SAN FRANCISCO —The re weren’t any fireworks from the San Francisco Giants on Friday, July 4, 2008 in their game against the LA Dodgers.  The Giants lost to the Dodgers 10-7. The Giants got the game off to a strong start scoring 2 runs in the first inning and then 2 more runs in the third, giving them the lead, 4-2.  San Francisco led most of the game up until the sixth inning, where the Dodgers experienced an explosion in their offense, scoring 5 runs in the inning.

          This gave Los Angeles the lead 8-5.  San Francisco’s offense stalled during the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings where they were unable to score any runs.  The team then bounced back in the eighth, where they scored 2 runs, but the Dodgers maintained the lead 9-7.  Leading the Giants in scoring was Randy Winn, who had a total of 3 runs in the game.  Giants star Aaron Rowand had 3 hits and 2 RBI’s in the game, while players Fred Lewis and Ray Durham each had 2 hits and a run apiece in the game.

          Leading the Dodgers to victory was Andre Ethier, Russell Martin and Andy LaRoche, who all had 2 runs each in Friday’s game.  Ethier also had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s in the game.  Los Angeles pitcher Derek Lowe delivered a strong performance in Friday’s game.  He only gave up 8 hits and 5 runs during the five innings he played.  He also struck out two players.  San Francisco pitcher Jonathan Sanchez gave a valiant effort in the game, only giving up 5 hits and 3 runs in the 5 innings he played.  Sanchez was able to strike out 7 players, but Giants pitcher Osiris Matos didn’t fare much better.  

Matos gave up 4 hits and 5 runs during the sixth inning, ultimately costing his team the game.  The Giants had a total of 11 hits in the game compared to the Dodgers, who had 13 hits.  Currently the Giants are in third place in the National League West.