by Jeremy Harness

DENVER–You can look at Wednesday’s events in two different ways: You can view it as a blown opportunity for the Giants, who fell 9-2 to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, a place where the Giants have had more than their share of issues in recent years.

Or you can see it as the Giants dodging a bullet. After that game finished, the Washington Nationals helped the Giants keep pace in the National League West, as they overcame surrendering a late lead and downed the Los Angeles Dodgers in 14 innings.

Either way you choose to see this thing, the Giants are only two games behind the Dodgers in the division race while keeping their spot as one of the NL’s wild cards for the time being, and it could have been a whole lot worse.

At the same time, it could have been a bit better, as the Giants had a chance to close to within one game of the division lead with one of their best starters on the mound.

However, Ryan Vogelsong was quickly reminded of what it’s like to pitch in the launching pad that is otherwise called Coors Field.

The right-hander surrendered a career-worst four home runs on Wednesday, two of which would have been regular fly balls just short of the warning track in any other major-league ballpark. When it was all said and done, he was tagged for eight earned runs on 10 hits, walking two and striking out five.

On the bright side, Hunter Pence was able to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, while Buster Posey and Gregor Blanco each had two hits, with Posey driving in both of the Giants’ runs. The last RBI came in the fifth inning to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.

The lead was short-lived, as the Rockies dropped back-to-back four-run innings on Vogelsong to render Posey’s efforts meaningless.

The Giants will not have it easy this weekend, either, as they are slated to head to Comerica Park to visit the Detroit Tigers, who are in a tooth-and-nail battle in their own division race, the American League Central.

Jeremy Harness covers San Francisco Giants baseball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com