Giants get to enjoy the sweet smell of a SoCal sweep

Posted 8/23/12

As Giants fans living in Los Angeles wake up Thursday morning, there is a different feel in the air. The long line to ride the Matterhorn at Disneyland is not annoying as it usually is. The irritation of traffic along the I-5 isn’t raising blood pressure like it normally does. Frankly, the smog smells less bad.

Why the happy feeling?

Well, it’s pretty simple. The euphoric feeling stems for the fact that the Dodgers now trail the Giants by 2.5 games in the NL West.

How did it happen? It’s called a “sweep.”

Really? The Giants swept the Dodgers in SoCal? Really? Really?

Sweep maybe too “soft” a word for the hurting the Giants put on the Dodgers.

The Giants dominated at Chavez Ravine, posting wins of 2-1 (Monday), 4-1 (Tuesday) and a 8-4 thrashing (Wednesday).

Madison Bumgarner was magnificent in Monday’s win. He went eight innings and scattered just four hits without giving up a run.

The combination of leadoff hitter Angel Pagan and third-hitter Pablo Sandoval (taking over Melky Cabrera’s spot in the order) proved too much for Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw to handle. Sandoval drove in Pagan for both Giants’ runs.

Tim Lincecum gave the Giants a solid start in Game 2. He allowed just one run over 5.2 innings. Four relievers went the final 3.1 innings to secure the victory with Javier Lopez notching the save.

Buster Posey drove in a pair of runs in the first inning for a 2-0 lead. The Giants made it 4-0 in the fourth inning following an RBI-single by Brandon Crawford and a RBI-double by Pagan.

Joaquin Arias drove in a season-high five runs in Wednesday’s blow out. He homered and doubled twice which helped give Matt Cain his 13th win of the year.