Loss is just a matter

By Tony Jackson

SAN FRANCISCO - During a casual moment about an hour before game time, just after explaining why his own starting pitcher was batting eighth, Dodgers manager Joe Torre started to sound like a man walking past a graveyard at midnight.

Asked about Tim Lincecum, the baby-faced assassin and reigning National League Cy Young Award winner who was about to take the mound for the San Francisco Giants, Torre said he hoped his hitters would exhibit their usual degree of patience and drive up his pitch count early, a clear acknowledgment that such a strategy was really the Dodgers' only hope of beating him.

By the end of the top of the first inning, a point at which Lincecum had thrown a grand total of five pitches, it was pretty clear where this one was headed.

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Lincecum shuts down Dodgers in Giants win

April 29 (Reuters) - Tim Lincecum struck out eight batters to carry the San Francisco Giants to a 9-4 win over West Coast rival the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old right-hander took a shutout into the eighth inning before running into trouble, but threw 103 pitches and allowed three runs in his second straight win.

"Everything felt fine," the National League Cy Young recipient told reporters. "Pitches were moving the way they were supposed to. You always want to try to do the same things."

Bengie Molina led the offense with four RBIs and Edgar Renteria finished 4-for-5 for the Giants (10-10), who scratched out 15 hits in winning the series rubber match.

The NL West leading Dodgers (14-8) lost for the third time in four games.

Starting pitcher Eric Stults had a poor outing and lasted just 2 2/3 innings after previously pitching well in place of Hiroki Kuroda, who was injured on opening day.

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Loney held out against Giants nemesis

Loretta starts at first base for Dodgers

By Ken Gurnick

Manny Ramirez returned to the lineup Monday night after a day off, but the hottest of the Dodgers hitters currently, James Loney, was on the bench to open the series with the Giants.

Manager Joe Torre went with the percentage matchups and sat down Loney, who against San Francisco left-handed starter Barry Zito is an amazing 1-for-20 (.050) with six strikeouts.

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Dodgers hope for more success versus Giants

The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to continue their early success against the NL West-rival San Francisco Giants on Monday in the opener of a three-game series at AT&T Park.

Los Angeles swept the Giants in three games at Chavez Ravine from April 13-16 and has won four of the last five meetings. The Dodgers fell to 3-3 on their nine-game road trip with Sunday's 10-4 setback at Colorado, as James Loney went 3-for-5 with three RBI in a losing cause.

Clayton Kershaw started for LA and was tagged with the loss after giving up eight hits and nine runs over 4 2/3 innings of work for the Dodgers, who had a three-game winning streak come to an end. Los Angeles will hand the ball to Randy Wolf on Monday and he is 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA in four starts.

Wolf has recorded consecutive no-decisions and is coming off a 6-5 loss at Houston on April 22. He was reached for four runs and eight hits in seven innings against the Astros. The left-hander has faced the Giants 13 times in his career and owns a 6-4 record with a 3.70 earned run average.

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