Starters aren’t getting job done
For all the talk of more potency at the plate and that great fighting spirit, the Giants will travel only as far as the starting pitchers carry them. That is true for most contending teams, gospel for this one.
The Giants (19-14) have overachieved with a rotation that ranks 10th in the league in ERA. After the Phillies beat them again Tuesday night, with Tim Lincecum falling in the 6-2 defeat, an unpleasant picture that was obscured by those nifty comeback wins came into better focus.
The starters are not getting it done, and until they do, opponents that have their pitching in order will keep beating San Francisco.
“It comes down to consistency with the pitching,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We haven’t quite been as consistent as we normally are. That’s our game. We haven’t hit our stride with the pitching yet. That’s key for us.”
The Phillies secured the series victory at AT&T Park and contributed to an unsettling stat for the Giants. They are 15-6 within the dys-
functional National League West, 3-1 against the woeful Chicago Cubs and 1-7 against the Cardinals, Brewers and Phillies, only one of which has a winning record.
Once Philly leaves town after Wednesday’s game, the tough Braves come to China Basin for four.
The Phillies arrived in San Francisco four games under .500 with a moribund offense that came to life here.
They scored five runs in six innings against Madison Bumgarner on Monday, then got Lincecum for three in the first two innings, and five runs in seven innings overall.
The starters have struggled collectively before and have convened for support and to toss around ideas. Lincecum sees those conversations increasing.
“I think it will be more so just because it’s been put in our minds a little more and it’s in the forefront of what’s been going on,” Lincecum said of the rotation’s ills. “The things we can do to fix it are easier than not.”
Lincecum’s frustration is having excellent stuff, as his three first-inning strikeouts attested, but a bad rhythm to his delivery causing him to misplace pitches.
In this series, Bumgarner and Lincecum stuck the Giants into early holes and forced the offense to play comeback, only this time against the always-tough Cliff Lee and Kyle Kendrick, who has been Philadelphia’s best pitcher in 2013.
After Lincecum fell behind 3-0 after two innings, the Giants joined the fight with big hits from the slumping Brandons — a single by Belt, who was 1-for-16, and a double from Crawford, who was 2-for-32.
Angel Pagan, back in the lineup after his hamstring injury, lined a two-strike pitch to center for a sacrifice fly and a resurgent Marco Scutaro extended his hitting streak to seven games with a double past third base that closed the gap to 3-2.
But once the Giants failed to capitalize on a Michael Young error in the fourth, and Chase Utley slammed a hanging Lincecum slider out of the park for a 4-2 Philly lead in the fifth, the die for this loss was cast.
The only stirring moments came when Jose Mijares returned from his grandmother’s funeral in Venezuela, struck out Domonic Brown to begin the eighth, then struck out Jimmy Rollins to end the inning. Mijares pointed toward the sky, a la Sergio Romo, and seemed to have tears in his eyes.
Mijares allowed a Ryan Howard homer in the ninth and said he was not ready to talk about his grandmother or return to the team.