How do the San Francisco Giants expect to be received by their
fans when they raise the World Series banner in the home opener
Friday?
”
Well, we’re 1-4 on this trip,
”
said Freddy Sanchez, prior to Wednesday night’s series finale at
San Diego.
”
So I hope they don’t boo us too badly.
”
Sanchez’s deadpan melted into a grin. He knew the Giants
could’ve gotten swept on this season-opening road trip, and it
would’ve done zippo to impact the palm fronds and kowtows that
await them in China Basin.
SAN DIEGO
How do the San Francisco Giants expect to be received by their fans when they raise the World Series banner in the home opener Friday?
“Well, we’re 1-4 on this trip,” said Freddy Sanchez, prior to Wednesday night’s series finale at San Diego. “So I hope they don’t boo us too badly.”
Sanchez’s deadpan melted into a grin. He knew the Giants could’ve gotten swept on this season-opening road trip, and it would’ve done zippo to impact the palm fronds and kowtows that await them in China Basin.
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But going home 2-4 is much preferable to 1-5, and in an 8-4 victory at Petco Park the Giants’ two franchise anchors made sure they would make a merry return to a city ready to celebrate them.
Tim Lincecum hiked up his pants, rocked the black socks and put the Padres through the spin cycle, holding them to one run while striking out 13 with zero walks in seven innings.
Buster Posey officially shed his sophomore slump after five games, hitting a two-run home run in the first inning as part of a four-RBI day. Aubrey Huff shed most of his outer dermis while sliding all over the basepaths, knocking in three runs on three hits. Rookie Brandon Belt had a pair of singles to snap an 0-for-12 streak, too.
And Brian Wilson, despite getting charged with three runs in a blowout, appeared healthy while hitting 96 mph in his season debut.
After all those prime performances, the Giants will go home feeling like champions.
“Everybody had that mentality to turn it around,” Lincecum said. “We relaxed and went back to playing baseball the right way. Everything was working right. I used every one of my pitches.”
Lincecum, after finishing 12th in the NL Cy Young balloting last season, left no doubt he remains one of the game’s elite.
Combining heat and filth, he struck out the first four batters he faced, assured his 27th career 10-strikeout game by the fifth inning and finished two whiffs away from matching the career high he set in a July, 27, 2009, game vs. Pittsburgh.
Lincecum threw 95 mph in the first inning and was still hitting 94 as late as the sixth. He allowed just three hits, including Nick Hundley’s solo home run in the third.
“That’s the best I’ve seen him,” said Padres first baseman and former Colorado Rockie Brad Hawpe, who struck out three times.
“It’s probably as electric as I’ve seen his fastball,” Posey said.
Lincecum said he made a conscious effort to limit his walks this spring, so he wasn’t happy when he issued three in his season debut at Dodger Stadium.
“He wasn’t going to beat himself today,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Lincecum will have to keep the high socks now. He borrowed a pair of pants from Cody Ross before doctoring his own.
“We’re supposed to be superstitious, right?” Lincecum said.
It would’ve been eerie, if the Giants lost five of six on this trip. In each of the two previous years, they began their road schedule with a 1-5 trip to Los Angeles and San Diego.
“It’s an improvement,” Bochy said, smirking. “It started with Timmy on the mound, and we had great at-bats against (Tim) Stauffer. He’s been tough on us. It’s a great way to go home.”
They jumped on Stauffer in the first inning, hitting for the cycle in a span of four at-bats. Sanchez (triple), Huff (double) and Posey (homer) preceded the first of Pablo Sandoval’s three singles.
Much like last September when the Giants visited San Diego, Petco Park had a Bay Area vibe. Attendance dropped nearly 20,000 fans from the home opener a day earlier, and chants of “Let’s Go Giants” echoed through the stadium moments after the first pitch was thrown.
Posey has struggled with a respiratory ailment and a bruised shin, but he started shooting the ball to right field in Tuesday’s loss, and he’s back to making crisp contact. Posey added a two-run single in the sixth.
“I’m just happy to drive in some runs,” Posey said. “I don’t feel quite as run down.”
That four-run sixth proved significant when the Padres tallied a walk and two infield singles off Wilson, who was lifted with two out in the ninth after throwing 23 pitches.
Jeremy Affeldt cashed in Wilson’s runs and loaded the bases, but Ramon Ramirez got Rob Johnson to fly out to earn the save.
— Story by Andrew Baggarly, San Jose Mercury News
