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Tuesday MLB — Giants at Diamondbacks, 6:30 p.m., CSNB MLB — Royals at Athletics, 7 p.m., CSNC WNBA—Shock at Fever, 4 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Tuesday June 14, 2011 Beaten, bruised Giants clinging to NLWest lead SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Aubrey Huff was so worn down he was among a handful of San Francisco Giants players to receive permis- sion to skip the team flight to Arizona on Mon- day afternoon just to get a few extra hours of rest at home. ‘‘Are you kidding?’’ Huff said. ‘‘I’m out at 9 p.m.’’ After finishing a taxing stretch of 20 straight games without an off day, the defending World Series champions will take all the time off they can get. At least the ones who are left. The Giants lost star catcher Buster Posey for the season in a home-plate collision. Sure-hand- ed second baseman Freddy Sanchez is out indef- initely with a dislocated right shoulder and her- alded rookie Brandon Belt might be out another month with a fractured left wrist. Even with a clubhouse that has turned into an infirmary, the bruised and beaten Giants open a three-game series at Arizona on Tuesday with a one-game lead over the Diamondbacks in the NL West. ‘‘I think we’ve pulled together as a team,’’ right fielder Nate Schierholtz said. ‘‘We’ve had a lot of unfortunate injuries the whole year. To still be in first place shows we’ve battled through it so far, and things should be better.’’ Hard to imagine things getting worse. The scene in the clubhouse Sunday would have been inconceivable weeks earlier: Posey was pushing himself around on a makeshift scooter that supported his reconstructed left ankle. Sanchez was in the training room with his right arm in a sling and Belt had a cast wrapped around his left wrist. Relief couldn’t come soon enough. Slugger Pablo Sandoval is coming off the dis- abled list to rejoin the team in Arizona. He has been out since he broke a bone in his right wrist in late April after hitting .313 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in the first 24 games. That’s about the first chunk of good news the Giants have had in a while. ‘‘Just having him around, laughing in the clubhouse, cheering the other guys no matter how he’s doing, just to have a starter back, will be a shot in the arm for them,’’ Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘Hopefully, he’ll lighten the load of the other guys and they don’t feel they have to do so much.’’ San Francisco’s rebuilt roster is still winning the same old way. The formula of pitching and defense that pro- pelled the franchise to its first World Series title last year since moving from New York in 1958 has carried over this season. The Giants have still had to grind out runs every time out, keeping games close and leaning on a bullpen that is among baseball’s best. The timely hitting that carried San Francisco throughout the postseason hasn’t quite been there yet, with the offense routinely getting shut out one night and squeaking out a win the next. The Giants have been outscored 233-230 by oppo- nents — a remarkable disparity for a team in first place. Pablo Sandoval is expected to come off the disabled list this week. ‘‘If we hit a lick,’’ Huff said, ‘‘we might be 10 games over the Diamondbacks.’’ The contributions also have come from unex- pected sources. Ryan Vogelsong has gone from filling in for the injured Barry Zito to leading an already stel- lar rotation with a 1.81 ERA and 4-1 record. Midseason call-up Brandon Crawford has given San Francisco another power-hitting lefty, and the bullpen only seems to be getting stronger. The starting pitching has still been the biggest Funk heads US Open dreamers BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Fred Funk felt as if he had won the U.S. Open, his voice cracking when he tried to speak, the tears flowing moments later. He didn’t earn a trophy that day, only a tee time. That’s how much this major championship means to him. That’s why he made the effort to go through 36 holes of qualifying when there are plenty of signs that he should sit this one out. Funk turns 55 on Tues- day. He had knee replace- ment surgery more than a year ago, and now is dealing with tissue that connects the hip to the knee and is caus- ing him great pain. That explains why he hasn’t made it to the final two rounds in any of the six PGA Tour events he has played this year, and why he only had two top 10s on the 50-and-older Champions Tour. So why punish himself in a U.S. Open qualifier against kids half his age? For starters, Funk grew MCT file photo reason why the Giants are in first place. While ace Tim Lincecum has struggled since a three-hit masterpiece May 21, rotation regulars Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Jonathan Sanchez have given a banged-up offense a healthy dose of pitching. So far, that has been just good enough. ‘‘To be in first place, we know that means nothing now, and we understand that,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘But with all the injuries and losses, it shows the resiliency of the club.’’ up not far from Congres- sional, a course that at one time in life he could only dream of playing. He was the college golf coach at Maryland. He wound up playing his first PGA Tour event at Congressional. And this surely would have been his last chance playing in the U.S. Open before a home- town crowd. That explains his reac- tion when he narrowly qual- ified. ‘‘The first question I get is, ’What does this mean to you?’ And I broke down,’’ Funk said. ‘‘I didn’t really expect that because I didn’t know I had that kind of feel- ings, or emotion, in me for that. But I think it was a combination of things — how I’ve been playing the last few months, and then making it here, my home- See OPEN, page 2B Bruins batter Luongo’s Canucks to force Game 7 BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Bruins put Roberto Luongo and the Stanley Cup back on the shelf. After another home scoring spree against Vancouver’s wild- ly inconsistent goalie Monday night, the Bruins are making one last trip west for the big finish to these dramatic Stanley Cup finals. Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference scored in the first 8:35 to chase Luongo from his second straight game in Boston, and the Bruins emphatically evened the finals with a 5-2 victory in Game 6, sending the series to a decisive Game 7 in Vancouver on Wednesday night. For the sixth time in the last 10 seasons, the finals have been stretched to their limit. The home team hasn’t lost in this series, with Vancouver winning three one-goal games and Boston posting three blowout victories. League MVP Henrik Sedin scored his first point of the finals with a late power-play goal for the Canucks, who flopped in their first attempt to win their franchise’s first cham- pionship. Maxim Lapierre also scored in the third period for the Canucks, who will get one last try at a Rogers Arena filled with worried Vancouverites hoping their maddening team can come through. Tim Thomas made 36 saves for the Bruins, giving up two third-period goals while bur- nishing his credentials for the Conn Smythe Trophy as Boston moved one win away from its first championship since 1972. Thomas has given up just eight goals in six games in a virtuoso performance in the finals — but the spotlight in Game 6 was trained squarely on the other net. After Luongo led Vancouver to the brink of a title with a stel- lar performance in a 1-0 victo- ry Friday, the Canucks hoped to celebrate in Boston. The Bruins canceled that Garden party with yet another stunning bar- rage of goals against Luongo, who was ventilated for 15 goals in just over 4 1/2 periods in Boston. Boston even set a finals record with four goals in 4:14 while chasing Luongo and wel- coming his backup, Cory Schneider, with a goal from Michael Ryder. Mark Recchi had two assists during the flur- ry. The Bruins are one win away from their Original Six franchise’s first championship since 1972. Boston has lost its last five trips to the finals since, never even reaching a seventh game — but the Bruins can hang another banner in the Gar- den rafters with one road win. And the Bruins have ample experience in Game 7. They’ve already played two in these playoffs, beating Montreal in the first round and Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference finals — but both of those games were at home, where Boston finished the postseason with 10 wins in its last 11 games. If Vancouver can’t regroup in the next 48 hours after anoth- er East Coast collapse, the Canucks will waste the best regular season in franchise his- tory and the franchise’s best chance at a championship. Van- couver lost Game 7 of the 1994 finals to Mark Messier’s New York Rangers, and hadn’t been back to the finals since. Vancouver probably could tell Game 6 was trouble from the opening shift: Second-line forward Mason Raymond was taken to a hospital with an undisclosed injury after he ran into the boards backward and bent at the waist in a collision with Boston defenseman John- ny Boychuk. The Canucks gave no immediate details on his injury or condition. Luongo immediately appeared shaky when Marc- hand whistled a shot over his left shoulder just 5 1/2 minutes in. Lucic scored 35 seconds later when his innocent shot trickled through Luongo, and Ference finished the goalie with a power-play score 2:29 after that. After Henrik Sedin finally scored in the opening minute of the third period, playoffs scor- ing leader David Krejci scored MCT photo Boston’s Michael Ryder scores a goal in the first period of Monday night’s Game 6. during a two-man advantage for Boston, with the 43-year- old Recchi picking up his third assist. Luongo’s career-long incon- sistency has been pronounced in this series, with the Canadian Olympic champion alternating brilliance and borderline incompetence. He also didn’t help himself after Game 5 by indirectly criticizing Thomas’ technique on the Canucks’ win- ning goal and then claiming Thomas never returns Luongo’s compliments, saying he had been ‘‘pump(ing) his tires’’ all series long. U.S. Open San Francisco Giants Vancouver 1 TIED Boston 5 3-3