Giants 7, Padres 1: Bullpen implodes while offense is MIA

If the recent winning streak had you thinking about getting back on the Padres bandwagon, it may be time to reconsider. For the second day in a row, the Giants absolutely dominated the home team. While James Shields kept San Francisco off the board in his five innings this afternoon, he had paltry run support and a bullpen ill-equipped to finish the job.

The one run the Padres picked up came in the second inning, when Jedd Gyorko worked a full count in the leadoff spot before taking Matt Cain deep to left field. They should have scored once more in the third, when Abraham Almonte rounded the bases at full speed on Matt Kemp's two-out line drive to left field. But Kemp's hit bounced into the stands for a ground rule double and placing Almonte at third. He'd be stranded there when Gyorko struck out. But even if he had scored, it wouldn't have mattered.

Pat Murphy yanked Shields after 5 innings and 96 pitches and sent Marcos Mateo in to start the sixth inning. Mateo got the first two outs with little trouble, but gave up a solo shot to Brandon Belt before ending the inning. And that was one of the better bullpen performances of the day. In the seventh, Brandon Maurer allowed a one-out single to Angel Pagan and a two-out walk to Matt Duffy. Disaster struck when Buster Posey sent a bases-clearing double to right. A Hunter Pence single scored Posey to put the Giants up by three.

And then, for reasons unknown, Murph turned to Dale Thayer again in the eighth. If the Padres weren't thoroughly out of the game yet, they were when Thayer was through. Brandon Crawford led off with a homer, and then Gregor Blanco doubled. A pinch hit single by Justin Maxwell brought in the second run of the inning. Thayer finally got an out when Pagan hit a grounder to second and Gyorko caught the lead runner. But a walk to Joe Panik put Pagan in scoring position for Duffy's RBI single. The torture finally ended when Posey grounded into a double-play.

Tyson Ross will try to stop the skid as he opens a four game series against the Marlins tomorrow at 7:10 PM.