The Giants probably won’t pull the ol’ Aubrey Huff corpse
outline gag again anytime soon. There might be a moratorium on
those
”
world’s greatest athlete
”
jokes, too. There’s no snickering allowed when you lose three of
four in a season-opening series to the archrival Los Angeles
Dodgers
— especially when Huff’s defense plays a factor, as it did in a
7-5 defeat at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
LOS ANGELES
The Giants probably won’t pull the ol’ Aubrey Huff corpse outline gag again anytime soon. There might be a moratorium on those “world’s greatest athlete” jokes, too.
There’s no snickering allowed when you lose three of four in a season-opening series to the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers — especially when Huff’s defense plays a factor, as it did in a 7-5 defeat at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
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The postgame clubhouse did not match the mirthful scene in the early afternoon. Pat Burrell had sauntered out to right field, borrowed Dan Runzler as a body stencil and used athletic tape to commemorate the spot where Huff twice dived in the grass a day earlier.
But the laughs ceased once the game began. Huff, the self-styled water buffalo, labored to cover the prairies in both of the Dodgers’ big innings. He got turned around twice while chasing Marcus Thames’ drive over his head, which went for a tiebreaking triple off Runzler in a four-run sixth inning.
“It was slicing, it was over my head, and I didn’t know what the hell was happening after that,” Huff said. “I’m comfortable out there, OK? I’m going to make a routine catch.”
There wasn’t anything routine about Jamey Carroll’s sinking line drive in the first inning, but Huff misplayed it into a run-scoring triple against Barry Zito. Huff said he lost the ball at the last instant in the shadowy conditions, and it got past his diving attempt.
The play happened in the vicinity of Burrell’s pregame crime scene.
“You may look at it that way, as karma, or whatever,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, asked if the baseball gods were picking on Huff. “But those are tough plays. He’s done a good job wherever we’ve put him. Those were tough balls to handle.”
Zito handled his assignment as well as could be expected. He pitched four days after a violent collision in West Hollywood in which a cab driver ran a red light and crashed into his rental Cadillac.
Matt Kemp hit a two-run home run on a welcoming, 84 mph fastball down the middle to cap the Dodgers’ three-run first inning. But Zito showed little effects of whiplash after that, retiring 15 in a row following the homer. He completed six innings and didn’t allow the Dodgers another hit after Kemp took him deep.
“I give Z a lot of credit for regrouping,” Bochy said. “I thought it was a gutty effort.”
Zito had his changeup and curveball working, and although his fastball was a grade below the 87 mph he hit last season, the routine-oriented left-hander was pitching on a different schedule because of neck soreness stemming from his accident.
“Considering the severity of the deal, I felt good,” Zito said. “I had pretty good stuff. Once the adrenaline got going, I felt normal out there.
“Dude ran a red light. It’s pretty hard to control that.”
At least the Giants made sure Zito didn’t take a loss. Pablo Sandoval hit a solo homer, and Buster Posey lined a run-scoring single to help the Giants chip away, then Burrell tied it with his second homer of the season — a solo shot in the seventh off Hiroki Kuroda.
Even after the Dodgers’ big inning against Runzler put them back in front, the Giants remained feisty to the end. Brandon Belt drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth, and Aaron Rowand hit a pinch homer in the ninth off Jonathan Broxton.
Posey represented the tying run when the Dodgers’ burly closer got him to ground out, clinching his third save of the series.
The Giants’ “wild kingdom” outfield — Huff and Burrell as the buffaloes in the corners and Andres Torres as the gazelle in center — didn’t bite them too often last season. Huff played 34 games in right field without committing an error.
But this spring, he didn’t play an inning out there until the last week in Arizona, after Cody Ross hurt his calf.
Huff’s versatility allowed Belt to open as the club’s first baseman. It’s the reason Huff jokingly refers to himself as the best athlete on the team.
The Giants certainly don’t want to return Huff to first base at Belt’s expense. But they could start Nate Schierholtz in right and shift Huff to left field.
Or they could keep their fingers crossed until Ross comes back in another two weeks.
— Story by Andrew Baggarly, San Jose Mercury News
