NORAD reports massive aerial activity in St. Louis

There are games were you tip your cap to the other team and say "Today they were better". Saturday was not one of those days. Saturday was a day where the proper response was to be utterly pissed off.

For the second straight outing Jeff Samardzija was low-grade dog food, coughing up a four-run lead with an embarrassing series of long balls that had him rivaling NASA for the number of rockets launched in a 7-4 loss at St. Louis.

Samardzija can't watch as Adams circles. We felt the same. (AP Photo)

The hits came faster than you could get from a Top-40 radio station (remember those?) as the Giants went from up 4-0 to down 6-4 in the span of nine hitters. After being granted a comfortable lead, The Shark looked like a fish out of water as the Cardinals swatted four home runs in one trip through the order to even the three-game series at a game apiece.

Samardzija had allowed just five homers in 80 innings coming into the contest but served up a series of BP fastballs that killed any momentum the Giants had built against their personal lackey, Michael Wacha. The righ-thander best remembered for giving up Travis Ishikawa's pennant-winning shot in 2014 came into the affair surrendering 23 runs in his last 23 innings and having lost seven straight decisions. He was on the hook for an eighth before Samardzija turned to goo.

Usually an offensive outburst can be attributed to factors beyond a pitcher's control; an umpire's call, a close play, a funky bounce, an untimely error; any number of things to reduce his culpability. This night, there was no such qualifier. On a team that depends on starting pitching for survival, this performance was death on a plate.

Crawford had the Giants looking good. It didn't last (AP Photo)

Samardzija had hardly been untouchable, giving up three singles over the first four innings, but the damage had been minimal with no Cardinal getting more than 90 feet. Meanwhile, the Giants continued to use Wacha as a punching bag. The Giants put up single runs in four of the first five frames and were cruising, right up to the point they found out someone hadn't tightened the lug nuts.

It started off like the faithful were gonna have a barrel o' fun. Denard Span walked to start the game and scored when Joe Panik followed with an RBI double, Samardzija himself got into the act by notching a two-out RBI single in the second to score Brandon Crawford, who had doubled.

A quiet third appeared to be nothing more than a moment of breath catching as San Francisco struck again in the fourth on a Crawford triple and Span's sac fly. Wacha added some generosity in the fifth, uncorking a wild pitch to score Span, who had singled and advanced to third when Panik one-hopped the wall for a ground-rule double.

Then Samardzija plummeted off the proverbial cliff.

Brandon Moss went deep to start the Cardinal fifth. No big deal, power pitchers sometimes get squared up, right? The Giants still had a 4-1 lead and it was just one pitch. Two quick outs had us thinking it was just a hiccup.

Jemery Hazelbaker singled. That happens. Matt Carpenter doubled. Tying run at the plate. Now it's getting scary. Aledmys Diaz steps up and Samardzija can't throw a strike, falling behind 3-0. Diaz hadn't offered at a 3-0 pitch all year so here's a chance to get back in the strike zone.

Uh-uh. The windup, 3-0 meatball, screamer lined off left field foul pole. Tied at 4-4, and it got worse. Samardzija retired Matt Holiday to end the inning but was back at it in the sixth. Stephen Piscotty led off with a solo shot and Matt Adams went deep two pitches later. Momentum had pulled an Elvis and the Giants never regrouped.

Suddenly we remembered why the pundits had questioned the five-year, $90 million deal the Giants offered up in the off-season; those AL-leading 29 homers allowed last year.

It was kinda like this.

St. Louis added an insurance run in the eighth but it was academic. After getting to Wacha for six hits and a pair of walks in five innings, the Giants got nothing over the last four frames against four Cardinals relievers, which at least didn't inflate the RISP failure numbers. Panik (two doubles) and Crawford (double, triple) were the bulk of the offense.

Samardzija's line was even less than appealing than Wacha's, an unthinkable notion at the game's midway point. In five-plus innings he was touched for nine hits with all six runs being earned. He was limited to a pair of strikeouts but did not walk a batter -- if you're looking for a silver lining.

The evil team from Los Angeles was a 4-0 winner over Atlanta so the Giants (35-23) saw their lead in the NL West trimmed to 4 1/2 games. There's the perspective. They're still in first place and have won 18 times in their last 23 games, but after a game like this one there's a bit of glimmer taken off the disco ball.

The 10-game trip comes to close on Sunday and it's up to Jake Peavy (2-5, 6.34 ERA) to make it a winning roadie. He is coming off his best start since "Glee" was cool ("Glee" was never cool), seven innings of one-hit ball in Atlanta. Carlos Martinez (5-5, 3.69) goes for St. Louis.

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