For clenz

[SuperHornet]

...because he's the resident rules expert, particularly with baseball. The rest of you are free to chime in, too. I originally tried to send this last week when we were having all those connection problems on all the Chris boards.

Recently, SF Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong did a rehab assignment with their Class A affiliate in San Jose. During that time, Vogelsong pitched at Stockton (the A's Class A affiliate). I was not at the game as I was broke at the time, but I was REALLY happy to note that Vogelsong was saddled with the loss as he was lifted after 2.2 innings (i.e. after 50 pitches, probably part of the terms of the rehab assignment). He did get roughed up for two runs in that time. Stockton won 4-2, and Vogelsong WAS losing when he left the game, but the Giants DID get singleton runs in the seventh and eighth. While I love the idea of a hated Giant losing, the semi-objective part of me has a hard time tagging him with the loss as it seems like the later runs canceled out those Vogelsong gave up. Now, I understand the 5-inning rule: a starting pitcher must complete five to get the win. But does that apply to the loss as well? That is, if you fail to pitch five and your team loses, do you automatically get the loss?

I hope I explained this right. Was the assignment of the loss to Vogelsong correct, clenz? Thanks.