Zito, Giants bats struggle to end sour trip

Left-hander allows five runs over 3 2/3 innings on Sunday

Chris Haft
MLB.com

Whether that statement applies to the Giants' postseason chances or their listless 9-0 loss Sunday to the St. Louis Cardinals depends on your point of view. These elements are related, of course.

San Francisco tested the faith of its most optimistic followers with a lopsided defeat at an extremely inopportune time. The Giants slipped six games behind first-place San Diego in the National League West and sank to third in the Wild Card race, two games behind first-place Philadelphia and .002 shy of St. Louis.

The Giants finished 2-4 on their trip to Philadelphia and St. Louis and have lost three consecutive series, two games to one, in a 12-game test against playoff contenders. That stretch ends with a three-game series against Cincinnati that christens a nine-game homestand. Cynics would suggest that San Francisco already has proven it isn't fit for the postseason.

Left-hander Barry Zito, who registered his shortest start of the season, acknowledged the Giants' subpar play.

"We had our team clicking on all cylinders a lot of theyear," said Zito, who yielded five runs in 3 2/3 innings, matching his shortest outing since June 15, 2009. "I don't know if it's a lack of being competitive as a team. I think you look at more detailed aspects of the game. In certain aspects we're not [executing] fundamentals. Including myself, for not giving my team a chance to win and going deep into the game. You give up early leads like that, it takes the momentum out of the team."

Then again, combining panic and pessimism with 37 games to go is premature. The gaps between the Giants and the teams they're pursuing aren't insurmountable, and they'll play 21 of their remaining games at home, where they're 37-23.

"The nature of baseball is that every day is a new day and you can turn it around quickly," Zito said. "You just start with one game and get on a roll. We're not looking at a group of 37 games. We're looking at tomorrow's game. And from there we're looking at the next one."

The Giants would prefer to avert their gaze from this game. They mustered three singles off rookie left-hander Jaime Garcia (11-6), who faced only one batter over the minimum. Manager Bruce Bochy employed the same lineup of right-handed batters (and switch-hitting Pablo Sandoval) that beat Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, another left-hander, last Thursday. Garcia responded by subduing the Giants on only 89 pitches while coaxing 14 groundball outs.

"He locates," center fielder Aaron Rowand said. "He's got a cutter and a sinker. The ball runs away from you when it's away and it's in on your hands when it's in. He didn't leave them over the plate. He has a sharp breaking ball and a good changeup. We were just off balance at the plate the whole day. That's why you saw all those ground balls."

Garcia even ended Buster Posey's team-high eight-game hitting streak, finishing off his fellow rookie with a seventh-inning strikeout.

"I just think about that strikeout on Posey," St. Louis shortstop Brendan Ryan said. "That guy can hit, and making him look bad like that, that was pretty impressive. [Garcia] was fun to be behind."

By contrast, Zito (8-8) dangled too many hittable strikes in his 10th consecutive winless start on the road. St. Louis jumped ahead 3-0 in the third inning on RBI singles by Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday and a sacrifice fly from Felipe Lopez. Allen Craig, batting .172, hit a two-run homer in the fourth.

"A couple of them were decent pitches, but for the most part they were fastballs over the middle," Zito said. "I was having a hard time getting my stuff down today. It was tough out there."

The same could be said for the entire trip, which Bochy called "disappointing." But he conceded nothing.

"You can't let a game or two get you down," Bochy said. "You put them behind you, head home and try to regroup."

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