SAN FRANCISCO -– And they are the second place Giants again -– sort of the way you figured it would go, really.
As they did Friday behind Zack Greinke, the Los Angeles Dodgers comprehensively smothered the Giants, this time 5-0 behind The High Lord Kershaw. And with the 8-1 win of Friday barely cooling, the Giants now find themselves a half-game behind the Dodgers in the NL West race.
In the two games, the Giants have amassed nine singles, which we needn’t tell you is some pretty Padretastic offense.
They are now left to ask new arrival Jake Peavy to win his first game since April; Peavy faces Hyun-Jin Ryu in a 5 p.m. start that could if it goes wrong negate the 5-2 road trip the Giants just barely finished. Peavy arrived during the game Saturday night, and seems rarin’ to re-establish his old National League bonafides, even though those were seven years ago.
On the up side, nobody was hurt for the first day in a row, and catcher Andrew Susac, called up to cover for concussed Hector Sanchez, is still a candidate to become Tim Lincecum’s new preferred catcher.
Starting pitching report
Ryan Vogelsong opened by retiring his first 11 hitters, but found out that a perfect game would never be enough against Clayton Kershaw. He found out the hard way, in fact, as Adrian Gonzalez’ line drive to right headed straight into Hunter Pence’s view of the sun, and Hanley Ramirez subsequent bloop single scored him with the only run Kershaw would need. Vogelsong then spent the rest of his outing clawing with middling success out of jams (11 of 15 Dodgers reached base, including fielder’s choices), and he left after six innings, allowing eight hits and four runs, two earned over 106 pitches.
Bullpen report
Jean Machi gave up a run in the seventh on singles to Dee Gordon, Gonzalez and a double by Ramirez (the Dodgers had four doubles to go with the four triples the night before, and have nine extra-base hits in the series), but Yusmeiro Petit, whom Peavy displaced in the rotation, threw perfect eighth and ninth innings.
At the plate
Please. Against Kershaw? What in God’s name are you thinking? Blanco’s ground single in the first broke up his perfect game, Michael Morse walked in the fifth and scratched out a single in the seventh, and Joaquin Arias reached on an error in the sixth. None got close enough to speak in a normal tone to third base coach Tim Flannery, and the Giants were 0-for-9 leading off innings. The complete game was Kershaw’s fourth of the year, putting him one behind St. Louis, and tied with Texas, the New York Yankees and Cincinnati.
If it helps at all, Dodger closer Kenley Jansen warmed up for fun in the ninth.
In field
Hunter Pence’s failure to catch the sun in the top of the fourth led to the winning run, as Gonzalez’ brilliantly placed line drive got all of the life-giving orb and whizzed a good 15 feet to Pence’s left for a double. Hanley Ramirez followed with a bloop single to left that scored Gonzalez but that left fielder Michael Morse turned into third out when he got Ramirez trying to stretch his single into something more. Dan Uggla also shorthopped a throw to Buster Posey in what looked like a benighted attempt to throw out Triples Puig at the plate in the sixth.
On the other hand, Gregor Blanco made a sliding catch to steal a hit from Puig in the first, but it all seems so insignificant in the face of the evening’s overwhelming Kershawism.
Attendance
The Giants extended their streak of announcing sellouts to 301 with a list of numbers that read 42,060, the largest set of numbers since the Cubs came to town and beat the Giants, 8-4, behind future Athletic Jeff Samardzija.
Up next
The Peav (1-9, 4.72 ERA) makes his Giants debut (and his 326th career start, in case you’re planning on bringing a cake) in a 1:05 getaway against Ryu (11-5, 3.39). Then the Pirates come to town starting Monday, whether you like it or not.
