The Padres returned to the same stadium where they were shutout on October 3^rd, losing game 162 and the division to their hated rival, the San Francisco Giants. They struck first with two huge wins, running the record to 12 wins in their last 15 at AT&T Park. But the Giants struck a big blow with a walk-off win in the 14^th of game three before cruising to a 2-1 win in the final game. The Padres ended up gaining no ground on the Giants in what was deemed a must win series to keep the team together with three games to go before the All-Star break and the trade deadline looming at the end of the month.

July 4^th, 2011 Padres 5, Giants 3

WP Clayton Richard (5-9) 5IP 2H 0R 0ER 3BB 2K 0HR

LP Tim Lincecum (6-7) 5IP 7H 3R 3ER 1BB 4K 0HR

S Heath Bell (25) 1IP 2H 1R 1ER 1BB 0K 0HR

The Padres celebrated the Fourth of July in style, beating division leader and defending World Champions San Francisco in their own home 5-3 on Monday.

After consecutive singles by Will Venable and Jason Bartlett, Chase Headley hit a sac fly to put the Padres ahead, 1-0in the top of the first. After a Ryan Ludwick strikeout, Orlando Hudson singled to right field, scoring Bartlett to go up 2-0.

After a ground-rule double by Bartlett to start the fifth, Ryan Ludwick hit a one-out single up the middle to put the Padres ahead 3-0.

Erneto Frieri relieved Clayton Richard, who left with tightness in his left shoulder, to start the sixth. Frieri got Aaron Rowand to fly out before hitting his ninth batter of the season, Emmanuel Burris. Pablo Sandoval then launched one over the wall in right field and into McCovey Cove, to wake up the sleepy San Francisco crowd and get the Giants back in the game 3-2.

Cameron Maybin doubled and stole third in the eighth before scoring on Nick Hundley’s single to left field. Will Venable then one-hopped a Guillermo Mota fastball into McCovey Cove to put the Padres up 5-2.

San Diego brought in newly named All-Star Heath Bell to try to collect his 25^th save of the season. Bell surrendered a leadoff double to Miguel Tejada and advanced to third on Nate Schierholtz groundout to second baseman Orlando Hudson. Pat Burell then walked and was pinch run for with Matt Cain. Brandon Crawford then singled, scoring Tejada and advancing Cain to second. Both runners would advance by a wild-pitch by Bell. But Heath would get Andres Torres to fly-out and Aaron Rowand to ground out to Jason Bartlett to end the Giants threat.

July 5^th, 2011 Padres 5, Giants 3

WP Tim Stauffer (5-5) 6IP 8H 3R 2ER 1BB 1K 0HR

LP Matt Cain (7-5) 7IP 7H 5R 5ER 1BB 6K 0HR

S Heath Bell (26) 1IP 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 1K 0HR

Tuesday was like deja-vu all over again, as the Padres beat the Giants 5-3 on consecutive days. Heath Bell earned his 26^th save of the season after spotting the Giants two baserunner to start the ninth for the second straight night. Both runners advanced after Chris Stewarts sacrifice bunt to put the tying run in scoring position with one out.

Bell then struck out Andres Torres and induced a game-ending fly-out by rookie Brandon Crawford to end the game.

The Giants took an early lead on an odd play after Andres Torres’s leadoff single in the bottom of the first.  Brandon Crawford singled on a grounder to second baseman Orlando Hudson that first deflected of first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Andres Torres then scored Brandon Crawford advanced after a fielding error by Hudson to go up 1-0. Aaron Rowand then hit a two-out grounder to right field, scoring Crawford for a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the second the Ryan Ludwick singled and then advanced to third on Orlando Hudson’s double. Cameron Maybin then grounded out to second baseman Miguel Tejada, advancing both runners for an RBI.

Anthony Rizzo followed suit and hit a grounder to Tejada, who misplayed the ball allowing Hudson to score to tie the game.

Matt Cain gave the Giants a temporary lead in the fourth when he singled in Tejada from second for a 3-2 lead.

But Maybin gave the Padres the lead for good with a two-out, two-strike, two-run triple.

Anthony Rizzo then drove a 94 mph fastball to left field, easily scoring Maybin for a 5-3 lead.

Torres led off the seventh -inning with a walk from Chad Qualls on sixteen pitches. After stealing second base he advanced to third on Crawford’s groundout to Hudson.

Qualls then threw a wild pitch off that backstop that sent Torres charging from third. Hundley recovered and then threw a strike to the diving Qualls who tagged out Torres and then spiked the ball in celebration, leaving Torres fuming at the plate due to the perceived slight. That was the closest the Giants would come to score until the ninth.

July 6^th, 2011 Giants 6, Padres 5

WP Javier Lopez (4-1) 2IP 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 3K 0HR

LP Pat Neshek (1-1) 0IP 1H 1R 1ER 0BB 0K 1HR

After leaving runners in scoring position in the twelfth and thirteenth innings, Nate Schierholtz lifted a high fly ball off the top of the right field wall to end the game with a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the fourteenth.

The Giants bullpen took pitched eight scoreless innings with 13 punchouts, holding the Padres at bay until Schierhotz’s game winner.

The Padres took an early lead in the first with a two-run double by Ryan Ludick.

Pablo Sandoval put the Giants on the board when he score Andres Torres from third with a groundout in the bottom of the first.

But The Padres answerd back when Chris Denorfia doubled and then advanced to third on a groundout by Bartlett to start the third. He then would scroe on a sacrifice fly by Headley to put the Pads up 3-1. Maybin would then triple the next inning and score on a Jesus Guzman double to put the Padres up three.

Schierholtz would then hit a two-run shot off a Dustin Moseley changeup to pull the Giants within one.

Orlando Hudson would reach base with a two out single to left in the sixth. He would then steal second and advance to third when catcher Chris Stewart threw the ball into center field. Rob Johnson then would single to center to put the Padres up 5-3 for the third straight game.

In the bottom of the eighth, Dustin Moseley gave up a one-out single to Andres Torres leading to his departure in favor of setup man Mike Adams. Adams then gave up a single to Brandon Crawford to bring up Pablo Sandoval with runners on first and third with one out. Sandoval hit a double deep to right-center, scoring both runners to tie the game. Adams would then retire the next two batters to escape the inning.

Denorfia and Bartlett each would single with one out, off closer Brian Wilson to put runner on first and third. Wilson then would fan Headley swinging for a big second out. Ludwick then hit a sharp ground on the line snagged by Pablo Sandoval diving to his right. He would jump up and throw out Ludwick by a few feet to complete the run-saving play to preserve the tie.

The Giants would then retire the next 15 Padres batters in extra-innings before the walk-off winner in the bottom of the 14^th.

July 7^th, 2011 Giants 2, Padres 1

WP Barry Zito (3-1) 8IP 4H 1R 1ER 0BB 7K 1HR

LP Cory Luebke (2-3) 6IP 5H 2R 2ER 1BB 8K 1HR

S Brian Wilson (25) 1IP 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 0K 0HR

Barry Zito was charged with eating up innings to rest the Giants overused bullpen and did that and much more. Zito pitched eight innings, allowing only four hits and amazingly walking none. He struck out seven Padres and gave up just one run.

The Giants jumped to an early lead in the third with Eli Whiteside’s solo homerun to the left field bleachers.

They would score another in the bottom of the sixth after a one-out double by Miguel Tejada followed by a single by Pablo Sandoval. The hit extended Sandoval’s hit-streak to 18 games. Pat Burrell then would single in Tejada to right field to put the Giants up two.

Ryan Ludwick hit a solo home run deep to left to cut the lead in half. The Padres managed only five hits, leaving two men on base.

The Padres got six strong innings from Cory Luebke as well, albeit in a losing effort. He walked only one and struck out eight in six innings.

Brian Wilson pitched to four Padres in the ninth for his 25^th save. He got Chase Headley to ground into a double-play to end the game.