BOX SCORE
ANAHEIMIts been awhile since the Giants lost with RyanVogelsong on the mound. Their 6-0 defeat at Angel Stadium Wednesday nightsnapped an eight-start string of victories behind their intense, armor-platedright-hander.
But Vogelsong hasnt forgotten how to fall on the sword after a loss.
Despite throwing his 12th quality outing in 13assignments this season, and getting zero run support as part of the deal, Vogelsong blamed himselffor not being able to match Angels ace right-hander Jered Weaver.
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For me to get people to start to believe that Im for real,Ive gotta beat No. 1s. The Kershaws, the Weaversand I wasnt able to do thattonight, Vogelsong said. Thats disappointing. I still feel Ive got somethingto prove every time I step on the field.
For people to stop thinking last year was a fluke, againstWeaver, those are the games Ive gotta win.
The Giants wont tangle with Weaver or the Angels again, andthey can thank the big Halo in the sky for that. More than one player grumbledsomething to the effect of, lets get out of this place after dropping two ofthree to this power-hitting, athletic lineup and tenacious pitching staff. TheAngels, who can bash with anyone now that Albert Pujols is feeling like his oldself, also lead the majors with 10 shutout victories.
But its about to get tougher for the Giants. A lot tougher.
San Francisco Giants
After a weekend series at Oakland, the Giants will face all threeNL division leaders in consecutive series. First, the Dodgers and Reds arrive for a seven-gamehomestand. Then the Giants hit the road for Washington DC to face the NLEast-leading Nationals. Theyll finish the first half with a series atPittsburgh, and yes, the Pirates have a winning record, too.
Looking ahead to the showdown series with the Dodgers, thepitching matchups look to be Nate Eovaldi vs. Barry Zito on Monday, followedby a Kershaw-Vogelsong matchup and then Tim Lincecum vs. Chad Billingsley.
Vogelsong already defeated Kershaw once this season, at Dodger Stadium.
For now, at least, leave it to Vogelsong to sum up a serieswhile also forecasting what lies ahead:
Theyre a good team, he said of the Angels. For us to getwhere we need to go, these are the teams we need to beat.
The Giants just finished a run of cupcakes in June. They are11-7 in the month2-4 against the Rangers and Angels, and 9-3 against clubswith losing records. They did what was necessary against the Cubs, Padres andAstros.
(And pity those Astros, by the way. Theyll have to figureout a way to beat the Angels and Rangers when they move to the AL West nextseason.)
The Angels were a different challenge, even though JeredWeaver was on an 80-pitch limit.
Running up his pitch count was easier said than done.
If a guys throwing strikes, said Giants catcher BusterPosey, theres nothing you can really do but get in there and battle.
The Giants lost the war. Weaver completed six innings withtwo pitches to spare and Giants didnt get a runner past second base.
"He did a good job changing speeds, changing eye levels," Posey said.
Yeah, he was on, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. He cameoff the DL and didnt look like he missed a beat. I dont know if we hit anyballs hard off him. We just didnt do anything offensively. We ran into a verywell pitched game.
He pounds the strike zone. Hes got great command. Its notlike you can go up there and take against someone like that. He was throwingstrikesquality strikes.
The Angels hit a few of Vogelsongs quality strikes, too.Erick Aybar rolled over a curveball for an RBI single off the glove ofshortstop Brandon Crawford. Mike Trout had the most impressive swing,especially for a 20-year old.
Two-seamer down and in, Vogelsong said. He just pulledhis hands in and fisted it over the infield.
For the Giants, it was a punch to the gut. They have a dayoff to heed a standing eight count. But considering the schedule, theyll needto get better in a hurry.