The Series: San Diego Padres

The San Francisco Giants continued their failure at PetCo Park. The Giants got swept, and lost the lead they had in the National League West.

There are not a whole lot of positives the Giants can take away from this series. Matt Cain had a stellar performance, but failed to get a decision. He is currently 0-0 through three starts, although in every start he deserved a win. Jonathon Sanchez threw 7 innings of ball allowing only 1 hit, and got a loss. The hit allowed was a single, and not even a homerun. Another positive is that Pablo Sandoval is still hitting well, and with a little help from his teammates, the team should be able to end the current four-game losing streak the Giants are on.

Todd Wellemeyer did not pitch effectively once again, and it's no secret that his spot in the rotation is in jeopardy. He lasted only four innings in his start, and is clearly the weak spot in the rotation. Something I saw as interesting was that despite being the Giants #5 starter, the pitchers he has opposed have all been #1 starters. One would not expect a fifth starter to beat a number 1 starter, so seeing this his 0-3 record is more understandable. However, there is no excuse for the his 8.16 ERA, and his 11:11 K:BB ratio over 14.1 innings. He has allowed a homerun in every start, even though he has pitched at two HUGE pitcher parks at AT&T and PetCo Park.

Another dismal stat in the series is batting with runners in scoring position. As a whole for the series, the Giants hit 1-23. That's a .043 batting average. The lone hit came from Pablo Sandoval, who only came up once in this situation.

An important note to mention is that Mark DeRosa did not play in much of the series with a hamstring injury. He was able to play in the series finale, but only at second base(where he committed an error) because he was not well enough to play the outfield. Aaron Rowand, and Mark DeRosa are players that help the Giants score runs, so with them out of the lineup the scoreboard is expected take a minor hit.

San Francisco will play theie next series at home against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Giants are now 1 game behind the Padres in the NL West. Tim Lincecum will take the mound to try and stop the team's current four-game losing streak.