SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants begin their final road trip of the season on Thursday in San Diego, a season-high 11-game trip that also includes stops in Los Angeles and Phoenix.

While the Padres have been officially eliminated from contention in the National League West, San Francisco will play the division's both top two teams in the days following.

Manager Bruce Bochy doesn't plan to change the way he writes lineups, even against the top contenders.

"These kids have been playing against everybody," he said. "We've never deviated from trying to win."

Bochy proved it by pulling Kevin Correia out of the rotation and giving Brad Hennessey a chance to start. Correia was a college roommate of Bochy's son at Cal Poly, and they remain close friends.

"Part of Kevin's value is he can pitch in any role," Bochy said. "He can be a swing man, a middle guy, short relief and start. He's done all of that since he's been here."

The Giants sit at third place in the division and would love to finish with a winning record.

Pitching matchup
SF: RHP Matt Cain (8-11, 3.75 ERA)
Cain received his 10th no-decision of the season in his last outing, a 6 2/3-inning effort against Pittsburgh in which he yielded four runs and 10 hits. He's 3-5 with a 3.78 ERA in 13 road starts this year, including a strong performance at PETCO Park on April 23, when he allowed one run in seven innings as the Giants won, 3-2, in 13 innings. Cain also came away with a no-decision on May 30 against the Padres in another 13-inning game, surrendering three runs in seven innings as the Giants lost, 7-3.

SD: RHP Josh Geer (1-0, 3.60 ERA)
Many rookie starting pitchers go through peaks and valleys early in their Major League career. Not Geer -- at least not through two starts. His first outings lasted five innings each, with the right-hander giving up two runs and three walks both times. He won his debut against the Rockies, but he couldn't beat CC Sabathia on Friday. If Geer can improve upon anything moving forward, it would be keeping his pitch count down so he can work deeper into games.

Tidbits
Olympians Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs (women's beach volleyball bronze medalists) threw out the ceremonial first pitches on Wednesday. ... USAA, a Fortune 200 company, is joining southpaw Barry Zito on Thursday to raise funds to support war-wounded veterans through Zito's Strikeouts For Troops, a national nonprofit organization. Zito's personal pledge of $500 per strikeout will be matched by USAA for all strikeouts thrown across Major League Baseball on Thursday. ... Right-hander Keiichi Yabu has retired 10 of the last 11 batters he's faced and owns a home ERA of 1.53 since May 9. ... Infielder Rich Aurilia is a career .306 hitter against the Padres, including a .296 mark at PETCO Park.

Tickets
 Buy tickets now to catch the game in person.

On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• CSN-BA

On radio
• KNBR 680, KLOK 1170 (Español)

Up next
• Friday: Giants (Jonathan Sanchez, 8-10, 4.53) at Padres (Jake Peavy, 9-10, 2.63), 7:05 p.m. PT
• Saturday: Giants (Tim Lincecum, 16-3, 2.54) at Padres (Chris Young, 5-5, 4.48), 7:05 p.m. PT
• Sunday: Giants (Barry Zito, 9-16, 5.35) at Padres (Cha Seung Baek, 5-10, 5.07), 1:05 p.m. PT