Giants fall to A’s again, but end first half with winning mark

Baseball has a funny way of defining its "first half." The Giants completed theirs Sunday by playing for the 98th time in a 162-game schedule.

The Giants spent the entire first half redefining who they were out of necessity, starting with the moment Ty Blach, and not Madison Bumgarner, took the mound on Opening Day in Los Angeles.

By the time they scattered for their break after Sunday's 6-2 loss to the A's, the Giants had used 42 players, including 23 pitchers. Sixteen went on the disabled list a total of 19 times.

With all that the Giants ended the first half a winning team at 50-48 after dropping their second home series of the season and first since early April to a team that charged into…