http://0rz.tw/wEJuz Giants' bats stay hot in beating Padres By Chris Haft / MLB.com | 9/13/2011 2:59 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO -- Don't overanalyze the Giants' offensive outburst, which extended to a second game with Monday's 8-3 victory over the San Diego Padres. Just consider the theories of Cody Ross, who commanded attention during the game with his 3-for-4 performance and after it with his logic. The Giants hadn't scored more than 10 runs in back-to-back games at home all season. They've now amassed 16. Ross, Carlos Beltran and Pablo Sandoval went deep to account for San Francisco's first three-homer game at AT&T Park this year. Whether the Giants are hitting more proficiently because they're more relaxed, or vice versa, is subject to debate. "It's been a lot looser in here the last five or six days," Ross said at his dressing stall in the Giants' clubhouse. Ross offered two possible explanations. One involved the opening of the NFL season. "Football's on TV. We're not so worried about all the outside stuff," Ross said. "Guys are talking about their fantasy football teams and it loosens everybody up. Sometimes those things can be a distraction, but right now it's a good thing. We needed something little like that to take our minds off how bad we've played." That led to Ross' other suggestion: that the Giants' virtual elimination from postseason contention has eased their minds. "That's a possibility, too," Ross said. "Sometimes guys feel like, 'Let's just go out and play and see what happens now.'" Then again, maybe Padres starter Aaron Harang was as much of an authority on the Giants' sudden productivity as anyone. He entered Monday with a 2-0 record and a 0.90 ERA in three outings this season against the Giants. This time, he lasted only five innings and yielded four runs and six hits, including Beltran's two-run homer in the first inning and Ross' leadoff drive in the third. Sandoval hit his team-high 19th homer and moved into the club lead with 60 RBIs with a three-run clout off Andrew Carpenter in the seventh inning. "You know what it is? They're taking advantage of the situations when they're getting runners on right now," Harang said. "They're getting those key hits. Obviously Beltran hit a changeup that was just up in the zone, and same with Ross, he hit a hanging slider that was right over the middle of the plate. They're taking advantage of bad pitches when they need to, where before they might have popped that up or maybe taken that pitch. Of course they were doing that when there were runners on, so they haven't been able to score." The Padres scored three runs in 5 2/3 innings off Giants starter Eric Surkamp (2-0), who recorded his first Major League victory last Tuesday at San Diego. But the rookie left-hander hasn't endured the same lack of offense that has hounded the other members of San Francisco's rotation, partly accounting for the Giants' 3-0 record in his starts. "Maybe I'm a good-luck charm," Surkamp said. "I'm just happy they have confidence in me going out there at this time of the year." Surkamp's statistical line bears further explanation. Three of the seven hits he allowed were infield singles. He also recorded zero strikeouts, though he insisted that he maintained improved fastball command. "If zeros are getting put up on the board, strikeouts don't really matter," he said. "I think strikeouts get you here, but once you're in the big leagues it's all about results." The results of the Giants' first 147 games have made postseason talk almost laughable -- to everybody but them. They trail National League West-leading Arizona by an insurmountable 8 1/2 games. The 6 1/2-game gap separating them from Wild Card front-runner Atlanta is only slightly less daunting. But if the Giants are telling the truth, it has fueled their motivation. "Sure, the odds are going against us a little bit," manager Bruce Bochy said. "But you never give up hope. We have to hit the field every day with that mindset, trying to win ballgames, and something good will happen." 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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