SAN FRANCISCO -- Mark DeRosa gave the San Francisco Giants a two-out, two-strike hit that they've been missing -- and he did it against Phillies ace Roy Halladay.
Manager Bruce Bochy called it one of his team's best at-bats all year. That got San Francisco started, all right.
Eli Whiteside homered and doubled in a run, Jonathan Sanchez struck out six and the Giants beat Philadelphia 5-1 on Monday night to hand Halladay his first loss since joining the Phillies in a blockbuster four-team trade this winter.
"That was huge," Whiteside said of DeRosa's grind-it-out first at-bat. "It got us going in the first, put two on the board and gave everybody a little confidence that 'We can get to this guy."
Ryan Howard went 0 for 3 with a strikeout and walk hours after the slugger agreed to a $125 million, five-year contract extension that could keep him with the Phillies until 2017. He flied out to deep center in the first, with Andres Torres going to the wall to make a tough catch.
"When you see that guy and he got that contract, he's got to be happy out there and he's going to swing the bat," Sanchez said. "It's a big ballpark but I thought he hit it pretty good and that it was going to go out. When he caught that ball, it was amazing.
Halladay had a six-start winning streak snapped, the second-longest of his career. The right-hander came in with an 0.82 ERA -- third-best in the National League -- but it rose to 1.80.
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NOTES: Olympic gold medalist Dany Heatley of the Sharks threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Sharks forward Ryan Clowe was also at the game.
