CINCINNATI (AP)—Orlando Cabrera(notes) welcomed his trade to the San Francisco
Giants because it will give him the opportunity to play regularly.

The Giants acquired Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians Saturday night for
Triple-A outfielder Thomas Neal.

The 36-year-old Cabrera took a flight early Sunday morning from Cleveland to
Cincinnati, arriving about 8:30 a.m., in time for Giants manager Bruce Bochy to
put him in the starting lineup for the series finale against the Reds.

That’s exactly what Cabrera was looking for after losing his starting job to
Cleveland rookie Jason Kipnis(notes).

“I was just watching,” said Cabrera, who hit .244 with four home runs and
38 RBIs in 91 games with the Indians. “I like to play. I was happy they were
trying to trade me because of the situation there, and I’m happy it was the
Giants.”

The Giants are Cabrera’s ninth team. He played Cincinnati last year, helping
the Reds to their first division championship and postseason appearance since
1995. They were the fourth consecutive team and sixth in the last seven years
he’d helped reach the playoffs.

He said San Francisco was one of the teams he talked with before signing
with Cleveland.

“Every time the world champion wants your services, you always have to feel
flattered,” said Cabrera, a 12-year veteran who won the 2004 World Series with
Boston. “Unfortunately, things didn’t work out at that moment.”

Manager Bruce Bochy expects Cabrera to be the Giants’ shortstop for quite a
while. Miguel Tejada(notes) is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday, but
Bochy doesn’t expect Tejada to recover from his lower abdominal strain for
several weeks.

“He’s not able to move very much,” Bochy said Sunday morning. “He’s at
least a week away from playing games, and he’s going to have to play games on
his rehab to get ready.”

The Giants optioned rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford(notes) to Triple-A Fresno to
make room on the roster for Cabrera.

CINCINNATI (AP)—Orlando Cabrera(notes) welcomed his trade to the San Francisco
Giants because it will give him the opportunity to play regularly.

The Giants acquired Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians Saturday night for
Triple-A outfielder Thomas Neal.

The 36-year-old Cabrera took a flight early Sunday morning from Cleveland to
Cincinnati, arriving about 8:30 a.m., in time for Giants manager Bruce Bochy to
put him in the starting lineup for the series finale against the Reds.

That’s exactly what Cabrera was looking for after losing his starting job to
Cleveland rookie Jason Kipnis(notes).

“I was just watching,” said Cabrera, who hit .244 with four home runs and
38 RBIs in 91 games with the Indians. “I like to play. I was happy they were
trying to trade me because of the situation there, and I’m happy it was the
Giants.”

The Giants are Cabrera’s ninth team. He played Cincinnati last year, helping
the Reds to their first division championship and postseason appearance since
1995. They were the fourth consecutive team and sixth in the last seven years
he’d helped reach the playoffs.

He said San Francisco was one of the teams he talked with before signing
with Cleveland.

“Every time the world champion wants your services, you always have to feel
flattered,” said Cabrera, a 12-year veteran who won the 2004 World Series with
Boston. “Unfortunately, things didn’t work out at that moment.”

Manager Bruce Bochy expects Cabrera to be the Giants’ shortstop for quite a
while. Miguel Tejada(notes) is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday, but
Bochy doesn’t expect Tejada to recover from his lower abdominal strain for
several weeks.

“He’s not able to move very much,” Bochy said Sunday morning. “He’s at
least a week away from playing games, and he’s going to have to play games on
his rehab to get ready.”

The Giants optioned rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford(notes) to Triple-A Fresno to
make room on the roster for Cabrera.

SAN FRANCISCO — Ryan Vogelsong pitched into the seventh inning and combined with two relievers on a seven-hitter, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night. Pablo Sandoval had three hits, including his ninth homer, for NL West-leading San Francisco, which has won eight of 10. Nate Schierholtz added two hits and an RBI, continuing his torrid pace set after manager Bruce Bochy moved him into the cleanup spot last week. Cody Ross’ two-run double in San Francisco’s four-run sixth helped the Giants break it open. Juan Uribe had two singles against his former club but the Dodgers hit into two double plays and were shut out for the 10th time this season while losing their fifth straight against their division rivals.Vogelsong (7-1), coming off his first All-Star appearance, scattered seven hits over 6 2-3 innings, finishing with five strikeouts and a walk while lowering his ERA to 2.02.The journeyman right-hander already had the lowest ERA in the NL but hadn’t logged enough innings to qualify. Four days shy of his 34th birthday, he finally had the top spot, just ahead of Atlanta’s Jair Jurjjens.The Giants gave him plenty of support.Schierholtz had an RBI single in the big sixth inning and is batting .417 (10 for 24) in five games while batting cleanup. San Francisco is 5-0 in those games. Vogelsong retired the first eight batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Matt Kemp’s one-out single in the fourth. Juan Rivera followed with a soft dribbler to the right side on a hit-and-run, moving Kemp to third, but Vogelsong got out of it with some nifty defense of his own.James Loney hit a grounder back up the middle which Vogelsong bobbled momentarily before recovering and throwing to shortstop Brandon Crawford, whose relay to first just beat Loney to complete the double play. The Dodgers had two runners on with no outs in the sixth but Kemp grounded into a double play and Vogelsong got Rivera to pop out to shortstop to end the threat. Jeremy Affeldt and Ramon Ramirez finished up after Vogelsong departed.Sandoval connected on Chad Billingsley’s first pitch in the bottom of the fourth. The third baseman also singled and scored in the sixth.Billingsley (8-8) yielded five runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings. He had allowed only four runs in his previous four starts but his ERA jumped to 4.07 after his shaky outing against San Francisco.Crawford was in the game after the Giants lost Miguel Tejada to a lower abdominal strain in the third inning. The veteran infielder bobbled Rafael Furcal’s sharp grounder for an error, then slid to the turf.A team trainer and manager Bruce Bochy came out to check on Tejada, and the three walked off the field together.Earlier in the day the Giants were invited to visit President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday in honor of the team’s World Series win last year.The White House said Obama also will recognize the Giants’ efforts to give back to the community. “It’s going to be very special,” Bochy said. “I’m certainly looking forward to it. The guys can spend some time there and get a chance to meet the president, which is always an honor. It’s going to be a thrill for everybody.”

AP Photo/Ben Margot

San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, left, removes pitcher Tim Lincecum from the baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds during the fifth inning Saturday, June 11, 2011, in San Francisco.

Tim Lincecum believes its nothing more than a coincidence that he has looked more like a journeyman than a two-time Cy Young award winner since a 133-pitch masterpiece against Oakland last month.
Lincecum matched his career-worst performance with seven runs allowed in four-plus innings as the San Francisco Giants lost 10-2 to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
“I don’t feel like it’s fatigue, I don’t feel like I’m getting tired,” Lincecum said. “I don’t feel like anything is broken. I just feel like it’s a matter of just getting back to being me.”
Lincecum (5-5) was far from it against Cincinnati, allowing seven earned runs for the first time since his rookie year in 2007. He allowed seven hits and walked four and struck out a career-low one batter.
He struggled with his control all afternoon, throwing 37 balls compared to 36 strikes, and had two wild pitches. He generated only two swings and misses all day — both to Drew Stubbs, who struck to open the game.
That was the high point for Lincecum who allowed an RBI single to Ryan Hanigan in the second inning, the two runs in the third and four runs in the fifth. Lincecum now has a 7.66 ERA in four starts since throwing 133 pitches in a shutout victory against Oakland last month.
“More than anything his fastball command’s off,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It was an off day for Timmy, I don’t know how else to tell you, especially with his command. That’s a good hitting ballclub and you’re going to pay for it if you’re off. There’s not much else to it, really. He feels good, he’s healthy. He’s just having trouble getting the ball where he wants.”
Mike Leake (6-2) had no such trouble for the Reds. He pitched eight scoreless innings and even chipped in with his bat, starting a pair of rallies with hits off Lincecum in the third and fifth innings.
“I take pride in my hitting,” Leake said. “I don’t like to get out. It’s more fun to get hits than it is to pitch good sometimes. … Anytime I’m squaring balls up, it’s pretty fun.”
Brandon Phillips hit a two-run double and scored twice and Joey Votto knocked the San Francisco ace out with an RBI double in the fifth inning to give the Reds their second win in three games in San Francisco.
Leake allowed four hits — including an infield popup by Eli Whiteside that third baseman Scott Rolen lost for a single — and struck out a career-high eight. He improved to 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts since a brief stint back in the minors.
“Mainly my head is just back on straight a little bit,” Leake said. “I think I lost it there for a little.”
Leake had a 21.21 ERA in two previous outings against the Giants, including giving up six runs while retiring one batter in a relief outing in his final appearance of the season last August.
Leake doubled to lead off the two-run third inning when the Reds scored on a groundout by Jay Bruce and a wild pitch by Lincecum to make it 3-0.
Leake then singled to start the four-run fifth. Stubbs followed with a walk and both players scored on Phillips double to left field. Votto’s RBI double ended Lincecum’s briefest outing of the season and Rolen added a sacrifice fly to make it 7-0.
“That was a rare outing by Lincecum,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “That’s a two-time Cy Young award winner. He’s one of the best in the business. He wasn’t as sharp today as he usually is.”
The Reds, who went just 2-8 on their last road trip, have matched that total in three games in San Francisco. The pitching has had a big part in that with Johnny Cueto and two relievers combining on a 3-0 shutout Thursday night before Leake’s strong start. Pat Burrell broke up the shutout with a two-run homer in the ninth off Carlos Fisher — his first longball in 96 at-bats.
Cincinnati has gone a season-high four games without a home run, winning two of them.
Notes: Lincecum allowed seven runs, but only three earned runs, on May 16 against Colorado and seven earned runs to Toronto on June 13, 2007. … The Giants signed INF Bill Hall to replace injured 2B Freddy Sanchez. Hall entered the game in the fifth inning and walked in his first plate appearance for San Francisco. … The Reds are the only NL team that Lincecum has not beaten, excluding the Giants. He is 0-1 in three starts against Cincinnati.