|
|
|
|
|
Giants show signs of playing out the string
By Jeremy Harness September 27, 2006 |
||
|
|
|||
|
After months of being in the middle of the wide-open National League’s playoff chase, the Giants finally played bad enough to take themselves out of it, and they will be subjected to play meaningless games from here on out. During Wednesday afternoon’s 6-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park, as they had last weekend, they played like they had nothing to play for. Arizona took the game to the Giants all day long on Wednesday, starting in the very first inning, when Bay Area native-Giants killer Eric Byrnes nailed a two-run homer off young starter Jonathan Sanchez. The Giants tied the game on Eliezer Alfonzo’s own two-run shot in the bottom of the second inning and momentarily took the lead when Moises Alou stole home (yes, you read that right, one of the most slow-footed players the Giants ever had, actually stole home). However, the Diamondbacks grabbed the lead back when Byrnes’ ground ball scored Chris Young. Son thereafter, Orlando Hudson scored on a wild pitch. Arizona would tack on two more runs in their half of the ninth to put the game on ice. Sanchez put on a decent performance, giving up only two earned runs (four total) on five hits over six innings, but he was tagged for his first loss of the season against three wins. Arizona’s Claudio Vargas lasted 6 2/3 innings and gave up only three runs on four hits and got his 12th win of the year. The Giants will now bring on the always-welcome Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series that starts on Friday night at AT&T Park. Noah Lowry will take the hill that night against the Dodgers’ Hong-Chih Kuo. Matt Cain will take on Greg Maddux on Saturday afternoon while Jason Schmidt will pitch in the season finale against one-time World Series hero Derek Lowe, a matchup that will take place Sunday afternoon. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||