. You can score one and win."

Box Score

Skid continues as Giants fall into tie for first

2011-08-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Here's when everybody finds out whether the Giants relish a challenge.

The reigning World Series champions fell into a first-place tie in the National League West with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who rode two-run homers by Paul Goldschmidt and Justin Upton to a 6-1 victory Tuesday night.

Just last Thursday, the Giants were brimming with confidence after defeating Philadelphia, widely considered the league's elite ballclub, for the second consecutive night. Since then, San Francisco has lost five in a row, matching a season high and enabling the D-backs to dissolve a four-game deficit. San Francisco had held sole possession of first place since June 25.

Asked if he thought the Giants have been pressing during their skid, Tim Lincecum replied, "I don't think anything more than usual. We're just trying to play good ball. We know the position that we're at. To maintain the lead in the West, we have to manufacture runs and pitch better than we have been. ... It's not a big adjustment for us."

Perhaps fittingly, the D-backs resemble last year's Giants. They possess excellent pitching, decent power (remember last season's second half, when San Francisco shared the NL lead in homers after the All-Star break) and the unquenchable spirit of their manager, Kirk Gibson.

"They have their confidence going and they're playing great," Giants manager Bruce Bochy admitted.

After defeating Matt Cain and Lincecum on back-to-back nights, the D-backs have every right to believe that they can complete the metamorphosis from 97-loss nonentities to division winners.

"It's a lot of fun, but we all know we have a long way to go," said Arizona right-hander Daniel Hudson, who limited the Giants to six hits in eight innings. "Our ultimate goal is to get into October and we've got to come through San Francisco to get there. We've got a long way to go and we've got a lot of games left against these guys and our division, so we're going to take the good with the bad and go to work every day."

Though 42 games remain, the deadlock between the Giants and D-backs adds significance to the rest of the season.

"This means it's going to be a fight," Bochy said. "It's going to be a tight race. Not that we didn't think it was going to be."

Said Lincecum, "I'm hoping nobody's hitting the panic button quite yet. ... I don't think we're going to take this too hard. We'll just come out tomorrow and play better."

As he typically does, Lincecum (9-9) poured his energy into trying to raise the Giants' game. He struck out eight in seven innings, permitted just six balls to be hit out of the infield, and allowed three hits, all in the fifth inning.

The right-hander was nursing a 1-0 lead when Goldschmidt, appearing in his second Major League game, followed Ryan Roberts' fifth-inning leadoff single by planting a 2-1 delivery two-thirds of the way up the left-field seats. It was Goldschmidt's first big league homer.

"With the exception of the location of that pitch, I thought I pitched very well," Lincecum said.

Upton padded Arizona's lead with another two-run homer, which he clobbered in the eighth inning off reliever Ramon Ramirez. Javier Lopez surrendered two more runs in the ninth.

The Giants opened the scoring in the fourth inning but wasted a chance for greater production. Three consecutive one-out hits -- singles by Jeff Keppinger and Carlos Beltran and Pablo Sandoval's double to left field -- generated a run. With Arizona conceding a run by playing the infield back, Aubrey Huff indeed hit a ground ball, but it was a harmless comebacker to Hudson. Nate Schierholtz struck out to end the inning.

Except for Sandoval, who went 3-for-4, the Giants maintained their typically spotty offense, despite the presence of Trade Deadline acquisitions Keppinger, Beltran and Cabrera, each of whom collected a token hit.

Beltran, the formidable No. 3 hitter who's batting .200 (5-for-25) as a Giant, continued to endure tough luck. With one out and San Francisco trailing by a run in the sixth inning, he hit a howling line drive to right field that Upton caught on the run. An easy double play ensued, since Keppinger had dashed nearly to third base.

"It shows how defense can win a game for you," Bochy said. "I didn't think he'd get to that."

Box Score

D-backs cut Giants' lead to one game

2011-08-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Adam Berry
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- While enduring a lengthy list of injuries and soldiering through their season-long offensive struggles, the Giants have been able to take solace in one fact: They were in first place.

After Monday night's 5-2 loss to the D-backs in AT&T Park, the Giants are now dangerously close to losing that distinction, as their lead in the National League West dwindled to just one game while Arizona clearly showed it wasn't going to go sit back and let the Giants into the playoffs without a fight.

"I never doubted that. They're a good club, and they've had a nice year," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's going to be a battle. I expected it to go down to the wire, to be honest."

Much had changed for the Giants since they last took the field at home, as they traded for two new everyday players in Carlos Beltran and Orlando Cabrera and even bumped Cody Ross into the leadoff spot Monday night, but their mild offensive output remained the same.

Extending its losing streak to four games, San Francisco managed only two solo homers off Ian Kennedy. The Arizona right-hander struck out seven and walked one in eight strong innings, and the D-backs erupted for five runs in the sixth against Matt Cain. Like Bochy, Cain acknowledged that the D-backs will remain a threat for the rest of the season, especially if they put together more games like they did Monday in San Francisco.

"They're good. We've noticed that. We thought that in spring," Cain said. "We thought they were going to be a group of guys that are always going to hit. ... They've been throwing the ball well. They're a group of guys that are definitely playing good right now."

The D-backs didn't draw much attention to the slowly shrinking deficit in the division, though they had plenty of room for optimism after beating Cain and narrowing the gap between first and second place.

"They're all big, really, but it was nice to come in and get Game 1, and hopefully it kind of sets the tone for the rest of the series," Arizona shortstop Willie Bloomquist said. "We beat one of their horses today, and our guy pitched pretty dang good, too. They're obviously world champs, so we've got to come in and beat them if we want to be the best. They're obviously a great team, but we played well today and got the 'W,' so that was important."

As unremarkable as low-scoring games by the Giants have become, Cain's five-run inning felt out of place. After posting five scoreless frames and pitching his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, the right-hander recorded only two outs in the sixth while getting hit around by a potent D-backs lineup.

In all, Cain allowed eight hits and walked three batters while striking out five. Five of those hits and one of the walks came in the sixth. Justin Upton led off with a single, Chris Young walked and Miguel Montero drove in Upton with a single to right field. After meeting with pitching coach Dave Righetti, Cain gave up an RBI single to Ryan Roberts. Gerardo Parra and Willie Bloomquist also stroked run-scoring singles, bringing the damage to five runs before Jeremy Affeldt entered to relieve an admittedly frustrated Cain.

"That's just kind of the way it goes sometimes. You make good pitches, and sometimes they're going to find holes," Cain said. "They did their job of being able to put the ball in play."

Ross, who got the start in center field, supplied half the Giants' offense in their first at-bat, taking an 0-2 pitch from Kennedy over the left-field wall for his second career leadoff homer. It was the Giants' first leadoff home run all year and their only first-inning round-tripper of the season at home.

Before the game, Bochy said he was looking for someone to step up and claim the leadoff spot, as Andres Torres has struggled after a breakout season in 2010, and Ross appeared to do just that with his eighth home run of the season. He added a single to center field in the eighth, finishing 2-for-4.

"I told Bochy as soon as I got here last year, if you need me to do anything, I can play all three outfield positions, and wherever you want me to hit, I'm open to it," Ross said. "Nothing's changed. I've always been like that my whole career. ... As long as I'm out there trying to contribute and trying to help this team win, that's all I can really do."

Huff also launched a home run in the seventh inning, finishing an 11-pitch at-bat against Kennedy with a high fly ball into the right-field stands. It was Huff's 10th homer of the season but just his second in AT&T Park this year.

But it was all the Giants could muster. And if they can't slow the D-backs the rest of the way, they might not be able to fall back on claiming sole possession of first place in the NL West for much longer.

"They'll come back tomorrow. It's just one game," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "We don't want to overstate what we did tonight and come back and get them tomorrow."

Box Score

San Francisco Giants lose 9-0, swept by Cincinnati Reds

2011-08-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

CINCINNATI -- The Giants got thoroughly skunked by Reds right-hander Johnny Cueto on Sunday, managing three hits in a 9-0 loss to complete a three-game sweep by Cincinnati that was as bad as chili on spaghetti.

General manager Brian Sabean couldn't dig up any last-minute catchers or leadoff hitters at the non-waiver trade deadline, either.

But manager Bruce Bochy liked the team photo as his sweaty squad dragged itself home from the banks of the Ohio River to begin a significant series with the hard-charging Arizona Diamondbacks.

"I'm grateful to Brian and ownership," said Bochy, who added Carlos Beltran, Jeff Keppinger and Orlando Cabrera in recent days. "It's up to us. We've got to play our best ball. We have the talent. We have to do it and execute."

Lest anyone forget the ballad of Cody Ross, the Giants still could add impact pieces through waiver trades or claims. Until then, there will be several big, internal battles for Bochy to sort out.

Leadoff, for starters. The Giants were outbid by Atlanta for Houston Astros center fielder Michael Bourn, according to sources. So they'll have to figure out how to get more production from their No. 1 hitters, whose combined .305 on-base percentage ranks 15th out of 16 N.L. teams.

Confidence appears to be eroding in Andres Torres, whose average is down to .233. Bochy was compelled to bench Torres against a right-hander in favor of Aaron Rowand.

And then there is Barry Zito. Like Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong in the first two games here, Zito couldn't settle in quickly. The Reds slapped his pitches around during a three-run first inning, and he operated from the stretch most of the game.

Zito gave up five runs in five innings, and now the question is when, if ever, the $126 million left-hander resurfaces in the rotation.

Although Bochy was not ready to proclaim a starter for Friday, Zito's day, he already had volunteered the notion of activating Jonathan Sanchez to take the ball.

Nothing that happened in Zito's outing Sunday would seem to change those plans.

All signs point to Zito getting bounced to long relief, assuming he's still on the roster. He has two years and almost $50 million remaining on his contract, making it a very expensive plug to pull.

Zito's start Sunday was listed as "TBA" as recently as Friday. The left-hander said, "that's when I dealt with it," but he insisted he didn't pitch as if a guillotine hovered over his head.

"No, I couldn't bring that out there," Zito said. "It's not beneficial to throw pitches with that intention. "... I take responsibility for what went on out there. It was a couple pitches up in the zone."

Bochy lamented the 10 runs his pitchers allowed in the first inning in the three games, the Giants' first series loss since they were blitzed in Oakland June 17-19.

Another calamitous series against Arizona would turn the N.L. West into a two-team free-for-all. The Diamondbacks got a bit better, too, trading for A's reliever Brad Ziegler and adding Jason Marquis. The tough right-hander, who will start Wednesday, threw a five-hit shutout when the Giants visited Washington in April.

The Giants also enter with some taxed arms after their relievers pitched 131/3 innings in three games.

"Naw, I don't have any concern," Bochy said. "This club is tough. They're resilient. They've been through this before. You'll hit bumps, and we hit a pretty big one here."

Sabean faced taller fortifications while trying to upgrade his catching tandem of Eli Whiteside and Chris Stewart, who have held the staff together since Buster Posey's season-ending leg injury on May 25. Bochy admired the work of both backup catchers, so Sabean didn't want to get any old body for the sake of it, which could potentially disrupt the rapport with the staff.

"It has to be a definitive upgrade," Sabean said. "It has to be somebody you think is a slam dunk to handle this staff. We have not been able to find that type of catcher."

Sabean said he would remain vigilant during the waiver process. For now, he surveyed his three deals and said he was "very fortunate" to have added three veterans while sacrificing just one premium prospect, right-hander Zack Wheeler.

"There was going to be bloodletting somewhere," Sabean said. "But we felt we did the best we could with the least amount of pain."

Box Score

Rough first inning sinks Bumgarner, Giants

2011-07-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

CINCINNATI -- For whatever reason, whether it's coincidence or something more tangible, the Giants simply don't play well against the Cincinnati Reds.

Sauntering into Great American Ball Park after subduing the formidable Philadelphia Phillies twice in a row, San Francisco has dropped the first two games of this series to the Reds, including Saturday night's error-plagued 7-2 decision.

The Giants have lost 15 of their last 25 games against Cincinnati since 2008. They also sealed their first series loss since the A's swept them June 17-19 in Oakland. Since then, the Giants had won eight series and split two.

When the Giants began their 19-game stretch against contending teams on July 22 against Milwaukee, some observers mentally crossed the Reds off that list. After all, the Reds owned a sub-.500 record, which they still do. And the defending National League Central champions are on the fringes of the division race, trailing Milwaukee by 6 1/2 games.

But Cincinnati has been one of the league's most successful teams against the Giants this year, winning four of six games from them. Good thing for the Giants that the Reds no longer reside in the NL West, as they did before the onset of the Wild Card era in 1994.

Madison Bumgarner conjured memories of his eight-run, one-third-inning debacle June 21 against Minnesota. This time, seven consecutive Reds reached base safely with one out in the first inning, generating five runs.

Bumgarner (6-10) owns a first-inning ERA of 7.59. He couldn't explain this phenomenon.

"I don't think there's really an answer for it," he said. "I got some ground balls and they found holes. I don't think the fact that it's the first inning has anything to do with it. Sometimes it's the third inning; sometimes it's the fifth."

Bumgarner, a North Carolina native, said that the 82-degree gametime temperature didn't bother him. But the considerable humidity did.

"It was hard to grip the ball," he said.

Throwing 40 pitches in the first inning also hampered Bumgarner, who said that this overload left him feeling "a little tired."

Reds starter Mike Leake (9-6) thought that Bumgarner might have downplayed the heat slightly, expressing the belief that it has "taken a little toll" on the Giants. Added Leake, "They're used to nice, cool nights, and I think both their starters took awhile to get going. I think the heat got to them a little bit."

Under ordinary circumstances, Bumgarner might not have survived the first inning. But, having used six relievers for 6 1/3 innings in Friday's 13-inning loss, Giants manager Bruce Bochy had to stick with Bumgarner to avoid taxing his bullpen.

Nevertheless, Bochy was about to declare that enough was enough.

"He was facing his last hitter," Bochy said, recalling Bumgarner's 40-pitch, 11-batter ordeal that ended when Edgar Renteria, who doubled off the left-field wall earlier in the inning, struck out.

Bochy also confessed, "I don't know if I had eight innings of [relief] pitching."

Bumgarner responded with perfect innings in the second and third. But the Giants played an imperfect inning in the fourth, when throwing errors by third baseman Pablo Sandoval and left fielder Nate Schierholtz helped Cincinnati score a pair of unearned runs.

Despite all this, the Giants had chances to jump back into contention. They actually outhit Cincinnati, 11-7. But they wasted that production by going 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. The Giants also encountered tough luck throughout the game (two line-drive outs, one warning-track fly) and, in the seventh inning, extreme frustration. Trailing by the ultimate five-run margin, they loaded the bases with one out against Leake. Then left-hander Bill Bray took over and disarmed San Francisco's two most dangerous hitters. Carlos Beltran, who has one hit in his first 14 at-bats as a Giant, hit a harmless fly ball to left field before Sandoval grounded out on a 3-2 pitch.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants fall to Cincinnati Reds in 13 innings

2011-07-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

CINCINNATI -- Even with Carlos Beltran anchoring their lineup, the Giants have holes on their roster. For instance, they lack a right-handed-hitting shortstop -- someone to be this year's version of Edgar Renteria.

And, oh yes, you'd better believe this year's Renteria still knows how to meet a spotlight.

In a theatrical ending to a tense, 13-inning game, Renteria, the Giants' World Series MVP last season, bested Brian Wilson, who threw the final pitch that made the Giants champions.

Renteria lunged at an outside cutter, angled his body as he ran down the line and tossed his helmet when the ball nearly hit the chalk down the right-field line to give the Cincinnati Reds a 4-3 victory Friday night at Great American Ball Park.

"I prayed to get it fair," said Renteria, who declined the Giants' offer to return at a significant pay cut over the winter. "It was great. It was great against anybody. Facing a great closer like Wilson, I have to battle. I have to battle every pitch he throws. I got lucky I got a base hit."

The Reds' biggest horseshoe moment came one batter earlier, when reliever Jose Arredondo, making his first big league plate appearance, hit a chopper off the baked infield that went over third baseman Pablo Sandoval's head.

Wilson had issued a leadoff walk to Jay Bruce, and Arredondo, batting because the Reds were out of position players, hopelessly tried to bunt. That's when Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Cueto nudged manager Dusty Baker and reminded him that Arredondo first signed as a shortstop.

Baker boldly had Arredondo swing away to put runners at first and second. Then Renteria, whose three-run home run made all the difference in the Giants' World Series clincher, took a professional swing at a 1-2 pitch.

Catcher Eli Whiteside said he thought Wilson had sped up Renteria's bat with inside pitches that he fouled off. Wilson said he was hoping for a double play or strikeout.

"In the swing I saw, he was able to throw his bat at it and was able to place it perfectly on the line," Wilson said. "Can't do much about that."

The Giants didn't do enough offensively, and their lack of a right-handed-hitting shortstop exposed them. They had to start Mike Fontenot against left-hander Dontrelle Willis; Fontenot went 0 for 5 to extend an 0-for-22 streak, and worse, he stranded eight men on base while ending four innings.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he didn't consider pinch-hitting Brandon Belt for Fontenot with the bases loaded in the 10th inning. Fontenot struck out swinging on three pitches from Francisco Cordero.

"Font's been around," Bochy said. "He's got more at-bats in the major leagues. There were two outs, too. That's not a time to start burning up players.

"He had a tough matchup today. We have two left-handed-hitting shortstops."

Rookie Brandon Crawford, challenged at the plate, is the other. The club should have Miguel Tejada back from the disabled list in another week, but he doesn't have the range to play the position well anymore.

The Giants are rumored to have asked the Dodgers about Rafael Furcal. Maybe they should ask the Reds about Renteria, too.

As usual, the pitching staff gave the Giants every opportunity to win. Ryan Vogelsong managed a quality start -- six innings, three earned runs -- despite a laborious first two innings that included six hits and 49 pitches thrown in steamy conditions.

"As bad as I've been," said Vogelsong, who responded by getting "(ticked) off enough that I just started throwing it."

The bullpen was unreal, too, as five relievers combined for six shutout innings. Add outfielder Nate Schierholtz's arm to the list, too. He made a strong throw to save the game in the 10th inning, throwing out Joey Votto trying to score on Todd Frazier's fly ball to medium left field.

But the Giants couldn't find another clutch hit after Whiteside's tying double in the eighth.

"You give a team like that enough chances, after a while, they'll find a way," Bochy said. "It takes a big hit somewhere along the line, especially in this ballpark."

Bochy wasn't too charitable when asked about Renteria. There might be some sore feelings over the veteran's departure and subsequent comments about feeling disrespected.

But there's no doubting he is still dramatic when the right moment arrives. He stopped on first base, calmly turned toward the home dugout and waited motionless for his teammates to engulf him.

"The only guy I don't want in that situation," Sandoval said. "That's the only guy I was scared of."

Box Score

Tim Lincecum shows no weakness in San Francisco Giants' win over Philadelphia Phillies

2011-07-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
MercuryNews

PHILADELPHIA -- The infamously clever fans at Citizens Bank Park merely offered scattered wolf whistles for Tim Lincecum. But Phillies manager Charlie Manuel did plenty of chirping after Lincecum's six shutout innings led the Giants to a 4-1 victory to take two of three in one of baseball's toughest venues.

The Giants hadn't won a regular-season series at Philadelphia since 2004. But they shut down the Phillies to win the NLCS last season. Manuel didn't like all the platitudes his hitters showered on the Giants' pitching staff back then.

He isn't about to praise them now.

Asked how his lineup could solve great pitchers like Lincecum and Matt Cain, Manuel responded, "They're good pitchers. You say they're great pitchers. To me, I don't know how great they are. I think as they move on into their careers, there's the longevity part and "... that's when the greatness might come by.

"When you say somebody is great "... tonight I saw a 90 (mph) fastball, 92 at the best. I saw a good change-up. I saw a breaking ball. I saw a cutter. Good pitching, but at the same time we can beat that. I've seen us do that."

If Manuel likes the cards he's holding, so does Lincecum -- especially now that the Giants have Carlos Beltran, who was 0 for 4 in his debut but might have begun casting subtle influence on the rest of the lineup.

The crowd focused its wit and ill will on Beltran, their former N.L. East rival, and barely revived their whistling serenade for Lincecum -- a comment on his long locks -- when he came to the plate. It was much quieter than the cacophony that greeted him in the NLCS last season.

"I guess that it amps us up a little to come in here and do what we did last year in the playoffs and show them we can do it again," Lincecum said. "We've got the confidence. It's not just about what we did last year. We feel we can do it again this year."

Lincecum (9-8), who was scratched two days earlier because of a violent stomach ailment, had to work hard while stranding runners in five of his six innings.

Next time he faces the Phillies, perhaps Chase Utley will suddenly feel ill. He came to bat with runners in scoring position three times and made three outs against Lincecum, including strikeouts to kill opportunities in the third and fifth.

The Phillies hadn't lost consecutive home games since April. Meanwhile, the Giants improved to 8-1 in rubber games this season. This tilt might have held the most psychological importance -- even if Manuel insisted the Giants weren't in the Phillies' heads.

"Really, I don't think so at all," Manuel said. "I think we can get 'em, if you want to know the truth. I know we can get 'em. "... They've been playing us tough. They've got a good team. They've got good pitching. So do we. It's just a matter of us outplaying them. Basically, the last two nights they took it to us."

Beltran might be the Giants' most powerful offensive addition since Barry Bonds, but he didn't let a dramatic home run fly in his debut game. He grounded out to first base, struck out twice and flied out to right field.

His biggest moment probably came in the fifth inning, when he got a late jump on Jimmy Rollins' fly ball to right and took out a 2-foot chunk of turf while sliding on his right knee to make an awkward catch. His troublesome knees survived the tumble, but it might have caused mild arrhythmia in the Giants' front office.

The Giants had been the only team in the majors without a 10-homer man. Now they've got two. In addition to Beltran, who hit 15 homers as a Met, Pablo Sandoval's solo shot off Kyle Kendrick in the second inning was his 10th of the season.

Beltran said he encouraged Sandoval during batting practice to use the opposite field. That's where the Panda's homer went, curling just inside the left-field pole.

"Pablo has a lot of power, man," Beltran said. "He came in after the home run and was so excited. If he stays in the middle of the field, he can do a lot of damage. He proved it."

Box Score

Beltran joins Giants in Philly, ready to contribute

2011-07-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Sports Illustrated/Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Carlos Beltran landed a huge contract after one memorable October. He's hoping another big postseason will get him a ring.

Beltran joined the San Francisco Giants on Thursday after the defending World Series champions completed a trade to acquire the All-Star outfielder and cash from the New York Mets.

He was in the starting lineup, batting third and playing right field in the series finale against the major league-leading Phillies.

"These guys have been there before, and everyone knows their role," Beltran said. "They did a great job last year. They did everything right to win the World Series. They pitched well, they played good defense, they contributed offensively when they needed it most. I'm just coming here to be a part of what they already have and am looking forward to that."

Adding Beltran upgrades San Francisco's inconsistent offense, and could help the Giants make another championship run. Beltran first had to approve the deal to the NL West leaders, who parted with top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler.

Beltran had an incredible postseason with Houston in 2004, batting .435 (20 for 46) with eight homers and 14 RBIs. The Astros lost to St. Louis in seven games in the NLCS.

Beltran's reward was a $119 million, seven-year deal with the Mets.

"I'm not thinking about '04. I already got paid for '04," Beltran said. "I'm thinking about 2011, and I feel this year I'm healthy, and I'm just looking for a way to be a contributor to the lineup that they already have. I'm just looking forward to jumping in and doing the best I can to help this team continue to win ballgames offensively and defensively."

Beltran only made it back to the playoffs once with New York, which lost to St. Louis in the 2006 NLCS. He struck out looking with the bases loaded and the Mets down 3-1 to end Game 7 against the Cardinals.

The Giants are counting on him to bolster a sagging offense hurt by injuries to Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez. San Francisco was batting .241 with 66 homers and 373 runs, all numbers that ranked toward the bottom of the NL. No player on the roster had more than nine homers. Aubrey Huff was leading the team with 47 RBIs.

The 34-year-old Beltran, who can become a free agent after the season, leads the National League with 30 doubles and is batting .289 with 15 homers and 66 RBIs.

"We lost two really good hitters in the heart of our order, and to have one of the elite players in the game, it just makes sense for us," manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's a great fit."

New York's prize in return is Wheeler, who is 7-5 with a 3.99 ERA in 16 starts for San Francisco's high Class-A affiliate in San Jose. The Giants selected the right-hander with the No. 6 pick in the 2009 draft.

"We were looking for big upside," Mets GM Sandy Alderson said. "We could have gotten a package of three players from a number of clubs, but the overall potential of those players would not have equaled Zack's potential."

To make room for Beltran, the Giants sent utilityman Emmanuel Burriss to Triple-A Fresno. Beltran will wear No. 15, which belonged to Bochy. The skipper switched to No. 16.

"I made a joke with him, saying if he wants a watch with diamonds or without diamonds," Beltran said. "I'm still waiting for him at this point. He hasn't responded yet."

Giants general manager Brian Sabean made a handful of risky moves last summer and late in the 2010 season that paid off in a big way. This is another huge splash for baseball's longest-tenured GM.

"When you're defending world champions, you do have to try to defend that title any way you can," Sabean said. "We're in first place. Hopefully we show we mean business. ... Simply put, we're thrilled with bringing Carlos on board. We really felt the organization needed a shot in the arm and more so our lineup."

Last year, the Giants won their first NL West title since 2003, ended a six-year playoff drought and went on to capture an improbable championship -- the franchise's first since moving West in 1958.

"We're at an interesting place in time. We're trying to get back to the playoffs by winning the division, and much like last year taking our chances," Sabean said. "It's timely. Our fans deserve this as well as the team."

Beltran was plagued by knee injuries the past two seasons, but has been healthy this year and is enjoying a strong comeback season.

Once the teams agreed to terms, Beltran had 24 hours to decide whether to waive his no-trade clause. Shortly before New York's 8-2 win at Cincinnati on Wednesday night, he arrived in the clubhouse and told his teammates he was on his way to Philadelphia to join the Giants.

While parting with Wheeler was a tough call, Sabean and his staff weighed dealing a pitcher or a top position player. Wheeler wasn't going to be in the mix at the major league level for a while.

"Carlos is the player that we coveted all along," Sabean said. "As we knew what the price of doing business was there, it became apparent no matter where we turned we were going to take a hit on our prospect list."

That worked out for New York, which has overcome some key injuries to hover around .500 for weeks. But the Mets, who began the day 7½ games out in the NL wild-card race, are looking toward the future.

"Zack was the guy that we focused on," Alderson said. "This is the kind of deal that we had hoped to be able to make at the outset, and when it materialized we didn't have any problem pulling the trigger."

Cain repeats NLCS dominance of Phillies

2011-07-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

PHILADELPHIA -- The lengthening row of zeros attesting to the Philadelphia Phillies' futility Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park recalled a different day, another ballpark and the same pitcher.

Matt Cain drew directly from his success against the Phillies in last October's National League Championship Series to deliver a similar performance as the Giants secured a 2-1 victory.

In Cain's last outing against Philadelphia, he surrendered two hits in seven shutout innings in Game 3 of the NLCS at AT&T Park. That helped the Giants triumph, 3-0, giving them a lead in the series that they wouldn't relinquish.

This time, Cain blanked Philadelphia for six innings, yielded an unearned run in the seventh inning and was relieved by Javier Lopez after pinch-hitter Ross Gload opened the eighth by reaching base on catcher's interference.

As it turned out, Cain reread a chapter from his own library of excellence. He explained that he watched Game 3 videos to review how he gained and maintained an advantage against the Phillies' dangerous lineup.

"I definitely think [it helped], being able to look back at that game, try to remember some of the pitches and with the video, to try to help go into the game with some confidence," Cain said.

Characteristically, Cain's confidence never wavered. Nor did his effectiveness. Only three Phillies reached scoring position against him. Though he recorded only one strikeout, he relied on his fastball to make the Phillies hit ineffectual grounders and mostly harmless flies. Cain (9-6) notched 12 outs on ground balls and eight on fly balls.

Cain lost his shutout under frustrating circumstances in the Phillies' half of the seventh. Shane Victorino led off with a popup in front of home plate that catcher Eli Whiteside seemed bound to catch easily. But he didn't hear Cain call for the ball. They both settled under the ball, which went off Cain's glove as he and Whiteside reached for it.

"Miscommunication on both of us," Cain said.

The ball trickled toward the backstop, enabling Victorino to charge to second base. He scored on Domonic Brown's one-out, bad-hop single off first baseman Aubrey Huff's glove. Cain escaped by coaxing Carlos Ruiz's double-play grounder.

That's two lousy breaks Cain encountered, neither of which disturbed him.

"He's a pro," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He keeps his poise out there. That's one of those things that can rattle you a little bit, but he got back on the hill and pitched great. He had a bad hop that inning and still didn't let the game get away."

Cain accepted the ill fortune as part of the job.

"That's just how the game goes at times. Little things are going to come here and there," he said. "You're going to make good pitches and guys are going to get hits. There's errors, things like that. You can't worry about that. It's just part of being-the-starter mentality. You're going to pitch hopefully 200 innings each year. There's going to be little things throughout those innings that's going to happen."

"Little" also described the output of San Francisco's offense, which is expected to receive a boost when right fielder Carlos Beltran, obtained from the New York Mets, makes his anticipated Giants debut Thursday. For one more night, the Giants derived the maximum from the minimum to improve to 28-13 in one-run decisions.

The Giants opened their scoring in the third inning against left-hander Cole Hamels, who began Wednesday tied for the NL lead with 12 wins. Whiteside beat out an infield single and came home on Aaron Rowand's two-out triple.

"I thought it was the right pitch to throw to him. I thought I left it up just a little bit," Hamels said of the 1-1 fastball that Rowand guided into the right-field corner. "When you give up that sort of hit, you know it's extra bases. And with two outs, I just knew from the moment Aaron hit it the guy was pretty much going to score. You don't want to give up the first run, especially with Cain pitching just because it could be the one run that matters."

In fact, the Giants are 38-18 when they score first. Under those circumstances, Whiteside said, "it seems like we play a little bit better. We relax and it gets us going a little bit."

San Francisco added a run in the seventh but squandered a chance for a more fruitful inning. Jeff Keppinger doubled for his first extra-base hit as a Giant. Cody Ross walked and went to third base on Nate Schierholtz's RBI double, a sinking line drive that scooted under Brown's glove in right field. Hamels hit Whiteside to load the bases with nobody out, but Cain popped up and Rowand grounded into a double play.

Wasting the opportunity for more didn't matter. After Lopez rescued Cain by finishing the eighth unscathed, Brian Wilson earned his 32nd save with a perfect ninth inning. The first batter Wilson retired was Ryan Howard, who happened to take a called third strike from the bearded closer for the final out of the NLCS. This time, Howard flied to left field on a 3-2 pitch. Wilson then coaxed two grounders to second base to seal the Giants' 60th victory.

Asked if it was a victory that bore extra meaning under the circumstances, Bochy said, "I would agree with that, playing such a good club and gettting the pitching we got tonight."

Box Score

Surprise starter Zito sunk in first inning

2011-07-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

PHILADELPHIA -- This rematch was anything but a replay.

Last year's National League Championship Series featured drama and tension, with the Giants edging the Philadelphia Phillies three times by one run to secure the pennant in a six-game struggle. By contrast, Tuesday's outcome was essentially settled after the first inning, when the Phillies scored four runs and hit the first of their four homers to overwhelm San Francisco, 7-2.

Some might insist that the game was decided hours before it began, as Tim Lincecum, the Giants' scheduled starter, endured an apparent stomach illness, which forced manager Bruce Bochy to scratch him. Barry Zito replaced Lincecum and absorbed the Phillies' pounding, though the left-hander saved the bullpen by working seven innings.

Vance Worley never gave the Giants a chance to make matters competitive. The rookie right-hander pitched his first Major League complete game, surrendering three hits and retiring 23 of 25 hitters after Andres Torres doubled to open the game.

The Giants don't know when Lincecum will pitch again. Bochy maintained hope that it could be as early as Wednesday, explaining his refusal to name a starter for that game. Matt Cain will face Philadelphia if Lincecum remains weakened.

At least Cain will have more advance notice than Zito, who said that he was told approximately one hour and 45 minutes before game time to get ready. Still, if anybody was mentally equipped to handle an emergency assignment, it was Zito. He not only worked on three days' rest July 2 at Detroit but also pitched four shutout innings after a rain delay of nearly three hours.

Though Zito prefers to stick to particular routines between starts and on days he pitches, he insisted that the sudden command to fill in for Lincecum didn't affect his performance.

"Nothing really changed a whole lot," Zito said, explaining that 90 minutes notice typically suffices for pregame preparation.

But Zito couldn't establish immediate consistency. Then again, pitching on nine days' rest after being skipped in his last turn, steadiness might have eluded him no matter what. He had two outs with nobody on base in the first inning before Chase Utley singled and scored on Ryan Howard's double. Shane Victorino walked, setting up Raul Ibanez's first-pitch homer. Ibanez was batting .221 off lefties at the time.

John Mayberry Jr. added a fourth-inning homer and Utley hustled his way to an inside-the-park homer in the sixth. Howard added an eighth-inning homer off Guillermo Mota.

"I didn't really have anything working until probably the second or third [inning]," Zito said. "I think the difference in the game was that they didn't miss mistakes."

As examples, Zito cited the cutter he dangled for Ibanez and the curveball that didn't fool Mayberry when they homered.

Said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, "You have to show respect for a team when you got a lead, but at the same time you don't lighten up. You don't take it easy."

Bochy remained mostly upbeat about Zito, who was dropped from last year's postseason rotation and didn't face Philadelphia in the NLCS. The howling among fans for that to happen again could increase if Jonathan Sanchez, recovering from biceps tendinitis, delivers a strong performance in his injury rehabilitation start Wednesday with Triple-A Fresno.

Bochy said of Zito, "It's a shame he couldn't get out of that [first] inning because he regrouped and threw the ball fairly well. It's impressive on his part, not caving in and finding a way to give us innings."

Worley subdued the Giants without overpowering them. He struck out only five and allowed several hard-hit balls, including a pair of line drives by Cody Ross and fly balls from Eli Whiteside and Pablo Sandoval that were caught at the wall.

Ross praised Worley, but not excessively.

"For the most part, his fastball was pretty straight," Ross said. "He located it outstanding, in and out. He had a little cut to it sometimes and was mixing his slider, a few curveballs and some changeups. He pitched very well -- obviously, outstanding. He didn't miss too many spots, that's for sure. That being said, we hit the ball pretty well. We just got unlucky."

Even a more hotly contested game might not have roused the Citizens Bank Park crowd, which seemed surprisingly mellow. Phillies fans turned up the volume on their booing for Ross, the 2010 NLCS Most Valuable Player. But those catcalls weren't fierce.

"I really didn't take much notice to it," Ross said. "I was more worried about putting together a good at-bat than about how they were going to welcome me back."

Box Score

Bumgarner shines in winning pitching duel

2011-07-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

Adam Berry
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Before hitting the road to visit the White House and begin a highly anticipated National League Championship Series rematch with the Phillies, the Giants wanted to make sure they focused on taking care of the Brewers, another playoff contender.

Madison Bumgarner did most of the heavy lifting for San Francisco, throwing 7 2/3 innings and scoring a run in his second straight win at home as the Giants beat the Brewers, 2-1, and took the series victory in AT&T Park on Sunday. The lefty gave up a homer to Ryan Braun in the first but calmed down after that despite saying he didn't have his best fastball, striking out eight -- all swinging -- while scattering eight hits and allowing no walks.

"Today was kind of one of those days where I felt like I was having to fight myself," Bumgarner said. "I feel like I did a good job of overcoming that and just making pitches."

As usual, Bumgarner didn't receive much run support, scoring one of those two runs himself. But he made sure Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo, who entered the game with the second-most run support in the National League this season, had even less to work with.

"His maturity and poise on the mound is just unbelievable. You don't see that in a whole lot of veteran pitchers, much less in one that's 21 years old," left fielder Brandon Belt said. "It's really nice to see him keep his composure throughout the game no matter what happens."

Bumgarner only threw 93 pitches and likely could have made a run at the first complete game of his career. But manager Bruce Bochy opted to send in right-hander Sergio Romo to face Braun with two outs in the eighth, resulting in a groundout. Closer Brian Wilson sealed the deal with his second straight 1-2-3 inning, saving his 31st game of the season.

Bochy said he thought about leaving Bumgarner on the mound, but he thought the lefty had already done his job and didn't want to risk a late-game mistake against Braun. And it's not like Bochy is hurting for options in the bullpen, which has given up just one run since the All-Star break.

Bochy spoke highly of Bumgarner's ability to pound the strike zone the way he did Sunday and has done throughout his young career. Bumgarner has now gone 19 straight starts with two or fewer walks -- the longest such stretch for the Giants since Juan Marichal accomplished the feat in 21 consecutive starts between July 17, 1970, and April 20, 1971.

Bumgarner said he wasn't aware of the streak. To Bochy, though, it was representative of why Bumgarner has been so successful so early in his career.

"That's one reason why he's up here at a young age. He's obviously very talented, but he throws strikes," Bochy said. "He does a great job of pounding the strike zone with all his pitches. He's just gotten smarter as a pitcher."

Bumgarner even chipped in at the plate in the third inning, launching a double to deep center just over the outstretched glove of Brett Carroll. After Andres Torres flied out, Jeff Keppinger knocked a single to left field, and Bumgarner slid home -- with third-base coach Tim Flannery yelling in his ear the whole way down the third-base line -- to beat the throw and tie the game. The RBI single was Keppinger's first as a Giant.

"I thought he did a marvelous job today, especially at the plate," Wilson said of Bumgarner. "He basically won it himself. We just came in and helped preserve it."

"I think [Bumgarner] understands that it's a long game. He trusts his offense," Belt added. "Even though it's been sporadic for him the entire season, he still trusts us to get a couple runs across, and fortunately, we did."

The Giants took the lead in the fourth. Aubrey Huff hit a high popup toward Brewers third baseman Josh Wilson, who lost the ball in the sun as it landed a few feet away from him. Huff was thrown out at second on Nate Schierholtz's fielder's choice, but Schierholtz beat out the double-play attempt.

With Schierholtz running, Belt stroked a single to right field, putting runners on the corners. Mike Fontenot pushed the tiebreaking run across on a sacrifice fly to deep center field.

"Like their record shows," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said, "they get in tight ballgames, and they seem to come out ahead."

That run gave the Giants their 27th one-run victory of the season and their 21st series victory -- along with plenty of momentum heading into yet another big week.

"It's very important that we did win today's game," Wilson said. "We always say, 'Let's say you lose the first two games of the series, then the last game's the travel day. Well, you want to have a nice flight.'

"And today, we'll have a nice flight."

Box Score

Bullpen shines again as Giants beat Brewers

2011-07-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

Steve Kroner
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Relief pitching has buoyed the Giants all season. Since the All-Star break, the bullpen has gone beyond whatever is better than "buoying."

Five relievers - Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo, Javier Lopez and Brian Wilson - combined for four hitless innings Saturday night as the Giants subdued Milwaukee 4-2 in China Basin.

In the nine games since the break, the relievers have thrown 30 2/3 innings and allowed all of one earned run.

"What they've done, it's been a lot of fun to watch," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "They're saving us so many times, last year, this year. They're all very good. They like pitching with the game on the line."

Wilson needed only five pitches to record the three outs in the ninth to pick up his 30th save. He said much of the relievers' success derives from their manager.

"Bochy uses the guys in the right situations," Wilson said. Bochy "knows our strengths and our weaknesses, and he nailed it once again."

Ryan Vogelsong was the beneficiary of the bullpen's work Saturday. He gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings as his record improved to 8-1.

Vogelsong joined the chorus of praising the relievers.

"They were great tonight," he said. "Every single one of them threw the ball great. They won the game for us.

"I really didn't have much to do with it."

The Brewers' baserunning had a lot to do with the outcome. In the fourth and fifth innings, three of Milwaukee's five outs came on the basepaths - and two of those three outs would have to be termed boneheaded mistakes by the Brewers.

With Milwaukee up 1-0 with one out in the fourth, Casey McGehee singled to left. Rickie Weeks tried to score from second, but Cody Ross' throw to Chris Stewart at the plate cut down Weeks.

There was nothing boneheaded about that play. Later in the inning, though, the Brewers committed the first of their two head-scratching mistakes.

With runners at the corners and George Kottaras at the plate, Yuniesky Betancourt tried to steal second. McGehee then became the victim of a play that rarely works, even in Little League.

Stewart faked a throw to second, which induced McGehee to break for the plate, which enabled Stewart to end the inning by easily tagging out McGehee between third and home.

Stewart said he couldn't remember the last time that play had worked for him.

Then with Ryan Braun at the plate with two outs and the scored tied 2-2 in the fifth, Nyjer Morgan broke for third on a ball that Stewart blocked in front of the plate.

Stewart's throw to Pablo Sandoval nailed Morgan, meaning Braun and his 67 RBIs would lead off the sixth.

By that time, the Giants had taken the lead for good. Aubrey Huff's sacrifice fly off Randy Wolf gave the Giants a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

Wolf's lifetime marks against the Giants before Saturday: 9-5 with a 2.77 ERA. He took the loss and dropped to 6-8 this season.

Nate Schierholtz collected three of the seven hits the lefty allowed in his six innings. Schierholtz, who poked a two-run double in the fourth, came into Saturday hitting .186 (8-for-43) against left-handers this season.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants open tough stretch with loss to Milwaukee Brewers

2011-07-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Carl Steward
Mercury News

The Giants stumbled into a crucial stretch against contending teams Friday night in a 4-2 loss in which the Milwaukee Brewers provided almost all of the excitement.

The Brewers scored three early runs against starter Matt Cain with good two-strike hitting, took advantage of some Giants juggles in the field and also got the most noise out of a sellout AT&T Park crowd when center fielder Nyjer Morgan got in an animated give-and-take with fans in the bleachers.

Morgan, who was born in San Francisco and grew up in San Jose, woke up the crowd of 42,297 after making a terrific running catch against the wall on a fly ball hit by Nate Schierholtz in the seventh inning.

Morgan got in a jawing match with fans in the bleachers and subsequently appeared to make an obscene gesture at them. At the end of the inning, when fans along the first-base line booed him as well, he made a few more gestures before bouncing into the dugout.

So what was going on out there?

"It was just fans being fans, and me being an entertainer," said the fleet, hyperactive Morgan, who subsequently identified himself as his self-proclaimed alter-ego, Tony Plush.

Morgan -- or Plush, if you prefer -- refused to admit or deny that he made an obscene gesture.

"Whatever you think you saw, that's what it was," he said. "Write about the win."

Morgan made a few nice catches in a game that the Brewers almost seemed blessed to win. The big two-RBI hit in a three-run second was a ball No. 8 hitter Jonathan Lucroy almost golfed off the ground. And to add insult to that, left fielder Cody Ross made a perfect throw to home plate that should have nailed the trailing runner. Instead, the ball skidded off the grass and under catcher Eli Whiteside's glove.

"I thought it was going to be a fairly close play, so I didn't want to give up too much ground or give up my position at the plate," Whiteside said. "I kind of gambled on taking it in between hops right there, and it didn't work out."

Earlier, Pablo Sandoval briefly juggled a hard shot and failed to turn a double play against Casey McGehee, who eventually scored on Lucroy's hit. All of the Brewers' run-scoring hits in the second inning came with two strikes, as did their run in the sixth.

Cain (8-6) said he felt good but was obviously upset by the Lucroy hit that gave the Brewers their second and third runs.

"You can't really do a whole lot when you throw it in the dirt, and the guy still hits it," Cain said. "But those guys can definitely swing it, and they can run as well."

The Brewers, locked in a tight divisional battle with Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cincinnati, took over the lead in the N.L. Central with their victory. The Giants, despite their loss, maintained a four-game cushion in the N.L. West with Colorado's victory at Arizona.

It was nonetheless an ominous start to this important stretch of games in which the Giants will play 16 of their next 19 games against winning teams -- two against the Brewers, seven against N.L. East leader Philadelphia, three against the team chasing San Francisco, the Diamondbacks, and three against the Pirates.

"We've been playing well since the break," manager Bruce Bochy said. "But we were off a little bit tonight. We didn't hit much, there were plays we didn't quite come up with, and that's the difference in the game. When you don't execute or swing the bats against a good team, you're probably going to get beat."

Box Score

Lincecum bested in duel with Dodgers' Kershaw

2011-07-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tim Lincecum, who's widely regarded as the Giants' ace, has inadvertently strengthened his grip on a dual distinction: hard-luck pitcher.

The Giants have been shut out eight times in Lincecum's 21 starts this season. He endured this fate most recently Wednesday, when the Los Angeles Dodgers handed him his first career 1-0 defeat.

Dioner Navarro's seventh-inning leadoff homer denied the Giants a three-game series sweep and prevented them from extending their winning streak against the Dodgers to seven games for the first time since the franchises moved west in 1958.

With Clayton Kershaw pitching, a single run was all Los Angeles needed. Kershaw's 1.41 ERA against the Giants is the lowest ever by any pitcher who has accumulated at least 50 innings against them. The All-Star left-hander allowed three hits in eight innings and struck out the side in the sixth and eighth innings en route to finishing with 12 strikeouts.

San Francisco moved four runners into scoring position against Kershaw -- all but one resulting from errors and never with less than two outs. In short, the Giants didn't generate much genuine offense.

Nor did the Dodgers. They went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-9 off Lincecum, who allowed five hits and struck out seven in seven innings. The Giants are accustomed to winning when Lincecum performs so stubbornly. Instead, they, and he, are increasingly sharing the frustration that at various times seemed exclusive to Matt Cain, Barry Zito and Madison Bumgarner.

"It [stinks] to have Tim lose a game where he gives up one run and goes that deep in the game," infielder Emmanuel Burriss said. "He pitched wonderful. It's heartbreaking for everybody in here to know that we didn't come through for him. He did a great job. He didn't deserve to get a loss today. But neither did Kershaw."

Kershaw might have faced more of a challenge had the Giants' lineup been at full strength. But third baseman Pablo Sandoval was nursing a sore right quadriceps muscle and didn't start. Nate Schierholtz, who recently has emerged as San Francisco's cleanup hitter, also was rested. Schierholtz bats left-handed, and Kershaw had limited opposing lefties to a .181 batting average entering the game. Not surprisingly, when Schierholtz pinch-hit against Kershaw in the eighth inning, he lined a vicious foul ball while working the count full before striking out.

This game mirrored Opening Night at Dodger Stadium, where both protagonists lasted seven taut innings. Lincecum yielded an unearned run while Kershaw blanked San Francisco. Los Angeles ultimately won, 2-1.

"I try to pitch a good game whenever I get the ball," Kershaw said. "If you want to write a cool story about the matchup, go ahead."

Lincecum sounded as if he were discussing himself in praising Kershaw.

"Clayton's ridiculously good," Lincecum said. "I don't think he's reached his potential, just from watching him. He's mixing up different pitches. Sometimes he'll come at us with a 90-mile-an-hour slider, like the last time I faced him. This time he was using an 83-mile-an-hour pitch. You can never really get the same gauge off of what he's going to throw. He's got that really live, power fastball that carries well through the zone. It makes it hard to make good contact off of him."

Burriss singled sharply off Kershaw (11-4) in the second inning, but that was the extent of his success.

"The last thing you want to do is get him in a rhythm, which he found kind of early, it seemed like," Burriss said.

Chris Stewart had San Francisco's other two hits but remained modest about his achievement.

"I think he just hit my bat two times and the ball just fell in," Stewart said.

Stewart had a front-row seat as Navarro, who had never faced Lincecum before this game, drove a 1-0 fastball over the right-field wall and into San Francisco Bay for his third home run of the season.

The fateful pitch to Navarro, who was batting .195 at the time, was supposed to be low and outside.

"We thought we'd change his eye level a little bit," Stewart said, noting that the previous pitch was a curveball.

"It was just a mistake," Lincecum said. "Enough said, I guess."

Though the Giants had three more at-bats, Navarro's drive generated a sense of finality, given Kershaw's dominance.

"You know it's going to be a close game, so you have to be on top of yours, and I flinched first, so ... rough," Lincecum said.

Box Score

Belt backs Bumgarner in Giants' victory

2011-07-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- The big-time hitter the Giants have been craving showed up Tuesday night at AT&T Park.

It wasn't Carlos Beltran, who remained with the New York Mets. It wasn't Willie McCovey or Will Clark, who were both on the premises but finished terrorizing opponents decades ago.

No, the impact hitter who helped the Giants subdue the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3, didn't arrive by trade or the wayback machine. It was somebody who was expected all along to bolster San Francisco's offense this year: Brandon Belt.

Belt celebrated his return to the Major Leagues by homering and driving in three runs, including two with a bases-loaded, tiebreaking double in seventh inning.

Whether Belt can come close to sustaining this production remains to be seen. The 23-year-old rookie, San Francisco's most prized position-player prospect, hit only .211 in his previous two tours of duty with the Giants.

But the Giants insist that Belt has gained the self-assurance he needs to cope with the challenges of the Majors. Manager Bruce Bochy said that Belt proved this not with anything he did between the foul lines, but with his good-natured response to teasing about his final game for Triple-A Fresno before being recalled. Belt struck out four times, yet the Giants recalled him to fill in for first baseman Aubrey Huff, who's enduring back woes.

Belt's inglorious farewell appearance with Fresno prompted Clark, making one of his periodic visits as a special assistant, and even Bochy to insist that he surely was the only player in history to receive a big league promotion after such a dismal performance.

"He was laughing about it," Bochy said. "That's the sign of some confidence."

Said Belt, "I think normally it definitely would do a lot of damage to my confidence. But I've been feeling good the past couple of weeks. I tried to make sure it didn't get my confidence down too much. I wanted to come out here, be aggressive and take my hacks."

That he did. Dodgers starter Rubby De La Rosa wowed all witnesses at the outset by reaching 100 mph with his fastball and flinging wicked-looking breaking pitches at 90 mph. But Belt proved that De La Rosa was vulnerable by driving a 91-mph delivery onto the right-field arcade to lead off the second inning. It was Belt's second homer as a Giant -- both against Los Angeles.

Belt generated more excitement -- and offense -- with the score deadlocked, 3-3, in the seventh inning.

Andres Torres, batting only .103 (3-for-28) off left-handers, drilled a leadoff double against Dodgers southpaw Hong-Chih Kuo. Torres advanced to third on Mike Fontenot's sacrifice bunt and waited there as Pablo Sandoval drew an intentional walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Emmanuel Burriss, who stole second base while drawing a pickoff throw. In the vast majority of such situations, runners trapped in that fashion would be thrown out. But Burriss reached second base safely with a headfirst slide underneath first baseman James Loney's high relay.

"That's an out we can get," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "It's not quite a catch-and-throw with a tie game, a runner at third, and James has got to peek. It's still a big out we don't get."

That prompted a two-out intentional walk to Cody Ross that loaded the bases but set up a potential force play at all of them. Belt defied the lefty-versus-lefty percentages by lining Kuo's first pitch inside the left-field line to score Torres and Burriss.

Bochy said that he had faith in Belt's ability to produce.

"Brandon gives you a good at-bat. He has discipline up there and, more than likely, he's going to put the ball in play," Bochy said. "The thing I liked about him, he was aggressive. That's always a good sign for a young kid. Sometimes they're a little tentative, but he wasn't."

That made a winner of Madison Bumgarner (5-9), who lasted eight innings and surrendered three runs and four hits -- all in the third inning. Receiving more than three runs of support for the first time in a home game, Bumgarner retired the final 16 batters he faced.

Bumgarner believed that the pitches he threw in the third inning were just as good as the pitches he threw in the other seven innings, which all were perfect.

"I felt just as strong at the end as I did early on, which was nice," he said.

The Giants lengthened their National League West lead over second-place Arizona to 4 1/2 games and extended their winning streak against Los Angeles to six games, their longest since July 19-Sept. 26, 1969.

The only unwelcome development for the Giants was the discomfort that Sandoval felt in his right quadriceps muscle, which forced the third baseman's departure in the seventh inning. Sandoval aggravated his quad in the fifth inning while sliding into second base but stayed in the game long enough to make a nice diving stop of Aaron Miles' sharp grounder leading off the seventh. Sandoval also contributed his 16th RBI of the month with a fifth-inning single that erased Los Angeles' 3-2 lead.

Box Score

inShare San Francisco Giants shut out Los Angeles Dodgers

2011-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Carl Steward
Mercury News

With Pablo Sandoval and Nate Schierholtz leading the way, the heart of the Giants' batting order is finally starting to show some vibrant thump.

Sandoval went 3 for 4, including a monster homer to break a scoreless tie in the fourth inning, and Schierholtz was 2 for 4 with the first run-scoring hit in a four-run sixth as the Giants whipped the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 at AT&T Park on Monday night.

"You've having fun when you're swinging the bat well," said Sandoval after a brilliant night in the field and at the plate. "If we keep doing like that, we're going to have fun every day."

Ryan Vogelsong (7-1) was the benefactor of San Francisco's rare night of robust offensive fun, even if he didn't need so much. In making his first post-All-Star start, the Giants rotation's Lazarus picked up where he left off from his stellar first half. The right-hander tossed 62/3 shutout innings, limited the Dodgers to seven hits and solidified his position as the National League's ERA leader at 2.02.

Vogelsong's continued excellence is no longer so surprising, but the possible revival of the Giants' offense may be. They've scored four or more runs in five of their past six games, and that's a positive sign for a team that is 35-6 when it puts at least four runs on the board.

"We're not going to score 10 runs a game, but we should be able to score five," Sandoval said. "That's important, because we have a great pitching staff and we shouldn't have so many one- and two-run games. If we can get a couple guys going, we can do some damage."

At least of late, Sandoval and Schierholtz have been giving the Giants some respectable anchors in the middle of their order, and their five hits played a huge part in beating a former nemesis, Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (8-8). Sandoval has had a rough time with Billingsley historically (6 for 33, .182 lifetime with no homers coming into Monday night), but he was no mystery to him on this night.

Change of approach, perhaps? No, Sandoval maintained.

"See ball, hit ball, that's what I've been doing these last couple games," he said. "I don't worry about approach."

Sandoval definitely saw the pitch Billingsley offered up to open the bottom of the fourth. He launched his ninth homer into the pavilion in right-center, one of the deepest parts of the ballpark.

As good as Sandoval has been at the plate, he was just as good at third base in this game, making several nice stops: notably a backhand pick of a Matt Kemp stinging grounder in the sixth with runners at first and second and nobody out. Sandoval not only snared the ball, he made a strong throw to second baseman Mike Fontenot, who turned a double play.

"Sandoval, since he's been back (from hand surgery), has just played a terrific third base," said manager Bruce Bochy. "Range, coming in on the ball, he's throwing the ball well. I just love the way he's playing defensively."

As for Vogelsong, he made his first second-half statement that he was a worthy All-Star pick. While he could care less about his league-leading ERA, if it validates Bochy's faith in picking him for the N.L. team, he'll be happy to take the numbers as low as he possibly can.

"It's important for me to prove him right," Vogelsong said. "(Critics) can say whatever they want to say, it doesn't bother me one bit. But he stuck his neck out to pick me, so I want to show people he made a good decision."

Vogelsong had some control issues in his previous three starts but studied film during the break and noticed a flaw in his mechanics that helped him get back to form. He walked just one against the Dodgers while striking out five.

Infielder Miguel Tejada left the game after suffering a lower-abdominal strain while making a fielding play in the third inning. Catcher Chris Stewart left in the sixth after getting hit in the back of the head by Aaron Miles' bat.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants beat San Diego Padres on squeeze play in 11th inning

2011-07-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

SAN DIEGO -- Giants manager Bruce Bochy was not surprised to learn that the Giants' six stolen bases Sunday tied the San Francisco-era franchise record.

"Yeah! Watch out!" he said, heavy on the sarcasm. "We're not that type of club, but we should be able to steal more bases. We're working on other ways to get runs across."

The Giants worked it to perfection in the 11th inning, scoring the tiebreaking run on a suicide squeeze for a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres. Emmanuel Burriss raced home on catcher Chris Stewart's bunt, enabling the Giants to dash out of Petco Park having won three of four.

As endings go, it sure beats penalty kicks.

Stewart made an impact in the bottom of the 11th, too. After Brian Wilson walked the first two batters, Stewart sprang from behind the plate to field Kyle Phillips' sacrifice-bunt try and throw on target to third. Pablo Sandoval, not satisfied to record one out, threw a bullet across the diamond to double up Phillips.

"A tiny momentum shift," said Wilson, also heavy on the sarcasm. "I'm never picky about how we win, and that was pretty phenomenal."

Wilson remarked that the six stolen bases are "not something I've seen us do very often." That's because the bearded wonder was a smooth-cheeked kindergartner on Sept. 8, 1987, the last time it happened. Kevin Mitchell stole three, Dave Henderson stole two, and Chris Speier had one against the Houston Astros.

And this time?had one of 'em," catcher Eli Whiteside said. "Well, I'll be damned."

It was a back-and-forth game, if not a classic. Or, as Bochy put it, "It's one of those games you look back and say, 'All's well that ends well.' We certainly made a couple mistakes out there."

Whiteside made the biggest in the sixth inning as the Padres took a 3-2 lead on Orlando Hudson's two-run single. The rally began when Everth Cabrera struck out but reached first base on Matt Cain's pitch in the dirt that Whiteside secured. The catcher said he thought Cabrera foul-tipped the pitch, which is why he turned to show the baseball to plate umpire Marvin Hudson instead of throwing to first.

"We were helpless. We were yelling as loud as we could to throw to first base," Bochy said. "No question, you know how hard he would've taken this. He was really hard on himself when he realized what happened."

Said Whiteside: "It didn't end up the way it should have. I should've thrown it no matter what. That did hurt us, but I'm just glad it didn't cost us the game."

Whiteside took charge of his own redemption after reaching base in the seventh. He noted that Mat Latos, the heel of last year's N.L. West soap opera, was slow to the plate. So Whiteside stole second base and positioned himself to score the tying run on Andres Torres' single up the middle.

A half-dozen players mentioned it: The Padres play the thief and eke out runs all the time. Why can't the Giants do it, too?

"That was beautiful -- awesome to watch guys get those jumps," said Cain, who struck out nine in six innings. "It's something as an offense we could keep doing."

Burriss started the rally with a one-out single off Chad Qualls. The Padres, sensing the speedy infielder would run, pitched out on the 0-1 delivery to Stewart. It didn't matter. Burriss had the base stolen easily and went to third when Phillips' throw sailed into center field.

With the squeeze play an obvious call, the Padres pitched out again. But there was nothing on. With the count now 2-1, Bochy sprang the trap, and Stewart executed it perfectly.

"We had the right guy up there to get a bunt down, and we had speed at third," Bochy said. "At that point, it's a good play. If they pitch out, they've got you. If they don't, they can't defend it."

Nate Schierholtz and Burriss each stole two bases -- the first time all season a Giant had multiple steals in a game.

Box Score

Zito battered in loss to Padres

2011-07-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- Barry Zito's recent excellence enabled the Giants to dismiss his ineffectiveness Saturday night as an aberration.

But Zito's slightly more distant past prompts the lingering, nagging thought that his performance in San Francisco's 11-3 loss to the San Diego Padres marked the resumption of a familiar pattern -- the one that has saddled him with a 43-59 record as a Giant.

The Zito who survived only 3 2/3 innings and allowed eight runs, his most since he surrendered nine last Aug. 28 against Arizona, wasn't the Zito who won each of his last three starts since returning from a foot injury.

The Zito who struggled at PETCO Park surrendered a three-run, first-inning homer to Jesus Guzman, matching the number of runs the left-hander allowed in his three-game stretch of dominance.

The Zito who presided over the end of the Giants' four-game winning streak permitted two home runs and issued four walks, which also equaled his yield in those categories from his previous three games.

Manager Bruce Bochy calmly excused Zito's performance. Asked if he considered it an exception rather than the rule, Bochy said, "Yeah, that's how I'm looking at it. Hopefully that's how he looks at it, and all of us. He's been doing such a great job."

Zito (3-2) also coped with his lapse by viewing this as an isolated event.

"It's back to day-to-day tomorrow," he said.

Zito demonstrated immediately that this day wouldn't belong to him. When pitching coach Dave Righetti visited him at the mound two pitches before Guzman deposited a cut fastball into the first row of the left-field seats, Zito had thrown only four strikes in 18 pitches while walking two Padres.

Citing that ratio, Bochy said, "You know that it's not his night. But you're hoping he figures a way to get things done. It didn't quite happen."

Zito summarized his problems with one word: execution.

"When you execute pitches, guys miss the barrel [of the bat]," he said. "You fall behind [on the count] by not executing and things get a little more difficult out there. It was difficult to get the ball down tonight. For the most part, the curveball didn't have the finish down. The changeup, either."

This was apparent to the Padres, who snapped a seven-game losing streak.

"Early, he was having a little command issue and we took advantage of his mistakes, which you've got to do against the good ones," center fielder Cameron Maybin said.

Guzman's homer snapped San Diego's skid of 70 innings in a row without scoring multiple runs. But the Padres weren't finished. With one out in the third inning, San Diego's Jason Bartlett hit a routine grounder to Aubrey Huff but beat the first baseman's flip to Zito, who covered the bag.

Bochy hinted that Zito could have handled the play more efficiently.

"It looked like [Zito] got a good break, but the hitter got out of the box well and beat him to the bag," Bochy said. "It was close, I know. But it looked like Z might have slowed up the last four or five steps, thinking that he had him.

Zito then walked Chris Denorfia and yielded Guzman's two-out RBI single before Orlando Hudson homered, widening San Diego's lead to 7-1. Hudson's long ball also ended the Padres' stretch of 56 consecutive games without homering more than once, seven short of the club record. It was the longest such stretch in the Major Leagues since the 1983 Cleveland Indians went 63 games without multiple homers.

Guzman, who briefly played for the Giants in 2009, left the premises before reporters could speak to him. So it wasn't immediately known whether he derived extra satisfaction from driving in a career-high four runs against a former employer.

Giants center fielder Andres Torres wasn't surprised to see such a hitting display from his '09 Spring Training roommate, whose career Minor League batting average exceeds .300.

"He's always been a good hitter," Torres said. "You see his numbers. No doubt he can hit. He's got the chance. Now he's taking advantage of it and working hard."

Pablo Sandoval tripled and scored in the fourth inning and Miguel Tejada homered in the sixth to account for the Giants' scoring off San Diego starter Cory Luebke (3-3). Mike Fontenot added an RBI double off Luke Gregerson in the ninth.

Box Score

Torres leads Giants, Lincecum to victory

2011-07-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- If you never saw Willie Mays play, just review the Giants' 6-1 victory Friday night over the San Diego Padres, in which Andres Torres delivered a nice impersonation of his famed center-field predecessor.

Torres did everything within his powers to help the Giants win their fourth game in a row. He went 3-for-4, collected two RBIs, stole a base and employed impeccable timing to score one of the three runs he tallied.

Torres contributed more than offense. In the fourth inning, with two on, two outs and San Francisco clinging to a 2-1 lead, Torres overtook Kyle Phillips' drive, hauled it in a step and a half in front of the center-field wall and held onto the ball despite colliding roughly with the barrier.

Saved from surrendering a two-run double, Tim Lincecum worked two more innings, striking out three in that span. Lincecum expressed sincere appreciation for Torres' assistance.

"If anybody could [run down that ball], I think it's him," Lincecum said. "Luckily, this park kind of kills the ball for you whenever it's hit to that part. Torres was just fast enough to run it down and make a great play on it. Saved my butt, actually."

Despite throwing three wild pitches, Lincecum (8-7) remained mostly in control. A 27-pitch first inning, which ended with a pair of stranded baserunners, inflated his pitch count and hastened his departure after six innings.

"I took myself a dirt road," Lincecum said.

The right-hander still struck out seven while yielding just one run and three hits.

"His command was a little bit off, but the secondary stuff was good," Padres manager Bud Black said. "He wasn't as crisp as we've seen him in the past, but still nevertheless, it's good stuff, it's competitive stuff. Each and every pitch he's coming at you with deception."

The Giants had averaged 1.1 runs for Lincecum while he was in the game during his previous seven starts. This time was different, largely due to Torres.

He singled and scored in the first inning, reaching third on Mike Fontenot's hit-and-run single despite slipping after passing second base. Pablo Sandoval, salvaging the evening in which his hitting streak ended at 22 games, sent home Torres with a sacrifice fly.

After Cody Ross homered leading off the second inning against Padres starter Dustin Moseley (2-9), Torres went back to work. He lined an RBI single, stole a base and scored again in the fifth -- an artful example of baserunning, as he dashed in from third while Fontenot was being thrown out at second base on a steal attempt.

Torres continued his big night against reliever Ernesto Frieri in the seventh inning, hitting the second of back-to-back doubles to drive in Aaron Rowand before scoring on a wild pitch.

Torres entered the game batting only .224, far below the .268 average he posted last year. His all-around excellence reminded the Giants of his potential as an offensive asset as they climbed a season-high 14 games above .500 (54-40) and inched 4 1/2 games ahead of second-place Arizona in the National League West -- the largest advantage held by any of the six division leaders.

"That's the way you win ballgames, if you get your leadoff guy going," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's a game he should feel good about and get his confidence going."

Perpetually his own harshest critic -- "Sometimes I overthink about hitting," he said -- Torres arrived early at PETCO Park for a tutorial with hitting coach Hensley Meulens. Torres worked on moving his hands more efficiently to get them into proper hitting position as the pitch approaches. The extra work proved beneficial.

"I was having trouble hitting tough pitches and getting to the ball," Torres said. "Today I felt better and went out there and performed."

Box Score

Giants beat Padres 6-2 in 12 innings

2011-07-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
MercuryNews

SAN DIEGO - Pablo Sandoval wasted no time. He needed just one pitch in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 22 games - the longest by a Giant in 33 years.

But these are the Giants. They don't kill the suspense. They create it.

And in the end, after Aubrey Huff rescued them from a shutout loss with an ultra clutch home run in the ninth inning and Mike Fontenot's bases-loaded walk put them ahead in the 12th, Sandoval was there, too.

The Panda's two-run single off Luke Gregerson finally broke open a game that had been tighter than Brian Wilson's Spandex tuxedo, and the Giants took a 6-2 victory over the San Diego Padres in front of an orange-splashed crowd at Petco Park.

In the first game back after the All-Star break, it took 11 medieval innings before the Giants found the second-half hitting renaissance they sought. But they only survived that far because of stout relief work and Huff, who rediscovered his home run swing at a most improbable time.

His solo shot was his first since his three-homer game June 2 at St. Louis, breaking a drought of 125 at-bats. And that wasn't the most remarkable part.

Bell hadn't allowed a home run all season. He only allowed one in 2010 - when the Giants' Juan Uribe took him deep on April 19. Bell's 15-month homerless streak consisted of 102 innings over 99 games - both franchise records.

Huff's shot came on an 0-2 pitch, too. Huff had fouled off a pair of fastballs with two strikes before Bell tried to sneak a curveball past him. Huff, who had chased so many bad pitches in a miserable first half, kept his hands back and lofted it into the seats just inside the right field pole.

Madison Bumgarner held the Padres to a run in six innings and the Giants bullpen was heroic yet again, as Ramon Ramirez, Sergio Romo and Jose Casilla combined for five scoreless.

But the Giants still needed one more clutch hit, and it seemed they would never get it. Even when they loaded the bases in the 12th on two walks and an error, pinch hitter Miguel Tejada fouled out and Andres Torres struck out.

But the Giants have no shame when it comes to scoring runs. This is the team that beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0 on a balk. So they happily accepted Gregerson's four misses to Fontenot to drive in a run.

Sandoval followed with his single to left field and the Giants ended up batting around.

Much earlier, Sandoval, who hit a run-scoring double in the All-Star Game, ended all suspense over whether he could carry his hitting streak through the break. He rapped the first pitch into right field, tying him with Willie McCovey (in 1959) for the fourth longest streak in the club's San Francisco era.

Jack Clark's 26-game streak in 1978 is the club record. McCovey had a 24-game run in 1963 and Willie Mays hit in 23 consecutive from 1959-60.

The offensive outburst came far too late for Bumgarner, who posted his 13th quality start in 19 outings to match Matt Cain for the team lead. Yet his record remained an impressive 4-9.

The simple reason: Bumgarner entered with the second lowest run support among all NL starters. The Giants had scored an average of 0.82 runs for him in his nine losses.

Bumgarner came out throwing strikes yet again, but two-out singles continued to plague him and he might have been too aggressive in a key spot in the third inning.

Chris Denorfia and Jason Bartlett singled to put runners at the corners, and rather than pitch around the dangerous Chase Headley, a .556 hitter against left-handers in his last 20 games, Bumgarner left a sinker over the plate that resulted in a single through the left side.

That was the game's only run until Bell entered the game in the ninth - and to the exhalation of groundskeepers, he did not replicate his sliding entrance to the mound from the All-Star Game.

Even after the Giants' five-run rally, there was intrigue. Javier Lopez loaded the bases and Manager Bruce Bochy went to Wilson, who had warmed up for the fourth time. The Padres scored a run on a sacrifice fly before Wilson saved it.

As for that tuxedo that Wilson wore to the ESPY Awards? It continued to be the talk among players and coaches. Bochy did a double-take when shown a photo of Wilson wearing the skin-tight costume, complete with gloves, red socks, high tops and multiple wristwatches.

"Ohhh jeez," Bochy said. "He looks like a Batman character."

The Giants and bat men. What a concept.

Box Score

Schierholtz shines as Giants top Mets

2011-07-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Sunday's most poignant moment occurred when Buster Posey, whose bobbleheaded figurine was distributed to paying customers at AT&T Park, was shown on the scoreboard's video screen as he sat in the dugout between halves of the fifth inning. Posey, the injured catcher who's sidelined for the season, smiled and waved as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

That reminded people of what could have been had Posey remained healthy. But what actually is happening for the Giants isn't so bad. In fact, it's promising.

Nate Schierholtz's 4-for-4 performance complemented Matt Cain's resolute pitching as the Giants completed the season's theoretical first half with a 4-2 triumph over the New York Mets.

Despite losing Posey and second baseman Freddy Sanchez to the disabled list while weathering injuries to numerous other key performers, the Giants own a 52-40 record and a three-game lead over second-place Arizona in the National League West. By comparison, they occupied fourth place, four games behind San Diego, with a 47-41 mark at last year's break.

Tales of the Giants' offensive struggles are well-worn. What's important is that they've recorded a 3.19 ERA that offsets their skimpy scoring. Moreover, San Francisco's maligned offense has shown potential for a better second half, with Schierholtz imitating Stan Musial recently and Pablo Sandoval sustaining a 21-game hitting streak.

Skeptics who deride the Giants' five-man All-Star contingent as a product of manager Bruce Bochy's favoritism should examine the details of this game.

Cain (8-5), headed for his second All-Star Game, worked six shutout innings and stranded eight baserunners, including six in scoring position.

Sandoval, added to the All-Star team Sunday, extended his hitting streak with a third-inning RBI double that opened the scoring off Mets starter Mike Pelfrey (5-8). San Francisco improved to 34-16 when scoring first.

"You can't allow those guys to get the lead on you, as we saw today," Mets manager Terry Collins said.

Three-time All-Star closer Brian Wilson, who blew two saves and absorbed a loss in his previous five outings, allowed a ninth-inning run on doubles by Willie Harris and Justin Turner but struck out the side to notch his 26th save. Bochy said that he was "very encouraged" by Wilson's performance.

According to the consensus in the Giants clubhouse, the All-Star break was well-received. The relievers haven't been overworked but can use a rest, if Wilson's struggles are any indication. Since winning a season-high seven consecutive games from June 22-28, the Giants have played .500 ball (6-6). That hardly suggested that the Giants are bound for disaster, but it did indicate that they'd welcome a breather.

"I think the All-Star break is coming at a good time," Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. "I know we haven't overtaxed anybody, but then again, you don't know the cumulative effect of last year's long season. It's been a grind for all of us."

Lately, it's been a breeze for Schierholtz. He's batting .458 (11-for-24) during a six-game hitting streak and .431 (22-for-51) with 11 RBIs in his last 14 games.

"We all need a rest, but I wouldn't mind playing tomorrow," Schierholtz said wryly.

Bochy pointed out the signficance of Schierholtz's contributions.

"He's not just getting base hits. He's doing damage," Bochy said. "That's what you want from a corner outfielder."

Right now, it doesn't matter whom Schierholtz is facing. Facing the right-handed Pelfrey in the third inning, he followed Sandoval's hit with an RBI single. With the Giants leading 2-0 in the seventh, Collins summoned left-hander Jon Niese and later explained that he wanted to turn around the switch-hitting Sandoval and neutralize the left-handed-batting Schierholtz. That strategy partially worked as Sandoval fouled out. But Schierholtz, who has attributed his hot streak to closing his batting stance, lined a double to left-center field that advanced Mike Fontenot (3-for-5) to third base.

Miguel Tejada and Aaron Rowand followed with RBI singles off D.J. Carrasco, which proved essential as the Mets scored in each of the final two innings.

"It shows what kind of team we have," Cain said. "We're not always looking for one guy to pick everybody up."

Corny as it sounds, the Giants continue to be sustained by last year's World Series triumph. Tempered by their hard-earned success down the stretch and in the postseason, they can capably handle whatever challenges the regular season throws at them.

"They're relentless and resilient," Bochy said of his players. "They fight every day. And that's what it's going to take in the second half."

Box Score

Lincecum sets tone for Giants' team win

2011-07-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- Bruce Bochy has had much to ponder lately. When he's not preoccupied with managing the Giants, he must concentrate on helping finalize the National League All-Star team that he's steering. Despite this overload, Bochy possessed enough clarity and perspective to summarize the significance of the Giants' 3-1 triumph Saturday night over the New York Mets.

Combined with Arizona's loss at St. Louis, the Giants' third victory in four games assured them of entering the three-day All-Star break with the NL West lead. Though all games are considered equal in the minds of many baseball people, some actually have more impact than most. For the Giants, this was one of them.

"The last thing you want to do is limp into the break," Bochy said. "I thought this was an important game for us. You don't want to go into the last day trying to avoid a sweep. As you close out the break and guys head out for three days to rest up, it's nice to feel good about where you're at to open up the second half. It's not so much about wins and losses -- those are important -- it's how you play. And we played well tonight."

This wasn't an overwhelming win for the Giants. Few are. But, as Bochy indicated, they sparkled in every facet.

Tim Lincecum limited one of the NL's hottest-hitting teams to one run and four hits in six innings. Relievers Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo approached perfection. The offense was meager as usual. But Pablo Sandoval, who lengthened his hitting streak to 20 games, and Nate Schierholtz, who maintained his productivity with a first-inning RBI single, did just enough to generate the minimum daily requirement of runs.

Such efficiency isn't always exciting. But the Giants sent fans home with a thrill. With closer Brian Wilson receiving a rest, Lopez sailed through a six-pitch eighth inning and retired the first two batters in the ninth before walking Ruben Tejada. Up came Giants nemesis Scott Hairston to pinch-hit. Playing the righty-against-righty percentages, Bochy summoned Romo, who fanned Hairston on three sliders in a row.

"That was stupid," Lincecum said, using "stupid" as a synonym for "fabulous."

Hairston, who belted a tiebreaking home run off Wilson in Friday's ninth inning, bailed out on Romo's first slider, though it was called a strike. Romo obviously followed the gospel preached by Matt Cain, who said of Hairston, "If you don't get him out of his approach, he's tough."

This time, Romo was much tougher, even while lacking variety.

"Everyone knows what my best pitch is," said Romo. "And I'm going to go at it with my best stuff."

The result was Romo's first save since Aug. 25, 2009, against Arizona.

"When they say it takes a different animal to be a closer, they're right," Romo said. "The feeling you get out there is an incredible rush." Prompting laughter from reporters, he added, "The feeling afterward is borderline heart attack."

Earlier, Lincecum teased New York while displaying an odd brand of consistency. He retired the first two batters in every inning before allowing one Met to reach base. Then he'd record the third out. Lincecum departed from this pattern only in the first inning, when back-to-back, two-out doubles by Carlos Beltran and Daniel Murphy generated New York's lone run, and in the fifth, when Justin Turner doubled and Beltran walked with two outs. Lincecum dug into his bag of tricks and ended the threat by striking out Murphy on an 81-mph changeup.

"When you're facing those quality pitchers, those guys step it up when guys are in scoring position, and they're tough to score on," Mets manager Terry Collins said, praising Lincecum. "We were fortunate, really, to get one in the first."

Acknowledging that he labored, as his total of 114 pitches indicated, Lincecum felt satisfied with survival.

"Just getting through those innings was good enough for me," he said.

Receiving the decision enabled Lincecum to avoid the ignominy of heading for the All-Star Game with a losing record, thus sparing him nagging questions from hordes of reporters.

"Yeah, but they're still going to ask me why I'm a 7-7 All-Star," Lincecum said.

Chances exist that Sandoval could join the Giants' All-Star contingent, due to roster vacancies created by injuries. He strengthened his case with a first-inning double that fueled the Giants' two-run rally and a fielder's-choice grounder that drove in their final run in the seventh.

"Every player who plays in the big leagues wants to be in the All-Star Game," Sandoval said. "If I make it, I'm happy. If not, I'm happy, too."

Predictably, Sandoval brushed aside talk of his hitting streak, which is approaching Jack Clark's San Francisco-era record of 26 established in 1978.

"I'm not thinking too much [about it]," he said. "If I get a base hit -- 21, 22, I don't look for that. I'm just trying to do my job."

Most of the Giants appear to share that skill.

Box Score

Carlos Beltran will fly with SF Giants All-Stars

2011-07-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

John Shea
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
-- Carlos Beltran will be taking Air Bochy to Phoenix for the All-Star Game, and along the way he'll mingle with the Giants' All-Star contingent, which includes four pitchers, an entire coaching staff and manager Bruce Bochy.

Beltran and the Mets were at China Basin on Friday night. He had three hits, including a league-leading 27th double, and drove in a run during a decisive ninth-inning rally in the Mets' series-opening 5-2 win over the Giants.

Beltran is among the marquee names in the rumor mill and exactly what the Giants would love - a middle-of-the-order switch-hitter with pop and a willingness to waive his no-trade clause to join a contender.

After Sunday night's series finale, a charter flight will transport the Giants' All-Stars along with Beltran and injured Mets teammate Jose Reyes to Arizona, and who's to know if Beltran is informally recruited at 30,000 feet?

Friday, he strongly hinted he'd pooh-pooh the no-trade clause to approve a deal to the Giants.

"I have made it clear to the organization that the only way I'd accept a deal is if it's to a team that's contending," said Beltran, adding that his focus is helping the Mets, who have won 11 of 16. "Right now, we don't know what the interest of the Giants is."

The interest is high, if Bochy's naming him to the All-Star team (over Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen) is any indication.

Beltran will be a free agent after the season, and any team that acquires him would pay the prorated amount of his $18.5 million salary, minus anything eaten by the Mets. The contract is too high for the Giants' tastes for now, but every passing day lessens the prorated sum.

A friend of Andres Torres, Jonathan Sanchez and Pablo Sandoval, who extended his hit streak to 19 games, Beltran appreciated the Giants' style of play in their run to the 2010 title, saying, "I think they did an excellent job. That shows you right there, you don't have to have a good lineup to win the World Series. You have to have good pitching."

With the score 2-2 on Friday, Bochy inserted closer Brian Wilson (for a third straight game) to work the ninth, and Wilson threw a full-count cutter to Giants killer Scott Hairston, who hit his 12th career homer against San Francisco, his most against any club. Two batters later, Wilson was replaced by Jeremy Affeldt, who gave up Beltran's RBI single.

"He just made a mistake there," Bochy said. "He just got a ball up. I've seen him three, four days (in a row) and make great pitches. I thought he was fine today, and that's why he was out there."

Ryan Vogelsong's only blemish was center fielder Angel Pagan's two-run homer, but he was down on himself for issuing a season-high five walks and requiring 115 pitches to finish seven innings. "It changes the whole game when you walk guys and have long innings," he said. "I need to be better."

Nate Schierholtz knocked in both Giants runs, one on a home run into McCovey Cove off an R.A. Dickey knuckleball, his first career "splash" hit and third homer in three days.

"It's nothing you can prepare for. Just go up and hack," said Schierholtz, adding he saw five knucklers from Bochy during batting practice. "I fouled one off my foot, and that was the end of that."

BoxScore

San Francisco Giants win, talk about trade scenarios

2011-07-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly Mercury News

New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran, an impending free agent, is precisely the sort of pricey rental player that Giants general manager Brian Sabean has ruled out in the past.

Sabean isn't ruling them out now.

"No, you have to be more open-minded because of the situation we're in," Sabean said before Barry Zito twirled the Giants to a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday. "But you'd have to be pretty damn sure that, quote (unquote), rental player was a difference maker."

In the meantime, the Giants keep pitching and winning. Zito paired a snapping curveball with well-placed fastballs to complete eight innings without walking a batter -- something he hadn't done since 2007 -- and the Giants split a series with the always nagging Padres.

Eli Whiteside hit a solo home run, Pablo Sandoval extended his hitting streak to 18 games, and Zito made the meager haul stand up for the Giants' 50th victory -- a mark they hadn't reached before the All-Star break since 2003, when they finished 100-61.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy praised Zito, who drew a standing ovation in his first start at AT&T Park since April 10.

"It's nice to have a healthy Zito throwing the ball well, and we do rely on pitching," Bochy said. "At the same time, we need to get this offense going."

Beltran and the Mets arrive at AT&T Park on Friday to begin a three-game series that will carry both clubs into the break. Bochy added Beltran to his N.L. All-Star roster -- as a recruiting tool, according to a few conspiracy theorists, to inspire the Mets outfielder to waive his no-trade clause.

There's no guarantee the Giants will get a bat like Beltran to address their limp offense, or even a minor upgrade. But Sabean said he and his staff recently began to make contact with trade targets, having conversations with an estimated 15 teams to gauge their willingness to deal.

"The responses back have been really slow or guarded," Sabean said. "That's the standings. People are still trying to figure out what's in their best interests."

Would it be in the Giants' best interests, finally, to part with a major league starter? Sabean did not sound eager to part with a pitcher such as Jonathan Sanchez. But in a departure from his past proclamations, he didn't rule it out, either.

"I don't know that yet," Sabean said. "That would have to be really discussed at a lot of levels internally. Because you have to have definitive fallback positions to withstand the loss of somebody."

The other great unanswered question is whether ownership would approve any major additions to a club-record $120 million payroll that already represents nearly a 25 percent boost from last year. In Beltran's case, the Giants might avoid stripping the farm system of their best prospects if they relieve the Mets of the nearly $10 million still owed to him this season.

Sabean acknowledged his job is much tougher than it was at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline a year ago, even though the 2010 club wasn't in such a privileged position atop the N.L. West. That's how difficult it is to acquire hitting talent.

"I don't know how many actual premium choices there will be," he said. "It might be a late-breaking year, a last 48-hour sort of thing."

Brian Wilson allowed an infield hit in the ninth before recording the save and ending a snappy two-hour, 14-minute game.

Ryan Ludwick's home run in the seventh inning was the only blemish on Zito's record. He struck out seven and twice stranded runners that reached third base.

It marked just the seventh time in Zito's career that he completed eight innings and didn't walk a batter. He'd done it just two other times as a Giant, both in 2007 -- his first season with the club.

Just focusing on things below my neck and trying to make the best pitches I can," Zito said. "It was great to give these fans what they're looking for. They're great fans."

The next question: Will the fans continue to cheer low-scoring games deep into October? Or will Sabean find a remedy for that?

"As crazy as it sounds, this group might be good enough to make it to the finish line," Sabean said. "But we know Arizona is for real, and there's a lot of baseball being played in our division."

Box Score

Schierholtz, bullpen give Giants walk-off win

2011-07-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

Adam Berry
mlb.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- As good as the Giants bullpen has been, Madison Bumgarner admitted, it's easy for the rest of the team to take the work it does for granted -- to just expect it to put up zeros until the lineup finally scratches a run across.

But even by its lofty standards, Wednesday night was an impressive effort by the relief corps.

San Francisco's pitchers recorded 19 strikeouts, 13 of them coming from the bullpen, tying a club record for most punchouts in a game at AT&T Park. Their work preserved a tie long enough for Nate Schierholtz to blast his second home run of the night -- one that gave the Giants their 10th walk-off win of the season, a 6-5 victory over the Padres in 14 innings.

"Our bullpen really shuts the door, so we feel like if we can get someone in scoring position, that's our goal -- just to get the first guy of the inning on and hopefully get him in," said Schierholtz, who finished 3-for-6 with a double and three RBIs.

The right fielder's 14th-inning bomb was his first walk-off homer in the Majors and, when added to his two-run bomb in the fourth inning, gave him his first two-homer game as a big leaguer.

"It's hard to have a better game than what Nate did tonight," Bochy said.

While the game-winning long ball came off Schierholtz's bat, everyone agreed the heroes of the game came out of the bullpen, which made the win possible with an unbelievable night collectively.

Ramon Ramirez and Guillermo Mota contributed a shutout inning apiece after Bumgarner's six innings of work. Brian Wilson struck out four in two scoreless innings, getting a little help from a great diving play by Pablo Sandoval in the ninth. Sergio Romo tossed a perfect 11th and 12th, striking out three. Javier Lopez threw a spotless 13th and 14th.

Between the ninth and 14th innings, the Giants retired 17 straight Padres batters. They struck out so many batters that fans in the right-field stands had to mortgage the "K" signs from the middle of the pack to the end of the line. Combined with San Diego's 17 strikeouts, the two teams set a Major League season high for single-game strikeouts with 36 overall.

"We couldn't get anything going," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Two good bullpens going at it."

And good might be something of an understatement, too. By the time the night was over, San Francisco's relievers combined to toss eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks.

"They won the game for us," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "They stepped up. ... We needed all of them, and we were down to one more, so the home run couldn't have come at a better time."

And the win couldn't have come at a much better time, either. San Francisco entered the night on a three-game losing streak, having scored only three runs in each defeat. But, as they have done all season, the Giants relied on their bullpen to keep them around, pulling out the kind of close game they grew accustomed to during last year's championship run.

"I think a lot of it was winning the World Series and just expecting to win every game. There's no more pressure than playing in the World Series," Schierholtz said. "Every game's important to win, but after playing in the postseason, I think it allows a lot of guys to relax a little more."

"It's who we are," Bochy added. "We have tough losses, losing streaks, but they're a very resilient club. They don't get down."

But for a while, it looked like the Giants were heading toward another 5-3 loss to the Padres, what would have been their third straight by the same score.

Down by two and barreling toward another tough home loss for Bumgarner, Sandoval smashed a two-out double to deep center field in the eighth off setup man Mike Adams, scoring Andres Torres and Brandon Crawford to tie the game. The game-saver also extended Sandoval's career-best hitting streak to 17 games.

Torres also put together a nice night at the plate, bouncing back with his best game in two weeks one day after feeling disrespected by Padres reliever Chad Qualls' tag, spike and scream at the plate. The center fielder, struggling at the plate for most of the year, finished the night with three hits -- two of them doubles -- and two runs, sparking the offense.

"Sometimes it's good to play angry, and he was upset. He felt like he was being shown up there. Sometimes that's a good thing," Bochy said. "It's an emotion that some guys play well with. I know Andres has had his struggles, but sometimes something like that can wake somebody up. He came out today, and he was upset about the incident. He felt that was personal. He wasn't trying to show up anybody, so what's important is how he handled it."

Box Score

Padres rally against Cain to beat Giants 5-3

2011-07-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

There sit the San Diego Padres, seven games below .500, fourth place in the National League West, eight games behind the first-place Giants. A casual observer outside the Pacific time zone thinks, "Eh, they're playing out the string," but the Padres think otherwise.

They have to believe they can come back and win the West, because last year the Giants did it to them, and their belief must be stronger after they rode into San Francisco and beat two All-Star pitchers.

On Monday it was Tim Lincecum, on Tuesday night Matt Cain, who surrendered all of San Diego's runs in a 5-3 Giants loss.

San Diego's swagger was on display in the seventh inning, after Andres Torres drew a 16-pitch walk from reliever Chad Qualls. With two outs, Pablo Sandoval hitting and the Giants down two runs, Torres made a huge blunder. He tried to score from third on a pitch that bounced only a few yards behind the plate.

Catcher Nick Hundley threw to Qualls, who tagged out Torres. Qualls then hollered in Torres' direction, rose and spiked the ball at the plate.

Torres was not happy after the game, mostly about striking out on three pitches against Heath Bell in the ninth when a single might have tied the game. Torres was not pleased with Qualls either.

"I think that's not respecting the game," Torres said. "It's not professional. I don't believe in making a show on the field. I respect this game. That's why I always run hard. I don't try to make fun of anybody. You don't know what it takes for me to be here. But those things happen, right?"

Manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that Torres goofed trying to score with the Giants' only true hitting threat at the plate. Earlier, Sandoval singled to extend his career-best hitting streak to 16 games, though his extra-base hitting streak died at nine games, one short of Willie Mays' modern franchise record.

"It was not a good read on his part," Bochy said.

The game turned on a hanging slider from Cain. Given how little the Giants score, that was one hanger too many.

The Giants were leading 3-2 in the sixth. With two on, two outs and Cain 1-2 to Cameron Maybin, Cain and catcher Eli Whiteside had a lengthy chat on which pitch to throw. They settled on the slider, which Maybin slammed through the left-center gap to score two for a 4-3 San Diego lead.

Anthony Rizzo then singled home Maybin for the game's final run.

"It kind of came down to one pitch and I didn't make the pitch, and it cost us the game," Cain said. "In that situation, I'm ahead in the count and I've got to make that pitch, and I didn't do it."

Cain blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2 and lost for the first time since 2009 when getting at least three runs of support.

The Giants lost for the fifth time in seven games that followed a seven-game winning streak. The Padres have won 10 of 13.

Another concern for the Giants is reliever Jeremy Affeldt, who injured a calf muscle in the ninth inning. His status was not immediately known.

In a desperate bid for offense, Bochy had Miguel Tejada play second base for the first time in his 14-year big-league career.

Emmanuel Burriss did not start because of a bruised knee from getting hit by a pitch. Bill Hall was available. That Bochy picked Tejada over a career second baseman suggests Hall is not long for this club.

Tejada does not take grounders at second and had not practiced the blind turn on double plays until a crash course Tuesday with infield coach Ron Wotus.

Tejada made all the routine plays and started an eighth-inning double play. He also went 2-for-3.

Box Score

Giants fall despite Sandoval's big day

2011-07-05T07:02:00.000-07:00

Adam Berry
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Pablo Sandoval drilled a rare two-run blast into McCovey Cove on Independence Day, but it wasn't enough to overcome a mediocre start by Tim Lincecum and free the rest of the Giants from their offensive woes at home.

After averaging more than six runs per game on last week's seven-game road swing, the Giants returned to their old ways at the plate Monday. San Francisco managed only six hits, three of them by Sandoval, and fell, 5-3, to San Diego in AT&T Park.

"Pablo had a great day. He was doing all the work," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We just didn't swing the bats. We've got to get these bats going here at home."

The silver lining for the Giants, who have scored six runs or fewer in all 38 home games this season, was that Sandoval continued his recent power surge. The third baseman lined a first-inning double to left-center field to extend his career-high hitting streak to 15 games. That also gave Sandoval nine straight games with an extra-base hit, passing Jack Clark and Barry Bonds for the Giants' longest such streak in the last 48 years.

While that hit didn't provide any run support for San Francisco's pitchers, Sandoval made sure his next one did. The third baseman hammered a 2-1 pitch from Padres right-hander Ernesto Frieri into McCovey Cove to cut the Padres' lead to 3-2. The two-run bomb was the Giants' first splash hit this season, the fifth for Sandoval and the club's 56th overall.

"I just wanted to hit the ball. I just wanted to get a base hit," Sandoval said. "I got lucky he made a mistake, and I appreciate that."

Sandoval returned from surgery to remove his fractured right hamate bone facing questions about his power and his ability to drive the ball given the weakness in his hand. His first 11 games back seemed to fuel the fire, as he went without an extra-base hit from June 14-25 before starting his power streak on June 26.

He admitted after the game it's still a little sore from time to time, and he's had to work a little extra to get back to 100 percent, but he quickly replied "98" when asked where he was at now, if not 100.

"I have to deal with that. It's not easy, but I'm going to keep fighting and get 100 percent," Sandoval said. "When I get to home plate, I don't want to think about my hand. I just want to look for some pitch. I just want to get good at-bats every day. That's what I've got on my mind."

Lincecum, meanwhile, was simply off. He said he didn't have it from the start, never got in a good rhythm and termed it "all around a pretty bad outing." He gave up two runs in the first inning and another in the fifth, looking more like the pitcher who struggled through the first weeks of June instead of the one who bounced back with consecutive dominant outings to end the month.

The right-hander left the game after five innings, scattering seven hits and walking one while striking out four. He threw 93 pitches, his second-lowest total of the season -- more than only the 73 he tossed in a rough four innings of work against the Reds on June 11.

While Lincecum wasn't pleased with his performance, Bochy was actually encouraged with how the right-hander got through five innings and managed to keep the damage at three runs.

"Some days you just don't feel as strong and you're not quite as sharp," Bochy said. "If a starter makes 10 starts, he's probably going to have one of those. That's when he's got to compete, he's got to battle. Timmy did that. I thought he did a good job of it."

Lincecum said he knew his stuff wasn't there in the first inning, and the Padres took advantage. Will Venable knocked a leadoff single, advanced to second on a passed ball, moved to third on Jason Bartlett's single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chase Headley. After Lincecum struck out Ryan Ludwick, Bartlett stole second and came home on Orlando Hudson's single to right field.

"It's never an easy task facing Lincecum right out of the chute," Padres manager Bud Black said. "But we got a few balls to drop. It's never comfortable with him."

Down 4-2, the Giants threatened in the ninth, with Brandon Crawford singling home a run off Heath Bell and San Francisco putting runners on second and third.

But, as has been the case seemingly all year inside the friendly confines of AT&T Park, the Giants couldn't manage another hit with runners in scoring position. Andres Torres flied out to shallow right field and Aaron Rowand grounded out, netting Bell his 25th save.

"These guys swung it well at times on the road. We had some big days there. At home here is where we need to get it going a little bit," Bochy said. "That's been probably our biggest struggle, I think. You expect to play tighter games in this park, sure, but I just think the quality of at-bats needs to pick up. That's what you're looking for.

"You hate to sound like Debbie Downer here. We're in first place. That's not what this is about," Bochy added, injecting a bit of optimism into an otherwise uninspiring day. "These guys are battling. They just came off a tough road trip with a day game. I'm actually proud of how they bounced back from a couple of tough losses in Chicago. They've been resilient all year, and they will be now."

Box Score

Giants All Stars

2011-07-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

Lengthy delay doesn't dampen Zito, lumber

2011-07-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Sandoval, Crawford, Tejada belt homers in support of gutty Zito

Chris Haft
MLB.com

DETROIT -- The Giants' hitters rarely took a break in Saturday night's 15-3 victory over the Tigers.

But their most impressive performer might have been pitcher Barry Zito, who overcame both lack of rest and then too much rest in his second consecutive solid outing since returning from the disabled list.

A minor fuss was made over the fact that Zito (2-1) would pitch on three days' rest, one fewer than usual. Actually, as a practitioner of the old-fashioned habit of throwing nearly every day between starts, Zito was the right man for the job.

He proved that by working six shutout innings while overcoming a fresh challenge: Not throwing a single pitch for approximately three hours. A downpour combined with an electrical storm halted play for two hours and 36 minutes while San Francisco was batting in the third inning, rendering Zito idle.

Many starters would have called it an evening, for fear of injuring their throwing arm or aggravating one that might have stiffened. But unlike Detroit starter Max Scherzer, who vanished after the delay, Zito returned to pitch four shutout innings. Hardly overpowering but exceedingly effective, Zito struck out just one batter, yet induced three double-play grounders.

Zito, who said that the interruption in the game tested him more than his altered pitching schedule, intended to honor his commitment.

"I wanted to pitch, since I agreed to pitch on three days' rest and I wanted to uphold my agreement," said Zito, who related that he maintained his concentration during the delay by retreating to the trainer's room and listening to music -- chiefly 19-year-old rapper Mac Miller.

"You've got the three days' rest, you've got the long rain delay and a tough [Detroit] lineup -- to keep his focus, what a job he did," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

Third baseman Miguel Tejada, who played in Oakland with Zito when the left-hander ranked among the American League's most dominant pitchers, believed that his longtime teammate exuded a renewed intensity.

"I think the man is showing how good he is," Tejada said. "It's time for him to step up and do what he expects."

Zito, who's 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA since recovering from his sprained right foot, politely disagreed.

"I'm not determined to prove myself to anybody," said Zito, who's striving to shed the albatross that his seven-year, $126-million deal represents. "I'm determined to do the things I can do. Trying to prove myself to the world, that's energy I don't need to waste. As long as I please myself, everything should be all right."

Zito received ample support as the Giants scored a season-high run total for the second time on their two-city trip. Tejada, who was on deck when the deluge hit Comerica Park, belted his 12th career grand slam on the first pitch he saw from Tigers reliever Brayan Villareal to cap San Francisco's second five-run inning of the night.

"Actually, I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like to swing at the first pitch very much," Tejada said -- an odd remark for a renowned free swinger.

San Francisco's other five-run outburst occurred in the first inning, when Pablo Sandoval crushed a two-run, opposite-field homer and Brandon Crawford yanked a three-run blast. Sandoval's seventh homer of the season lengthened his hitting streak to 13 games.

Bochy said that as Sandoval's early May surgery to remove a fractured hamate bone recedes farther into the past, "I think he's going to get stronger and stronger."

Crawford's homer was his first since he hit a grand slam in his Major League debut on May 27 at Milwaukee. First baseman Aubrey Huff, batting .194 (7-for-36) in his previous 10 games, went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Every Giants starter collected at least one hit, and each scored except for catcher Eli Whiteside, who stroked a two-run double in the sixth inning. It was that kind of night for San Francisco. Virtually every player contributed.

Particularly Zito.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants fall in bottom of ninth to Chicago Cubs

2011-06-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
MercuryNews

CHICAGO -- Just like last year, the Giants arrived at the midpoint of their season with a resounding thud.

Their 2-1 loss at Wrigley Field ended painfully in the ninth inning, with a baserunning mistake by Emmanuel Burriss that muted their tying rally and a location mistake from Sergio Romo to Aramis Ramirez that resulted in a walk-off single for the Northsiders to cheer.

It was a stinging defeat, but not as deflating as No. 81 a year ago, when the Giants lost a 15-inning marathon to the Colorado Rockies in what ranks as the longest game in Coors Field history.

The upshot this time: The Giants are not in fourth place in the N.L. West. They are not 71/2 games off the pace. Nor are they bobbing along at one game over .500.

Despite major injuries to Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez, the Giants stand atop the division with a 46-35 record. They have been lifted by another half-season of outstanding pitching. Maybe by something else, too.

The defending champs are confident. They are infused with belief. And in the case of Tim Lincecum, maybe they're a little bit ornery, too.

"I don't have a lot to say to people who are going to doubt us," said Lincecum, asked about critics who say the Giants' success is unsustainable. "That's what people said last year, and we won the World Series. This team has that kind of experience and know-how. That's a given. We'll use that negative as a motivation for us to show they're

wrong."

After a three-start swoon in early June, Lincecum has his mojo back. He pitched brilliantly while holding the Cubs to a run in seven innings, but he was on the hook to fall to 6-7 before the Giants rallied in the ninth.

Ryan Dempster entered the ninth having retired 20 consecutive hitters and thrown just 78 pitches. Pinch hitter Pat Burrell broke the spell, greeting him with a double to knock him from the game.

Facing nasty Cubs closer Carlos Marmol, Burriss stayed up the middle with a 3-2 pitch to single home pinch runner Bill Hall. Burriss took second base on the throw home, too.

But Burriss went from hero to billy goat in the time it takes a bleacher bum to chug a beer. He went back to tag up on Aubrey Huff's line drive, which landed for a single despite center fielder Tony Campana's diving attempt. Burriss had to hold at third base, and Cody Ross followed by grounding into a double play.

"With one out, he doesn't need to tag," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "I think Manny thought the ball was caught. Ideally, you want to be halfway. He didn't see it bounce away.

"We missed a golden opportunity to steal one."

Burriss said he wouldn't have scored anyway, although right fielder Kosuke Fukudome's desperation throw to the plate clearly was offline.

The Cubs won it in the bottom of the inning when Campana beat out an infield chopper and Romo made a rare mistake against a right-handed hitter. Entering the game, Romo had held right-handers to a .123 average (8 for 65) with 33 strikeouts and just three walks.

But he threw a flat 0-2 slider to Ramirez, who lined it into left field.

"I'm just trying to do my job," Romo said. "Today it came down to execution, and good hitters hit mistakes."

Lincecum made far fewer mistakes. He only regretted consecutive pitches in the seventh -- a changeup that Carlos

Peña hit for a double and a fastball that Blake DeWitt lined to break the scoreless tie.

Other than that sequence, Lincecum was brilliant as he struck out nine and issued just one unintentional walk. He impressively turned it up in the fifth, striking out three after DeWitt reached third base on a double and a wild pitch.

Lincecum, who has a 3.04 ERA, said he can be much more consistent in the second half. The Giants believe their league-worst offense can perform better, too. Still, their 22 comeback wins and 22-11 record in one-run games suggest a team that is living too far on the edge.

"We believe in ourselves," Burrell said. "I think that's a big part of it, even though offensively, other than (Tuesday's doubleheader), it's been pretty poor."

After losing Posey and Sanchez to devastating injuries, the Giants have a built-in excuse. They would prefer not to take it.

"I'm proud of how the guys have battled," Bochy said. "If you're comparing us to last year, sure, we're better off. Still, there's so much baseball left. We've got to keep pushing and grinding, and I know these guys are going to do that."

Box Score

Sharp Zito helps Giants sweep doubleheader

2011-06-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

CHICAGO -- As a music enthusiast, Barry Zito knows all about the importance of recognizing the proper beat. Tuesday night, he picked up the Giants' rhythm without a hitch.

Contributing handsomely to the effort that lengthened the Giants' winning streak to a season-high seven games, Zito thrived in his first Major League outing since April 15 by working seven solid innings in San Francisco's 6-3 triumph over the Chicago Cubs.

The decision gave the Giants a sweep of their day-night doubleheader, combined with a 13-7 triumph in the first game. It was an unusually fruitful day for the Giants, who accumulated 30 hits while soaring 12 games above .500 (46-34) for the first time this season.

Zito, who accented his recovery from a sprained right foot by allowing two runs and only four hits, improved to 111-6 lifetime when receiving at least four runs of support. The Giants generated that magic minimum in a five-run fifth inning that erased Chicago's 2-1 advantage. Nate Schierholtz, who went 3-for-4, contributed one of his two RBI singles to the go-ahead rally.

Most athletes would have exuded triumphant satisfaction after delivering the type of performance Zito sustained. But the left-hander sounded exceedingly reserved as he addressed reporters.

Asked why he seemed so devoid of emotion, Zito replied, "For me, there's a lot of focus required in doing that stuff out there."

What he did was silence the team that ranked second in the National League with a .266 batting average entering Tuesday. Aside from the third inning, when he surrendered Lou Montanez's two-run homer, Zito (1-1) did not permit a runner to reach scoring position.

"He looked like he's confident throwing strikes," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Zito, who issued two walks. "Sometimes when things go awry is when he puts guys on base and walks guys. He threw more quality strikes. ... That's a good-hitting ballclub over there, so no lead is safe."

Zito faltered only in the third inning, when he gave up Montanez's homer. Starlin Castro's two-out triple prolonged that inning, but Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford made the play of the night by diving to snare Aramis Ramirez's sharp grounder, straightening and firing a perfect throw to first base.

Crawford, a lifelong Giants fan who watched Zito pitch for Oakland while growing up in the East Bay town of Pleasanton, Calif., said that he thought he had a "pretty good chance" to turn what looked like an RBI single for Ramirez into the inning-ending out.

"He makes it look easy on the throw," Bochy said. "He has great carry on the ball."

The Giants' next highlight was their big fifth, which began with Andres Torres' bloop single off Cubs starter Rodrigo Lopez (0-2). Torres stole second base and reached third on Emmanuel Burriss' groundout.

Then the fun really started for the Giants. Torres dashed home on Pablo Sandoval's fly to center field and was called out by umpire Tim McClelland, who reversed his ruling when Cubs catcher Geovany Soto dropped the ball. Initially scored as a sacrifice fly for Sandoval, the play was changed to an error on Soto after the game.

"I think that changed the whole game," Lopez said. "We couldn't finish the fifth inning with the lead. I saw the replay and of course, I think he was out. The umpires see it different and the Giants see it different, too."

That left two outs, but Aubrey Huff and Cody Ross singled to prolong the inning and chase Lopez. Schierholtz singled to score Huff and scored with Ross on Crawford's opposite-field double to left. Eli Whiteside's bloop single sent home Crawford with the inning's final run.

Crawford savored his hit, which short-hopped the ivy-covered wall. It represented the fruits of his labor with hitting coach Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens, who's trying to cure Crawford of rolling over pitches and tapping harmless grounders.

"That's what I've been working on with Bam Bam, driving the ball the other way," said Crawford, who went 2-for-4 to lift his average from .185 to .198.

Guillermo Mota surrendered Ramirez's leadoff homer in the ninth before Brian Wilson retired all three batters he faced to record his Major League-leading 24th save.

Box Score(s)

• Game 1

• Game 2

Madison Bumgarner bounces back as San Francisco Giants beat Cleveland Indians

2011-06-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

Alex Pavlovic
Mercury News

Madison Bumgarner's teammates and coaches have rallied around him all week, saying his nightmarish last start would be just a bump in the road.

They were right.

Bumgarner was brilliant in the Giants' 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday night at AT&T Park, striking out a career-high 11 and giving up one run in seven innings.

The gem came five days after Bumgarner allowed eight earned runs and nine hits in just one-third of an inning in a loss to Minnesota.

"I knew this kid would bounce back," manager Bruce Bochy said. "There was no doubt in my mind."

The same feeling permeated the Giants' clubhouse, even as Bumgarner dealt with some self-doubt in the aftermath of one of the worst starts in big league history.

"I'm not going to say there wasn't any doubt -- there was a little," Bumgarner said. "It's tough to forget about a start like that. "... I was ready to get back out there."

If Bumgarner felt any doubt during a nationally televised appearance, he didn't show it. He threw 78 of his 112 pitches for strikes and struck out five of the last six hitters he faced.

"We didn't expect anything less," catcher Chris Stewart said. "That was a fluke last time. He came in today ready to dominate, and he did."

Indians manager Manny Acta said: "We were flat-out overmatched at the plate."

Bumgarner (4-9) has overmatched plenty of opponents in his young career but rarely ends up in the win column, often for reasons out of his control. Entering Sunday night, the left-hander had received two or fewer runs of support in 15 straight home starts.

But the Giants equaled that mark in the second inning on Stewart's two-out double to right. Cody Ross and Bill Hall hustled home, giving Stewart his first major league RBIs since May 8, 2007.

"That's the type of hit we've been missing," Bochy said. "He got us going there."

Stewart was a spark plug throughout the three-game sweep of the Indians, helping the Giants' vaunted starting staff hold Cleveland to just four runs. On Sunday, he again showed off his strong arm when he threw Grady Sizemore out at third in the second inning.

Since being promoted after Buster Posey's season-ending injury, Stewart has thrown out seven of 11 attempted base stealers. He also is quickly developing a rapport with the staff; Jeremy Affeldt shook Stewart off just once in two innings of relief, and Bumgarner praised Stewart's work behind the plate.

"He was really good back there," Bumgarner said. "He studies, and he works hard. He's always on his game."

Bumgarner was on his game throughout, giving up just six hits and walking one. He got a rare third run of support when Aubrey Huff hit an RBI single in the third inning.

Whether it's a fluke or just the result of the club's recent struggles at the plate, the three runs of support were tied for the most that Bumgarner has received in a home start since being called up to the majors.

With Brian Wilson unavailable after pitching four straight games, Affeldt was the one who made sure Bumgarner's efforts didn't go to waste. He struck out five in two hitless innings, picking up his second save and stretching the Giants' winning streak to five games.

The streak follows a five-game losing streak, and gives the Giants a 1 1/2-game lead over Arizona in the National League West.

"We pitched well, and we had timely hitting this whole homestand," Stewart said. "We had really big wins, and hopefully we can keep it up."

Box Score

Cain's work rewarded by balk in Giants' duel

2011-06-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

Right-hander earns hard-fought 'W' with help from Tribe's 'pen

Adam Berry
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants have found a way to win all season, posting the fourth-highest winning percentage in the National League despite scoring the fewest runs in the Majors. Saturday, however, it seemed like a way to win found the Giants.

With 63 of their 77 games having been decided by three runs or fewer and a Major League-high 17 one-run wins at home, The Giants are perfectly comfortable playing close games, knowing every at-bat could be a potential difference-maker. And they have won a few games in truly bizarre fashion. But even by their standards, Saturday's 1-0 win over Cleveland was a little odd.

They scored their lone run during a seventh inning in which Nate Schierholtz tripped on a sure standup triple, two errors were committed by Indians second baseman Cord Phelps and a run came home on a balk. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the only run of a game was scored on a balk was May 10, 2006, when the then-Devil Rays beat the Mariners, 1-0, on a balk by Jamie Moyer.

With Matt Cain dealing on the mound and another strong outing by the bullpen, that unusual run was good enough to secure the Giants' victory over the Indians before a sold-out crowd of 42,130 fans in AT&T Park.

"It was definitely an interesting inning, but that's just kind of the way it goes sometimes," said Cain (7-4), who at one point retired 14 straight batters. "Those are the ones that are tough when you lose, and they're great when you win. You're just trying to keep the momentum going, keep the game going so we can find a way to scratch one across or whatever, and that's what ended up happening."

A rare scoring opportunity seemed to pass by the Giants when Schierholtz bombed a ball from Tribe starter Justin Masterson to left-center field, only to trip on his way to third and get tagged out in a rundown by Cleveland first baseman Jack Hannahan. But much like Carlos Santana's errors at first on Friday gave San Francisco a chance to overcome its lack of offense, a pair of fielding errors by Phelps kept the Giants alive Saturday.

After Schierholtz's miscue, Miguel Tejada chopped an easy out to Phelps, but the throw went just wide enough to draw Hannahan off the bag and allow Tejada to slide safely into first. After Chris Stewart flied out, Cain knocked a ball that went in and out of Phelps' glove, putting two runners on for Andres Torres. The hero of Friday night's 4-3 win, Torres drew a walk off lefty Tony Sipp, who relieved Masterson, to extend the rally.

Sipp flinched with the bases loaded and Emmanuel Burriss in the batter's box, leading home-plate umpire Bob Davidson to call a balk that scored Tejada, putting the Giants ahead, 1-0.

The balk was so quick and such a minuscule movement that San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy admitted he didn't even see it, because he had his head down. But Sipp said after the game that Davidson did get the call right.

"I didn't move much, but I felt it," Sipp said. "I guess they're all good at their job. I felt it. I knew I balked."

"We'll certainly take it," Bochy added. "In a game like that, sometimes it takes a break to win."

Things got dicey for the Giants in the eighth, when Cain walked pinch-hitter Travis Hafner to lead off the inning, prompting the Indians to send in pinch-runner Adam Everett. Javier Lopez came on in relief, giving up a single to Michael Brantley and a sac bunt by Phelps that put two runners in scoring position with only one out.

Pablo Sandoval then fielded Asdrubal Cabrera's chopper, making the throw to Stewart at home in time for the catcher to run down Everett. But Lopez wasn't done pitching his way out of trouble, as a passed ball bounced by Stewart with Santana at the plate and once again put runners on second and third.

Lopez, who has been lights-out against lefties all year, induced an inning-ending groundout from Grady Sizemore.

"That's a momentum shift, when the other team's got a scorer in position and one out, then we get that play -- that pitch, groundball, Sandoval -- to get the guy out," said closer Brian Wilson, who sealed the win and earned his 23rd save in a 1-2-3 ninth inning. "Momentum goes in our favor, and we keep rolling as a bullpen."

While that bizarre stretch wound up deciding the game, it was Cain who shut down the Indians most of the way. The right-hander gave up consecutive singles to lead off the first inning, but that was about as bad as it got for him all afternoon.

Cain allowed only six baserunners and at one point retired 14 straight batters, finishing after seven-plus innings with six strikeouts, four hits and a walk. And given how little run support Cain has received throughout his career, winning by one run -- even if it came on two errors, a walk and a balk -- was good enough.

"That's the way it goes sometimes. You've really just got to find ways to get guys across and do whatever you can," Cain said. "As a staff, we're just trying to pick those guys up and keep the lead on our side when we get that chance."

Box Score

Andres Torres sparks SF Giants past Indians

2011-06-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

Jonathan Sanchez and Andres Torres come from the same land, but not the same mold. Sanchez ekes his brief sentences in whispers, unable or unwilling to betray what he is thinking. Torres' words and thoughts flow like a swollen river overflowing its banks.

Manager Bruce Bochy believes both players from Puerto Rico have been fighting their thoughts. In Friday night's 4-3 comeback victory against Cleveland, the Giants' third win in a row, Torres seemed to be winning his fight. Sanchez clearly was losing.

After Sanchez needed 94 pitches to finish 4 2/3 innings, placed the Giants in a 3-0 hole, walked six and broke Shin-Soo Choo's left thumb with a fastball, Bochy said he and his staff will think about moving Sanchez to the bullpen when Barry Zito rejoins the rotation next week.

"What we'll end up doing, I don't know," Bochy said. "We may keep throwing him out there. We may hold him back a bit. Getting Zito back will give us that option."

Sanchez, asked if the pressure of keeping his job might be affecting him, said softly and with no hint of defiance, "There's no pressure. I'm the second starter in the rotation."

Torres, in contrast, felt the pressure of a mind so full of thought that he could not sleep. Hitless in 14 at-bats, and 3-for-31 over a longer haul, he told Bochy he needed to relax but had no idea how.

Bochy sat Torres for two games. The leadoff hitter who takes medication for attention deficit disorder turned to sleeping pills as well, and he rejoined the lineup a different man.

He bunted for a single in the first inning, which allowed him to exhale. He then homered in the fourth inning against hot Indians starter Carlos Carrasco for the Giants' first run and singled to load the bases in the decisive three-run sixth inning. Two errors by first baseman Carlos Santana made the sixth-inning runs unearned.

"Sometimes my head never stops thinking," Torres said in his mile-a-minute patter. "I tried to relax, go home and play with my kids. I was able to get some rest. Thank God I'm making adjustments.

"I'm just trying to calm my mind. Sometimes there's a lot of stuff going on. I don't try to make excuses. I was just being honest. If there's a problem, you've got to say what's happening."

Torres' sixth-inning single followed Chris Stewart's leadoff single and Santana's throwing error on a force attempt with Nate Schierholtz batting. With the bases loaded, Emmanuel Burriss hit a dribbler that Santana bobbled for another error, with Stewart scoring.

Pablo Sandoval tied the game with a traditional sacrifice fly before Torres scored the decisive run with his legs. He tagged from third on Aubrey Huff's foul pop near the Giants' bullpen and scored easily as third baseman Jack Hannahan stumbled backward after catching the ball.

Santiago Casilla got a much-deserved win. He kept the game close by striking out Austin Kearns to end the fifth inning after Sanchez walked the bases full.

Sanchez offered no easy answers for his struggles, the way Torres did. The lefty simply said, "I'm fine. I'm healthy. I'm just having a hard time."

Bochy sees a lack of confidence in Sanchez's pitches, his rhythm, even his slow gait back to the dugout.

"It's fair to say Jonny's searching right now," Bochy said.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum strikes out 12 in 2-1 win over Minnesota Twins

2011-06-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Alex Pavlovic
Mercury News

With a new opponent in the opposite dugout and a fresh mindset on the mound, Tim Lincecum emphatically shook off his June swoon on Thursday.

Facing the Minnesota Twins for the first time, Lincecum had one of his best outings of the season, leading the Giants to a 2-1 victory in front of a sellout crowd at AT&T Park.

Lincecum entered the day with a 7.59 ERA in June but gave up just three hits and struck out 12 in seven scoreless innings. He got better as the game went on, striking out nine of the final 12 hitters he faced.

"His stuff was dynamite," catcher Chris Stewart said. "He was getting ahead and putting guys away from there, mostly with his slider. I'm glad I was catching him and not trying to hit him."

Lincecum struck out the side in the fifth and seventh innings and reached double-digit strikeouts for the fourth time this season and 30th time in his career while ending a four-start winless streak.

He went through a similarly bad stretch of starts last August but said the fix this time around was mental rather than physical.

"I feel like I've taken steps out of that hole that I was in mentally," said Lincecum, who evened his record at 6-6. "The biggest thing for me was keeping my confidence up.

"Early in the game when I was commanding the zone with my pitches, it just opened up my mind."

The Giants are hoping their ace continues to take the mound with the same approach, especially as they struggle to kick start their sputtering lineup.

"That's our strength -- we need our pitchers to go out there and give us a chance," manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's good to have him back."

Lincecum gave the Giants' hitters a chance, and they took it -- barely.

The Giants scored just one run with Lincecum in the game, in large part because of some curious decision making by the Twins after Pablo Sandoval's single and Pat Burrell's double put two runners in scoring position with one out in the second.

Even with the Giants in the midst of a 4-for-46 slump with runners in scoring position, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire elected to play the infield at normal depth, allowing Sandoval to score easily on Miguel Tejada's grounder to short.

The Giants put runners on the corners with no outs in the seventh, but Emmanuel Burriss was called out at home when he tried to score on Stewart's bunt. (Replays appeared to show Burriss was safe.)

"With his speed, any kind of decent bunt he's going to score on it," Bochy said. "(Stewart) knew what he was trying to do, and he knew he didn't execute there."

The Giants loaded the bases after the failed play, but Bill Hall flied out to end the threat.

Aubrey Huff provided some insurance in the eighth, hitting a leadoff double and scoring on Cody Ross' single. The run turned out to be crucial when Brian Wilson gave up a walk and run-scoring double to open the ninth; it was his first run allowed since May 18.

As he's done so often, Wilson buckled down for the save -- but not without some more of the Giants' patented ninth-inning madness. With two outs, Wilson got Luke Hughes to hit a grounder to third, but Sandoval chose to chase Michael Cuddyer to second rather than throw to first.

Sandoval nicked Cuddyer with a diving effort and afterward sheepishly admitted that he barely escaped "being in trouble."

"That was a new play -- we didn't work on that this spring," Bochy said, smiling. "I didn't know what (Pablo) was doing, either. I guess he wanted to show off his speed."

Box Score

Ryan Vogelsong's gem lifts SF Giants over Twins

2011-06-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle The stats can quantify Ryan Vogelsong's microscopic ERA, which dropped to 1.86. They can show he held a Twins lineup that can score prolifically to three hits, or that the Giants are 8-3 in his starts.

Vogelsong's biggest accomplishment in a 5-1 victory Wednesday night, which snapped the Giants' five-game losing streak, requires words to appreciate.

One night after the bullpen threw 8 2/3 innings following Madison Bumgarner's epic first-inning collapse, Vogelsong gave the relievers most of the night off.

"We had the right guy out there," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's really done a great job pounding the strike zone. He had all his pitches working. There was no reason to think he wouldn't give us the innings we needed."

Vogelsong held Minnesota to one run, which scored in his seventh and final inning. That made him the first Giant since Jason Schmidt in 2006 to allow two or fewer runs in each of nine consecutive starts.

If Vogelsong does it again in Chicago next week, he will tie Juan Marichal's San Francisco record.

Vogelsong also is approaching the innings required to qualify for the pitching leaderboards. If he had them now, his ERA would match Josh Beckett's for lowest in the majors.

If only Vogelsong could showcase his talents to the manager who will make the final picks for the National League All-Star team (wink, wink).

"He's going to get real strong consideration," Bochy said. "He deserves that. We've still got a couple of weeks to go, but that's how well he's thrown, to have his name mentioned. I will say one thing: He's done everything he needs to do to go there."

Vogelsong is trying to dodge the issue, but when asked what it would mean to be an All-Star, he answered honestly.

"That would be amazing," he said, "especially with the path I've been on. An All-Star team at the major-league level has never been close to a chance for me. I don't think I've ever made an All-Star game in pro ball."

In reaching 40 wins, the Giants got a huge lift with Eli Whiteside's three RBIs. With a two-run triple and a scoring single, Whiteside single-handedly drove in enough runs to end the offense's streak of five games of scoring two or fewer runs.

Aubrey Huff added an RBI single in the seventh, and Pat Burrell's pinch double in the ninth led to a run. Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo struck out Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer, respectively, in the eighth. Brian Wilson finished the contest and Minnesota's eight-game win streak.

Romo hyperextended his left knee on his final pitch, but he is used to that.

"That's like No. 8 or something," he said before declaring he could pitch today.

Whiteside has taken a lot of grief for his hitting and defense since he became the primary catcher following Buster Posey's injury. Both seem to be better now, especially the hitting.

His second-inning triple against Nick Blackburn was his second extra-base hit of the series (he homered Tuesday night).

Whiteside claims not to read the papers, listen to talk radio or surf for baseball news on the Internet. He insisted he has not heard the clamor for the Giants to get a catcher who can hit.

"I come out here and the fans keep telling me I'm doing a great job," he said. "I don't worry about it. I just go out and do all I can do."

Box Score

Minnesota Twins rout San Francisco Giants

2011-06-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

The Giants organized early batting practice Tuesday afternoon, hoping to address the many issues with their limp offense. The Minnesota Twins opted for some early hitting, too.

But they waited until Madison Bumgarner threw the first pitch.

The Twins didn't just take Bumgarner to the showers. A woodshed would be more appropriate. Bumgarner faced 10 batters and retired only pitcher Carl Pavano, becoming the first player in baseball's modern era to allow as many as nine hits while recording fewer than two outs in a 9-2 loss to the Twins at AT&T Park.

The Twins' stunning, eight-run first inning went like so: Single, double, single, double, single, double, single, double, strikeout, double. It sounded like Arthur Murray dance instructions. It ended with Bumgarner trodden underfoot.

As a result, the Giants have lost five consecutive games for the first time since last July. And Bumgarner's ERA soared from 3.21 to 4.06.

"I'll be honest, that's a first for me," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "To see it go like that -- that's hard to do. I don't care if you're throwing batting practice out there. It was single, double, it kept going, and we couldn't stop it."

From the department of odd timing, Barry Zito approached 120 pitches while throwing a two-hit shutout for Triple-A Fresno against Salt Lake. Zito walked two and struck out seven in what was expected to be his final minor league rehab start.

Bochy said he would meet with Zito on Wednesday. But the manager firmly stated he will not alter Bumgarner's place in the rotation, which calls for the left-hander to start Sunday against the Cleveland Indians in front of a national ESPN audience.

"There's no way I'd give him a rest after today," said Bochy, pointing out that Bumgarner entered with a streak of 10 quality starts. "Come on. This kid's thrown too well. It's an off day. That's what it is. To rest him, that's the worst thing you can do.

"It's good Z is throwing so well. He's coming in tomorrow and we'll talk."

The resurgent Twins gave Bumgarner plenty of feedback. They hadn't seen him before but held a long meeting before the game and perhaps picked up a few of his tells.

For a pitcher who got blasted for eight runs, Bumgarner was astoundingly efficient. He threw 22 of his 25 pitches for strikes, and it was clear the Twins were ready to swing.

"Pretty pathetic, and no excuse," Bumgarner said. "Everything was middle of the plate and up. They did what they had to do. It was terrible pitch execution."

Bumgarner said he didn't think he was tipping his pitches. Bochy wasn't so certain.

"Well, sure, you think about that," Bochy said. "Still, I don't care if you know what pitch is coming. It's hard to have that many balls hit hard."

It didn't help that Miguel Tejada, making a rare start at shortstop against a right-handed pitcher, botched the first play of the game to allow Ben Revere to reach with a single. Eight batters later, the crowd cheered as Pavano struck out. But Revere followed with a two-run double to usher Bumgarner from the game.

It took a line-out double play for right-hander Guillermo Mota -- who threw a career-high 42/3 innings -- to end the carnage. It was the first time the Giants allowed as many as eight runs in the first inning since June 4, 1992, at Houston.

The Twins' eight consecutive hits leading off the game tied the major league record, last done by the Chicago Cubs against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sept. 8, 2009.

Bumgarner went back to look at video, then returned to the dugout in the third inning to watch the remainder of the game. Bochy and several Giants teammates took that as an encouraging sign.

"This was a tough lesson, but he'll be better because of this," Bochy said.

"I think it'll help me focus and execute pitches for the rest of my career," Bumgarner said. "You know what happens if you don't."

As for the Giants' early work? It didn't make much difference. But at least their shameful, 5-game-old hitless streak with runners in scoring position ended after 31 at-bats. Emmanuel Burriss, who replaced cleanup man Aubrey Huff at first base after four innings, came through with a single that knocked in Tejada from second base in the eighth.

Box Score

Giants' hitting woes continue in sweep

2011-06-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

OAKLAND -- Currently, the most intriguing activity involving the Giants is occurring behind the scenes. That compensates for and reflects the lack of drama on the field, where the Giants endured a 2-1 loss Sunday to the Oakland A's.

The reigning World Series champions remained in first place in the National League West, a half-game ahead of Arizona. But that status surely doesn't fool Giants general manager Brian Sabean. He sees a team that owns a four-game losing streak, matching its season high, mainly because it can't hit.

Officially, the Giants lost on Father's Day as Jeremy Affeldt yielded Landon Powell's eighth-inning homer that snapped a 1-1 tie and wasted Matt Cain's superb effort. But limp hitting continued to be San Francisco's true downfall. The Giants scored five runs while batting .184 (18-for-98) in the series, which ended with Cody Ross taking a third strike and launching a futile argument with plate umpire Scott Barry. The Giants rank 15th in the league in scoring, a level at which they've hovered virtually all season.

No saviors will be arriving from the Minor Leagues or off the disabled list. They don't exist. Manager Bruce Bochy no longer can juggle his batting order. He already has tried everything.

The Giants still can solve their own problems. They did so at a similar juncture last year, when Andres Torres, Buster Posey and Aubrey Huff went on hitting binges that propelled the team to a 21-5 record from July 5 to Aug. 3.

Or Sabean will try to bolster the offense by engineering a deal for a proven hitter. Exactly who is anybody's guess at this juncture, with the July 31 Trade Deadline still more than a month away. But as long as the existence of the Wild Card inflates the number of teams that consider themselves contenders, competition for available players could force proactive GMs like Sabean to move sooner than later.

Bochy indicated that Sabean isn't sitting idly.

"Believe me, there are things he's working on that could make sense," Bochy said. "It's frustrating for us because -- and this isn't a knock on our guys -- we're not quite having the years that some guys should be having. We've still got to believe that they're going to come around. Sure, we're getting to the point now where decisions have to be made. You can go with a younger guy or go with the veterans. You need production. You need results. Now is that time, I think, where I'm sure Brian's looking for that, too. If not, I'm sure he's looking to see what could help this club."

So the onus is on Huff to lift his .387 slugging percentage. It's on Miguel Tejada to improve his NL-worst .539 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage). It's on Andres Torres to emerge from the .178 skid (8-for-45) that has dogged him for 15 games.

"We're going to have to get this offense going. It's been going like this for a while," Bochy said. "Part of it, sure, we're banged up with injuries, but we're still better than this. I think these guys are still going to come around. I believe in them. They showed last year how resilient they can be. They'll figure it out."

Meanwhile, dwelling on what Sabean might or might not do would be counterproductive.

"We can't worry about the outside," Ross said. "We have to do our job and keep grinding. But [Bochy's] right. We're definitely not swinging the bat well. It's kind of an ongoing deal. ... Sooner or later, it's got to pick up. We have too many good hitters on this team."

Said Huff, "It's going to be no easy fix. We've just got to start working counts better and getting on and putting some pressure [on opponents]."

During the losing streak, Giants hitters occasionally have applied pressure. But never have they maintained it. They're 0-for-26 with runners in scoring position in the last four games, including 0-for-19 in this series.

A's starter Trevor Cahill (7-5), who was 0-4 with a 7.43 ERA in his previous five outings, hastened the Giants' sixth loss in a row at the Coliseum by yielding five hits in eight innings. They mustered a second-inning run as Nate Schierholtz drew a two-out walk and scored on Aaron Rowand's double past third base.

Cain held that lead, retiring 14 consecutive batters from the end of the first inning to the beginning of the sixth. But Jemile Weeks' one-out double to left field ended Cain's dominance. Weeks moved to third on Cliff Pennington's groundout and scored the tying run as Coco Crisp singled to right field on a 3-2 delivery.

"It wasn't a good pitch," Cain said. "It came back over the plate -- definitely too much plate for him. I was trying to throw a backdoor slider. It ended up being more of a middle slider."

Then Powell, who hadn't homered all season in 56 at-bats, planted Affeldt's 2-1 pitch into the left-field seats with one out in the eighth. Having blanked opponents in his previous eight outings, a span of 10 1/3 innings, Affeldt (1-1) didn't second-guess his decision to throw Powell a sinker. Location was another matter.

"I look at it and say maybe I could have thrown it a little farther away from him," Affeldt said. "But the ball's sinking down; he got barrel on it and lifted it."

Are the Giants sinking? Or will they receive a lift, either from within or from another club -- which might force them to part with a valuable pitcher?

Cain, who has been a Giant longer than any other player, sounded unruffled. He insisted that the Giants anticipated a low-scoring series, based on the mere 15 runs the teams generated when San Francisco swept Oakland from May 20-22 at AT&T Park. Thus, he concluded, the Giants aren't worried.

"Guys are going to battle through things," Cain said. "We've done it before. That's what a good team does, and that's what we feel like we are."

Box Score

San Francisco Giants fall quietly to Washington Nationals

2011-06-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

What is more maddening? Jonathan Sanchez issuing more free passes than a comedy club or a Giants lineup as quiet as crickets?

For all the late-inning showmanship at 24 Willie Mays Plaza this season, you couldn't blame another sellout crowd from crackling with anticipation. But there was nothing to cheer or celebrate at the conclusion of affairs Tuesday night. The Giants didn't get a runner into scoring position after the second inning and had no heroes to spare in a 2-1 loss to the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park.

Sanchez, who issued five walks in five innings, fell to 4-4 this season. He did strand the bases loaded twice to keep the Giants in the game, and a stalwart bullpen held up the bargain with four scoreless innings.

But the Giants had few answers for Jordan Zimmermann, a right-hander with a deceptive changeup who might be emerging as one of the game's better young pitchers. Relievers Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen also proved to be too tough.

"You're not going to do it every night," said Freddy Sanchez, who stroked Monday night's walk-off single. "Of course we have the confidence. But they were able to close the door on us."

After blowing through six of their seven relievers in Monday's 13-inning victory, the Giants needed length out of Jonathan Sanchez. But asking the mercurial left-hander to pound the strike zone requires a large measure of hope.left-handed pitchers, Sanchez is stuck in a rut, and the walks continue to come in troubling bunches.

In his past three outings, Sanchez has walked 15 over 171/3 innings.

"It's just getting my fastball over the plate," the pitcher said. "That's it."

A year after leading the National League in walks, Sanchez is topping the charts again -- and it's only getting worse. He has walked 45 in 13 starts; a year ago, he walked 34 in his first 13 outings.

The walks have come back to roost, too. He issued a pass to Laynce Nix leading off the third inning and hit Roger Bernadina with a pitch, and Ian Desmond followed with a single to center that caromed off Andres Torres' shins to score the tying run.

The Nationals pushed ahead in the fourth after Rick Ankiel started a rally with a leadoff double. He tagged up and took third base on a deep fly out, then scored on Zimmermann's safety squeeze toward first base.

Sanchez loaded the bases again in the fifth but struck out Nix to keep the Nationals off the board. His pitch count was at 97, though, and so it turned out to be another five-and-dive start -- the seventh time Sanchez has failed to complete at least six innings.

"I worked my (butt) off out there," Sanchez said. "I gave up two runs in five innings. I got out of innings twice. I fought out there. I battle every night."

The Giants had every opportunity to work more late-inning magic. Ramon Ramirez, the only reliever not used a night earlier, tossed two scoreless innings to preserve the one-run deficit. Javier Lopez and Santiago Casilla each contributed a scoreless inning, too.

But the Giants had a hard time getting anything started against Zimmermann. Their best chance came in the second inning, when Aubrey Huff split the gap in left-center and heaved his lungs as he legged out a leadoff triple. Nate Schierholtz followed with a line double, signaling a big inning.

Aaron Rowand's fly out to right field advanced Schierholtz to third, but Brandon Crawford grounded out with the infield in, and Chris Stewart hit a loud out to left field.

The Giants looked to have something cooking in the eighth when Cody Ross drew a pinch walk from Clippard. Giants manager Bruce Bochy didn't try to manufacture a run, though. He had Torres swing away, which resulted in a strikeout. Conor Gillaspie and Freddy Sanchez hit lazy fly balls to end the inning.

Bochy said he never considered having Torres bunt, saying he was more comfortable taking a shot with Torres than with Gillaspie, who was making his first start of the season.

Another sellout crowd -- the 26th consecutive this season -- stayed to the end, perhaps anticipating another comeback and walk-off victory. But Nationals closer Drew Storen retired Huff, Schierholtz and Rowand on three ground balls to end it.

The Nats managed to win without Jayson Werth, who was limited to a pinch-hitting appearance after turning his ankle while tripping on the bullpen mound a night earlier.

Instead of continuing to emerge as one of the game's better

Box Score

Giants rally for win after Lincecum's milestone

2011-06-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

Rick Eymer MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Freddy Sanchez savored the moment. He thrives in pressure situations. Yet he still took the time to acknowledge the bullpen.

Sanchez, who had two hits, singled in the bottom of the 13th inning to lift the San Francisco Giants to yet another improbable comeback, beating the Washington Nationals, 5-4, Monday night after trailing by four runs entering the seventh.

"The bullpen was remarkable, like always," Sanchez said. "They came in and did their job. That's not easy when the game is that tight. They gave us the chance to pull it out."

Sanchez hit a 1-1 offering from Craig Stammen (0-1) into right field for the game-winning run. Javier Lopez (3-1) got the win. Had the game gone any longer, Miguel Tejada might have taken the mound.

"I just work here," said Tejada, who beat out a possible double-play ball to keep the winning rally alive. "What can I do? I can't say no to the manager. He's the boss."

Chris Stewart, a late-inning replacement, walked to open the inning. After one out, Andres Torres singled ahead of Tejada's grounder, setting up Sanchez's heroics.

"He's such a good hitter and he uses the whole field," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's a tough out and he puts the ball in play. We had the right guy up there."

The Giants had a chance to win in the ninth, as they had runners on first and third with one out. Torres raced home on a contact play when Cody Ross grounded sharply to shortstop Ian Desmond, who made a perfect throw home. The Giants also left two runners on in the 10th.

It didn't matter as six relief pitchers -- Guillermo Mota, Santiago Casilla, Brian Wilson, Jeremy Affeldt, who celebrated his 32nd birthday, Sergio Romo and Lopez -- combined for eight scoreless innings.

"Timmy [Lincecum] was not quite on top of his game, but those guys stepped up and picked each other up," Bochy said. "What a great job they did."

"The reason we have these kind of games is because of the bullpen we have," Tejada said. "We've had so many moments like this."

Sanchez's heroics would not have been possible without the bullpen, or if Nate Schierholtz had not driven in the tying run in a three-run eighth inning. Aubrey Huff singled home two runs in the eighth to set up Schieholtz's big hit.

Aaron Rowand got the Giants on the board with a solo homer in the seventh.

Lincecum knows a thing or two about strikeouts but he's still trying to figure out how to beat the Nationals.

"That's great baseball, to bounce back from the hole I left them in," Lincecum said.

Lincecum recorded his 1,000th career strikeout in the second inning, getting Jerry Hairston Jr. to become the eighth pitcher to record as many strikeouts in their first five years in the big leagues.

"I'm one of his victims," Tejada said. "He's struck me out more than a few times. That's pretty impressive to achieve a number like that in so little time."

Lincecum said he was aware of the standing ovation he received as he walked off the field following the second inning.

"That part of it was great," he said. "It was awesome and incredibly loud. I had my head down because I was thinking about the home run."

Because the night belonged to the Giants, Lincecum's manager was able to enjoy his achievement.

"It's a milestone," Bochy said. "It's hard to believe he's got 1,000 strikeouts already. He's still too young."

Lincecum lasted five innings in the contest and remains winless in his last four starts against Washington. He last beat the Nationals exactly three years ago (June 6, 2008), and has never beaten them in three starts at AT&T Park.

Rowand's home run, his second of the season, ended John Lannan's 19-inning scoreless streak.

Lincecum has allowed nine runs on 15 hits over his last 11 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out five.

Box Score

Ryan Vogelsong, Andres Torres lead San Francisco Giants by Colorado Rockies 2-1

2011-06-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

Ryan Vogelsong was a long shot to be a Giant this season. Now he's looking like a potential National League All-Star.

Vogelsong's remarkable comeback story just keeps getting better, and the appreciation from the stands keeps getting louder. He received a pair of thunderous ovations in the Giants' 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon.

First, Vogelsong limited the Rockies to just one run -- a Chris Iannetta home run -- in eight sparkling innings. Then, after it looked like he was out of the game for a pinch hitter, Vogelsong emerged from the dugout to put down a sacrifice bunt that aided in the tiebreaking run as the Giants found another way to win close and late at home.

After taking two of three from the Rockies, the Giants are 10-2 at home against NL West opponents.

The Giants won with help from their bench and a clutch single by Andres Torres. After pinch hitter Pat Burrell drew a leadoff walk from right-hander Matt Lindstrom, Giants manager Bruce Bochy pulled back rookie Conor Gillaspie from the on-deck circle and had Vogelsong step to the plate.

Vogelsong earned a standing ovation after his bunt dribbled down the first base line, advancing pinch runner Manny Burriss. Torres appeared to go around on a 2-2 pitch that bounced to the screen, moving Burriss to third, but he received another life. He took advantage by lining the next pitch into left-center field.

It came just in time for Vogelsong (4-1) to earn a victory. The Giants are 6-2 in his eight starts since he took over for disabled left-hander Barry Zito in the rotation. Zito is starting a minor league rehab assignment Monday for Single-A San Jose, but there's no hurry. Vogelsong has allowed just three earned runs over his last six starts, good for an 0.69 ERA over that span.

Vogelsong is succeeding with movement and command. He even overmatched Carlos Gonzalez, last year's NL batting champ, while striking him out three times.

The Giants needed to break through against Rockies right-hander Jason Hammel, who had a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Miguel Tejada broke it up with a line single to right field, and with runners at the corners, Freddy Sanchez followed with a tying single up the middle.

Brian Wilson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, throwing just 10 pitches.

Box Score

SF Giants fall to Rockies; Brandon Belt to DL

2011-06-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

John Shea
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
The first week of the season, batting coach Hensley Meulens raved about the Giants' three young homegrown hitters, calling them "possibly the cornerstone for the organization for a long time to come."

Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Brandon Belt were healthy then.

Today, all are shelved, having taken a detour from their road to collective stardom. After the Giants fell 2-1 to Colorado on Saturday, Belt joined Sandoval, who has missed five weeks, and Posey, who's done for the season, on a disabled list that has been used by 11 players.

All last year, 13 players went on the DL.

"The bone will take a month to heal fully, but I don't plan on being out that long," Belt said after MRI and CAT scans showed he has a hairline fracture in his left wrist, a result of getting plunked by St. Louis' Trever Miller on Tuesday.

Initial X-rays were negative, and Belt said he felt improvement in recent days. But now it's time to rest, not exactly what Belt or the Giants envisioned when he broke from spring training as the starting first baseman.

Belt lasted only 17 games before his .192 average earned him a ticket to Triple-A Fresno, where he played mostly in the outfield to further his versatility. He returned last week and went 2-for-5 in two games before getting hurt.

"It's really frustrating, especially when you just get up here, and I was feeling pretty good at the plate and in the field before the injury," Belt said. "The team was starting to get on a little roll, and I was pretty excited. Then all of a sudden, this happens. It's a little bit of a setback, but nothing we can't overcome."

Madison Bumgarner surrendered one earned run in seven innings, and Cody Ross hit a home run on Cody Ross Bobblehead Day. Not many other positives for the Giants on Saturday.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford's throwing error on a double-play attempt handed the Rockies an unearned run in the fifth, and Andres Torres was picked off in the bottom of the inning after he hit a one-out double (one of four Giants hits), a play that troubled manager Bruce Bochy.

"He wasn't going anywhere," Bochy said. "He just kind of got in no-man's-land there, and we're getting to the heart of our order with (Jhoulys Chacin's) pitch count getting up there. That was not a good play for us."

The Rockies' second run came on Troy Tulowitzki's two-out single in the sixth. With first base open, Bumgarner threw a curve he targeted for the inside, but it spun into Tulowitzki's happy zone.

The Giants are promoting infielder Conor Gillaspie to replace Belt.

Box Score

Matt Cain back in form as Giants beat Rockies

2011-06-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Steve Kroner
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
From Little League days, batters hear the phrase, "A walk's as good as a hit."

Pitchers don't often hear, "A walk's as good as an out," but in Friday night's 3-1 Giants win over Colorado, a base on balls issued by Matt Cain proved mighty beneficial to San Francisco.

The situation: Two on and two outs in the fifth inning. The Giants leading 3-1, with Cain facing Troy Tulowitzki, who had doubled in the previous inning, making him 18-for-53 (.340) lifetime against Cain.

On deck was Todd Helton, who at that moment was 11-for-52 (.212) lifetime against Cain.

After running the count full, Cain threw ball four to Tulowitzki.

"It's one of those spots where I know that he sees the ball well off me," Cain said. "I either wanted to make him chase or maybe get him to freeze or something like that."

Said Giants manager Bruce Bochy: "That's a case where a pitcher does not have to give in. He can keep trying to make his pitches and Matt did."

Cain said his previous success against Helton played into the walk to Tulowitzki "a little bit, but not really because Helton's one of those guys that always comes up big when you've got guys in scoring position."

Helton didn't deliver Friday night. Cain speared Helton's comebacker, and the Rockies had left the bases loaded.

Cain would allow a run on four hits in seven innings. He struck out seven and retired the final seven batters he faced.

After giving up a combined nine earned runs over 12 innings in losses to Florida (on May 24) and Milwaukee (on Sunday), Cain improved to 4-4.

In their 12-7 win at St. Louis on Thursday, the Giants faced starter Lance Lynn, a right-hander making his major-league debut.

In China Basin on Friday night, the Giants faced starter Juan Nicasio, a right-hander making his second big-league appearance.

The Giants scored all their runs in the fourth. Freddy Sanchez dunked a one-out single to right. After Nicasio got Aubrey Huff on a flyball to center, Nate Schierholtz singled to center, setting the stage for Cody Ross.

Ross jolted a Nicasio pitch into the gap in left-center. Sanchez and Schierholtz rolled home on Ross' double to give the Giants a 2-1 edge. It became 3-1 when the next hitter, Brandon Crawford, hooked a double into the right-field corner.

Nicasio, who doubled twice, left after six innings. He allowed three runs on nine hits. In his debut last Saturday, Nicasio limited the Cardinals to an unearned run on six hits in seven innings as Colorado cruised 15-4.

Cain got help from his bullpen Friday night. Javier Lopez worked a one-two-three eighth.

Brian Wilson allowed the Rockies to put two men aboard with one out in the ninth, but he escaped the jam - striking out Seth Smith to end the game - to pick up his 16th save.

The NL West-leading Giants remained a half-game ahead of second-place Arizona, which handled the Nationals 4-0. Third-place Colorado fell 5 1/2 games off the pace.

Box Score

Aubrey Huff hits three home runs as San Francisco Giants win 12-7

2011-06-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly

Mercury News

ST. LOUIS -- J.T. Snow walked up to Aubrey Huff, fresh off the first three-home run game of his career, and offered him a fist bump.

"Way to take over the torch, dude," Snow said.

"You had a three-homer game?" Huff replied, smirking. "Really?"

Not since Snow tickled the Philadelphia flower beds in 2004 had a Giant gone deep three times in a game. Huff pulled it off Thursday at Busch Stadium, completing the task with a two-run blast in the ninth inning as the Giants leapt back into the N.L. West lead after a 12-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

The timing couldn't have been better -- for the team, for Huff and for his better half, too.

"My wife, Baubi, it's her birthday today," Huff said. "She wanted me to hit her a home run. I hit three. That's Brownie points."

It was Mrs. Huff who first convinced him to purchase the Rally Thong last year, and everyone knows how that played out. But it took more than magic underwear for Huff to break out of a two-month slump that dragged down the lowest scoring lineup in the National League.

It took hitting the mental reset button.

"I woke up June 1, and it was opening day for me," Huff said. "Just breathe, relax and have some fun again. It's hard to have fun when you're crappy for two months."

Huff began to emerge from his doldrums a day earlier, when his solo shot broke a streak of 73 at-bats without a homer. He also drew a walk that led to the tying run in the ninth in Wednesday's comeback victory.

The Giants were forced to rally again Thursday after Jonathan Sanchez's wildness contributed to an early 3-0 deficit. Huff hit a two-run shot in the fourth. He singled in a run as the Giants pulled ahead in the sixth. He hit a solo homer in the seventh.

And after Colby Rasmus launched a grand slam off Guillermo Mota to tighten up a 10-3 game, Huff went deep one more time. His two-run shot in the ninth off left-hander Brian Tallet bounced into the bullpen.

It was the third three-homer game in the history of new Busch Stadium. Albert Pujols owns the other two.

Huff had 12 multihomer games in his career, but that third one always proved elusive.

"It's on your mind, but you don't expect it," said Huff, who also matched his career high with six RBIs. "I got a pretty good pitch, a slider, and I barreled it. I thought man, that's got a chance."

For all their catastrophic losses, Buster Posey chief among them, the Giants are realizing they got a pretty good chance, too. After taking three of four from the N.L. Central-leading Cardinals and clinching a winning road trip, they return home and finally can unpack for a spell. They'll play 19 of their next 22 games in the Bay Area, a stretch that includes three games at Oakland.

They not only survived playing 35 of their first 56 games on the road, but they also return home in first place.

Before the game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he was looking forward to some home cooking. And afterward?

"We're going to make sure Huff gets on the plane," Bochy said. "Hopefully he'll relax and get back to who he is."

Huff hit .218 through the end of May, and his .612 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentages) ranked as the sixth lowest among N.L. everyday players. He hit four home runs in his first 53 games.

He has four home runs in two games in June.

"With our pitching, if we can hit at all, we'll be right there," Huff said. "It all revolved around me having a good start, and I haven't. So hopefully this gets me going."

Freddy Sanchez keeps on going with no signs of slowing down. His three-run shot in the seventh preceded Huff's blast, and Bochy said there's a good chance Sanchez will remain in the No. 3 spot even after Pablo Sandoval returns.

"When Huffy gets going, he can carry a team," Freddy Sanchez said. "He did it last year. It looks like he's getting that confidence back and his swing back. I don't think it's any coincidence that we're getting it going as a team, too."

Box Score

SF Giants' Nate Schierholtz sparks win in 11

2011-06-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

Wins do not get more routine than the Giants' 7-5, 11-inning triumph at Busch Stadium on Wednesday night.

There are only so many ways you can write the standard come-from-behind-twice, once-with-two-outs-in-the-ninth, stick-Emmanuel-Burriss-at-first-base, have-a-bank-of-lights-go-out victory story, right?

"I've had some pretty interesting innings before," closer Brian Wilson said. "This has to be on top of the charts."

After the Giants scored twice in the 11th to take a 7-5 lead, Wilson was an out away from his 15th save when half a bank of lights went out on the right side, causing a 16-minute delay. Wilson retook the field, warmed up again and needed one pitch to end it.

The Giants won after trailing 3-0 in the sixth and 5-4 with two outs in the ninth to go 3-3 on their trip. They can capture the series against the Central-leading Cardinals by winning tonight against Lance Lynn in his big-league debut.

Tim Lincecum did not have a great night. He allowed five runs, including a two-run Allen Craig homer in the seventh that gave St. Louis a 5-4 lead after Aubrey Huff's homer in the top half broke a 3-3 tie.

Nate Schierholtz did have a great night with three big hits.

He singled against Jake Westbrook to start the three-run tying rally in the sixth, a mere trifle compared with what he did later.

Cardinals closer Fernando Salas, who had been 10-for-10 in saves, retired the first two Giants in the ninth on three pitches before he walked Huff on four. With Schierholtz batting, Burriss, a pinch-runner, stole second. With his team down to its last strike, Schierholtz shot a single through the middle to get Burriss home for a 5-5 tie.

With Brandon Belt's bruised wrist still healing, manager Bruce Bochy had Burriss play first base for the first time as a pro.

In the 11th, also with two outs, Schierholtz broke the tie with a single against Ryan Franklin after Freddy Sanchez hit his second double. Schierholtz scored an insurance run on a Brandon Crawford single.

"It was a great battle," Wilson said. "I had a fan scream down to me in the bullpen, 'It looks like we're not going to need you tonight.' He told me to sit down. Then we scored a run.

"We got heem!"

Though reporters wanted to discuss the bank of lights that went out, and the odds that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had something to do with it, Giants players wanted to talk about Schierholtz's emergence.

"He's really turning into a major-leaguer this year," Huff said. "He's coming up in big situations and getting big-time hits. When he does that once, and comes up later in the game, you pretty much know he's going to do it again."

Wilson played with Schierholtz at Class A Hagerstown, Md., in 2004, and swears the outfielder hit eight walk-off home runs. Maybe that number is high, but still, Schierholtz showed the proper mettle.

"It definitely helps being in those situations," Schierholtz said. "Every time you follow the first time, you feel less pressure and relax a little more. I wasn't pressing to get a big hit. I didn't try to do too much."

Box Score

San Francisco Giants blow lead, lose to St. Louis Cardinals

2011-06-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

This is no way to feel about a winning month.

Despite blowing a two-run lead in the eighth inning and losing 4-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night, the Giants were a technical success in May. They finished it with a 16-12 record.

But those gains came at a cost. Pablo Sandoval had hand surgery May 3. Mark DeRosa's wrist ruptured again. Most dear and dire, Buster Posey is out for the season because of a shredded ankle.

Rookie Brandon Belt received the latest scare, when a pitch struck his left wrist and sent him to the X-ray machine. Results were negative, but he probably will miss the remaining two games on this trip.

No wonder the Giants are running away from May like it's a burning fuselage.

"Nobody else is going to feel sorry for us," right-hander Ryan Vogelsong said.

Nobody ever does for the defending World Series champs, although the Cardinals were thoughtful house guests when they visited AT&T Park in April. Their closer, Ryan Franklin, blew two save chances in the ninth inning and allowed the Giants to celebrate consecutive victories when they raised the World Series banner and received their rings in gold-threaded jerseys.

This time, the Giants brought the fruit basket and bottle of Cabernet, as Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez allowed a two-run lead to unravel in the eighth.

Jon Jay led off with a grounder on an 0-2 pitch that hugged the first-base line. Giants catcher Eli Whiteside

said it would have gone foul if it hadn't hit something in the dirt and kicked fair.

Romo could only kick himself for the next pitch he threw, a hanger that Albert Pujols lashed for a double. Allen Craig doubled off Lopez to tie it.

Then Skip Schumaker's two-out grounder found a seam along the right side. Second baseman Freddy Sanchez made a diving stop, but his hurried throw was off-line as Belt and Lopez double-covered the bag.

"I thought we were out of the inning," Bochy said. "When Lopez didn't react to the call, I knew he couldn't find the bag."

Lopez said it was "not a routine play. I don't think we've had that since spring training."

Baseball has a way of evening out. Franklin, who was stripped of his closer role in April, struck out the side in the top of the eighth to get credit for the victory.

Until the Cardinals' rally, the win belonged to Vogelsong. He labored while throwing 92 pitches over five innings but allowed just one run -- and that came in the third when Pat Burrell whiffed on a ball in left field.

Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter had gotten a running start off second base on Jay's single; Burrell would have had a shot at the plate, but in a brutal lapse, he allowed the ball to get past him and roll to the wall.

It was the only run allowed by Vogelsong and just the second earned run against him over his past five starts, spanning 311/3 innings.

"I could never get comfortable. I just couldn't adjust to the slope of the mound," said Vogelsong, who nonetheless held down one of the league's most productive lineups. "It was luck, and I made some pitches when I had to."

If the Giants received any other luck, it was Belt's X-ray results. He stayed in the game after left-hander Trever Miller struck him on the outside of his left wrist in the seventh inning. Trainers checked him again after his diving attempt on Schumaker's grounder in the eighth.

Belt said he couldn't make throws toward the end of the game. But the Giants already had used Aubrey Huff as a pinch hitter and had no other first basemen on the roster.

"There's probably going to be some swelling," said Belt, examining his bright red arm after he finished icing it. "We'll be on it tonight and all day tomorrow and hope to get back out there."

Box Score

Torres' slam seals revived Giants offense

2011-05-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

Chris Haft
MLB.com

ST. LOUIS -- Memorial Day was a day of leisure for many Americans, including the Giants. At least by their standards.

They matched their run total from their previous four games by Monday's fourth inning. That helped becalm Madison Bumgarner, who pitched as if he were reclining in a hammock drinking lemonade. Brian Wilson warmed up in the ninth inning, but that was merely a precautionary measure. The length of the game seemed to exceed its official two-hour, 51-minute duration, mainly because it featured no compellling sequences that distracted witnesses from the time of day.

"We don't have many of those," manager Bruce Bochy said after the Giants' 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. "It's nice not to have every pitch matter."

That happened because they obliterated pitches that did matter early in the afternoon. San Francisco homered twice in a game for only the second time since May 4 while winning by more than three runs for the first time since an 8-1 triumph at Colorado on April 18. Cody Ross went deep in the second inning, connecting on a 438-foot drive that was the sixth longest in Busch Stadium history, and Andres Torres belted his first career grand slam in the fourth to accent a five-run outburst. In between, Bumgarner scored in the third inning after launching a leadoff ground-rule double that short-hopped the left-center-field wall.

The Giants' rare easy win might have seemed like a respite from their troubles, if you believe that they're still reeling over Buster Posey's absence. But Ross insisted that he and his teammates remain as confident as ever, though they had lost five of six games before Monday.

"All of us believe in ourselves and each other and we all know what we're capable of, even though we're missing a couple of key parts of our team and our lineup," said Ross, whose homer broke a personal 0-for-14 skid. "We've all seen different guys in the lineup, who are here now, come through and get huge hits. We saw Torres do it all year last year and [Aubrey] Huff. The list goes on, up and down the lineup."

The Giants could have been expected to require a long list against the Cardinals, the National League Central leaders who had won 10 of their previous 13 games overall and seven of their last eight at home. A sellout crowd -- only the second of the season at Busch Stadium -- gathered in anticipation of more feats from their favorites.

But the Giants stole the show, and Bumgarner (2-6) was the primary thief.

The left-hander maintained control for seven innings while recording his seventh consecutive quality start. Bumgarner's ERA in that stretch is a stellar 2.12. Yet he felt far from satisfied.

"I don't feel I've gotten into a good rhythm yet," he said.

Allen Craig, whose disputed third-inning double helped St. Louis notch its only pair of runs off Bumgarner, was suitably impressed.

"He's got good stuff," Craig said. "He was working the heater, slider and curveball. He didn't seem to leave too many pitches over the plate. He was tough. In my third at-bat I missed a fastball and he just put me away with the curveball."

Bumgarner found a comfort zone in one respect. The 90-degree gametime temperature was very much to his liking.

"This feels like home," the North Carolinian said. "This is what I grew up playing in. I like this weather. It feels good to go out there and sweat a little bit. I knew what to expect."

Everybody should have known what to expect after Cardinals starter Kyle McClellan (6-2) walked Bumgarner to load the bases with one out in the fourth and a run in on Brandon Crawford's RBI single. Such mistakes often prompt a pitcher's undoing. Torres seized upon McClellan's lapse by planting an 0-1 fastball in the right-field seats.

"I was looking for a changeup. I just reacted," said Torres, who believed that he hadn't hit a grand slam since 2004 or 2005 while playing winter ball in Puerto Rico.

The Giants' big fourth matched their highest-scoring inning of the season, a first-inning binge in the aforementioned April 18 rout at Colorado. It also finished McClellan, who clearly wasn't himself.

"Walking the pitcher there killed me," McClellan said. "If I get him out, it changes everything. I tried to come in on [Torres] there and tried to get a ground ball, made a mistake and he hits it out. So just all in all not a good game."

"We knew he's been throwing well and has had a really good year," Ross said. "From the get-go, we could tell that he didn't have the command that he's probably used to. We just were trying to wait him out and got a couple of runs off him early. ... Guys like that can easily find it and turn it around. Fortunately for us, he couldn't do it."

Box Score

San Francisco Giants get shut out by Milwaukee Brewers

2011-05-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

MILWAUKEE -- The Giants couldn't really celebrate the anniversary of Buster Posey's smashing 2010 debut. Not when Posey was being wheeled out of the operating room Sunday after surgery on his left ankle.

Not when a lineup punctured by his absence, along with that of Pablo Sandoval, went down limply in a 6-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday at Miller Park.

Not when the Giants' fifth loss in six games dropped them out of first place in the National League West -- behind the surging Arizona Diamondbacks, who occupy the top spot in the division for the first time since 2008.

"We're all still thinking about Buster," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said a day earlier. "We still have him in our thoughts, and we're going to miss him. I'm sure that is still weighing on the boys."

And after another loss Sunday?

"You keep moving forward," Bochy said. "That's all you can do."

Their lineup got younger, but no better, and offered no traction against Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo. The Giants were shut out for the fifth time this season while losing two of three to Milwaukee.

"You know, we're seeing some good pitching," Bochy said. "And it's tough sledding with the injuries. "... We're banged up. We know it. We're not making excuses. But we need to play our best ball to beat these teams, and we're not doing it.

"We played a hot team. They've been sweeping everybody. Thank God we got a game."

earlier when the Giants summoned Posey to the big leagues, and he responded by stirring the faithful, hitting three run-scoring singles in his first game. It began a campaign that ended with a World Series title and the Giants' first Rookie of the Year award in 35 years.

Last July, when the Giants turned around their season at Milwaukee, Posey was 9 for 15 with four home runs and nine RBIs as the club outscored the Brewers 36-7 while sweeping four games.

This season's visit to Dairyland wasn't nearly as vitamin-fortified.

Sunday's game marked a different first. Never before had both Brandons, Belt and Crawford, started alongside each other in a big league game. With Manny Burriss making his first appearance at third base and catcher Chris Stewart starting his first big league game since 2008, the lineup had a Fresno Grizzlies feel to it.

But Gallardo was no Triple-A filler on the mound. It was the Giants' misfortune to meet the tough right-hander, who took advantage of an ample strike zone by staying on the outer half and letting the Giants hit one fly out after another. Gallardo (7-2) held the Giants to four hits in eight innings.

"Some of the hitters were frustrated," Bochy said. "They thought (the umpire) was a little too liberal out there. But you battle."

Matt Cain couldn't seem to seize a similar advantage. Although he praised Stewart's work behind the plate, he tied his career high by allowing 11 hits in six innings.

The Brewers had four of them, none hit especially hard, in a two-run first inning. But there was no excuse for Cain's letdown in the sixth, when he had two outs and two strikes on No. 8 hitter Yuniesky Betancourt. The light-hitting shortstop singled, Gallardo hit another single, and Rickie Weeks scored them both with a ringing double.

"That's hard to swallow," Cain (3-4) said of the two-out runs. "That's something I've got to get better at. I feel I've let that happen too many times recently."

For the Giants, the only souvenir worth keeping was Freddy Sanchez's first-inning single up the middle for his 1,000th career hit. Sanchez singled again in the ninth to push his average to .302. For the league's lowest-scoring lineup, it was one of the few averages that didn't look wretched on the lineup card.

The youth-driven lineup didn't work, but Bochy doesn't plan to abandon it as the team stops next in St. Louis for a four-game series with the N.L. Central-leading Cardinals. Bochy said Crawford will continue to get regular time, with Burriss and Belt mixed in often.

"They're our club," Bochy said.

Box Score

SF Giants fall to Brewers on squeeze play in 9th

2011-05-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Jonathan Sanchez must have taken a few meditation classes at Ohio Dominican University. His serenity is laudable.

In his past three starts, Sanchez has surrendered six runs in 20 innings and taken a defeat and two no-decisions, one of them Saturday in the Giants' 3-2 loss to the Brewers, who won on a ninth-inning suicide squeeze.

When asked about having to pitch near-perfect ball every time out, Sanchez shrugged and said, "That's every day. It was the same last year and it's going to be the same this year, close games."

When a punchless team fails to score until the eighth inning, and then because of an error, it has to accept some defeats such as this, when the other guys execute at the right time. In the ninth inning, against Guillermo Mota, the Brewers were like Swiss watch makers.

With the scored tied 2-2, Ryan Braun singled on a 3-2 pitch. When Mota fell behind 3-2 to Prince Fielder, Braun ran and Fielder hit a groundball to the spot Brandon Crawford vacated to take a potential throw at second base.

Crawford retreated and did well to knock down a ball that took what he described as a "funny hop." Casey McGehee's dribbler advanced the runners into scoring position, forcing manager Bruce Bochy to walk Yuniesky Betancourt intentionally to load the bases and establish a force at any base.

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke sent Jonathan Lucroy in to pinch-hit. He was hitting .328 with no sacrifice bunts this season. The infield was playing in. Even so, Bochy said a squeeze crossed his mind, but even if he wanted to pitch out, he couldn't after Mota again fell behind 1-0.

With Braun racing home from third, Lucroy pushed a perfect bunt to Mota's left. The pitcher jumped off the mound quickly, but the ball went under his glove. Even if he had fielded it, he had no chance to get the out.

"I tried to do the best I can, and I couldn't even touch it," Mota said. "That was a good squeeze bunt."

Sergio Romo is pitching better than Mota now and struck out two of his three hitters in the eighth, even waiting 12 minutes to throw a slider past Carlos Gomez to end the inning after a delay caused by a leg injury to home-plate umpire Mark Wegner.

Bochy could have let Romo face Braun in the ninth, then gone to Javier Lopez to face Fielder, but Bochy said you cannot play matchups and burn relievers late in a tie game, so he picked Mota, who could pitch several innings.

Sanchez allowed only two hits in seven innings, but one proved extremely costly.

In the first inning, Gomez hit an 0-2 slider down the right-field line. Cody Ross tried to grab the ball with his backhand, but it rolled past him into the corner. Gomez ignited the afterburners and scored on what was ruled an inside-the-park home run.

Ross begged to differ.

"I missed it," he said. "It should have been an error, actually. I blew it. It's not a home run. It definitely shouldn't go against Sanchez. I went down to get it and I whiffed."

Ross needs to erase this game from his mental DVR. Besides that play, he nearly collided with Freddy Sanchez trying to catch a ball in short right, struck out looking to strand a runner at third and grounded into a double play to end the eighth inning after Pat Burrell's one-out single tied the game.

Box Score