Joe Panik

There were days when a Madison Bumgarner start at AT&T Park against the defending World Series champions had serious implications. And perhaps, in a micro sense, Wednesday was one of those days.

The 26-year-old Giants’ rookie who began the season in the team’s bullpen has become the silver lining of a lost season for San Francisco, as his post All-Star break emergence continues to defy expectations.

Over the past decade, the San Francisco Giants have used the July 31 trade deadline to add to an already established core, and supplement near-complete rosters that could use an extra push to make a deep playoff run.

With the trade deadline less than two hours away, it remains unclear if the Giants are going to move any big names in exchange for the prospects that they sorely need. What is clear is that at least one everyday player has been discussed in the lead-up to the deadline.

Traditionally, “Sunday Night Baseball” on ESPN is reserved for the game’s most compelling matchups, and in the second half of the season, network decision-makers almost always select contests featuring a pair of playoff contenders certain to draw a national audience.

On Wednesday, Jeff Samardzija turned in a valiant effort, retiring 13 straight batters between the start of the third inning and the top of the seventh. At one point during that span, “Shark” set down five of eight hitters on strikes, and wound up finishing his afternoon with eight punchouts.

Pitching –in the form of great arms like Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner– and defense –from the likes of Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik– has helped carry San Francisco to three World Series titles.

This season, though, Giants’ general manager Bobby Evans’ phone line will buzz for entirely different reasons, as San Francisco carries the second-worst record in Major League Baseball out of the All-Star break. At the outset of the year, Evans and the Giants had visions of competing with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League West division crown. When the second half of the season begins on Friday evening in San Diego, the Giants will attempt to work their way up from a 27.0 game deficit.

The bat didn’t go soaring, but the ball sure did. So did the Giants’ spirits, which were lifted in a memorable way Wednesday as third baseman Jae-Gyun Hwang launched his first career home run in his Major League debut.

In the top half of the fifth inning at Coors Field on Friday evening, pitcher Jeff Samardzija played the starring role in a comedy, as his two-run home run gave his Giants’ teammates a good laugh and gave San Francisco a 4-1 lead. Fifteen minutes later, Samardzija was the protagonist in a tragedy, as he followed up the home run by surrendering five runs in the bottom half of the fifth, continuing the Giants’ season of misery in their 10-7 loss to the Colorado Rockies.