Giants cut their magic number to 4

By JANIE McCAULEY

AP Baseball Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:41 p.m. ET Sept. 20, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Bruce Bochy headed out for a nice dinner with his wife. Third base coach Tim Flannery scored concert tickets for Crosby Stills & Nash.

The NL West-leading San Francisco Giants aren't scoreboard watching as September winds down. The division title is nearly theirs.

Pablo Sandoval homered from both sides of the plate and the Giants reduced their magic number to clinch the division to three by beating the Colorado Rockies 9-2 on Thursday.

"I've seen enough baseball today," Bochy said while publicly planning his evening on the town and opting out of watching the Dodgers. "It's up to us to take care of business."

Buster Posey also connected to back another strong start by Barry Zito (13-8) as San Francisco completed a four-game series sweep. Colorado lost its sixth in a row.

Zito won his fifth straight decision and has done everything he can to earn himself a spot in the postseason rotation after being left off for all three rounds when the Giants won it all in 2010.

"It's nice to be able to go out there and have fun and be loose in September," he said. "When you have fun, you're relaxed, good things happen."

The second-place Dodgers lost 4-1 at Washington on Thursday night, and fell 10 games behind the Giants. San Francisco (87-63) moved a season-best 24 games above .500, its best mark since finishing the 2003 season 39 games over.

"The view looks great right now," Angel Pagan said. "We have to really make sure. We can't talk about playoffs right now."

Sandoval connected from both sides for the first time in his career - at any level, he says. Batting right-handed, he hit the first pitch he saw from Jorge De La Rosa (0-1) into the left-field stands for a solo homer in the first inning. He added a three-run drive into the elevated right-field arcade in the fourth.

It marked his fifth career multihomer game. His last came Sept. 18, 2011, also against the Rockies at Coors Field.

"I'm comfortable at home plate. I don't try to hit home runs," said Sandoval, who snapped a homerless drought of 161 at-bats Wednesday night. "When you don't try, things go your way. I got lucky, man."

Posey, drawing chants of "M-V-P!" from the adoring home crowd, followed Sandoval's fourth-inning shot with his 23rd home run. The Giants homered in consecutive at-bats for the second time this season after Nate Schierholtz and Brandon Crawford did so April 11 at Colorado.

Marco Scutaro's fourth-inning single gave him a career-best 175 hits and extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He added an RBI single in the sixth and has hit safely in 42 of 51 games since joining the Giants from the Rockies on July 27.

Zito received more than enough support in the latest impressive start during his comeback year. The Giants won for the ninth straight time in one of his outings - and Zito's 13 victories are his most with the Giants and most since a 16-win season in 2006 for Oakland.

The left-hander, who had been disappointing since receiving a $126 million, seven-year contract ahead of the 2007 season, walked off the mound to yet another standing ovation in the sixth. He raised his right hand and pointed to the sellout crowd of 41,157 in appreciation.

Zito struck out six and walked one in 5 2-3 innings, allowing two runs and a season-high 10 hits. He hasn't lost since Aug. 2 against the Mets.

It was a short day for De La Rosa - but that might have been expected as he came off the 60-day disabled list. The lefty returned to the mound for the first time since May 24, 2011, when he left an outing with elbow soreness and later underwent Tommy John surgery.

De La Rosa was tagged for five earned runs, six in all, and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings. De La Rosa and Jonathan Herrera each had RBI singles for Colorado.

"After 16 months I'm very pleased with what I saw from our starting pitcher," manager Jim Tracy said. "We did a poor job of taking care of the baseball. Two miscues led to seven runs. But the bright spot was the left-handed pitcher who showed he's getting himself back to the guy he can be, and then some."

Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez didn't return to the outfield in the bottom of the second after grounding into an inning-ending double play in the first.

He played the entire game Wednesday - with two strikeouts and two groundouts - but was a late scratch Tuesday night with a tight left hamstring. He re-aggravated the leg injury during Thursday's game.

"I tried to go full speed to beat the throw to first," Gonzalez said. "I've pulled the leg before, so it's nothing. I just have to wait until it feels good again before I play a game."

The Rockies were swept in a four-game series in San Francisco for the first time since July 17-20, 2003. They went 2-7 at AT&T Park this year and went 4-14 against the Giants.

NOTES: Sandoval batted .500 (8 for 16) with seven RBIs and three homers during the series. ... Randy Winn was the last Giants player to hit a home run from both sides of the plate, on Aug. 30, 2008, at Cincinnati. ... Zito is 7-2 vs. the NL West and 12-3 when he pitches a scoreless first inning. ... Bochy planned to reach out to Reds skipper Dusty Baker, hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat. ... The Rockies cleared room on the 40-man roster for De La Rosa by transferring LHP Christian Friedrich to the 60-day DL. ... Pagan's double in the third gave him 56 extra-base hits, most on the Giants. ... The Giants improved to 7-11 in games going for a sweep. ... San Francisco topped its win total of 86 from last year, improving to 13-5 in September.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More news

Nationals secure playoff berth

??The Washington Nationals brought postseason baseball back to the nation's capital for the first time since 1933, clinching a playoff spot Thursday night with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49111686/ns/sports-baseball/

matt bomer westminster kennel club dog show jeremy lin game winner chocolate covered strawberries shrimp scampi kate upton si cover lobster recipes