SAN FRANCISCO — The night began with J.T. Snow leading the Giants onto the field, soaking up cheers and officially ending a career that included six Gold Gloves.

Then the gloves almost came off.

The West Coast's best professional sports rivalry generated some old-fashioned hate Saturday night, when benches cleared in the eighth inning of the Dodgers' 2-1 victory over the Giants at AT&T Park.

They didn't trade casserole recipes. No punches were exchanged, either.

The only bruises were figurative and they belonged to Matt Cain, whose season ended as predictably as a laugh-track sitcom. Greg Maddux outpitched him again in what might have been his final regular-season start, and if the 42-year-old decides to retire, Cain might volunteer to blow up the party balloons.

"He's caused me a lot of stress a lot," said Cain, who finished the season with two strong outings against the Dodgers but remained winless in 11 career starts against them.

Cain (8-14) might have been closing his own chapter. The offseason hasn't begun and already his name is flying in high-profile trade rumors for players like Prince Fielder or Ryan Howard. Cain reiterated what he told the Mercury News earlier this month, saying he feels a connection to the Giants and hoped he wasn't making his last start with the club.

But he'd be OK if he never sees Maddux again. Cain is 0-4 with a 3.52 ERA in seven career starts against him. Maddux has a 1.94 ERA in those games.

A week after the Giants defeated Maddux for the first time since 2003, the four-time Cy Young award winner regained his dominion over them. He allowed two hits over six surgically precise innings, needing just 47 pitches 38 of them strikes to do the job.

Maddux won his 355th game, moving past Roger Clemens to take sole possession of eighth place on the all-time list.

He has 31 victories over the Giants, the most of any opposing pitcher in the club's San Francisco era. Maddux entered the game tied with Hall of Famers Phil Niekro and Don Sutton atop the list.

"How does he do it?" Cain said."I wish we could get all his secrets, but I don't think he'll ever tell."

Billy Sadler isn't shy about expressing his thoughts. He drew the Dodgers' ire for the second time this season when he became animated on the mound, pumping his fist and screaming after striking out Casey Blake in the eighth inning.

Matt Kemp jawed at Sadler as he jogged off third base. The rookie pitcher talked back but didn't turn his head, and the moment might have passed if Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti hadn't burst out of the dugout to confront Kemp and Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa.

Umpires provided a buffer as both dugouts emptied, but fisticuffs were avoided.

Sadler was unapologetic.

"I'm just an average Joe trying to do my job," he said. "There's nothing wrong with showing emotion like that."

Randy Winn hit a solo homer off Maddux but the only other baserunner, Omar Vizquel, was thrown out trying to steal.

The Giants also ran into outs in the seventh, when Eugenio Velez tried to stretch a single into a double and Nate Schierholtz was caught stealing.

"The silver lining is I don't think we left anybody on base," Bochy said.

Very true. It happened for just the ninth time in the Giants' San Francisco era, and the first time since July 2, 2000.