By Morris Phillips

Of all the things Madison Bumgarner accomplished last season, and then in his legendary post-season and the first month of this season (and make no mistake, there’s a bunch of stuff), there’s no no-no anywhere on the list.

In fact, he’s never thrown a no-hitter at any level professionally, and you have to go all the way back to high school to find his only one.

Given how low-key Bumgarner is—not to mention how effective he is at just being effective—it’s no surprise that the thought of throwing one, or just feeling special while flirting with one, doesn’t get him all worked up.

“It felt normal,” he said after being part of a combined 2-0 shutout in which he was especially stingy, allowing two hits and a walk while pitching into the eighth inning, the first six without allowing a hit.

“It didn’t feel like anything special.”

But from anyone else’s perspective other than the World Series MVP’s, it was special.  The suddenly-hitter-ish Padres have threatening hitters throughout their lineup and have scored a NL-best 131 runs.  And they jumped on Bumgarner last month in San Diego, where he was lifted after three innings in a 10-2 loss.

Throw in some adversity on Monday—the Giants committed three errors while Bumgarner was in the game—and you have to call his stint special, even by Bumgarner’s lofty standards.

“He can do it all,” reliever Sergio Romo said.  “It’s very impressive.  Now he’s finding his stride, and that’s what’s been going on for us as a team.”

The Giants improved to 13-13 on the season, encouraging given they’ve already endured an eight-game losing streak.  What it means in the long run isn’t clear, but they can make a strong case that the seven consecutive games they’ve now won at home are more representative of their direction than the worrisome losing streak.

What’s painfully clear to the rest of the NL West is once again this season whatever lead the Giants can forge, they can protect.  It’s not how many you score, but what you do with ‘em when you score ‘em.   The Giants have scored 50 fewer runs than the Padres, but both teams sit in virtually the same spot in the division’s standings.

And they did it again Monday.  In a game with one extra-base hit and no scoring after the third inning, Angel Pagan’s seeing-eye single through an infield itching to turn a double play stood as the night’s biggest offensive draw.

Tyson Ross kept the Padres engaged for seven frames but he had to scolding himself issuing a free pass to Justin Maxwell with the bases loaded, pushing across the Giants’ second run.  Ross—the former Athletic and California product–fell to 1-3, far off his All-Star appearance form of last season.

Ross issued all three of his walks in the third inning.  In six starts, Ross has allowed as few as two walks only once.

“His stuff was fine,” Padres manager Bud Black said of Ross.  “The walks were a little troublesome, but if you go seven innings and allow two runs, we’ll take that.”

Except if, you’re opposed by Bumgarner.

On Tuesday, the Giants hope for more heavy air with Ryan Vogelsong attempting to get past the the three, first-inning home runs he allowed in his previous start.  He’ll be up against San Diego’s Andrew Cashner at 7:15pm.