http://0rz.tw/Akefy Loss puts Giants four back in Wild Card race By Chris Haft / MLB.com | 9/23/2011 2:23 AM ET LOS ANGELES -- Wild Card fever gripped the Giants on Thursday. Coaches and a handful of players exulted over the telecast of St. Louis' come-from-ahead loss to the Mets. Tiebreaking procedures were announced. Matt Cain and Eric Surkamp, the possible starters for Friday night's series opener at Arizona, flew to Phoenix early to get proper rest. The anticipation dissolved once the Giants actually started playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. Madison Bumgarner was unusually flat and the offense reverted to its helpless ways in an 8-2 loss that made the already farfetched notion of a Giants postseason appearance downright laughable. The outcome trimmed Arizona's magic number for clinching the National League West title to one. In other words, the D-backs clinched a tie for the division championship. With their first defeat in the upcoming three-game series against Arizona, the Giants will endure the indignity of watching the D-backs celebrate winning the West. Prospects aren't much better for the Giants in the Wild Card race, where they dropped four games behind idle Atlanta with six games to play. San Francisco also squandered a chance to inch closer to St. Louis, which trails the Braves by two games. Under most circumstances, the Giants could revel in the 5-2 record they've posted on this trip. But that's far from enough, with the postseason picture demanding perfection from them. "We dug this hole," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We knew what was ahead of us. Now we realize we can't lose a game. But you still should enjoy it, because you're playing meaningful games." "At this point, we had to pretty much come out here and win every game," Bumgarner said. Instead, the Giants lost two of three and split the season series with Los Angeles, 9-9. A surpassing individual performance might have saved the Giants. But none of them rose to that level. Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp, however, strengthened his push for the Most Valuable Player Award and the triple crown by going 4-for-5 with three doubles and a two-run, eighth-inning homer off Barry Zito. He also robbed Carlos Beltran of a fourth-inning hit with a diving catch. "It seemed like it didn't matter where I threw it," Bumgarner said. "He was going to find a way to get a knock off it." For the series, Kemp went 8-for-13 with six runs scored, five RBIs, three doubles and two home runs. He hit .375 (27-for-72) against the Giants this season. Asked if he'd consider casting an MVP ballot for Kemp, Bochy said, "It's hard for me not to vote for him, from what I've seen." The night began in rousing fashion for the Giants, who received Beltran's first-inning homer. That was negated in the Dodgers' half of the inning as Juan Rivera followed Kemp's first double with a home run deep into the left-field pavilion. This set a discordant tone for Bumgarner (12-13), who allowed four runs and nine hits in four innings. His effort contrasted with his previous three starts against the Dodgers (3-0, 2.08 ERA). "The ball was just up a lot," said Bumgarner, whose five-game winning streak dissolved. "I had a hard time getting it down. It seemed like all the strikes were up in the zone and they did a good job of taking the slider away. They fouled it off a lot, fouled off some good pitches, and when they got one to hit they hit it." The Giants slipped in other areas. They mustered only five hits in seven-plus innings off Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda (13-16). "I was able to regroup and keep all my pitches low," said Kuroda, who surrendered only one hit from the second through sixth innings. Second baseman Jeff Keppinger couldn't quite make an over-the-shoulder catch of Kuroda's fourth-inning bloop to shallow right field, which helped generate a Los Angeles run. One inning later, Keppinger neglected to cover second base on a grounder to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who adjusted and threw to first base for the inning-ending out. It was an empty evening for most Giants except the switch-hitting Sandoval, who concluded his 3-for-3 performance with an opposite-field homer to left in the seventh inning. Sandoval's sore left shoulder prevented him from batting right-handed against the lefties Los Angeles started in the series' first two games. 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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