By Morris Phillips

For eight, briskly played innings Monday night, Giants’ fans patiently waited, and then it happened.   After witnessing the best act of the night by someone wearing a Giants’ uniform, the home crowd roared with approval.

Just one thing: the kid in the Giants’ uniform full of verve, variety and dancing uncontrollably for the in-between innings’ Dance Cam isn’t a major league ballplayer. He’s a kid. And his act did little to impact the game where the Giants offered more of the same in what’s developed into a disastrous stretch of ball along McCovey Cove.

So in a nutshell: After dropping a 5-1 decision to the visiting Mariners, the Giants have lost nine straight at AT&T Park, their worst stretch at home since 1940 when the New York Giants lost 11 in a row at the Polo Grounds. The Giants haven’t won a home game since knocking off the Braves, 4-2 on May 29.

And, it hasn’t been pretty with the exception of the kid, who had at least 15 distinctive dance moves, and was so compelling the camera hung with him for a good 90 seconds. Conversely, the Giants’ offense hasn’t been watchable, scoring just three runs in the first four games of the home stand.

On Monday, Mariners’ starter Taijuan Walker made it look easy, shutting down the Giants for seven innings, allowing one run on seven hits. Walker’s had a nice stretch of four starts, but he’s still the highly touted prospect that hasn’t yet panned out, losing nine of his 20 career starts to date. But against the Giants, he got ahead of hitters, pitched effortlessly, and as pitchers so fashionably say these days, Walker let the hitters get themselves out.

“We’re just making better pitches, not trying to throw anything harder or trying to be too cute with anything, just making better pitches,” Walker said of a stretch of four starts in which he’s won three times and posted and ERA of 1.55.

Quite naturally, Giants’ hitters looked overanxious as well. Three of the first five innings concluded with a Walker strikeout, and eight of the nine Giants’ hitters to bat with a runner in scoring position, failed to reach. For those counting, that’s 21 baserunners stranded in the last four games.

With the offense scuffling, Giants’ starter Tim Hudson had his work cut out for him once again, and he held up until the fifth, when he allowed a pair of runs that put the Mariners up 3-1. Four of the seven Mariners to bat in the inning singled off Hudson, including Logan Morrison, who placed perfectly a pop up in between Angel Pagan and Jarret Parker, who were charging, and a retreating Joe Panik.

Morrison’s seeing-eye hit scored Brad Miller and drew a visible reaction from Hudson. The veteran would depart in the sixth on the hook for the loss, which would become his 23^rd loss in an interleague game, the most all-time, a dubious record Hudson now shares with former teammates Derek Low and Barry Zito.

In the eighth, the game’s only fireworks came off the bat of Kyle Seager, who took reliever Jeremy Affeldt authoritatively into the right field arcade.

The Giants look to avoid a winless homestand on Tuesday afternoon Tim Lincecum takes the mound in a matchup with Seattle’s J.A. Happ.

NOTES: Matt Cain’s rehab start in Sacramento on Monday was a mixed bag. Cain threw 3 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. Cain threw 75 pitches, displaying a healthy mix of fastballs that topped out at 91 MPH and changeups that registered 77 MPH. The veteran starter is expected to make one or two more such starts before any decision is made on his return to the big league club.