Madison Bumgarner News

Manager Bruce Bochy isn't afraid to acknowledge that the Giants are "fortunate" to be in as good of shape as they are in the National League West despite a prolonged rough stretch.

The five National League West Division teams are separated by just seven games, making it perhaps the best of the six division races from top to bottom.

Cashner, 26, is coming off his longest outing as a starter. Last Tuesday night at Petco Park, he held the Braves to two runs on six hits and a walk over eight innings to pick up his fifth win.

Alderson's plan to contend by 2014 has been hurt by the disappointing play of Ike Davis and Ruben Tejada, but the big picture has always been about building around the young pitching, in particular Harvey and Wheeler.

When she heard Angel Villalona would be back with the San Jose Giants this season, Donna Musgrave didn't wait to be asked.

The good news was the Giants' offense kocked around Kris Medlen for a 6-0 Friday night win to kick off their three game series in Atlanta.

Madison Bumgarner held the Braves in check during much of Friday's game, and the Braves ended up with their 9th shutout loss of the season.

With the struggles that the San Francisco Giants ' starting pitchers have endured, particularly through the first two months of the season, the common belief is that a reliable starter is atop general manager Brian Sabean 's wish list as he begins pondering trade options.

He may pitch OK on Monday night at home against the Padres. He does pretty well at home, but teams routinely beat his brains out on the road.

After the defending World Series champion Giants put on a two-strike hitting clinic Friday night, the Braves got a few ideas.

Madison Bumgarner allowed two hits in seven innings and combined with Sandy Rosario for a three-hit shutout in the San Francisco Giants' 6-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.

The San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves will continue a three-game National League Series at Turner Field Saturday afternoon, with the first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET San Francisco has won back-to-back games, including a 6-0 victory over Atlanta as +126 road underdogs Friday night, while going UNDER the total for the first time in four ... (more)

It started with Gregor Blanco's first home run of the season, and it didn't get much better from there.

Rookie Jose Fernandez outpitched a rusty Jake Westbrook , and the team with the worst record in the majors beat the team with the best record.

For all the talk about how this month is the result of the addition of hitting coach George Brett, or an awakening of the hitting, the team stands 9-3 in June because of the pitching.

Because he was in a slump last June, Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford made some adjustments to his approach at the plate.

Atlanta went 2-5 during its recent road trip, which featured stops in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Jon Paul Morosi is a national MLB writer for FOXSports.com. He previously covered baseball for the Detroit Free Press and Seattle Post-Intelligencer .

Matt Cain has a 5.09 ERA and has allowed six earned runs or more in four of starts.

A year to the day after throwing a perfect game against Houston, Cain was nearly flawless again.