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Matt Cain’s milestones can’t prevent San Francisco… |
SAN DIEGO — Matt Cain reached a couple of impressive plateaus Wednesday afternoon. He became the seventh pitcher in the Giants’ San Francisco era to make 200 career starts for the club. He joined another short and distinct list by logging 200 innings for the fifth consecutive season. Still just 26 years old, he already ranks as one of the most durable pitching presences in franchise history. Yet Cain couldn’t enjoy the view. His career record fell to 68-72 and he is just 11-10 this season after allowing a tiebreaking, sixth-inning single in the Giants’ 3-1 loss to the San Diego Padres. Cain did his best to keep the Giants in the pennant race. He limited the Padres to four hits and two runs in seven innings, including a home run to Will Venable leading off the first. He paid for only one more bad sequence, when Cameron Maybin hit a two-out double in the sixth and Jesus Guzman grounded a single through the left side to bring him home. In Yankee pinstripes, Cain might have relaxed on ice in the trainer’s room for the last couple innings before celebrating a victory. But he has pushed the rock up Potrero Hill long enough to know: With the Giants, it doesn’t work that way. Brett Pill hit a home run in the fifth inning, becoming the 22nd player since 1919 to begin his career with a home run in each of his first two games. John Bowker is the only other Giant on that list, accomplishing the feat in 2008. But that was all the Giants could push across despite plenty of base runners against Aaron Harang. Pill was thrown out at the plate in the seventh inning while trying to score on pinch hitter Pat Burrell’s fly ball to shallow right field. The Giants ran into an out in the eighth when the Padres pitched out and threw down to nab pinch runner Darren Ford trying to swipe second base. The Giants took the series in San Diego after scoring seven and six runs to win the first two games. But they still haven’t tallied at least six runs in three consecutive games since Aug. 23-25 of last season. At least the defense supported Cain. Center fielder Justin Christian made a sliding catch to strand two runners in the fourth inning. With that out, Cain officially joined Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Jack Sanford and Jim Barr as the only pitchers in the Giants’ San Francisco era to log 200 innings in five consecutive seasons. Cain is only halfway to Marichal, who did it 10 consecutive years from 1962-71. Cain contributed a quality start (at least six innings, no more than three earned runs) for the 24th time in 30 starts — the most among N.L. pitchers. The Giants fell to 6½ games behind Arizona with 19 to play in the N.L. West, pending the Diamondbacks’ outcome against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news. Posted in giants-news | Comments Off
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San Francisco Giants shut out by Chicago Cubs |
The Giants’ deficit in the N.L. West stands at five games after a 7-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night. But set that aside for a moment. They have 27 more to play this season, and the way it’s going for their toe-tagged offense, maybe the goals need to change. Maybe they should just try to reach the finish line without their clubhouse tearing itself apart. “Get a different answer,” said manager Bruce Bochy, after canceling his postgame session in the interview room. “It’s hard to figure what’s going on. Every day we come out here, we think we’re going to come out of it. It didn’t happen today. I know that can be discouraging, but we have to stay positive. That’s the only way I know: to keep coming out here working. “We’ve tried different things, lineups, yelling, meeting, but it’s a tough rut, there’s no getting around it. So I’d encourage you to ask them instead of getting the same answers from me.” Any illuminating thoughts, Carlos Beltran? “There’s no way to explain it,” said the Giants’ key trade-deadline acquisition, who struck out twice and had a ground out and a pop-up as the Giants collected a season-low two hits. “We didn’t get anyone on base, and when we did, we didn’t put anything together. It is what it is.” Tim Lincecum’s season is what it is, too: brilliance unrewarded. Despite being one of the few Giants to improve from last year’s championship campaign, Lincecum (12-11) set a career high for losses in a season — and he still has five starts remaining. The explanation is simple. For the 10th time in Lincecum’s 28 starts, the Giants gave him zero runs. He is 0-7 with a 3.43 ERA in those 10 outings. It played out again in frustrating fashion as Lincecum made one mistake and lost. Except this time, he added a few more. Alfonso Soriano’s solo home run popped a shutout in the fifth inning, then Lincecum broke down in the seventh and allowed two more deep drives — the first time in his big league career he gave up three home runs in a start. Geovany Soto hit a leadoff shot in the seventh. Then Lincecum walked pitcher Randy Wells, and shortstop Orlando Cabrera botched a potential double-play ground ball. Blake DeWitt followed by threading a three-run shot inside the right-field pole. It was a shocking end for Lincecum, who had allowed three homers in his previous 14 starts combined. And if it was a letdown, you couldn’t blame him. He remained calm and composed in front of reporters in a silent clubhouse, though, blaming himself for making “just three really (crappy) pitches.” “At this time last year, we were in a similar spot, but we were gaining ground, not going backward,” Lincecum said. “It’s hard to keep your head up when things aren’t really going our way.” Before the game, Bochy revealed that he summoned his entire rotation for a meeting Friday and commended them for how they were handling the lack of run support. “I told them how important they are,” Bochy said. “I said, ‘Don’t get discouraged.’ They had a great attitude. It’s, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together.’ “ Nope, Lincecum isn’t alone. He actually entered with more average run support (3.17) than Madison Bumgarner (2.94). But it’ll be hard to keep saying the right things as the playoffs become a faint hope. It’s starting to look like a miracle is needed for the Giants to catch the Arizona Diamondbacks and win consecutive N.L. West titles for the first time in franchise history. The Giants have lost 20 of their past 30 games while free-falling from a four-game lead to a five-game deficit. The Giants made no noise of their own against Wells, although Andres Torres certainly tried. He walked and stole a base in the first inning, then doubled in the third. Mike Fontenot had the Giants’ only other hit — a pinch single in the eighth — as Wells threw his first career shutout. “He pitched great,” Bochy said. “But everybody that is going out there is throwing great right now. That’s what makes it tough. They outplayed us, outpitched us, outdid everything against us.” That’s all for today. Posted in giants-news | Comments Off
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Astros get 4-game split, beat Giants 4-3 in 11th |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco Giants are losing to teams out of contention. They’re losing at home. Great pitching efforts are being wasted. All those things are cause for concern as the reigning World Series champions approach the final month. Matt Downs delivered a go-ahead single with one out in the 11th inning and the Houston Astros beat the stumbling Giants 4-3 on Sunday to salvage a four-game split. “We’ve got to win, that’s all we’ve got to do,” pitcher Matt Cain said. To win, they must score more runs. Jose Altuve got things going with a one-out double against Ramon Ramirez (2-3) and Downs followed with a single up the middle. Altuve was forced into action after slugger Carlos Lee left in the top of the ninth with a sprained right ankle, sustained sliding into second on a double. Lee was 3 for 4 with two doubles. Mark Melancon (7-4) pitched the 10th and got the win despite allowing Mark DeRosa’s tying single. David Carpenter finished for his first career save. “It was a big win, especially to get one late like that,” Downs said. “It’s easy to get frustrated when you blow a lead, but we didn’t. We kept battling like it was just a part of the game.” The reigning World Series champions fell four games behind the first-place Diamondbacks in the NL West race after Arizona beat the Padres 6-1. The D-backs come to town Friday for a key weekend series. On bring your dog day at AT&T Park, the Giants continued to experience the dog days. More missed chances. They also argued that one chance was taken from them. DeRosa singled with one out in the 10th off Melancon, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. He slid past the bag and reached back with his left hand, and replays showed he appeared to be safe. DeRosa jumped up to yell at second-base umpire Dan Bellino and manager Bruce Bochy was ejected for the second time this year. “I thought I was safe. I mean it’s a tough call, bang bang,” DeRosa said. “You don’t have a choice, you move on. You battle and you’ve got to put it behind us. We can’t scoreboard watch because we’ve got our own bag of issues we’ve got to deal with and we’ve got to get the bats going.” Houston went ahead 3-2 in the 10th on pinch-hitter Jason Michaels’ double, then the Giants came back again. Jordan Schafer lined a tying RBI single to right with two outs in the eighth against Cain to help force extra innings. The reeling Giants failed to string together their first three-game winning streak since July 17-19 at San Diego. They haven’t had a winning home series in five sets since taking two of three from Milwaukee from July 22-24. San Francisco has played eight straight games decided by two or fewer runs. “This is a tough loss, no getting around it. We came back a couple times,” Bochy said. “As I’ve said, we have to score some runs for these guys.” The Giants couldn’t capitalize in the eighth after getting consecutive two-out singles by Jeff Keppinger and Carlos Beltran off Wilton Lopez. Wesley Wright relieved and retired Pablo Sandoval on a grounder. Aubrey Huff hit a tying RBI single off Houston starter Bud Norris in the seventh to end a 0-for-15 funk, and singled again in the ninth but the Giants didn’t score. After Huff’s initial hit in the seventh, Norris received a mound visit before giving up Orlando Cabrera’s go-ahead sacrifice fly on the next pitch. That one-run lead didn’t last long. Norris, pitching back home in the Bay Area, had only allowed one runner to reach second base before the Giants got to him for two runs in the seventh. Sandoval drew a one-out walk to start things off. Brandon Belt singled to bring up Huff, whose struggles have some fans and skeptics calling for Bochy to sit him for an extended period. Cain, the Giants’ hard-luck loser for years now, has only two wins in his last nine starts. The two-time All-Star struck out pinch-hitter Jason Bourgeois with the go-ahead run on first for the second out of the eighth, then gave up Schafer’s tying single. Cain has received the lowest run support in the majors since his first full season in 2006. Keppinger, acquired by the Giants on July 19 from Houston, was 8 for 26 with three RBIs against his former team — including 5 for 14 this series. Astros manager Brad Mills had seen enough. “OK, Keppinger’s done,” Mills joked before the game. “He’s done getting these big hits against us.” NOTES: Astros SS Clint Barmes had the day off. … RHP Tim Lincecum takes the mound Monday for the Giants against the Chicago Cubs. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner is 3-1 with a 0.91 ERA in his last four starts. … Houston heads home to face Pittsburgh, with Wandy Rodriguez (9-9) getting the ball for the fourth time this year against the Pirates. He struck out 11 Pittsburgh batters in 5 2-3 innings back on July 17. … Astros C Jason Castro, sidelined all season after right knee surgery, will join the team in Houston for the homestand to catch bullpens and take batting practice before returning to Florida for instructional league. “It will be a good chance for us to see him and evaluate where he is,” Mills said. … Mills left passes for his old community college coach at College of the Sequoias, Bert Holt, and his wife, Sue. Subscribe to our feed!. Posted in giants-news | Comments Off
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Downs, Astros march past stumbling Giants in 11th |
CBSSports.com wire reports SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants are losing to teams out of contention. They’re losing at home. Great pitching efforts are being wasted. All those things are cause for concern as the reigning World Series champions approach the final month. Matt Downs delivered a go-ahead single with one out in the 11th inning and the Houston Astros beat the stumbling Giants 4-3 on Sunday to salvage a four-game split. “We’ve got to win, that’s all we’ve got to do,” pitcher Matt Cain said. To win, they must score more runs. Jose Altuve got things going with a one-out double against Ramon Ramirez (2-3) and Downs followed with a single up the middle. Altuve was forced into action after slugger Carlos Lee left in the top of the ninth with a sprained right ankle, sustained sliding into second on a double. Lee was 3 for 4 with two doubles. Mark Melancon (7-4) pitched the 10th and got the win despite allowing Mark DeRosa’s tying single. David Carpenter finished for his first career save. “It was a big win, especially to get one late like that,” Downs said. “It’s easy to get frustrated when you blow a lead, but we didn’t. We kept battling like it was just a part of the game.” The reigning World Series champions fell four games behind the first-place Diamondbacks in the NL West race after Arizona beat the Padres 6-1. The D-backs come to town Friday for a key weekend series. On bring your dog day at AT&T Park, the Giants continued to experience the dog days. More missed chances. They also argued that one chance was taken from them. DeRosa singled with one out in the 10th off Melancon, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. He slid past the bag and reached back with his left hand, and replays showed he appeared to be safe. DeRosa jumped up to yell at second-base umpire Dan Bellino and manager Bruce Bochy was ejected for the second time this year. “I thought I was safe. I mean it’s a tough call, bang bang,” DeRosa said. “You don’t have a choice, you move on. You battle and you’ve got to put it behind us. We can’t scoreboard watch because we’ve got our own bag of issues we’ve got to deal with and we’ve got to get the bats going.” Houston went ahead 3-2 in the 10th on pinch-hitter Jason Michaels’ double, then the Giants came back again. Jordan Schafer lined a tying RBI single to right with two outs in the eighth against Cain to help force extra innings. The reeling Giants failed to string together their first three-game winning streak since July 17-19 at San Diego. They haven’t had a winning home series in five sets since taking two of three from Milwaukee from July 22-24. San Francisco has played eight straight games decided by two or fewer runs. “This is a tough loss, no getting around it. We came back a couple times,” Bochy said. “As I’ve said, we have to score some runs for these guys.” The Giants couldn’t capitalize in the eighth after getting consecutive two-out singles by Jeff Keppinger and Carlos Beltran off Wilton Lopez. Wesley Wright relieved and retired Pablo Sandoval on a grounder. Aubrey Huff hit a tying RBI single off Houston starter Bud Norris in the seventh to end a 0-for-15 funk, and singled again in the ninth but the Giants didn’t score. After Huff’s initial hit in the seventh, Norris received a mound visit before giving up Orlando Cabrera’s go-ahead sacrifice fly on the next pitch. That one-run lead didn’t last long. Norris, pitching back home in the Bay Area, had only allowed one runner to reach second base before the Giants got to him for two runs in the seventh. Sandoval drew a one-out walk to start things off. Brandon Belt singled to bring up Huff, whose struggles have some fans and skeptics calling for Bochy to sit him for an extended period. Cain, the Giants’ hard-luck loser for years now, has only two wins in his last nine starts. The two-time All-Star struck out pinch-hitter Jason Bourgeois with the go-ahead run on first for the second out of the eighth, then gave up Schafer’s tying single. Cain has received the lowest run support in the majors since his first full season in 2006. Keppinger, acquired by the Giants on July 19 from Houston, was 8 for 26 with three RBIs against his former team — including 5 for 14 this series. Astros manager Brad Mills had seen enough. “OK, Keppinger’s done,” Mills joked before the game. “He’s done getting these big hits against us.” Notes
There is the quick update of the day. Posted in giants-news | Comments Off
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Sosa Earns First Win, Astros Beat Giants 3-1 |
SAN FRANCISCO — Jordan Schafer homered and scored three times, Henry Sosa pitched six strong innings against his former club to earn his first career victory and the Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Thursday night to end a four-game losing streak.J.D. Martinez doubled twice and had two RBIs for the Astros, who stole a season-high four bases and turned three double plays on defense. Houston, which still owns the worst record in the majors at 43-88, has won three of four against the defending World Series champs.Orlando Cabrera drove in San Francisco’s only run with an RBI groundout in the third. The Giants, losers of five of seven, fell three games behind first-place Arizona in the NL West.Sosa (1-2) pitched with runners on base every inning but limited the damage with a crisp fastball and slider that baffled the Giants most of the night.The rookie right-hander, who began the season with the Giants before being shipped to Houston as part of the July 19 trade that sent infielder Jeff Keppinger to San Francisco, allowed only four singles and struck out three in his second straight start against his former team.Sosa got just enough support from his teammates.Schafer singled and scored in the first, walked and scored in the third and then homered off Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong in the seventh. It was Schafer’s second home run for the Astros and the fourth of his career. He had gone 148 at-bats since his last home run on June 13, with Atlanta.Wilton Lopez pitched two scoreless innings and Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his 14th save in 18 chances.San Francisco had the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth after Carlos Beltran’s leadoff single but Pablo Sandoval hit into a 3-6-3 double play before Aubrey Huff flied out to end it.Vogelsong (10-4) gave up six hits over 7 1-3 innings but lost for the third time in four starts.Since beginning the season 8-1, Vogelsong is 1-3 with a 4.00 ERA over his last four starts. The Giants have scored only one run in the three losses.It was just the latest setback for San Francisco’s pitching staff, which has been beset by a rash of injuries lately.The Giants, who have lost the opening game in their last 11 series, have even bigger issues with their offense. They put the leadoff hitter on base in five consecutive innings but hit into three double plays and had two runners caught stealing.Martinez doubled in Schafer in the first, then added a sacrifice fly in the third to score Schafer again, making it 2-0.Houston’s rookie left fielder, who began the season with Double-A Corpus Christi, has nine RBIs over his last five games. Martinez also has eight RBIs in four games against San Francisco this season.The Giants, held to two runs or fewer in four of their previous eight games, cut the gap to 2-1 on Cabrera’s RBI groundout in the third. They got some help from Sosa, called for a balk after Eli Whiteside singled and was sacrificed to second.Sosa’s best work came in his final inning.Cabrera walked to start the sixth and was sacrificed to second, putting the potential tying run on base. Sosa, who had a no-decision against the Giants last Sunday, retired Beltran on a comebacker and then got Sandoval to ground out to third.Schafer made it 3-1 with his two-out homer in the seventh.
Copyright 2011 by KTVU.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Gotta run!. Posted in giants-news | Comments Off
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Giants Win on Sandoval’s 11th Inning HR |
HOUSTON — Pablo Sandoval hit a tie-breaking two-run homer with two out in the 11th inning to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 6-4 victory over the Houston Astros Sunday. The score had been tied at 4-4 since the fourth inning and the Giants missed several chances to take the lead until Sandoval’s 15th homer off Mark Melancon (6-4).
Jeremy Affeldt (2-2) pitched two innings for the victory. He has allowed one earned in 17 1/3 innings since the All-Star break. The Giants left 12 base runners stranded, including seven over the final five innings. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Astros, equaling their longest of the season. Brandon Belt hit a three-run homer in the second inning and had a career high four hits. The Giants were poised to take the lead in the eighth with the bases loaded and one out. Instead, Chris Stewart hit a fly to left fielder J.D. Martinez, who caught it for the second out and then made a perfect throw to catcher Carlos Corporan, who blocked the plate and tagged Nate Schierholtz sliding into home plate. San Francisco loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth but Schierholtz flew out to center field to keep the score tied. The Giants left seven runners stranded in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Giants starter Dan Runzler made his major league debut as a starter after 71 appearances in relief. He didn’t get out of the second inning. He allowed four runs, walked three and struck out two. Henry Sosa made his third major league start and it came against his former team. Sosa was traded to the Astros on July 19 in a deal that sent Jeff Keppinger to the Giants. He pitched five innings but did not figure in the decision. San Francisco got a quick lead off Sosa on Belt’s 3-run homer after Aubrey Huff doubled and Nate Schierholtz singled to start the second inning. The Astros battered Runzler and Guillermo Mota for four runs in the second inning that included four walks. Runzler yielded a single to Jimmy Paredes and walked Clint Barmes and Jason Michaels to start the second inning. Carlos Corporan hit into a double play, scoring Paredes. Sosa walked and Jose Altuve had an RBI single to bring on Mota, who walked Jason Bourgeois and J.D. Martinez followed with a two-run single to right field for a 4-3 lead. Mike Fontenot’s sacrifice fly tied it in the fourth inning. The Giants challenged the deadlock in the seventh when Wilton Lopez hit leadoff batter Chris Stewart and pinch hitter Orlando Cabrera singled in front of diving right fielder J.B. Shuck sending Stewart to third. Cody Ross struck out and Jeff Keppinger hit a hot grounder to third baseman Jimmy Paredes, and Stewart was caught in a rundown. Sergio Escalona came on to strike out Pablo Sandoval to end the threat.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news. Posted in giants-news | Comments Off
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