SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) – The San Francisco Giants agreed to a $1.05 million, one-year contract with infielder Mike Fontenot, keeping him over second baseman Jeff Keppinger.

Keppinger and backup catcher Eli Whiteside weren’t offered contracts by San Francisco on Monday night.

Other arbitration-eligible players who were tendered contracts were two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, fellow starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong, relievers Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla, infielder Emmanuel Burriss, third baseman Pablo Sandoval and outfielders Melky Cabrera, Angel Pagan and Nate Schierholtz.

Among general manager Brian Sabean’s priorities is locking up Lincecum and Matt Cain for the long haul.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

This is the way it ends, with a lot of cheers, a few tears and, once again, if not an unused ticket in a ballpark sold out from first game to last, certainly a lot of unfulfilled hopes.

In this season of 2011, the year after the World Series, the Giants broke their all-time attendance record, luring 3,387,303 fans. Yet in their attempt to repeat as Series champions, they couldn’t even get to the playoffs, breaking a great many hearts.

“We had planned on working in October,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said ruefully.

But their final day of labor, and perhaps appropriately, of defeat, was Sept. 28, Wednesday, the final game of the regular schedule when the Colorado Rockies beat San Francisco 6-3 at AT&T Park, where the next baseball game is six months away.

“Not the way we wanted the season to end,” Bochy had sighed before the last game started. “We’re all disappointed in not going farther, especially with what happened last year.”

Still, what happened last year — the first World Series title — turned San Francisco into a baseball town and turned the ballpark on the edge of McCovey Cove into a carnival of good times, if not always of winning baseball.

Even Wednesday, the place was full, people dancing to the beat of the Rolling Stones and singing to the music of Journey.

“Don’t stop believin’ …” And they never stopped.

They gave Pat Burrell a noisy farewell as, wiping at his eyes, in the seventh inning he came out of probably his last game as a Giant.

They gave deposed owner Bill Neukom a standing ovation when first his acknowledgement appeared on the video board and then he was shown near the first base dugout. 

They gave one of last year’s heroes, Aubrey Huff, a noisy greeting when he came up as a pinch hitter in the seventh and singled.

Finally, around 3:40 p.m., the crowd of 41,273 rose and cheered as Justin Christian came out for what would be the Giants’ ultimate at-bat of the year, a rousing last hurrah, memories if not victory.

Moments later, the Giants, en masse, emerged from their dugout and walked to the pitching mound. And as the video screen saluted so many players, Ryan Vogelsong, Cody Ross, the injured Buster Posey, the courageous Pablo Sandoval, the players saluted the fans who were saluting them.

“Even though this season didn’t go [as] well as we had hoped,” said Bochy into a microphone, “I just want to thank you.”

Matt Cain gave a speech on behalf of the players.

Bochy had removed Carlos Beltran after two hitless at bats to keep Beltran at .300 for the year. Bochy had inserted Sandoval as a pinch hitter in the ninth, a reward for his competence (a .315 average) and conscientiousness.

“We wanted to win this game for Pat,” Bochy said, alluding to Burrell. But they couldn’t. It was that type of year, one of possibilities that went unrealized.

It was a perfect day for baseball, 72 degrees, virtually no wind. You’d love to see another game, but there won’t be another until April.

“The bottom line,” Bochy of the season, “is we didn’t play as well as we needed to.”

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. Email him at typoes@aol.com.

DENVER (AP) — Shoddy defense was the Colorado Rockies’ downfall Thursday night in an 8-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants and pitcher Jhoulys Chacin continued his three-month slide.

The Rockies entered the game tied for third in fielding percentage and fewest errors committed in the National League and typically don’t beat themselves.

But shortstop Tommy Field and first baseman Jordan Pacheco, both in their first days in the major leagues, made errors in a three-run second inning and Chris Iannetta was charged with two passed balls, one of which led to a run in the two-run sixth when the Giants also capitalized on Chacin botching a rundown by throwing too soon.

Pablo Sandoval hit for the cycle for the Giants, and Ryan Vogelsong, (11-7) who pitched 5 1-3 innings, broke a five-start losing streak and won for the first time since Aug. 14. The victory enabled the Giants to move within seven games of the idle Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West with 12 games remaining for each team.

Sandoval homered, singled, doubled and tripled on his first four at-bats against Chacin for the first cycle of his career. He drew an intentional walk in the eighth with two outs and a runner on third and the Rockies trailing by two runs.

“He hit everything I threw. … It was his night,” Chacin said.

On Sandoval’s sixth-inning triple, right fielder Carlos Gonzalez hit the wall with his right wrist, which he injured earlier in the season. He was replaced in the seventh and is listed as day to day.

Sandoval was 0 for 5 in his career against Chacin (11-12) when stepped to the plate after Carlos Beltran’s two-out single in the first. He drove a 2-1 fastball into the second deck in right field for his 20th home run.

“It was supposed to be in and down and the ball was in the middle, high,” said Chacin (11-12), who pitched 5 2-3 innings. “When you make mistakes with your pitch, that’s what you’re going to get.”

The Giants scored three unearned runs in the second due to miscues by Field and Pacheco. With one out and runners on first and second, Field, who made his major league debut Sunday and was playing in place of injured shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, gloved Cody Ross’ potential double play grounder and threw the ball into right field, allowing a run to score.

“(I) just didn’t have a good grip on it, just rushed it,” Field said, “just kind of sailed a little bit.”

After Jeff Keppinger’s sacrifice fly, Beltran’s grounder went through the legs of Pacheco and Ross scored to make it 5-0.

“Jhoulys was a victim of some of the defense in the second inning,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “But there were four base on balls, which is something that is obviously concerning.”

After a win on June 15, the 23-year-old Chacin was 8-4 with a 2.51 ERA in 14 starts and contending for a spot on the NL All-Star team. In 15 subsequent starts, Chacin has gone 3-8 with a 4.70 ERA, too often plagued by spotty command of his fastball that doesn’t allow him to maximize the effectiveness of his very good secondary pitches.

The Rockies got a run back in the third when Chacin led off with a walk, and Dexter Fowler and Mark Ellis followed with singles. The Rockies had runners on first and second with one out, but Vogelsong got Ty Wigginton to ground into a double play.

Pacheco led off the fourth with a homer, his second in seven starts since being recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs.

The Giants took advantage of Iannetta’s second passed ball and a gaffe by Chacin to score two runs in the sixth. Vogelson led off with a single and moved up on Iannetta’s passed ball. Ross followed with a run-scoring double. Keppinger bounced a ball back to Chacin, who ran Ross back toward second base but threw too soon, enabling Ross to scamper to third. He scored when Beltran grounded into a double play.

Sandoval then completed his cycle with a triple to right-center. Gonzalez seemed to have a play on the ball but hit the wall with his right wrist. He initially injured the wrist on July 3 when he banged into the center field wall making a catch. He made seven starts over the next 2½ weeks before aggravating the wrist while taking a swing July 21 and ended up on the 15-day disabled list through Aug. 5.

Iannetta, playing less often as the Rockies look at catching prospect Wilin Rosario this month, led off the seventh with his 13th homer. It was Iannetta’s first home run in 70 at-bats since Aug. 6. Field singled and scored on a pinch-hit double by Chris Nelson. With two outs, Eric Young Jr. doubled Nelson home to cut the deficit to 7-5.

The Giants increased their lead when Brandon Belt led off the ninth with a home run against Matt Reynolds. It was the 10th homer off the left-handed Reynolds in 47 1-3 innings this season and the sixth by a left-handed hitter. They are 29 for 94 (.309) against Reynolds this season.

Santiago Casilla, filling for injured closer Brian Wilson, gave up a broken-bat single to Field to start the ninth. But Casilla retired the next three batters, two on strikeouts, to earn his fourth save.

Notes: Sandoval’s cycle was the 10th at Coors Field and fourth by a visiting player. It was the first cycle by a Giant since Fred Lewis on May 13, 2007, also at Coors Field. … Aaron Cook, the Rockies all-time leader with 72 wins, is scheduled to start Colorado’s final home game Wednesday against the Padres. He lost his spot in the rotation to Drew Pomeranz and last pitched Sept. 4. … First baseman Todd Helton didn’t play due to back stiffness that has caused him to miss eight of the past 10 games. … Tulowitzki has missed four of the past six games due to bursitis in his left hip.

SAN FRANCISCO — Carlos Beltran, Cody Ross and Pablo Sandoval homered in a rare show of power at AT&T Park, and the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 8-3 on Monday night.

Ross also singled, doubled and scored three times to back a solid outing by rookie Eric Surkamp.

The setting was a lot different than a year ago at this time when these teams battled for the NL West title in a race that went down to the final day of the regular season.

The Giants still harbor slim postseason hopes this year — they began the night 8 1/2 games behind division-leading Arizona — while the Padres are just finishing out the string.

San Francisco, the majors’ lowest-scoring team since the All-Star break, put up eight runs for the second straight game. It’s the first time the Giants have done that in back-to-back games since the first two games of the 2010 World Series.

Most of the offense came from San Francisco’s big three of Beltran, Ross and Sandoval.

Beltran went 2 for 4 and drove in two runs, Ross added a pair of RBIs and Sandoval capped the night with a towering, three-run homer in the seventh.

It’s the first time the Giants have hit three home runs in a game at their waterfront ballpark since Sept. 30, 2010.

Surkamp (2-0) pitched 5 2-3 innings for his second major league victory — both coming against San Diego. The left-hander, who beat the Padres on Sept. 6, allowed seven hits and walked one.

That might be enough to keep the 24-year-old in the Giants’ rotation. Barry Zito, who has two years remaining on the $126 million deal he signed before the 2007 season, came off the disabled list Sunday but will most likely work out of the bullpen unless one of the other starters gets hurt.

One day after scoring eight runs in a win over the Dodgers — the most runs by the Giants in more than a month — the defending World Series champs matched it against the Padres.

Beltran provided early offense when he snapped an 0-for-15 skid with a two-run shot off Aaron Harang in the first. The ball easily cleared the wall in right field, bounced on the cement landing and fell into McCovey Cove.

It was Beltran’s 18th home run of the season and third since being traded from the Mets to San Francisco on July 28.

Ross homered leading off the third, then added an RBI single in the seventh. Sandoval put the game out of reach with his three-run drive off reliever Andrew Carpenter.

Harang (13-6), who was 4-0 in six previous starts against the Giants, left after the fifth. He allowed six hits and struck out four.

San Diego, which fell to 1-4 on its seven-game road trip, scored a run in the fourth with the help of Surkamp’s throwing error, then added two more in the sixth on four consecutive two-out singles to chase the San Francisco rookie.

Kyle Banks knocked in one run and Orlando Hudson singled in Chris Denorfia to cut the lead to 4-3.

San Diego put two runners on in the eighth but failed to score.

Sergio Romo, the fifth San Francisco pitcher, got Hudson to hit into an inning-ending double play, then retired the side in the ninth.

NOTES: Giants closer Brian Wilson threw 19 pitches while facing hitters for the first time since going on the disabled list three weeks ago. Wilson will rest the next two days before the team decides what his next step will be. … C Buster Posey (ankle) played catch before the game and will head to Arizona to start his next phase of rehab. … OF Will Venable also played catch during batting practice to test his shoulder and could return to San Diego’s lineup Tuesday. … Padres manager Bud Black hinted that prized prospect Anthony Rizzo could get into the starting lineup in the next few days. … Black said an ineffective slider is to blame for reliever Luke Gregerson’s dip in strikeouts this year. Gregerson set a major league record for holds in 2010 and averaged 10.2 strikeouts over nine innings but that number has dipped to 5.6 this year. … RHP Matt Cain, who lost to San Diego in his last outing despite giving up two runs in seven innings, pitches for San Francisco on Tuesday. Cain (11-10) has won only twice in his previous eight starts. … LHP Cory Luebke (5-9), who has dropped his last three starts, goes for the Padres.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Francisco Giants know time is running short on defending their World Series title.

Aaron Harang threw seven strong innings and Cameron Maybin had two hits and an RBI as the San Diego Padres dealt a big blow to the Giants’ fading playoff hopes with a 3-1 victory Wednesday night.

The Giants, who have 19 games left, came into the game trailing NL West-leading Arizona by six games. San Francisco has dropped three of four and six of 10.

“We have to win,” Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain said. “That’s all we have to do, is win.”

San Francisco was going for a sweep of the three-game series against a club it had beaten six of the previous seven games at Petco Park.

But Cain, who is 8-19 lifetime against the Padres, had little to show for allowing two runs and four hits in seven innings. After he allowed Will Venable’s leadoff homer in the first, he settled down and retired 11 consecutive batters before he issued two walks. Cain didn’t allow another hit until Maybin’s two-out double in the sixth.

“He did a great job,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “He gave up the leadoff homer and then he dealt. He keeps grinding out there for us.”

Cain (11-10) struck out seven and walked three as he made his 200th career start.

San Francisco rookie Brett Pill homered for a second straight game after he hit a home run Tuesday night in his first major league at-bat.

“It’s kind of frustrating when we can’t really do anything for Matt,” Pill said.

Venable scored twice, while Maybin doubled and tripled in a run in the ninth.

The Padres got clutch defensive plays by Venable and Maybin.

The first was by Maybin, who made a long running catch while crashing into the wall in left-center field to rob Justin Christian leading off the game. Maybin hit his forehead on the padded wall and was on the ground for about a minute before he got up and stayed in the game.

“I kind of face-planted dead square,” Maybin said. “Luckily, I was able to make a play and keep the early momentum because those guys take advantage.”

Venable threw out Pill at home in the seventh when the rookie tried to score on a medium fly ball to right by pinch-hitter Pat Burrell.

“It’s one of those things that you have to go for it,” Bochy said. “It took a perfect throw. Those are the things you look back on and they hurt.”

Said Harang: “The guys made some good plays from the first hitter of the game that kind of set the tone. It showed the intensity and excitement level that was going to happen.”

San Diego, last in the NL West at 62-81, won for the second time in 13 games overall.

“That’s the kind of intensity we have to bring day in and day out, no matter where we are in the standings,” Maybin said.

Harang (13-5) broke a two-start losing streak by allowing one run and four hits in seven innings. Harang, who struck out three and walked three, is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in three starts this season against the Giants, all at Petco Park.

Heath Bell got the final four outs for his 36th save in 40 chances. Bell replaced Chad Qualls in the eighth and threw one pitch to retire Carlos Beltran on a line drive to right with a runner on first and two outs.

Venable led off the Padres’ first with his seventh homer to right. It also extended his season club record for leadoff homers to five.

The home run was the third allowed by Cain in his last 20 starts. Overall, Cain has given up only eight homers.

“Everything was feeling all right,” he said. “I was trying to get ahead of guys and get early strikes.”

Pill tied the game with a homer leading off the fifth. Pill joined John Bowker as the only two players in franchise history to homer in their first two major league games.

Pill homered off Wade LeBlanc on Tuesday night in his first major league at-bat, a two-run shot in the second inning of the Giants’ 6-4 win.

The Padres took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Jesus Guzman singled in Maybin, who reached on a two-out double.

Notes: Cain has pitched 203 innings this season, the fifth straight season he has reached the 200-inning mark. … Bowker homered in his major league debut on April 12, 2008, and again the next day. … Padres manager Bud Black said after the game that INF Logan Forsythe would undergo surgery on his left knee on Thursday. Forsythe has not played since Friday with an inflamed patellar tendon in his right knee. But Black said Forsythe’s left knee, surgically repaired in the offseason, starting bothering him midway through this season. … After a day off, Giants RHP Tim Lincecum (12-12, 2.75 ERA) will attempt to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time this season in four starts (0-2, 1.86) on Friday to open a six-game homestand. LHP Clayton Kershaw (17-5, 2.45) pitches for the Dodgers. … LHP Cory Luebke (5-8, 3.29) will start for the Padres on Thursday at Arizona, facing NL wins leader RHP Ian Kennedy (18-4, 2.96).