http://0rz.tw/MiAUC Offensive woes underscored in streak buster Little support for Bumgarner, while 'pen lets game get away By Chris Haft / MLB.com | 5/13/2011 8:07 PM ET CHICAGO -- The bullpen endured a meltdown. Madison Bumgarner remained winless. Those were the major issues for the Giants in their 11-4 loss Friday to the Chicago Cubs. But the relievers' struggles could be categorized as an aberration, and Bumgarner didn't pitch all that badly. The Giants' offense remains their soft underbelly, the rust that doesn't sleep, the team's true area of concern. This was evident even during San Francisco's recently completed 6-0 homestand. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Giants became the first Major League team to sweep a homestand of at least six games without scoring more than four runs in any of them. They averaged a mere three runs per game against Colorado and Arizona. The Giants' superb pitching, which surrendered just 10 runs, sustained them the most. Bumgarner (0-6) actually fulfilled his primary duty by keeping the score close while allowing three runs in six innings. But the Giants struck out 11 times against Cubs starter Ryan Dempster, who entered the game with a 7.20 ERA, and stranded four runners in scoring position before relievers Jeremy Affeldt, Guillermo Mota and Dan Runzler allowed eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Buster Posey struck out twice with runners on base and singled twice with nobody aboard. Cody Ross struck out with runners on second and third to end the first inning, when Dempster (2-4) looked vulnerable, and homered in the eighth with the Cubs leading, 8-2. Leadoff batter Andres Torres went 3-for-5, but No. 2 hitter Freddy Sanchez went 0-for-4. Giants manager Bruce Bochy absolved Bumgarner of blame. "He's throwing the ball well enough to get a win," Bochy said. "We're just having a hard time finding a way to get him one." Bumgarner had recorded a 0.95 ERA in his previous three starts and lost two of them. He wasn't quite as flawless on this foggy, blustery afternoon at Wrigley Field. The left-hander issued his only two walks in the second inning, which happened to help generate the only runs he yielded. Bumgarner walked Alfonso Soriano to open the inning and walked Dempster with two outs, a runner on second and a run in. The free pass to Dempster, who was batting .077 (1-for-13) at the time, set up RBI singles by Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney. Bumgarner forged ahead on the count, 0-2, against both Soriano and Dempster. Asked whether he began trying to "nibble" at the edges of the strike zone or simply couldn't throw pitches where he wanted, Bumgarner replied, "A little bit of both, I think." If those lapses weren't egregious enough, consider that the Cubs entered the game having drawn the fewest walks in the Major Leagues. Bumgarner appears to be in no danger of losing his spot in the rotation or the respect he commands among teammates, who remain mindful of the 7-6 record he posted in last year's second half, his Division Series-clinching victory at Atlanta and his eight shutout innings in Game 4 of the World Series at Texas. "He's tough. He's a 21-year-old man," Ross said, giving "man" a hint of extra emphasis. "He had a lot of success in the playoffs last year, and that gives him some confidence knowing that he can pitch in big situations, big games. ... He's fine. He's not going to let his record get him down." Indeed, said Bumgarner, "I'm just trying to move on from the wins and losses. ... I'm just trying to go out there and keep us in the game. That's all you ask of a starter. ... I'm trying to take it one start at a time, one inning at a time. I'm not really worried about what I did last year." The most tortured pitchers in the visitors' clubhouse after the Giants allowed a season-high 11 runs were the relievers, who had contributed to the bullpen's streak of 22 consecutive scoreless innings. Reed Johnson led Chicago's late-inning surge with a bases-loaded triple in the five-run seventh and an RBI single in the three-run eighth. The Cubs began their uprising against Affeldt, who was charged with four runs in one-third of an inning. "We had the right guy out there," Bochy said of Affeldt, who had permitted no runs in 4 1/3 innings spanning seven appearances. But Affeldt was sharply self critical. "I just flat-out stunk," he said. "It's one of those deals where I'm as lost as I can possibly be right now. ... I have to figure something out because obviously I'm catching too much plate. My ball's not doing what it needs to be doing. My curveball was nonexistent. And my confidence isn't all that great right now because of it. "Hopefully there's opportunities for me to keep going out there and throwing and getting it back. I think [Mota and Runzler] actually threw the ball well. I absolutely didn't. I was terrible." Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. --

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