By Morris Phillips

A run or two wasn’t the issue on Monday.

Just about everything else was, most prominently Ryan’s Vogelsong’s short appearance punctuated by long home runs.   As a result, Vogelsong went to the showers early—after just an inning and a third—and the Rockies cruised past the Giants. 8-2.

Long home runs?  For sure, Wilin Rosario’s 396-foot blast off Vogelsong went well into the left field bleachers, but that was nothing compared to Nolan Arenado’s 430-foot shot that preceded it.  Vogelsong would throw 44 pitches in a lengthy first inning, but the two that ended up over the fence stood out.   The Giants trailed 4-0 at that point, and 5-0 after Rockies’ leadoff man Charlie Blackmon outdid the first two with a second inning shot that traveled 431 feet.  That for all explosive purposes ended Vogelsong’s shortest starting assignment as a Giant, which was a figurative statement, as the right hander somehow managed to throw 59 pitches but only record four outs.

“I’m definitely not happy about it,” Vogelsong admitted.  “It’s embarrassing, really.”

After Vogelsong’s departure, the Giants had plenty of time to produce a few highlights of their own, but they came up with lowlights instead.  Buster Posey came up with the bases loaded and no outs and hit into a double play in the third.  In the same frame, reliever David Huff injured himself running out a ground ball.  His quad injury appeared serious at that moment, enough so that Huff’s expected to land on the disabled list.  But at least Huff made contact: 11 Giants struck out on the evening with Rockies’ reliever Tommy Kahnle bagging five himself in just two innings of work.  Angel Pagan lost his cool in the seventh, and was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

Oh, and the five home runs allowed by the Giants on the evening was the most they’ve ever allowed at Coors Field.

All and all, a lost evening in Denver in which the Giants’ pitching enlivened the Colorado bats just in time for two more contests in the series.  Surprisingly, Carlos Gonzales and Troy Tulowitzki were not part of the Rockies’ long ball parade, proving that the Colorado lineup with Blackmon hitting first and Arenado second has renewed pop in 2014.

The Giants fell to 11-9 on the season just a half-game ahead of the third place Rockies.  The Giants have dropped three of four on their road trip.

On Tuesday, Madison Bumgarner faces Franklin Morales at 5:40 PST.