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GIANTS       95-52                      Padres have no plans to fade away.

LA                 94-53   1   GB        Can playoff-hungry Reds spoil?

Yesterday

Giants lost again to San Diego, 7-4, and split the series.

LA was idle.

Today

Giants host Atlanta; 6:45 PDT, 9:45 EDT. Logan Webb starts against Ian Anderson (without Jethro Tull, we're told).  Anderson won his only start against the Giants a month ago, and he didn't even bring a flute.

LA is at Cincinnati. Walker Buehler against Luis Castillo, who has lost fifteen games.

Yesterday's Game

They say you gotta have a short memory in this game, and that works both ways. That spectacular nine-game winning streak already seems a distant memory. The last two days have shown that the San Diego Padres, far from being dispirited, are genuinely pissed off about how their once-promising season has gone and intend to do something about it. The Giants face these guys six more times before we're through, and they'd best strap it on for each one, otherwise there's a real good chance they'll see them in one more game-- the wild-card elimination game. 

The Giants couldn't make a bullpen game work Wednesday, but the Pads did just fine with theirs yesterday. The real hero of the game was one Nabil Crismatt, who took over for "opener" Pierce Johnson in the second and pitched four shutout innings, all but ensuring that the Giants' inevitable late rally would be too little and too late, which it was. On offense, the Padres mostly nickeled-and-dimed Kevin Gausman for four runs through five frustrating innings (except for Fernando Tatis jnr, who crushed a solo homer, his 39th, in the third).  For the second straight game, a Giants' belated comeback was ineffectual because the bullpen gave up three late runs. This time Tony Watson, so effective of late, blew up in grand fashion, yielding four hits and a walk in the top of the eighth to turn a 4-2 game into a 7-2 game. Thus Evan Longoria's two-run homer in the bottom of the frame was little more than an angry gesture of futility.

Notes

It's possible Alex Wood could rejoin the rotation Saturday. Considering how long he's been out, we hope he's built up his stamina to the point that Gabe Kapler doesn't feel compelled to yank him after three innings if he's pitching well. There's still no fifth starter on this team, since Johnny Cueto has been given no timetable for return. Sammy Long was recalled from Sacramento yesterday and could fill in there.