SAN FRANCISCO -- The rivalry between the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers is heating up. The Giants' bats, however, remain frozen.

The Giants had just four hits, three against Clayton Kershaw, and the Dodgers got to Sergio Romo in the ninth, handing the Giants a 4-1 loss Sunday that was their 11th in 13 games. The Giants dropped their fifth straight series and in the last two weeks have lost five of six to a Dodgers team that continues to ascend the standings. The Giants continue to nose-dive and now are a season-high 6½ games out of first place.

While walking away with a late victory, the Dodgers felt they also got a measure of revenge. After closing out the Dodgers on Saturday, Romo mimicked Hanley Ramirez's "lo viste" gestureprovided nothing bad happens to my teammates.

"The fans can be more emotional watching us."

The sellout crowd at AT&T Park was certainly fired up from the start, and Chad Gaudin and Kershaw did not disappoint. In his return from the disabled list, Gaudin threw seven strong innings to match Kershaw step for step.

The Dodgers jumped on top early, getting a triple from Ramirez and RBI single from Andre Ethier in the second inning. But Guillermo Quiroz helped to tie the game in the third inning, hitting a leadoff double, taking third on a wild pitch and scoring on Andres Torres' fly ball to center. Gaudin and Kershaw took over from there, cruising into the late innings. Gaudin gave up just four hits and struck out nine and has a