Chris Young limited the Giants to four hits over seven innings, Chase Headley hit a two run homerun, and Nick Hundley had four hits as the San Diego Padres completed the three game weekend sweep with a 6-1 victory on Sunday.  Defending Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum picked up his first loss of the year, giving up 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings in his second straight rough outing.    

In the opener, the Padres battered Barry Zito for seven hits and four runs in four innings, riding a Sean Hairston homerun and a three run first inning to a 7-3 victory. 

In the middle game, Jonathan Sanchez dueled expertly with Jake Peavy for four innings until inexplicably losing his control and giving up two home runs to journeyman Henry Blanco, eventually losing 6-3.  

All in all, this was a depressing series.  First, the offense didn’t seem to have bothered showing up.  Travis Ishikawa and Pablo Sandoval were horrible overall.  The starting staff was equally bad, with all three starters looking incredibly outclassed.  The first time around the rotation, with the exception of Matt Cain’s seven inning performance, was frown inducing.  Fred Lewis and Randy Winn were bright spots, offensively.  However, two bats doesn’t an offensive explosion make.  Three games, seven runs scored.  Those are  the numbers that count here.  Lincecum’s second outing was better than his first, but that’s not saying much. 

The Giants owned the Padres last year, both at home and on the road.  If this is what we have to look forward to this season, my optimism might have been wrongly founded.  True, it’s only three games in April.  However, up next is the buzzsaw known as the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Hopefully the bats and the combination of Randy Johnson and Matt Cain will show up en force.  If not, 2-7 is an awfully lonely place.