Glove work, late rally leave much to be desired

So much for the era of good feeling. With Buster Posey on the DL and both Brandon Crawford and Denard Span in the bench, the Giants modest two-game win streak didn't reach three. A 4-3 loss to Arizona on a wet night at AT&T Park dropped the presumed contenders to 3-6 on the young but already frustrating season that has this blogger feeling like he just go dragged ofa United flight by Neegan from "The Walking Dead".

Can this guy play the outfield?

Starting hurlers Jeff Samardzija and Robbie Ray posted almost identical numbers but had very different results as one misplay separated them before a late rally came up 120 feet short.

Posey was sidelined after being beaned by a fastball on Monday and will miss at least a week, so with the team's cleanup hitter missing it made perfect sense to sit the lead-off and number-five guys. Span's offense wasn't missed because it's been non-existent anyway but his glove was another story. Let's explain.

The Giants wasted an early chance against Ray. After Edwin Nunez spanked an infield single with one out in the second, Ray became more obsessed with first base than I was on my first date (a long, long time ago). A pair of walks filled the bases, but Samardzija whiffed and Gorkys Hernandez flied out to deep left to leave 'em loaded.

Samardzija was unable to help himself at the plate but Ray had no such problem. He and AJ Pollock opened up the third with base hits and Paul Goldschmidt followed with a one-out walk as the Diamondbacks re-created the bases-loaded, one-out situation; and they cashed it in. Hernandez appeared to have a read on Mike Lamb's deep drive to left center but whiffed on the catch, turning a sac fly into a three-run triple.

Remember opening day? Yep, that was Hernandez playing kickball in left. He got the start why? Since the D-backs benefited on both occasions, expect Hernandez to receive a nice fruit basket from Arizona management.

Good teams do good things. Bad teams do bad things. Arizona led 3-0. Guess which team was which.

To emphasize the point, the Giants put two men on in the third but again failed to score. Hunter Pence walked and Nick Hundley singled, but in between Aaron Hill's drive to deep center was run down by Pollock. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. This was having a compound fracture embedded in a salt lick.

It felt as though Samardzija spent most of the evening dancing on the cliff's edge with one foot on a banana peel yet he came one out short of completing seven innings, allowing just those damnable three runs on five hits. Ray would go the same distance while allowing one fewer hit, but he got defensive help. 

There's the ball, and there's the glove.Note they are not together.

San Francisco did make some noise against Diamondbacks reliever JJ Hoover, getting the tying run to the plate before Hill grounded out to end the seventh. After the bullpen served up another run to make it 4-0 Arizona, the Giants had an opportunity to crawl back into the game in the bottom of the eighth. Hundley's double and a Nunez infield single set the table, but the suck hole that has been left field struck again. Chris Marrero hit into a double play. What, you didn't see that coming? 

Joe Panik delivered the Giants first run with a two-out double to score Hundley, leaving the Giants looking up at those same three runs. A HBP got the tying run to the plate but Hernandez (who else?) fanned to end the threat. I don't have Santiago Casilla to hate any more so Hernandez is my new guy. He's Michael Jackson, wearing a glove on one hand for no apparent reason.

The G-men did get one more look at the game, getting the winning run to the plate in the ninth. Hundley's third hit of the night was a two-out double to chase home Pence, who had reached on a walk. Nunez singled in Hundley, then stole second to put the equalizer in scoring position for the pinch-hitting Crawford. 

Cue the storybook ending, then rip out the page. Crawford struck out.

So the Giants found another way to lose. Sometimes it's pitching, sometimes it's offense, and here it was glove work. Hey, ya gotta give points for originality...and variety. I swear, if these guys could put it all together for one game they'd be dangerous. Instead they're still looking for answers.

San Francisco is already underwater with a 2-4 mark against the snakes headed. They'll try to inch closer behind Matt Cain (really?) as the series wraps on Wednesday. We'll open a tab, just in case.