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Giants top the Dodgers behind Bumgarner
By Morris Phillips July 19, 2010 |
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This time, the Giants made sure Dodger Blue stayed blue. While the Giants stewed over the umpire Phil Cuzzi’s blown call that cost them a four-game sweep of the Mets, they couldn’t lose sight of their opportunity to pull the rug from under their hated rival, the Dodgers--in Los Angeles on Monday night. Besides, they didn’t have to look any further than Sportscenter to know that Los Angeles was suffering too. The Dodgers got beat on Sunday by the Cardinals’ two-run rally in the ninth that dropped them to 0-4 following the All-Star break. Instead of staying mad, the Giants got even, beating the Dodgers, 5-2, behind Madison Bumgarner’s pitching and Nate Schierholtz’s two-run homer. By winning 11 of their last 14 games, the Giants regained second place in the NL West and showed that, at least for now, they’re not bothered by much of anything. The Giants have scored 92 runs in July, the most by any major league club, and their vaunted starting rotation has been stringing together quality starts. For the moment, the Giants appear complete, while other teams, like the Dodgers, look for reinforcements through a trade. With the Dodger owners, the McCourts, in divorce court, the fourth-place squad appears to have their hands tied in attempting to get some healthy, productive starting pitching. Instead of a Cliff Lee or the closest thing to Cliff Lee, Los Angeles had to turn to Triple A call-up James McDonald to face the Giants. And after a promising start, McDonald caved in, surrendering nine hits and four runs to the Giants in the second through fourth innings. Schierholtz provided the climatic blow, but Buster Posey figured in too, driving in the first run on a base hit with Andres Torres on second. Posey extended his hit streak to 13 games by delivering the two-out, run scoring hit. The Florida State-product is hitting .451 in that stretch, and when a rookie hits cleanup in his first game at Dodger Stadium and delivers that says it all. The Giants’ new catcher is the real deal. Bumgarner made his fifth start of the season and simply didn’t let the Dodgers get well. The lefty cruised into the fifth inning, where the Dodgers stretched his pitch count, but couldn’t score. In the sixth, Rafael Furcal got Los Angeles on the board with a long home run into the left field bullpen, but Bumgarner recovered, striking out Andre Ethier and retiring Casey Blake with a runner on. Guillermo Mota got the call, when Bumgarner walked James Loney to put two runners aboard, but Mota got the Giants out of the jam by getting Matt Kemp to hit into a fielder’s choice. Jeremy Affeldt got a big third out in the seventh, after Mota and Sergio Romo allowed the Dodgers to load the bases. In the ninth, Brian Wilson got the ugly save, striking out Casey Blake with the bases loaded to end it. The Giants look to extend their streak of strong play on Tuesday behind Tim Lincecum. The Dodgers will counter with Clayton Kershaw. |
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