Voskresensk, Russia native combines a solid defensive game w

LOS ANGELES -- Everything went right for Madison Bumgarner. He pitched well, the Giants provided him more than enough offence and they played strong defence behind him. The bullpen pitched in, too. Bumgarner struck out 10 while working into the seventh inning and San Francisco beat Los Angeles 7-2 Saturday as Yasiel Puig returned to the starting lineup for the Dodgers. The Giants got home runs from Michael Morse, Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey. "Weve always had a good defensive team, and were starting to swing the bats now," Bumgarner said. "So were a pretty well-rounded team. Today the bullpen came in and did a great job, and the offence was unbelievable again. Its nice to have that kind of support. It makes it easier to go after guys and challenge them." Puig returned to the Dodgers starting lineup, playing right field and batting leadoff a day after he was benched by manager Don Mattingly for arriving late for stretching and batting practice before Fridays home opener. Puig went 1 for 4 and was picked off first in the third inning for the final out with cleanup-hitter Adrian Gonzalez at the plate. Bumgarner (1-0) was charged with two runs and eight hits over 6 1-3 innings in his second outing. "I was throwing a little bit of everything," the left-hander said. "It seemed like they had a lot of baserunners today, but I felt like I made good pitches all day. The command was there and my stuff was pretty good." Bumgarner has a career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.65, which is better than that of All-Star teammates Tim Lincecum (2.77) and Matt Cain (2.48). Last season, he came within one strikeout of becoming only the second Giants lefty since Ray Sadecki in 1968 to finish a season with 200 or more. "You dont want to give guys free passes at any time. You have to make them earn it of you can," Bumgarner said. "But at the same time, you dont want to just give in and just throw a meatball up there. Youve got to make pitches and work on command and get ahead of guys." Bumgarner is 4-1 with a 1.53 ERA in his last five starts at Chavez Ravine. "He was commanding both sides of the plate and locating," Gonzalez said. "Hes just like anybody else. If he can command down and away, down and in, up and away and up and in, and crisscross the strike zone, it makes it tough." Puig came up in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out after Giants skipper Bruce Bochy replaced Bumgarner with Santiago Casilla. Puigs flyball to right field was too shallow to score Scott Van Slyke, but pinch-hitter Andre Ethier followed with an RBI single. A.J. Ellis tried to score behind Van Slyke and was thrown out by Hunter Pence for the third out. Mattingly came out to discuss the call with umpire Joe West and used his one challenge for a video replay ruling, which upheld the original call. "I had to make a pretty good throw and Buster had to make a great tag," Pence said. Paul Maholm (0-1) gave up five runs and seven hits through 4 1-3 innings in his first start for the Dodgers. "Maholms got a lot of different pitches that he throws it in a lot of different ways, and he located really well. So its always tough," Pence said. "You just battle, make him get the ball over the plate and be aggressive." Morse, playing for his fourth team in a span of three seasons, gave San Francisco a 2-1 lead when he drove Maholms first pitch of the fourth deep into the pavilion seats in left-centre for his first homer with the Giants. Sandoval, the Giants slimmed-down third baseman and 2012 World Series MVP, parked Maholms 80th and final pitch over the left field fence in the fifth for with two on for his first home run of 2014. Posey then greeted rookie Jose Dominguez with a drive into the lower seats in the left field corner. NOTES: Maholm had allowed only three homers in 62 innings during his 10 previous career starts against the Giants, all of them solo shots. ... Maholms official Dodgers debut was March 23 against the Diamondbacks in Australia, when he pitched in relief for only second time in 244 big league appearances to that point. ... Angel Pagan worked out an eight-pitch walk to open the game and was erased on a double-play grounder by Pence, who was robbed of a hit up the middle by shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Maholm has induced a major league-high 185 ground-ball DPs since the start of the 2006 season. Discount NHL Jerseys . The shortstop still grieves, but it will be nights like the one Segura had in a 5-2 victory Monday over the Cincinnati Reds that will provide some distraction. Custom NHL Jerseys . Louis Blues, having added Ryan Miller and Steve Ott from Buffalo, remain the No. https://www.chinanhljerseys.us/ . Or maybe he already did. Clark hit his first homer, Wily Peralta pitched into the seventh inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Miami Marlins 4-1 Wednesday night. Clearance NHL Jerseys . Philippe Desrosiers stopped 42 shots through overtime and three more in the shootout to pick up his third shutout of the season for Rimouski (31-15-7). Zachary Fucale made 28 saves for Halifax (34-17-3) in the loss. NHL Jerseys China . These teams will see plenty of each other in the next few weeks as three of the Canucks next nine games are against the Wild (after today they meet February 9th in Minnesota and again February 16th at Rogers Arena).MONTREAL - Andrei Markov is staying with the only NHL club he has ever known. The 35-year-old defenceman agreed to terms of a US$17.25-million, three-year contract extension with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. Markov was due to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He said on a conference call that signing a new deal with Montreal was his first priority. "I knew before the season was over Id like to stay with the Montreal Canadiens, so Im happy the deal was done and Im looking forward now. I feel like Im at home here. I feel comfortable. Id like to stay for the rest of my career. Ive never known (free agency), but it doesnt matter. Im happy with that deal." Markov will earn the same salary, $5.75 million per season, that he made in each of his last two contracts over the past seven years. As a player 35 or over, he is guaranteed the full amount of his new deal. "We are very happy to have secured a long term agreement with Andrei," general manager Marc Bergevin said in a statement. "He is an important part of our group of core players. "He is healthy, shows a very good work ethic and has great leadership skills. He plays big minutes against the top opponents, and game-changing defencemen of his calibre are hard to find." Markov will be 38 when the deal expires after the 2016-17 season, but feels it is too early to say if it will be his last contract. There were fears that his career was over when a succession of knee injuries limited him to only 65 games over three years from 2009-10 to 20011-12, but he played all 48 games of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign and missed only one regular season game this season.dddddddddddd He had seven goals and 36 assists and was plus-12 this season, while getting a team-high 25:14 of ice time per game. He added a goal and nine assists in 17 playoff games as the Canadiens reached the Eastern Conference final. He also played for Russia at the Sochi Olympics. While he has slowed in a recent years, the Voskresensk, Russia native combines a solid defensive game with first-rate passing and playmaking skills from the point on power plays. "It wasnt easy when I had injuries, but I always stayed positive," Markov said. "The last two years I felt good. My health is good. I enjoy the game like I used to. Im looking forward to next season." Markov holds Russian and Canadian citizenship, having become a Canadian citizen in 2010. He was drafted in the sixth round, 162nd overall, by Montreal in 1998. He made his NHL debut in 2000. In 765 regular season games, he has 98 goals and 344 assists. His best seasons were 2007-08, when he had 16 goals and 58 points and 2008-09, when he had 12 goals and 64 points. He was the teams second potential free agent to sign ahead of July 1. Last week, forward Dale Weise inked a two-year contract that pays $1.025 million per season. Bergevin now faces negotiations with potential restricted free agents P.K. Subban and Lars Eller, while potential UFAs include captain Brian Gionta and defenceman Mike Weaver. ' ' '