- Off to a brutal beginning to their 2007 season, the San Francisco Giants turn to the pitcher who's recorded the team's only win so far when they resume a three-game series with the rival San Diego Padres tonight at Petco Park.
The Giants have dropped six of their first seven contests to open the year, the club's worst start since 1980. San Francisco had its current losing streak extended to four games in Monday's opener, as the Padres' Chris Young bested Matt Cain in a terrific pitching duel to lead San Diego to a 1-0 victory.
Young (1-0) limited the Giants to four hits and walked two while striking out five over the first seven innings. Cla Meredith tossed a 1-2-3 eighth before turning the game over to Trevor Hoffman, who held San Francisco scoreless in the ninth for his 484th career save.
Cain (0-1) yielded only one hit -- a leadoff double to Khalil Greene in the bottom of the seventh frame -- during a sensational seven-inning stint. Greene would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt from Jose Cruz Jr. before scoring the game's only run on Geoff Blum's sacrifice fly.
The loss spoiled the return to San Diego for Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who served as the Padres' skipper for the previous 12 seasons before leaving for San Francisco.
San Diego has now won three of the four meetings with San Francisco in the early going. The only blemish came last Thursday at AT&T Park, when the Giants' Matt Morris threw six innings of one-run ball and Frisco held on for a 5-3 victory.
Morris, who gave up just five hits and two walks, will attempt to duplicate that impressive performance when he takes the mound tonight. The veteran right-hander improved to 7-3 in 18 lifetime appearances (16 starts) against San Diego and owns an excellent 2.97 earned run average over those games.
The 32-year-old Morris has made four previous starts at Petco Park and is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA over 22 career innings there.
Clay Hensley went opposite Morris last week and didn't fare nearly as well as his counterpart. The sinker-ball specialist was tagged for five runs and seven hits while issuing three walls before being lifted after 4 2/3 innings.
Hensley gets the call again in tonight's rematch and should benefit from pitching at Petco, where he posted a solid 8-6 record and 3.10 ERA in 19 appearances (16 starts) last season.
The 27-year-old does have a career 3.00 ERA in six games, including three starts, versus San Francisco, but is just 1-2 all-time against the Giants.
San Francisco has still won 12 of the last 17 meetings in this series and went 7-3 at Petco Park a year ago.
© 2007 The Sports Network
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