Dodgers sent home crying on Belt's belt

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The famous line kicks off Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” but this was a tale of two swings, one good and one bad. Or maybe it was a tale of two pitchers, one young and one decidedly not.

It was definitely the tale of the weekend series as the Giants gifted away one contest but still finished off a series win Sunday with a 2-1 home win over Los Angeles.

"At least he didn't spike himself." -- Harry Doyle. (AP Photo)

Jake Peavy continued his handshake deal with Ponce de Leon, tossing six scoreless innings and notching his 150th career victory.  

The 35-year-old Peavy outdueled Dodgers’ rookie hot shot Julio Urias, a man more than a decade and a half his junior making his fourth career start.

Peavy didn’t dominate but he made the pitches he needed and some help from his defense. He allowed just four hits (three by Chase Utley), striking out three with a walk and exited the game after a tidy 90 pitches. In his recent run, Peavy has been at his best when accepting his limitations. No longer a power pitcher, he’s at his best when staying around the edges and letting his defense make plays.

Control has been an issue for Urias, the 19-year-old AAA phenom who had yet to find his grove in the bigs. The Giants certainly hope there isn’t much more to this guy, who dominated the hobbled a San Francisco offense right up to the point that he didn’t. He logged a best-to-date seven strikeouts and allowed four hits over 5 1/3 innings in his longest outing of the year.

The problem for LA was it was two batters too long.

There was a whole lot of nothing for much of the game. All of the scoring took place within the span of four outs. For the remainder, the most exciting moments were a diving Mac Williamson catch in left and ESPN television crew debating the value of garlic fries and cha-cha bowls. Oh, and there was another Buster Posey Olympic bat toss audition.

Urias had surrendered just two hits when Joe Panik stepped to the plate with one gone in the sixth. The Giants hadn’t had a hit since Matt Duffy and Brandon Crawford logged back-to-back singles in the second, but Panik stroked a solid single into right. Brandon Belt then did something decidedly stronger, launching his eighth homer of the year into the seats in right center.

Peavy left the game in line for the win, but in the shaky hands of the Giants bullpen. Hunter Strickland quickly made a tired Peavy look like the better option (we didn’t think that possible). After Trayce Thompson lined out, Joc Pederson launched a no-doubt bomb into McCovey Cove that cut the lead in half.

And thus began the carousel. Six relievers combined to pitch the final three innings. Yes, even Santiago Casilla got into the game, working the last two outs for his 13th save.

I just drove in two, so gimme ten. (AP Photo)

The Giants did have a chance to add on in the seventh but wasted Crawford's lead-off triple. Overall the Giants had five tries with runners in scoring position but came up empty.

It hasn’t been pretty, but after stumbling through Atlanta and St. Louis, the Giants (38-26) have won three of their last four and pushed their NL West lead over The Hated Dodgers back to five games. If only they hadn’t gacked away Friday night.

Bruised and battered but still fighting, the G—Men maybe starting to get healthy. Matt Cain returns from the disabled list to get the pitching start Monday against Milwaukee. Angel Pagan is on rehab with AAA Sacramento and could be back as early as Wednesday.

Hunter Pence is still out until August. This isn’t fiction, sorry. No Dickensian twists here.

Cain (1-5, 5.20 ERA) has been out with a right hamstring strain since May 27 and gets to square off with Chase Anderson (4-6, 4.21) when the Brewers come in.

Oh, and, Rosebud (just kidding).

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