early, racing to a commanding lead early in the second quarter behind Aldridges p

LOS ANGELES -- Once he found the outside corner, everything went smoothly for Madison Bumgarner. His only hiccup led to a quick confrontation with Yasiel Puig. Bumgarner pitched eight superb innings and Brandon Crawford hit a two-run homer, leading the San Francisco Giants past the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 Friday night. "I felt better as the game went on," Bumgarner said. "I was making pitches and making adjustments. I was having a hard time getting the outside corner early on, but I got to where I could hit that spot the last two or three innings." San Franciscos 12th victory in 15 games was overshadowed, however, by the broken left thumb first baseman Brandon Belt sustained when he was hit by Paul Maholms first pitch of the second inning. Belt will be sidelined for at least six weeks, according to manager Bruce Bochy. The Giants were leading 3-0 when Puig homered to centre in the sixth, after taking a called third strike his previous time up and stranding Justin Turner at third base. As soon as Puig made contact, he flipped the bat away, walked a few feet toward first base and began a slow trot around the bases. "Honestly, I think Puig overreacted a little bit. I dont know," Dodgers teammate Scott Van Slyke said. "He felt like he had an unfair pitch thrown to him the previous time up, and then he acted like he got him back. But Puigs an emotional guy. Some people just have that fire in them when they play, and it comes out sometimes. I wouldnt necessarily say that its wrong or right. Its just that theres lots of different personalities in the world, and youve just got to learn to deal with them." Bumgarner walked toward the third base line and had a few choice words for Puig as he approached home plate. But the hostilities ended there with some quick action by plate umpire Will Little, who intercepted Bumgarner. "I was just congratulating him," Bumgarner said, tongue in cheek. "That was a really good swing. That was pretty impressive. I dont know why everybody got so mad. It escalated quickly for no reason. "I think he said, Thank you. Im not sure if he did. I dont speak Spanish very well. But its always a passionate series when you play the Dodgers, and its fun. No matter what the records are, either team could be 30 games out and its still going to be a big series just because its the Giants and Dodgers." Hanley Ramirez was the next batter and took a 1-1 pitch for a strike that had manager Don Mattingly chirping from the dugout. Little ejected Mattingly, who came running out to argue. Belt, who leads the Giants with nine homers, ran the bases until the second inning ended but was replaced on defence by Joaquin Arias. "When I looked at it, I said: Its not good. He couldnt move it, and it was just locked," Bochy said. "I had a bad feeling it was broken and that he was going to have to come out of the game. "Its the old bittersweet thing," he added. "It was a great game and a great performance by Bumgarner, so you appreciate that. But at the same time, we lost our first baseman. And thats a blow for us because of the job he does at first base and the fact that he hits in the heart of our order." Bumgarner (4-3) allowed a run and four hits with eight strikeouts en route to his second straight victory after three consecutive losses -- two of them by 2-1 scores against the Dodgers and Colorado. He is 5-1 with a 1.45 ERA in his last six starts at Dodger Stadium, and hasnt allowed more than two earned runs in any of them. "Hes good at missing just high, or just outside, or just inside," Van Slyke said. "Hes really tall and he throws hard. He has an idea of what he wants to do and his ball moves. And hes a competitor, so hes going to be tough for a lot of years." Sergio Romo pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save in as many attempts. Maholm (1-3) gave up three runs, three hits and four walks in 5 2-3 innings. The left-hander is 0-4 with a 6.66 ERA in his last five starts against the Giants. Maholm got out of a first-inning jam by retiring cleanup hitter Mike Morse on a double-play grounder and matched zeros with Bumgarner until the fifth. Brandon Hicks walked with one out and Crawford drove the next pitch into the right-field pavilion for his fourth homer of the season and first in 117 career at-bats against the Dodgers to that point. Dodgers reliever Brandon League escaped a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the seventh when he fielded Hunter Pences comebacker to start a 1-2-3 double play and then retired Buster Posey on a fly to right. NOTES: Mattinglys ejection was his 13th as a manager and first this season. ... Puig extended his hitting streak to nine games, matching his longest as a rookie last season. ... Turner started at third base because of Juan Uribes sore right hamstring. ... It was the 12th time in the Dodgers last 15 meetings with San Francisco that they have scored fewer than four runs. ... Romos scoreless inning reduced the ERA of the Giants bullpen to a major league-best 1.75. ... Maholm, who has induced a major league-high 192 double-play grounders since the start of the 2006 season, hasnt had more than three strikeouts in any of his six starts this season. Custom Colorado Avalanche Jerseys . Niese pitched seven steady innings on a rainy Tuesday night and Daniel Murphy had three hits to lead New York to a 6-1 victory over the Phillies. John Wensink Jersey . The 48th-ranked Williams made her first appearance in Dubai since she won her second straight title here in 2010. Shed missed the last three years either because of injury or Sjogrens Syndrome. http://www.hockeyavalanche.com/authentic-paul-kariya-avalanche-jersey/ . Sam, who joined the Cowboys in early September, has spent the entire season on the practice roster. Rene Robert Jersey . Signs of a turnaround have emerged in this series at Minnesota. Brian Roberts had three doubles and a triple for the first four-extra-base-hit game of his 14-year career, and the Yankees used their bullpen to preserve a 6-5 win over the Twins on Friday. Patrick Roy Jersey .com) - The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to play spoiler as the Los Angeles Kings will try to match their longest winning streak in over four years in Thursdays battle at Staples Center.PHOENIX -- The good news for the Portland Trail Blazers is they only face Goran Dragic and the Phoenix Suns one more time. And thats not until spring. Dragic scored 31 points, Channing Frye added 25 and the Suns used their up-tempo style to recover from a poor start and beat Portland 120-106 Wednesday night and snap the Blazers 11-game winning streak. Markieff Morris scored 19 and twin Marcus Morris 15 for the Suns, who wiped out a 16-point second-quarter deficit to hand the Blazers their first loss since Nov. 5 against Houston. Two of Portlands three defeats have come to the Suns, who shot 52 per cent from the field behind the speedy Dragic, who was one point shy of his career-high and added 10 assists. "Im glad we dont have to play Phoenix until April," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts, whose team is 1-2 against the Suns and 12-1 against the rest of the league. "After we got a lead they completely outplayed us. They ran, they rebounded, they played an excellent game. They have played us very well and we will see April 4 if anything changes." LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and Damian Lillard scored 16 points for the Blazers, who had also won six straight on the road but couldnt keep up with the new-look Suns, who moved a game over .500. "We already played those guys three times and in all those games, we were better or we were close," said Dragic, who hit 4 of 5 3-pointers. "I dont know why. I think theyre a good matchup for us. They want to play slow in the half court and we want to run. And thats to our advantage." Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said before the game that he wanted to push the pace, adding, "Were not good when we hold the ball." But the Suns looked sluggish early and Portland looked poised to match the third-longest win streak in franchise history. Then Dragic took over. Playing without backcourt mate Eric Bledsoe (bruised shin) for a sixth straight game, Dragic fueled a 40-point second-quarter with a variety of 3-pointers, midrange jumpers and nifty passes for buckets on the fast break. Frye helped by heating up from the outside. Portland turned a 39-23 deficit into a 61-58 halftime lead. "Goran has just been on a tear," Frye said. "When he is feeling it like that you just give it to him and get the hell out of the way." Fryes 3 to start the second half was the beginning of a 10-0 spurt and he hit another 3 to start the fourth quarter as the Suns built a 97-78 lead.dddddddddddd "Every time we look at the tape, if we play half court we have problems," Dragic said. "But when we run we got those easy, open 3s or easy layups. Everybody wants to play like that. Its really fun." It was no fun for the Blazers, who had another miserable visit to the desert. It was Portlands 22nd loss in the past 26 trips to Phoenix, including a loss on opening night. Not even Bledsoes continued absence could keep the surprising Suns from winning for the third time in four games. After limping through the morning shootaround, Bledsoe had an MRI that Hornacek said "didnt show anything besides what they knew already, which is a contusion." Bledsoe has been sidelined since colliding with teammate P.J. Tucker in practice Nov. 17. The Blazers havent had the same uncertainty, starting the same five players all 16 games. And Portland came out with much more energy early, racing to a commanding lead early in the second quarter behind Aldridges play inside and ex-Sun Robin Lopezs work on the boards. But the Blazers struggled to contain Dragic. After Lillard struggled to stay in front of him, Nicolas Batum took a turn on Dragic, who added five rebounds and four turnovers as Phoenix set a season-high in points. "Thats something special in the NBA to win that many games in a row," Aldridge said. "Were definitely proud of it but we have to bounce back and not lose two in a row." NOTES: Hornacek said they plan each game as if Bledsoe wont play so theyll be "surprised" when he does. "I thought hed miss one game or maybe two games. But hes got to be able to push off and if he cant then he doesnt play." ... The Blazers made only 7 of 19 3s after entering the game shooting 42 per cent. But Stotts insisted before the game he believes they can continue to shoot well if his top five shooters take the bulk of the shots. "Its not far-reaching to think that each one of those guys could shoot 40 per cent or better on the season," he said. "So is 42 per cent sustainable? I think it is." . Ex-Suns F Grant Hill attended the game. ... Blazers G Mo Williams (three points) returned after serving a one-game suspension for his role in a scuffle Saturday against Golden State. ' ' '