Tag: giants

By Morris Phillips

In the end, it simply felt like the Giants were 5 ½ hours closer to the off-season.

Adrian Gonzales wiped out the Giants’ only lead with a two-run homer, and a couple hours later, singled with the bases loaded in the 14^th inning to give the Dodgers a 5-4 win.

Hanging over the Giants’ collective heads on Monday—besides a 3 ½ game deficit and the anxiety of being in a playoff race and not playing your best baseball—was the fact that their trip to Dodgers Stadium would conclude with Zach Greinke on Tuesday and Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday.

Not a pretty picture.  Now they enter Tuesday’s game 4 ½ games out with 31 to play.  Madison Bumgarner will be asked to carry the Giants deep into the ballgame after eight relievers were used by manager Bruce Bochy on Monday.

Adrian Gonzales and Andre Ethier hit home runs in the sixth inning off burdened starter Jake Peavy, and at least for the moment, there didn’t seem like there was much race left.

That’s when Marlon Byrd stepped up for the Giants, doubling home Matt Duffy in the eighth.

Sergio Romo got two outs in the eighth and all three in the ninth without allowing a run, and Jim Johnson pitched scoreless frames in the 10^th and 11^th for the Dodgers.

Giants have acquired Alejandro De Aza from the Red Sox in exchange for minor league pitcher Luis Ysla.  To make room on the 40-man roster, Ryan Lollis was designated for assignment.

The Dodgers made a move as well acquiring minor leaguer Justin Ruggiano from Seattle.

The Dodgers’ Chris Hatcher fouled out with the bases loaded to end the 13^th.

In the 14^th, reliever Mike Broadway walked leadoff hitter A.J. Ellis, then allowed singles to Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley to load the bases.  Yusmeiro Petit was called on to face Gonzales who singled over drawn-in outfielder Nori Aoki.

“Hard fought game, both sides.  Unfortunately, we didn’t win it.”

Peavy retired 13 of 14 Dodgers’ batters at one point, but ran into trouble in the sixth.  The home run to Gonzales came on a fastball demonstrating the Dodgers’ first baseman’s explosive bat, but Ethier’s follow-up that gave the Dodgers a lead was paintful to the Giants.  Marlon Byrd saw the ball just escape his glove at the gate outside the visiting bullpen.

“That was going to be his last hitter, Ethier.  He got just enough to get it out,” Bochy said.”

By Morris Phillips

What a month for Madison Bumgarner.

For that matter, what a season, what a 12-month run, and what a career-to-date.

The Giants’ ace stopped the red-hot Cubs dead in their tracks Thursday afternoon, striking out 12 in just six innings of work in a 9-1 win.  Bumgarner concluded August with a 5-0 record and a stingy 1.43 ERA.

Bumgarner’s teammates know a party when they see one.  On a picture perfect afternoon, in front of a sellout crowd, they backed their big lefthander with a couple of runs early, then Marlon Byrd’s three-run shot that put the Giants up comfortably, and Kelby Tomlinson’s grand slam that turned the game into a rout.  With Bumgarner mowing down the Cubs—fancy footwork included—this day at the ballpark played like some slickly produced video put forth by the local Chamber of Commerce.

“Things are just going our way right now, “Bumgarner said.  “I don’t look at the month, I look from start to start.”

“Bum was Bum today,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

Bumgarner joined Chicago’s Jake Arrieta, who won here on Monday, as the majors’ only 16-game winners. They are joined by Zach Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, Michael Wacha and Gerrit Cole in a Cy Young race that figures to be as intriguing as any in years.  But evaluations come later, this is the time to perform, and Bumgarner did that on Thursday from the start, striking out the side in each of the first two innings.

“He had a real good hook and the cutter, sporadically used his fastball,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon recalled.  “He got us to chase and he got us to chase down, but that’s because the pitch is such a quality pitch.”

Only Starlin Castro could claim he achieved something impactful against Bumgarner, doubling home a run in the second inning.  But that would be the last hit Bumgarner would allow.  From then on, it was usually strike one, fall behind in the count and fail to square anything up. The strikeouts ran Bumgarner’s pitch count up pretty quick, so with a four-run lead, Bochy elected to save his ace for another day.

The 98-pitch outing marked the third time this month Bumgarner registered double-digit strikeouts.  In August, the World Series MVP struck out 53 batters while walking just four—two of those on Thursday.  He threw a pair of complete games, hit a pair of home runs, and made a nifty play in the fourth inning Thursday with tremendous body control and his feet.

On that play, Brandon Belt fielded Catro’s grounder and threw behind Bum racing over the cover the bag.  But Belt’s throw was behind Bumgarner and he had to reach back, catch the ball, but get his foot on first base without being able to see it.  Impressively, he pulled off the whole sequence of steps flawlessly.

“I kinda laugh as he’s going through these games,” Matt Duffy said.

The Dodgers won 1-0 in Cincinnati to complete a sweep of the Reds just as the Giants were getting started.  That allowed the NL West leaders to maintain their 2 ½ game lead with a critical homestand starting Friday in Los Angeles where the Dodgers will see first the Cubs, then the Giants.

The Giants open a three-game set with the Cardinals on Friday.   Newly-acquired Mike Leake makes his home debut in the opener at 7:15pm.

NOTES: Tomlinson’s home run was the first of his career, and the first grand slam as a first home run by a Giant rookie since Brandon Crawford pulled the feat in 2012.  Tomlinson’s play has made it such that the Giants don’t have to Panik without Joe in the lineup.  Tomlinson has hit in 13 of his 14 starts since being called up to bolster the team’s infield, and the team has all but announced that Panik won’t be rushed back in the coming week, and probably won’t return until the first or second week of September.

Nori Aoki attempted to stretch a ball that glanced off Cubs’ left fielder Chris Denorfia’s glove into an inside-the-park home run in the seventh, only to see the Cubs cut down the leadoff man with a nifty, relay from the left field corner.

Matt Cain could land on the disabled list after his last, subpar outing.  The tentative plan is to have Chris Heston recalled to make a start on Sunday in Cain’s place.

By Morris Phillips

Nothing’s bigger than recording the last out of a ballgame, but you can’t logically get to that point if you don’t some enthusiasm and aptitude for recording the first out.

On Tuesday, the Giants needed their best foot forward if they were going to beat the scorching-hot Cubs for the first time this year after five, damaging losses.  But when the Cubs’ leadoff man Kyle Schwarber sent a sky-high pop up between the mound and home plate, Buster Posey and starting pitcher Jake Peavy turned into physical comedians.

Both pitcher and catcher converged, intent on catching the ball, but when Peavy’s chest ever so slightly bumped Posey’s shoulder, the follies began.  Posey retreated as if his services weren’t needed, Peavy fell over and the ball landed untouched between the two.

The sellout crowd at AT&T Park—intent on seeing their home nine get after it, not a circus act—gasped with horror.

So much for initial impressions.

The Cubs went on to score twice in the inning, but the Giants got serious and struck right back with two of their own.   After that thing settled down and the Giants used a pair of runs in the sixth to propel them to a 4-2 win.

“It really comes down to the first inning, both ways though.  They gave us some runs, we gave them some runs and then eventually they got us in the end,” expansive Cubs manager Joe Maddon concluded.

“We weren’t going to win them all.  Sorry.”

The win allowed the Giants to stop the bleeding in the hunt for the final wild card spot—the Giants still trail Chicago by 6 ½ games—and more importantly, kept them with striking distance of the Dodgers, 2 ½ games up in the NL West.

And believe it or not, that aforementioned comedic duo, Peavy and Posey, settled down and made some serious contributions in the context of the game.

Peavy—still smarting from his 2-0 loss in Chicago on August 9—settled in for six plus innings, allowing just three hits after the rocky first.  Posey, mired in a slump that has the whole town ruffled, came up with the tie-breaking double in the sixth.

Posey looked fatigued and was virtually invisible on last week’s 2-5 road trip.  In the sixth, after Brandon Belt led off with a triple that eluded a diving Chris Denorfia in centerfield, Posey came up in a big spot.  And while he had just four hits in his previous 35 at-bats, Posey’s been hungry like the Werewolf of London this season with runners in scoring position.

And he delivered, sending Kyle Hendricks slightly elevated offering into triples alley, scoring Belt.  Two batters later, rookie Kelby Tomlinson, swinging at the first pitch, doubled into the right field corner, scoring Posey.

That quick, the Giants had a lead.  How big was that?

In the four-game sweep engineered by the Cubs over the Giants two weeks ago at Wrigley Field, the Cubs scored in the first inning in all four games.  So of the 36 innings of baseball that weekend, the Giants held a lead in all of one inning.

Then last night, the Cubs didn’t score in the initial frame, but roughed up Matt Cain in the third and fourth to lead 6-0.  Again, the Giants never held a lead.

The Cubs—hotter than ’03, and just as smokin’ as ’96—came in winners of 21 of 25, a run so hot it had only been duplicated twice (1903, 1996) in their franchise’s 100-plus year history.  Still in third place in the NL Central, but holding the majors’ fourth-best record, the lovable losers look like shoe-ins for the post-season, due to the momentum of the run and in no small part based on how they’ve mistreated the World Champs.  But on Wednesday, it was the Giants’ turn to strike back.

Maddon, for one, appreciated the teaching tools.

“We have some really inexperienced people that are learning on the fly right now.  And I love it.”

That was the former Rays manager’s response when asked about two critical at-bats in the seventh, after Peavy departed with two runners aboard.  First, rookie Addison Russell was cooled by reliever Hunter Strickland, and then the super-hot Schwarber was tamed by lefty specialist Javier Lopez, striking out on four pitches.

Peavy, watching intently in the dugout, felt it was a critical moment.

“The pro he is, he was ready,” Peavy said of Lopez.  “We were excited to have him in that moment, that matchup.”

On Thursday, the Giants say adieu to the Cubs as Dan Haren draws Madison Bumgarner in the series finale.

By Morris Phillips

While it’s not October, it was like the playoffs Thursday for the Nats and Giants—the opener of a four-game series between two teams on the outside of a seven-horse race for five National League playoff spots.   And while plenty of baseball remains after this weekend, neither club wants to go another four days trending as they are.

The Nationals had lost 16 of 25 and fallen out of first place in the East, while the slumping Giants were at least temporarily out of touch with both the NL West-leading Dodgers and the second wild card Cubs.

Accordingly, the Giants went pride of a champion, hunkering down in a 3-1 win that, at least in the battle for the NL West, stopped the bleeding.  At press time, the Dodgers were falling at home to the Reds, 10-3 in the eighth inning, a result that would draw the Giants within 2 ½ games of first place.

“Y’all didn’t think we was going to lose on Grateful Dead night, did you?” Jake Peavy shouted out to no one in particular.

No, Jake.  Especially after Ryan Vogelsong survived a 29-pitch first inning, the first of which was sent over left field wall by Yunel Escobar for a faster-than-quick 1-0 Nationals lead.   Vogelsong would go on to walk the bases loaded, but escape by retiring Wilson Ramos on a ground out.

After that, Vogey was fantastic—for four more innings.  The 38-year old left trouble behind by allowing just one more hit and one more walk, striking out a season-best eight, and leaving with a 2-1 lead that the bullpen would do a fantastic job to protect.  What started ominously became the reliever/starter’s first win as a starter since June 24.

So what changed for Vogelsong?

“I guess I had some deception on my fastball and maybe a little extra zip.  Still got some things to clean up, falling behind in counts, going deep counts.  It runs your pitch count up too quick.  I was fortunate enough to make some pitches there after falling behind and get some guys out but it definitely not something you want to live by all the time,” he said.

“He had good stuff tonight, but the first inning probably took a toll on him,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

Hunter Strickland pitched the sixth and seventh as Bruce Bochy’s plan to have a multiple-inning guy in the front end of his pen was unleashed.  With George Kontos only available for a hitter or two, and best case scenario, given the night off, Strickland was given the opportunity to protect the lead and audition as a bridge to Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla.   He passed with flying colors, retiring all six batters he faced, fanning three.

“He’s pitched well,” Bochy said of Strickland.  “He’s more of a pitcher now than he was last year.”

The Nationals managed just one hit off both Romo and Casilla after the first inning.  The loser of Thursday’s game was undoubtedly going to face plenty of questions, and for Washington those questions are obvious.  They’ve hit just .224 since the All-Star Break and they were shutout on consecutive nights in Los Angeles before they laid an egg Thursday.

Not even a Barry Bonds visit to their clubhouse could turn the National’s offense hitterish.  Bonds relived old times with former teammate Matt Williams for a short period before the game, but apparently didn’t offer any advice to the struggling hitters.  Williams did however, after his guys went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

“It may be the first pitch of the at-bat.  You never know.  If you get to swing at the fastball, we need to do that,” Williams said.

Like Vogelsong, Washington starter Stephen Strasburg is trying to get back into the rhythm of things after a month of inactivity.  The former top overall pick has had two stints on the disabled list this season–the second due to an oblique strain–and this was just his second start since returning.

And like Vogey, he struggled early.  Strasburg had never lost a decision to the Giants in a regular-season contest (excluding Game 1 of the 2014 NLDS) and the Giants’ hitters came with a plan.  Half of their eight hits came on the first pitch, including RBI singles by Matt Duffy and Buster Posey in the first inning.  Strasburg also settled down, pitching six innings, but the damage done in the first—starting with Gregor Blanco’s leadoff triple—really hurt.

“Obviously, they were swinging first pitch a lot in that inning.  I wanted to keep establishing the fastball and get that going because everything needed to fall into place.  I just made some mistakes,” Strasburg admitted.

Like a Ferrari that’s perpetually getting worked on and fussed over at the auto shop, Strasburg’s career hasn’t gained nearly the traction that the Nationals had hoped for.  The 27-year old was famously shut down in 2012 as his team faltered in the playoffs without him.  The plan to restrict his innings that season seemed to make sense as Strasburg made 64 starts over the next two seasons.  But he wasn’t a knockout, winning 22, losing 20.

Those two seasons still stand as his only full seasons, and the powerful starter has only pitched one complete game in 124 career starts.  And after the Giants introduced him to high-stakes baseball in Game 1 last fall, Strasburg’s yet to win a post-season game.

The Giants see another old post-season foe on Friday night as Max Scherzer makes his first start at AT&T Park since April 19, 2009 when he was pitching for Arizona.  The Giants faced Scherzer in Game 4 of the 2012 World Series in Detroit, and the flamethrower pitched into the seventh inning, allowing three runs in a game the Giants went on to win 4-3, breaking a 3-3 tie in the 10^th inning to clinch the world title.

By Morris Phillips

It had to be the first directive, leading off the Giants’ scouting report for the Astros.   And whatever the specific plan, Madison Bumgarner and Chris Heston followed it to the letter for the first 15 of the needed 18 innings.

Don’t let one of these guys launch one.

The Astros came into Tuesday’s series finale with an objective: do anything to avoid a disastrous, 1-8 road trip that saw them lose three in Texas, three of four in Oakland and the series opener at AT&T Park.  And befitting the club that leads all of baseball in homers, they approached the plate itching for rookie Chris Heston to make a mistake.  For the AL West leaders, an obvious strategy, but with a twist.

The Astros didn’t grow impatient as the game wore on scoreless, instead they showed just the needed amount of patience.

Colby Rasmus homered off Heston in the seventh, Jed Lowrie connected off George Kontos in the eighth, and Houston starter Scott Feldman made it stand up, pitching six, scoreless innings in the Astros 2-0 win over the Giants.

“I made one mistake.  I left a fastball a little bit up there, and he made me pay for it.  Good piece of hitting and you just have to tip your cap,” Heston said of Rasmus’ game-deciding homer.

During the first six innings, Heston and Feldman were in control, pitching ahead in the count, retiring hitters, and doing their best to counter picture-perfect conditions and still air that clearly favored the entirety of the gathered sluggers.  The Astros lineup—lefty-leaning with four changes from Tuesday—had deep threats 1 through 8, and six of their eight position players already with double-digit home runs.

The Giants no doubt had their collective eyes on the outfield wall as well with Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, and the Brandons hitting 3 through 6.

But Heston and Feldman held the advantage, as the Astros drew four walks, but ran themselves out of a situation in the sixth, while the Giants were even quieter with just three hits.  Coming off the disabled list to start for just the fifth time, Feldman was done after six.  Bochy, no doubt encouraged by Heston’s outing after two subpar ones, let his starter continue into the seventh.

That’s where Heston ran into Rasmus.

In the fourth, Rasmus had drawn a walk on Heston after falling behind 0-2.  The at-bat consumed eight pitches and loaded the bases for Evan Gattis, but the slugger grounded out to end the inning.  Little accomplishd, but likely Rasmus had seen all that Heston had to offer.

In the seventh, Heston’s 0-1 fastball was up and Rasmus launched it—one bounce on the outer walkway and into McCovey Cove.

Then in the eighth, Jed Lowrie, the least slugger for Houston with just four bombs coming in, got a hold of Kontos’ offering where he took a little off a 3-2 pitch, and Lowrie, feeling healthier after dealing with issues from surgery on his hand, put a little on.

“I feel that was bigger than mine.  A big at-bat,” Rasmus said of Lowrie’s shot.  “Proud of him.”

The loss was the Giants fifth in their last six games, and after the Dodgers shutout the Nationals Wednesday night, they find themselves 3 ½ games behind the division leaders.  The Cubs also won Wednesday, 3-2 over the Brewers, so the Giants trail Chicago by 4 ½ games in the hunt for the second wild card spot.

The Astros improved upon baseball’s best interleague record, moving to 11-3 in 2015.  Houston has hit 158 home runs and they are 39-7 when they hit more than one in a game.  The Astros haven’t been eight games over .500 and in first place this late in a season since 2003.

Nori Aoki experienced post-concussion symptoms during the game and was taken out in the fourth inning, replaced by Justin Maxwell.  Bochy hinted that the setback could land the veteran hitter on the disabled list.

The Giants continue their homestand on Thursday at 7:15pm when Stephen Strasburg matches up with Ryan Vogelsong.

By Morris Phillips

Wiped out at Wrigley.  A new wave of injuries.   Bum, an iffy Cain, and pray for several days of rain.

For the Giants, life as defending champions has been filled with optimism, inconsistent play and a lot of injuries. Start with the revolving door of a disabled list, add the team’s recent, dismal play and questions about the team’s post-season viability multiply like signs of global warming.

Simple math–with 51 games to play, the Giants look like the seventh horse in a six-team race for five playoff spots.  Clearly better than the eight also-rans below them in the National League standings and slightly poorer than the six clubs ahead of them, the Giants are in need of changing the math dramatically in the remaining eight weeks.

With limited options, the Giants maintained a steady presence in San Diego over the weekend scouting the Phillies’ Chase Utley.  The 36-year old infielder is hitting .189 with 228 at-bats in an injury-marred season.  Could Utley keep the Giants from Panik-ing about Joe’s absence at second base?  Sure, but this would be more of an insurance move than an upgrade.

So the Giants appear married to improvement within the ranks.  But the immediate schedule offers no breaks.  Monday marks the only day off in a 23-game stretch of playoff contenders that actually gets tougher in the remaining 13 games.  After home games against the Astros and Nationals, the Giants visit St. Louis and Pittsburgh, homes of arguably the two best teams in baseball.

Following that stretch: one day off, then the Cubs, Cardinals again and then three games at Dodgers Stadium.

If the Giants can survive the next 22 games, they could thrive in the final 29.  In the final month, only the four home games against the Dodgers figure to be against a team with a winning record.

Trailing the Dodgers by three games in the NL West, and the Cubs by 3 ½ games in the wild card, the Giants will likely have to accomplish both.  Winning 12 of the next 22, and then 19 of the final 29 would give the Giants 90 wins.  Win 90, and the Dodgers would have to win 29 of their remaining 50 games to avoid a one-game playoff with their rivals.

On Monday at press time, the Dodgers were putting the final touches on a four-game losing streak of their own, losing 7-0 to Nationals at home.

Could the Giants catch the Cubs?  Sure, but it figures to be a much tougher task.  With 52 games remaining, Chicago has more games against bottom dwellers Milwaukee and Philadelphia (13), than they do against the Cardinals and Pirates (12).   Plus, after a dismal weekend in Chicago, the Cubs appear to be a better, and more resourceful club than the Giants.  In contrast, the Dodgers look vulnerable.

But before the Giants can conquer their competition, they must answer the questions about themselves.

The biggest issue is the health of Panik, Andrew Susac, Mike Leake and Nori Aoki.  Aoki will be evaluated before Tuesday’s game after he was hit in the head by a pitch on Sunday and was removed in the third inning.  Susac, Panik and Leake are expected to be healthy enough to return in the next 10 to 14 days.  Without that quartet, the remainder of August gets that much tougher as the team’s depth and versatility has taken a noticeable hit.

In his weekly turn on KNBR Monday, Giants’ broadcaster Mike Krukow focused on the team’s depth, saying “they don’t have a lot of guys able to come up for an at-bat late in a ball game.”

The team’s overall pitching thus far has been simply OK.  Currently, seventh in the NL in team ERA, the Giants trail all of the other six teams vying for the NL playoffs.  Conversely, their pitching numbers are noticeably better than the league’s eight also-rans.

For improvement, the Giants need some quality starts from Jake Peavy, Ryan Vogelsong, Chris Heston and Matt Cain.  All four were roughed up in Chicago, and Heston suffered his second, subpar outing.  Cain hasn’t been effective since his return, and Peavy saw 32 of his 101 pitches fouled off on Sunday.  Vogelsong allowed six hits in four innings in his first start since June 11.  Vogey hasn’t really pitched well over a stretch of appearances since May.

If those four can’t change their luck, Tim Lincecum and Tim Hudson could be in the mix.  But the likelihood either will be activated before September 1?  Extremely slim.

Offensively, the Giants have the answers, but the lineup needs to regain health and stability.  Susac’s return could be critical with Buster Posey hitting everything, but likely to wear down without a break or two.  Pagan, Aoki and Blanco are limping to the finish, but could show improvement with regular rest.  Hopefully, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford and Hunter Pence can be catalysts with Matt Duffy a question mark because the lithe infielder hasn’t played a full season at the big league level yet.

The bullpen’s been managed wisely as of late, but overall, the relief core hasn’t been great.  In order for the Giants to thrive, the relievers—led by Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo—may have to be great down the stretch.   One good sign: the bullpen has its health for the first time with Hunter Strickland, Jeremy Affeldt and Yusmiero Petit poised for increased workloads.

On Tuesday, the Giants open a six-game homestand with Madison Bumgarner facing Scott Kazmir at 7:15pm.

By Morris Phillips

The Dodgers got a deal done, and Cole Hamels is off the market.  So what did the Giants do?

They just kept on winning with the guys they got.

Fans inside sold-out AT&T Park had to sit patiently for more than two hours after first pitch, but then right on cue, the Giants responded with a five-run explosion for all the measurable offense in their 5-0 win over the Brewers.  Winners of 13 of 15, the Giants have caught the Dodgers in the NL West with 61 games remaining to play.

So is it deal or no deal for the defending World champs?

“We have a team that we’re proud of,” Giants GM Bobby Evans said when asked if the team would deal before the game.  “I think not making a deal is an option.  But if you can make a deal that make sense, you’ll do it.”

If they do deal, the Giants will likely splurge on a starting pitcher that would put them more in line with the Nationals and Dodgers in terms of rotation quality.  If so, they would appear to be down to Jeff Samardzija and David Price on the high end, San Diego’s James Shields and other lesser names could be possibilities as well.

Andrew Susac and highly-regarded, first round pick Tyler Beede could be among those players that would move to complete such a deal and therein lies the rub.  All of sudden the Giants are seeing big benefits from keeping their prospects like Matt Duffy, Chris Heston and Joe Panik were before they literally overnight became indispensable for the Giants at big-league level.

If standing pat feels like the smarter play, then Jake Peavy sure did look good on Wednesday.  The 34-year old veteran frustrated the Brewers for six inning in his best outing of the season.  Peavy’s only had seven starts but this was the best of the bunch with four hits and no walks allowed.  In the sixth, and facing Ryan Braun for the third time, Peavy had enough in the tank to strike out the slugger.

“He had really good stuff, he really kept it down.  He’s been throwing the ball really well since he came back,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Peavy.

Milwaukee’s Mike Fiers wasn’t bad either, thus the long wait for any offense on Wednesday.  Fiers allowed just two hits in the first six innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

Matt Duffy opened the seventh with a single, and the next batter, Hunter Pence doubled home Duffy and the Giants had a lead.  Brewers’ manager Craig Counsel then lifted Fiers, but reliever Will Smith let three of the four batters he faced reach, and the Giants extended the lead to 4-0.

Jonathon Broxton was the third Milwaukee pitcher of the inning, and he allowed a sacrifice fly to Gregor Blanco that chased home Ehire Adrianza to cap the scoring.

Hunter Strickland needed 11 pitches to record an out, and 20 to get the Giants out of the seventh, but he succeeded, which gave him the win, not Peavy.  Strickland hadn’t won a major league game since September 2014.

Sergio Romo pitched the eighth and Javier Lopez had a hitless ninth to close it out.  Pence was the only Giant to rack up a pair of hits, and Adrianza’s two-run single put the Giants up 4-0.

The Dodgers acquired Mat Latos and Michael Morse from the Marlins in exchange for a trio of minor leaguers, none of which are considered to be highly regarded.  Morse helped the Giants win the title last season only to sign with Miami in the winter.  The Dodger also picked up Jim Johnson, Alex Wood and Luis Avilan in exchange for Dodgers’ prospect Hector Olivera and two other minor leaguers.

The Rangers ponied up the preferred package for Hamels on Wednesday, sending six prospects to the Philadelphia in exchange for the 31-year former All-Star.  Hamels pitched a no-hitter over the weekend no doubt enhancing his trade value.  Were the Giants as willing as Texas was to add Hamels?

Probably not, but stay tuned until Friday afternoon.  This situation remain fluid.

The Dodgers rallied Wednesday night from a 6-3 deficit in the seventh to beat the A’s 10-7 at Dodgers Stadium.  The win allowed Los Angeles to regain their half-game lead over the Giants in NL West.

On Friday night, Madison Bumgarner gets the nod in the heat of Rangers Park in Arlington.  Bumgarner will opposed by Texas’ Nick Martinez.

By Morris Phillips

40-year old Tim Hudson had a lot on his plate Monday night.

In his return from the disabled list after nearly a month of rehab and inactivity, the veteran pitcher was asked to subdue the suddenly-hot Padres in their ballpark and do so with the limited number of bullets in his arm due to all the time off.

Throw in the difficulties the entire Giants team has had in the venue—losing 13 of their last 18 games at Petco Park—and the stingy reputation of Hudson’s pitching counterpart Ian Kennedy, the veteran pitcher knew he needed to be effective and efficient from the start.

But Hudson appeared shaky from the start, escaping any damage in the first inning but throwing 28 pitches in the process as his pitch command was an issue from the beginning.  Not surprisingly, Hudson didn’t last long—pitching four innings allowing three runs—in the Giants 4-2 loss.

The Dodgers also fell, 7-5 in Atlanta, so the Giants remain 3 ½ games behind the division leaders in the NL West, and one game behind the Chicago Cubs in the race for the second wild-card spot the Giants captured last season.

The loss ended the Giants’ six-game win streak and increased the Padres’ streak to five straight wins, a season best run for them.  With San Diego and slugger Matt Kemp heating up, the Giants have to now gear up for the next two days against their closest pursuer in the still wide-open NL West.

Kemp homered over the center field fence off Hudson in the third inning to give the Padres a 2-1 lead in the third.  The Padres’ high-profile acquisition in the off-season struggled in May and June as his team faltered, prompting the firing of manager Bud Black.  But now, the slugger is heating up as Kemp has homered four times in the team’s last seven games, after going deep only six times in the team’s first 86 games.

“That’s probably one of my better swings of this year,” Kemp said.  “It’s a tough place to hit a home run, right center.”

Hudson loaded the bases in the fifth without retiring a batter, and manager Bruce Bochy opted for Yusmeiro Petit, who escaped the damage only allowing an RBI sacrifice fly that gave San Diego a 3-2 lead.

But with Kennedy dealing, and the Padres’ bullpen in support, the Giants were stymied the rest of the way with setup man Joaquin Benoit and closer Craig Kimbrell shutting the door in the eighth and ninth innings.

Gregor Blanco homered in the third inning to give the Giants their only lead.  It was Blanco’s third home run of the season.

On Monday, the Giants announced that Tim Lincecum has a degenerative hip issue that will continue to leave him unavailable to the club for the forseeable future.  Also, as Hudson was activated, long-time reliever Jean Machi was designated for assignment.

As much as Hudson remains a hero in San Francisco for his contributions to the team’s 2014 World Championship run, he still figures to be scrutinized as closely in the coming weeks as he has at any part of the career.  Having just turned 40 during his period of inactivity, the veteran knows that his 5-8 record and ERA near five won’t cut it for a team with post-season hopes.  The trade deadline will determine how much the team values Hudson going forward.

Bochy refused to speculate on Hudson’s fate after the game when asked by local reporters.

On Tuesday, the Giants turn to rookie Chris Heston in a matchup with the Padres’ Odrisamer Despaigne at 7:05pm.  Despaigne has pitched well against the Giants but has gone seven starts without a victory dating back to May 31.