San Francisco Giants bested by Dodgers for second time despite late-inning rally

Sept 1, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy reacts during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

San Francisco Giants baseball…torture. I know it’s passé to say, but let’s face it, there’s no getting around the truth. Watching the Giants play baseball means edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting, heart palpitating torture.

They never do easy. Then again, “it’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.” Tom Hanks, A League of Their Own. I know it’s just a movie character’s lines, but when it’s right, it’s right, right?

The theme for this series so far has been pitching duels and one run games. Unfortunately, the Giants were on the wrong side of both in the first game, and then again in the second game of the series. The only good thing that happened Tuesday night was the game ended at ten o’clock. After Monday night’s midnight marathon, the early ending was almost welcomed.

Madison Bumgarner pitched a good game, and although he was the losing pitcher, he allowed two runs (one was a home run) on eight hits, one walk and he struck out eight.

In the eighth inning‒and you can file this under too little, too late‒Gregor Blanco hit a single and scored on Matt Duffy’s base hit. At least the Giants were on the board.

There were a couple of opportunities for the Giants to score, but they couldn’t cash in. In the seventh inning Brandon Belt hit a single, Buster Posey drew a walk and Marlon Byrd hit the ball to the third baseman who threw Byrd out at first.

Manager Bruce Bochy asked for a replay review, but the call on the field was upheld. Then Bochy took exception to a pitch call, and his obvious anger at the calls got him bounced from the game. With two men on board and one out, our new out fielder, Alejandro DeAza struck out and Kelby Tomilinson flied out, ending the inning.

In the eighth, after Blanco scored, Angel Pagan was on second and Matt Duffy was on first when Brandon Belt hit into a double play to end the inning.

The Giants were great on defense, no errors were made‒and Duffy, in particular, made a spectacular play. The Dodgers pitcher, Zack Greinke, was at the plate, with two out and a runner on third, Greinke hit a sharp line drive to left and Duffy stretched himself out flat, air borne, to snatch the ball out of the air, ending the inning and saving the run.

Back from stints on the DL: Pagan played the entire game and made a running, diving catch in the fifth that showed his legs were working much better. Tim Hudson came in from the bullpen and faced two hitters. But the good news is, they’re back! The final score was: Giants 1, Dodgers 2

That makes two out of three for the Dodgers. I really hope we can at least take Wednesday’s game to avoid the sweep. The thing is we’re playing with a banged up, beat up, tired, rag-tag bunch of guys. We’re missing a couple of our core players‒Joe Panik and Hunter Pence are huge losses to our lineup. Pagan is back, but now Brandon Crawford is getting beat up.

I just want to see everyone healty and hitting, or throwing.

But no matter what happens, win or lose, we’re still Giant, and we’re still the greatest team in the MLB.