In everywhere but the standings, the Giants seem far removed from being a first-place club.

Their lineup is decimated by injuries, their offense is nearly nonexistent, morale is challenged — if not shot — and now their anchor, Tim Lincecum, is dragging in the mud again.

Lincecum had perhaps the worst start of his career, and the Giants played with lethargy behind him, almost matching up like a Triple-A club as the Cincinnati Reds smoked them 10-2 Saturday afternoon.

Lincecum’s shoulders slumped as he allowed seven earned runs — tying his career high — and failed to retire a batter in the fifth inning. He didn’t record a strikeout after fanning Drew Stubbs to lead off the game. It marked a career low for Lincecum, who had struck out at least two in each of his previous 135 starts.

Lincecum had allowed as many as seven earned runs just once before in his career, June 13, 2007, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

This was his worst outing in what has become an alarmingly bad run. Whether you peg it to his 133-pitch complete game May 21 or Buster Posey’s season-ending ankle injury May 25, the two-time Cy Young Award winner hasn’t been the same since. He has a 7.66 ERA in his past four starts and appeared crestfallen in the third inning after Eli Whiteside tried to make a backhand stop on a wild pitch that squirted to the screen, allowing a run to score.

Whiteside, perhaps being exposed in an everyday role, also had

more issues throwing to bases.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he would look to mix in backup catcher Chris Stewart more often in order to keep both backstops fresher. He dropped a hint that he would pair Stewart with Lincecum next time, too.

“But I don’t think that plays a part in this, I really don’t,” Bochy said. “I think Timmy would tell you that, too. Buster isn’t here, but Whitey does a great job with these guys.”

Lincecum agreed, saying his problem is between his ears — not behind the plate.

“I was flying all over the place,” said Lincecum, who threw just 36 of his 73 pitches for strikes. “I need to stop thinking about what my body needs to do.

“I don’t feel unhealthy. I don’t feel like anything’s bothering me. It’s just simply getting back to being me. Just driving to the plate, using the mechanics, keeping my rhythm.

“Kind of dumbifying myself, I guess you could say “… keeping it simple.”

The Giants’ offense appears plenty dumbstruck with all the injuries to key personnel. An MRI exam on Freddy Sanchez confirmed the diagnosis of a dislocated right shoulder, but Bochy said he wouldn’t have specifics on labrum or ligament damage until the former batting champ meets with doctors on Sunday.

It was tough sledding for everyone but Reds right-hander Mike Leake, who set a career high with eight strikeouts in eight innings. Pat Burrell’s two-run home run in the ninth kept the Giants from being shut out for the seventh time this season.

“I know it looked bad today,” Bochy said. “We were off. Had a horrible game. This doesn’t happen very often. It just so happens it comes right after Freddy’s injury. These guys don’t make excuses.”

By the end of the game, the Giants featured a lineup of Manny Burriss, Conor Gillaspie, Stewart (at first base for the slumping Aubrey Huff, who was 0 for 3), Cody Ross, Nate Schierholtz, pitcher Santiago Casilla, Burrell, Whiteside and newest Giant Bill Hall.

Hall entered as part of a double switch when Lincecum was taken out in the fifth. He faced four batters in the inning, giving up an infield hit, a walk and then consecutive doubles to Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto.

Lincecum said he slowed down his motion on change-ups, which probably tipped the pitch. Unlike last August’s velocity drop, his stuff wasn’t the issue. He threw 94 mph and maintained it through the fourth inning. But his shoulder kept flying open.

“These guys have a good approach,” Lincecum said. “Obviously, they have an eye for the ball. Me being all over the place makes them simplify their at-bats.

“I don’t feel anything is broken. It’s just a matter of being me.

“You’ve seen me battle through this stuff, and we’re at the top of the division. I don’t feel we’re missing something. We just need to click.”

For now, the Giants remain in first place, largely because of their pitching and the flawed contents of the National League West.

For more on the Giants, see Andrew Baggarly’s Extra Baggs blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs.

The Giants notched another walk-off win Friday night. But, in the process, they saw another important player helped off the field because of a serious injury.

Just when it looked as if their health situation was about to improve significantly, Freddy Sanchez was added to the Giants’ already crowded 2011 casualty list with a right-shoulder dislocation suffered during a 3-2 victory over Cincinnati at AT&T Park.

The club’s standout second baseman dived for a Brandon Phillips grounder up the middle leading off the fifth inning, and although Sanchez managed to glove the ball, it was clear from the moment he hit the ground that something was wrong.

Sanchez screamed in agony after trying to brace himself with his right hand while landing hard on the outfield turf. He did not immediately get up, and when he finally did, he was clutching his right arm and could be seen mouthing “my shoulder” on TV replays. He had to be helped off the field.

“When the play was dead, I went over to see if he was all right, and he could barely get out what happened,” said Manny Burriss, who was playing shortstop when Sanchez was hurt. “When a guy can’t get his words out, that’s when I knew it was pretty serious.”

Sanchez was taken to a San Francisco hospital for treatment and is expected to have an MRI exam today. The Giants didn’t immediately know how long Sanchez might be out, but it’s safe to say it’ll be a while.

“We feel horrible for

Freddy,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s a great player we’re certainly going to miss, but we’ll have to keep fighting.”

That’s precisely what the Giants did in another late-inning thriller as they recorded their ninth walk-off victory of the season on Nate Schierholtz’s ninth-inning, two-out pinch single.

Andres Torres led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Burriss. Miguel Tejada was intentionally walked, and after Brandon Crawford struck out and Cody Ross walked, Schierholtz came off the bench and lined an 0-1 pitch into left field against reliever Logan Ondrusek for the game-winner.

Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson each pitched a scoreless inning of relief with the score tied 2-2 to set up the final at-bat victory. Wilson (5-1) got the victory.

But the Giants, who expect the return of third baseman Pablo Sandoval as well as utility infielder Mike Fontenot early next week in Arizona, now face the prospect of playing without Sanchez, their leading healthy hitter for average at .289, for an indefinite period. Sanchez has had serious shoulder issues in the past, but mostly with his non-throwing left shoulder.

“You can’t replace a guy like Freddy,” Romo said. “He’s been the most consistent guy on our team on both sides of the ball.”

Torres said: “We hope that he comes back soon, but that’s why we’re a team. We just have to continue to do our best to win games and have different people try to make up for Freddy being out. We’ve been doing it all season with other guys out.”

The Giants got another gutty, if less-than-superlative, outing from starter Ryan Vogelsong, who tiptoed through trouble during his six innings, allowing two runs. He gave up eight hits, three walks and struck out six.

Tejada had a big game for the second straight night. He doubled twice, drove in a run and scored one as he extended his hitting streak to seven games.

The Giants may not be able to afford to wait until next Tuesday to activate Pablo Sandoval, particularly if Madison Bumgarner has a vote on it.

While the rehabbing Sandoval had two hits, a sacrifice fly, a walk and two RBIs for Triple-A Fresno on Thursday night in Salt Lake City, the Giants’ anemic offense was wasting another superior performance by their young left-hander in a 3-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at AT&T Park.

The Giants managed just four hits against Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto and two Reds relievers, who pitched an inning apiece, and were shut out for the sixth time this season — and the third time with Bumgarner on the mound.

Bumgarner (2-8), who has absorbed back-to-back losses despite allowing just two runs over his past 14 innings, was stellar in his seven innings even though he wound up allowing eight hits. He didn’t walk a batter, struck out seven and escaped a pair of jams by getting double-play grounders.

But the Giants squandered three prime opportunities to score against Cueto, and not even a rare hot night by Miguel Tejada — who had two doubles in addition to two terrific plays at third base — could light a fire under San Francisco’s bat rack.

The Giants have scored three or fewer runs in six of the seven games on their 10-game homestand. In addition to their latest shutout, they’ve twice scored just one run, two more times just two. They’ve managed to win four of the seven but might have won

them all with even some semblance of a timely offensive attack.

Cincinnati struck for its only run against Bumgarner after the pitcher had struck out Joey Votto and Jay Bruce to open the fourth. Scott Rolen doubled into the left-field corner, then scored on a Jonny Gomes flare to center. Bumgarner escaped further damage when Edgar Renteria grounded out.

The Giants squandered three prime opportunities to score runs over the first six innings, starting in the first inning. Andres Torres walked to open the bottom of the inning but was thrown out attempting to steal second just before a Tejada double down the left-field line that surely would have scored Torres. Tejada advanced to third on a Freddy Sanchez groundout, but after Aubrey Huff walked, Nate Schierholtz popped up to end the threat.

In the fourth inning, Sanchez and Huff opened with back-to-back singles. Sanchez took third on Schierholtz’s fly ball to right, but Cody Ross struck out and Brandon Crawford, swinging at a 3-0 pitch, popped out to left field.

Tejada lined his second double down the line to open the sixth inning. Sanchez dropped a sacrifice bunt to move him to third, but Huff struck out and Schierholtz grounded out to thwart another excellent scoring chance.

The Reds added an insurance run in the eighth inning against reliever Santiago Casilla. After retiring the first two hitters, Casilla surrendered a double to Votto into the right-field corner. Bruce was intentionally walked and then Rolen worked a walk to load the bases. With Gomes at the plate, Casilla uncorked a breaking pitch that hit the dirt and skipped off catcher Eli Whiteside’s shinguard. The play was ruled a passed ball, and Votto scored.

Cincinnati added a run in the ninth off Guillermo Mota, who after getting the first two outs, surrendered a Chris Heisey single, a Drew Stubbs walk and a Brandon Phillips single to right that scored Heisey.

Cueto (3-2) allowed all four of the Giants’ hits but struck out eight and walked two. Nick Masset pitched a perfect eighth for Cincinnati, and Francisco Cordero earned his 12th save with a scoreless ninth.