Giants, Zito keep falling

SAN FRANCISCO -- Give credit to incoming Giants managing partner Bill Neukom. Even as the night turned chilly, he turned up the collar on his blazer and stayed in his second-row seat to the very last out of Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Give extra credit to Neukom because he sat through Barry Zito's five painfully long innings in which the left-hander threw 116 pitches, allowed a whopping 14 base runners and made pitching coach Dave Righetti burn a trail between the mound and dugout.

But just maybe, give some credit to Zito, too. He danced on the precipice without slipping on loose gravel and stranded 11 of those runners, holding the White Sox to two runs and giving the Giants an honest chance to win.

Nevertheless, the Giants lost for the 10th time in 13 games. And Zito fell to 0-8 in nine starts.

"If I've done something bad, it must've been in a previous lifetime," said Zito, when asked about bad karma. "I think I got over (the record) a few starts ago. ... They're losses and I'm not satisfied with that, but I think they're steps in the right direction. It just doesn't benefit to look at things in the past."

That also happens to be Rich Aurilia's message to the less experienced hitters in the Giants clubhouse, though the veterans have been just as culpable with runners on base. Hitting coach Carney Lansford, deprived of batting practice because of Photo Day, took his lessons inside and held a pregame meeting.

Still, the Giants were 1-for-7

with runners in scoring position -- they are 1-for-24 in those situations dating back to the third inning Thursday -- and Jose Castillo's infield dribbler accounted for the only hit.

The Giants scored their only run when Castillo doubled and advanced on a pair of ground outs.

"You've got to battle up there. You've got to compete," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's just little things that have gotten away from us."

Said Aurilia: "Those situations are hard to work on. You can try in batting practice, but it's a coach throwing 70 mph. It's more of a mind-set. You've got to have a better mind-set.

"With the amount of inexperience that some of these guys have at this level, it's important not to let it snowball. That's why you've got to go home and forget about it. You're not going to change it by thinking about it."

The same goes for Zito's record. He became the first Giants starter to lose his first eight decisions since Jesse "Crab" Burkett way back in 1890.

Zito hardly can expect to earn his $126 million at the plate, though given his meager run support, it might not be a bad idea to start trying.

The Giants' best chance came in the seventh after Aaron Rowand doubled and Castillo hit his infield single. Daniel Ortmeier struck out, pinch hitter Steve Holm -- the best of Bochy's right-handed bench options -- drew a walk and Randy Winn struck out to strand the bases loaded.

Zito walked six, struggled with fastball command and didn't get much help from plate umpire Gary Cederstrom. But he leaned on his curveball and change-up to reduce the damage. Zito stranded the bases loaded once and the White Sox left two on base in each of his other four innings.

"He didn't cave in," Bochy said. "It was a pretty gutsy effort if you look at it."

Carlos Quentin hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning and Orlando Cabrera added another in the second. Keiichi Yabu allowed one more run in the sixth following another errant pickoff throw to first base.

A day earlier, a reporter made Zito aware of owner Peter Magowan's comments during his retirement news conference, in which he called the left-hander's record-setting contract "clearly a failure."

Asked about the ownership change, Zito had nothing but praise for Magowan.

"He's done a ton for the fans in San Francisco and I believe he's still going to be a big part of it," Zito said. "He may be more behind the scenes, but I know his passion isn't going anywhere. We still want to win for Peter because he really loves the game."

Contact Andrew Baggarly at abaggarly@mercurynews.com.