Stanton, Marlins make fish food of tired Giants

BOX SCORE

MIAMIRyan Theriot stood on third base catching his breathafter his sinking line turned into a triple. Tim Flannery leaned in close.

You know, Flannery told him, If its a different score,its a different story.

If the Giants were trailing by one run instead of four inthe eighth inning, Flannery wouldve waved around Theriot to try for aninside-the-park home run. But youve got to play to the scoreboard. Youve gotto control your environment.

Besides, the prospect of another 90 feet didnt exciteTheriot.

He said hes too old for that, Flannery said.

Even the youngest Giants looked ready to move into Del Boca Vista in a 5-3 loss tothe Miami Marlins on Saturday. Madison Bumgarner, the 22-year-old left-hander,gave up a pair of doubles to Giancarlo Stanton, the 22-year-old reincarnationof Josh Gibson. The Giants couldnt turn a double play in the Marlinsthree-run third inning.

The bats battled to get the go-ahead run to the plate in theninth and send off struggling closer Heath Bell to another shower of boos fromthe South Florida crowd. But Gregor Blanco ended his otherwise fine game with astrikeout, and the Giants continued their tread-water season by falling to24-23 overall, 12-13 in May, and 3-3 with a game to go on their road trip.

They are 16 games into a stretch of 20 without a day off.And its beginning to show.

Im sure some of them are a little tired, Giants managerBruce Bochy said. It goes with the territory. Youre playing 20 in a row, buttheyre doing a good job. The last two games, they came back and showed a lotof life. Its a grind. Thats why you try to keep them as fresh as possible.

Bochy said he still plans to play Buster Posey behind theplate on Sunday and give him Monday night off when Barry Zito takes the moundat AT&T Park.

The manager also continued to assert that Gregor Blancowould be out there every day as his leadoff hitter, although Blanco is prettymuch making that statement himself with the way hes played. Before making thefinal out, he singled in each of his first three tripsincluding a pair ofinfield hits. Blanco turned his hips and slapped a single in the first inning,beating the play even though shortstop Jose Reyes charged the ball, made aperfect pickup and threw accurately.

Blanco said when he has a bad game, he reminds himself thathes getting the chance to play every day. That immediately brightens his mood.

This game is all about opportunity, he said, somehowmaking the clich sound poignant.

Here is another clich: Dont let the other teams besthitter beat you.

For the Marlins, that would be Stanton, and by any othername, he destroys the Giants. He is 7-for-12 with three doubles and two homeruns in the series. He hit them nearly as hard three weeks ago at AT&TPark, too.

Not that the Giants are pumping batting practice to him.

You get a player whos hot and for some reason, they find away to get mistakes, Bochy said. They get pitches to hit. You go back toBarry Bonds. Sometimes youre too careful and thats when you make a mistake.

Said Bumgarner: Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, thatsprobably a little bit of what happened. You know what youre going to do. Iwasnt able to do it.

A night earlier, Bochy fumed over errors and baserunningmistakes. There was more of the same for the Giants Saturday, and one of themseemed to be a more egregious baserunning gaffe when Angel Pagan, after aleadoff double in the seventh, got thrown out on Brett Pills ground ball backto the mound.

The Giants were down 5-1 at the time. But Pagan got a hallpass.

Thats a tough one, Bochy said. You know, he plays sohard. He said he made a mistake there, but the way it was hit, it looked likeit was going up the middle. Thats the toughest ball for a guy on second baseto read.

Bochy also didnt fault first baseman Brett Pill for hiscritical decision in the Marlins three-run third inning. With the bases loadedand one out, Pill fielded Logan Morrisons grounder and went to second basewhen he might have had a play at home. The Giants got the force at second base,but with Stantons considerable frame bearing down on Emmanuel Burriss, thethrow to first base skipped past Bumgarner for an error that allowed a secondrun to score.

Hes got the choice there, Bochy said. He might have hada chance, but weve got to play the infield back at that point. Its his read,and the ball took him towards second (base). We just didnt quite get thedouble play.

Said Pill: It wasnt hit too hard, a chopper. By the time Icaught it, I didnt have a play at home at all. Maybe if somebody else wasrunning (from third) Id be more aggressive but (Omar Infante) had a prettygood jump.

Said Burriss: Stantons a big dude.

And the Giants were pushed over.