"Aubrey Huff has learned to stomach all the torturous wins. Still, he said, with Carlos Beltran in the lineup, "Hopefully, it bumps us up to winning by more than one or two runs."

Huff got his wish Thursday night. The Giants' 4-1 win not only ended the Phillies' run of nine series wins, it dealt the National League victory leaders their first back-to-back losses at Citizens Bank Park since mid-April.

Funny thing is, Beltran had little to do with it aside from a few words of wisdom to Pablo Sandoval and a scary defensive play. Beltran went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in his debut, ending a streak of 32 consecutive games with at least one hit, walk or hit hit-by-pitch.

Beltran's biggest contribution was a scary sliding catch in right field on a Jimmy Rollins blooper that helped Tim Lincecum blank the Phillies on three hits for six innings. A lot of hearts stopped when the brace that supports Beltran's arthritic right knee caught the grass and he tumbled forward, leaving a long divot in the grass.

Manager Bruce Bochy admitted he thought the worst. So did Huff, who told himself, "No, he didn't blow out on the first day."

Beltran said his knee was fine, and that he will be fine at the plate.

"I didn't have the day everyone might have been expecting," he said, "but the important thing is we won the game."

Beltran's acquisition gave the Giants their first 10-homer player. Sandoval joined him in the second inning. During batting practice, Beltran told Sandoval he should go to left field more when batting left-handed, and, voila! In his first at-bat as the Giants' regular cleanup hitter, against Kyle Kendrick, the Panda homered just inside the left-field foul pole.

"Having a guy like that in the lineup supporting you and to tell you what to do, it's exciting for me," Sandoval said."