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World champs hope to get off the schneid at Chavez Ravine

Apr 2, 2011 - 2:31 PM (Sports Network) - The defending World Series champions are off to a rough start thanks to poor fielding.

The San Francisco Giants will try for their initial win of the season today when they sent Ted Lilly to the mound against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third portion of a four-game series.

With five errors over the first two games, the Giants need to avoid another late inning collapse.

Last night, Rafael Furcal's RBI single capped a three- run bottom of the sixth inning, as the Dodgers took advantage of an error on Jonathan Sanchez and rallied for a 4-3 win. One night after Los Angeles took the opener, 2-1, the Dodgers took advantage of more sloppy play from the defending World Series champions. The Giants had a pair of errors in the sixth inning after making three miscues on Thursday.

Rookie Brandon Belt hit his first major league homer, a three-run shot in the fourth inning. Belt's homer came off Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (1-0), who allowed five hits over six innings.

"Everything went very well, except for one pitch I made a mistake on a 2-0 pitch and he (Belt) hit it out," Billingsley said.

Sanchez (0-1) gave up seven hits and four runs -- two earned -- in 5 2/3 frames.

Matt Cain, coming off a 13-11 season, heads to the mound today for the Giants. The right-hander, who fashioned a 3.14 ERA over his 33 starts in 2010, has struggled with a 2-8 lifetime mark over 17 games against the Dodgers.

Ted Lilly, a 35-year-old veteran from Torrance, CA re-signed with the Dodgers in the offseason. He was acquired in a 2010 trade-deadline deal from the Cubs. In his 12 games with LA, the lefty went 7-4 with a 3.52 ERA. He's 3-2 in seven career contests against the Giants.

The Giants were 10-8 against the Dodgers last season.