Halos rally for win over SF

By Andrew Baggarly
San Jose Mercury News

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SAN FRANCISCO — Even Tim Lincecum isn't immune to the insidious power of the Rally Monkey.

How else do you explain the Giants' 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday? Lincecum didn't appear to make a single mistake in the eighth inning, but a two-run lead still evaporated on his watch after a series of eerily familiar bloops, seeing-eye grounders and choppers.

Third baseman Pablo Sandoval, however, could be faulted for a major error in judgment. He fielded a chopper on the infield grass and caused 10,000 groans when he failed to throw home as Chone Figgins scored the tiebreaking run.

The Giants were swept in the three-game interleague series and Lincecum lost for the first time since April 12.

"I'm not in the greatest mood right now," said Lincecum, who had been 6-0 in his previous 11 starts. "What can you learn from it? I don't know. In that situation, a quarter-inch can make the difference in the game."

The Giants expect to win on Lincecum's day and were positioned to do just that after building a 3-1 lead on Andres Torres' run-scoring single and Travis Ishikawa's solo home run. Lincecum hadn't thrown more than 18 pitches in any of the first seven innings.

But Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero set the table with pinch singles leading off the eighth. Hunter's hit was a bloop to center. Lincecum got ahead with two nasty breaking balls to Guerrero and the next pitch wasn't a mistake by any stretch — outside and an inch off the ground — but the long-armed slugger grounded it through the middle.

"There's nothing else Timmy could've done," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "It was a great pitch and he got the ground ball we were looking for."

Lincecum threw a 3-2 fastball below the knees to Figgins, who lined it off the glove of second baseman Matt Downs for a run-scoring double. The infield played in for Willy Aybar, who grounded a pitch that shortstop Edgar Renteria could only glove deep in the hole as the tying run scored.

Figgins took third on a passed ball off Bengie Molina's glove, and after Maicer Izturis struck out, the infield played in for Rivera. But Sandoval never looked to the plate after fielding Rivera's chopper, instead throwing to first base.

Lincecum and Bochy assumed that Sandoval must have struggled to grip the ball. But that wasn't the case.

"He just mentioned he thought (Figgins) would be safe," said Molina, who didn't even yell for the ball because the situation was so obvious. "I understand what he did. It's a high chopper with Figgins running. He took the out. But in that situation, game on the line, you have to go for it. If he's safe, he's safe."