DENVER -- Those seeking good news from the Giants must dwell upon a largely ignored but still significant aspect of Friday's 6-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
The Giants mustered some decent offense against Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood, amassing four runs and seven hits in six innings off the right-hander. They even batted around in the second inning, when they scored three runs. This was the same Chatwood who twirled a two-hit shutout at San Francisco last Saturday.
And since Chatwood and San Francisco are bound to cross paths later in the season, this game, at the very least, enabled the Giants to stash away some confidence for the future.
One difference was Buster Posey's presence. Rendered inactive by his stint on the seven-day concussion disabled list when the Giants initially faced Chatwood, Posey played this time and ignited San Francisco's big second inning with a leadoff single.
The inning also featured a double by Eduardo Nunez, who went 0-for-3 in last week's encounter with Chatwood.

"A lot of people stuck with their approach," said first baseman Brandon Belt. "He might have made a few more mistakes this time. ... You hope that he leaves enough over the plate that you can do something with."
Sheer familiarity was another factor in the Giants' improvement against Chatwood, who entered the game with a 6-3 record and a 2.55 ERA against them.
"The more you see somebody, the better you kind of understand how they're going to try to pitch you," second baseman Joe Panik said. "Just being ready for him, being more on the aggressive and keeping the momentum going when we got a few hits."

Ultimately, however, it wasn't enough as the Giants fell to 6-11, only one game better than their worst 17-game record (5-12 in 1983) since the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1958.
"We really honestly feel like it's going to turn around," Belt said. "Not that it's going to happen out of nowhere."
"At the end of the day, you want the 'W,'" Panik said. "We've got to find a way."