Time for SF Giants to make a run on L.A. is now on Astini News

Miami -- - Any jockey sitting atop a good closing thoroughbred knows instinctively when to start the charge. If the Giants were a horse, the time would be now, even with 114 games left.

The Dodgers' start has been legitimate but aided by a cushy early schedule. On Thursday, they complete a stretch of 23 of 28 games at home, with the away games in San Diego and Phoenix. Things are about to change.

On Monday, the Giants begin a stretch of 20 of 32 at home, with all 12 road games on the West Coast, including three in Oakland. Meanwhile, on Friday, the Dodgers start a run of 20 games in 34 on the road, including an exhausting trip to Colorado, Philadelphia and Seattle. Moreover, they have only two days off before the All-Star break begins July 9, and those are four days apart (June 14 and 18).

If the Giants fail to start winning consistently now, they will hate themselves after the break, not that manager Bruce Bochy wants his team to analyze it that way.

"I think it's a mistake on your part that can come back to bite you," Bochy said. "You drop your guard. You approach every game the same. You've got to come every day ready to go. (The schedule) is the last thing I ever look at."

Briefly: Freddy Sanchez's tale took another negative turn. He is inactive after getting a second epidural injection for his back. ... The Giants lost the season series to Miami five games to two. ... Bochy's long-ago minor-league teammate, Ozzie Guillen, outsmarted him in the ninth after Angel Pagan's leadoff triple. With one out, Bochy ordered a first-pitch squeeze with Joaquin Arias at the plate, but the Marlins pitched out and Pagan was tagged out retreating to third. ... For only the second time, Matt Cain earned his fifth win before June 1.

This article appeared on page B - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle