In an early season battle for first place in the west, the Dodgers make their first trip of the year to AT&T park in hopes to gain some distance between them and the Giants. The Giants had other ideas.
Tuesday April 15 was Jackie Robinson day around major league baseball. In honor of the great player that broke the color barrier in the time of the civil war, every player, coach and on field person wore the number 42. Tim Lincecum took the hill for the Giants in game one, trying to bounce back after a rough start against the D-backs his last time out. In his career he is the only Giants starter that has actually enjoyed facing the Dodgers and has a history of success against the men in blue. Timmy's command was the most important part of all of his starts, as long as he can keep the ball down and hit the corners, it would be a good night. And it was. Lincecum mowed down the Dodgers through 5 innings, his only blemish was a hanging changeup to former Giant Juan Uribe who blasted a home run into the bleachers. Besides the home run, Lincecum had good command of his off-speed pitches. The only problem that he had all night was his inability to get ahead of hitters, each count would always start out 1-0 or 2-0, but he was able to come back and get the hitter out. By not being able to stay ahead of hitters, his pitch count went way up and he was out of the game after the 5th inning. Dodger pitcher Josh Beckett also pitched well this game and threw 5 shutout innings before handing the ball to the Dodger pen. The Giants finally scratched across a run in the 6th, but the Dodgers quickly countered with a run in the 7th. In the bottom of the ninth Brandon Belt came up clutch and hit a double down the line that scored Angel Pagan all the way from first base. 2-2. In the bottom of 12th inning Hector Sanchez became the hero of the night and drove in Brandon Crawford with a single off the glove of second baseman Justin Turner. The Giants bullpen came up clutch for the Giants, only giving up 1 run in 7 innings of work.
San Francisco 3, Los Angeles 2 in 12 innings
Ryan Vogelsong got the nod in game 2 of the series with the Giants now tied with the Dodgers atop the NL West. Vogelsong like Lincecum was hoping to turn around a poor start to the season with a good one at home. He did that and more. He looked like the Vogelsong Giants fans remember from a couple years ago, with his easy calm delivery and great command of all his pitches, he was able to pin point the corners of the strikezone and keep the Dodger hitters off balance. He pitched to contact well and did not give up a run through the first 5 innings. He had a hiccup in the 6th when he walked the opposing pitcher Paul Maholm with two outs, then gave up a triple to Dee Gordon. Vogelsong finished up going 6 innings giving up 4 hits, 2 walks and struck out 2. The bullpen took over and shut it down from there. In the bottom of the 7th the Giants broke the tie with a clutch base hit by Pablo Sandoval. The clutch moment of the game in the top of the 7th when it was bases loaded with one out and pitcher Jean Machi got a ground ball comebacker that started the 1-2-3 double play.
San Francisco 2, Los Angeles 1
The Giants now found themselves in first place in the division and a chance to sweep the Dodgers out of San Francisco. They handed the ball to their ace Madison Bumgarner to try and get them the sweep. It did not work out that way. He was only able to go 4.1 innings and gave up 2 runs on 99 pitches. His biggest issue was the umpire, he was not getting any calls on the outside part of the plate to right handed batters which made his pitch count rise considerably. He became extremely frustrated, so did Buster Posey and Bruce Bochy. Bumgarner made the right pitches when he needed too but the unknown strikezone kept him on edge. The Giants offense was stimied by Dodger starter Hyun Jin Ryu who went 7 strong shutout innings, making up up for his last start against the Giants when he gave up 8 runs in two innings. The Giants made a mini comeback in the ninth inning, scoring one run on a base hit by Ehire Adrianza. Dodger closer Kenly Jansen settled down and got pinch hitter Brandon Crawford to end the game.
Los Angeles 2, San Francisco 1
The Giants with a bitter end to their homestand with the loss to the Dodgers but now hit the road and head down to San Diego tomorrow to take on the Padres. The Giants have played 7 consecutive one run games, the first time the team has ever done that since 1910.
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