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Winning streak makes Giants locker room a happier place
By Daniel Dullum August 26, 2006 |
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SAN FRANCISCO-Nothing bonds a locker room quite like winning and being in a pennant chase – even if it is in the lackluster National League West. When that subject came up Saturday at AT&T Park, San Francisco Giants first baseman Shea Hillenbrand pointed out, “To tell you the truth, this is a veteran clubhouse. Guys know how to play and take care of the little things we need to do to go out there and put themselves in a position to compete. We’ve had a really even-keeled clubhouse the whole time I’ve been here, and I imagine it was the same way before I came here.” Without mentioning his former team – the embattled Toronto Blue Jays – by name, Hillenbrand continued, “This is a fun clubhouse. We take it to heart when we lose, but we’re not going to let it affect us too much, so we can’t go out there and focus on what we need to do the next night. We’ve been doing a great job of that.” Giants pitcher Noah Lowry added, “We’re fortunate again this year that the division has shaped up the way that it has. We’re right there. It’s crunch time, so hopefully we can continue to play good baseball.” San Francisco manager Felipe Alou admits that scoreboard watching is more enjoyable now than it was two weeks ago, when his team was eight games out of first and seemingly fading fast. “When we lost those games in L.A., it really wasn’t worth a look,” Alou said. “Then we decided to start winning some games at home. It’s hard to watch the scoreboard when you’re in last place. … You don’t read the newspapers, you don’t watch ESPN, you don’t watch the scoreboard. “You win a few games, now you have to find out what your chances are.” Of late, the Giants chances are looking better by the day. Lowry admitted he wasn’t feeling 100 percent before his start for the San Francisco Giants Saturday, fighting the ill effects of a late summer cold. Though he struggled all afternoon, the young lefthander gave the Giants eight strong innings to help defeat the Cincinnati Reds 4-1 before a sellout crowd of 41,362. “Today was a battle for me every inning. I didn’t feel like I had much energy today,” Lowry said. “Every inning, I was out of breath, I was drained. It just didn’t really feel good. So being able to battle and keep us in it for eight innings was nice. “We were able to battle every inning and we found a way to get it done.” The Giants have won 10 of their last 12 games, finding themselves back in the National League West Division and wild card races. San Francisco trails the Los Angeles Dodgers by three games in the divisional race and is also three games back in the wild card chase. “I see the guys understanding that we don’t have time or room to make mistakes,” Alou said. “We can’t afford to beat ourselves and I think they know that. The time left is not that big. The shot [at postseason] is legitimate – we have a shot at winning the division. [The players] know that.” Compounding the Reds’ disappointment was St. Louis simultaneously defeating the Chicago Cubs 2-1. Instead of pulling into a tie for first with the slumping Cardinals in the NL Central, Cincinnati slipped to two games back. Despite the loss, Cincinnati holds a one game lead in the NL wild card race. “We can't afford [losses],” Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo said. “Any of them at all, especially with the Cardinals [who] pulled two good ones out the last two days so we've got to find a way to clean everything up, eliminate the mistakes on the mound and push some guys across the plate. No matter what it takes, it’s that time of year. You can't let games slip away when you've got them close near the end.” Both the Giants and Reds committed two errors in the game. But it was Ken Griffey Jr.’s throwing error on Randy Winn’s fifth inning double that allowed the San Francisco centerfielder to score the Giants’ second run on what could best be described as a “Little League home run.” “I’d like to see us play a game clean defensively for one thing,” Reds manager Jerry Narron said. “We had some plays we made that weren’t even scored errors. Offensively, we haven’t done anything with guys in scoring position – that’s going to happen sometimes. For me, we just need to play the game clean and try to move some guys around the bases and we can’t even do that. “We’ll come out of it. The last two games for us have been as bad as we’ve played in a while, and we’ve still been in these games. That should be a good sign.” After Arroyo (10-9) cruised through San Francisco’s first trip through the order, he ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Giants took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Pedro Feliz, scoring Mike Sweeney, who reached on a fielder’s choice. Cincinnati’s lone run came on a solo home run by David Ross in the sixth inning, his 18th round-tripper of the season. It was the only blemish on an otherwise outstanding effort by Lowry, who allowed one run on six hits and three walks while striking out three. “Was it a bad pitch? I thought I got it up and in there, but [Ross] was able to hit it out, so I guess it couldn’t have been that good of a pitch,” Lowry, who was 3-0 with a 1.86 ERA in August, said. “It was one bad pitch here, one bad pitch there, but we were able to make quality pitches when guys got on base and we were able to shut them down.” Mike Stanton, the Giants’ veteran relief pitcher, said of Lowry, “Obviously, everybody sees the great stuff, the swing-and-miss change up, the good bite on the curveball and spotting the fastball. When Noah has, that a lot of guys have to develop, is that killer instinct. He’s an incredibly competitive guy. He takes that with him to the mound.” San Francisco added two more runs in the seventh on Shea Hillenbrand’s 100th career home run. After Omar Vizquel reached on an infield single, Hillenbrand sent a drive to left for his fifth home run as a Giant and his 17th of the season, sending Arroyo to the showers. It was Arroyo’s sixth loss in his last seven starts after starting out the season at 9-3. “I didn’t realize it was 100 – that’s how many home runs I hit,” said Hillenbrand, who was 2-for-16 lifetime against Arroyo before Saturday. “Of all people – Bronson Arroyo, I haven’t had too much success off of him. He’s a great pitcher. I got a pitch to hit and I was able to do something with it this time.” Hillenbrand became the 124th active player to reach the century mark in home runs. “He’s a good hitter, we know that … a proven big league hitter,” Alou said of Hillenbrand. “As long as we are in this hunt, he’s the first baseman. And he’s starting to pay some big dividends, playing good defense and getting big hits. It looks like I’ll leave him hitting third until Mo [injured outfielder Moises Alou] comes back.” Alou said he initially wanted Hillenbrand to bunt in that situation. “I could probably get the ball down, but it’s one of those things where I played a lot of my career in the American League and haven’t had to do too much of that. “You never know. Whatever you’re called upon to do, you do it and we came out on top today, and that’s the biggest thing.” Stanton, who pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the season, said he was unaware that he would be used in a closer’s role. “I would much rather not know [how I’ll be used],” Stanton said. “It’s one thing if you’re a closer and you know that you’re up in the eighth and you’re going to pitch the ninth. But one of the things that makes ballplayers is a comfort zone. I’m much more comfortable not knowing if I’m going to pitch. ”The way bullpens are run nowadays, the only guy that really has a job description is the closer. The rest of it is anytime, anywhere, and you have to be prepared for that.” As Stanton tells it, the Giants are also prepared for the stretch run. After Sunday’s game with Cincinnati, San Francisco makes its final eastern road swing, visiting Atlanta, the Chicago Cubs, and Cincinnati. “We tell the younger guys, there’s a lot of baseball left,” Stanton said. “We have a lot of inter-divisional games left, and we just have to get ourselves right. We just need to carry it out there [Sunday] and through the [upcoming] road trip.” DIAMOND DUST: Reds RP Eddie Guardado, a native of Stockton, is on the disabled list with tendonitis in his left forearm. … The Giants are 35-19 when Randy Winn scores at least one run. … Reds GM Wayne Krivsky has acquired 33 players since being named to the post on Feb. 8. So far, 21 of those players have made at least one appearance for Cincinnati this season. ... Reds pitching coach Vern Ruhle is still recovering from an illness, so bullpen coach Tom Hume continues to serve as interim pitching coach and Lee Tunnell is the interim bullpen coach. ... Longtime Giants 1B J.T. Snow received a standing ovation in the second inning when his presence was announced via the stadium’s center field message board. Snow was designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox on June 19 and later cleared waivers. … San Francisco 3B Pedro Feliz is the 10th player in Giants history to post three consecutive seasons of at least 20 home runs and 80 runs batted in. Feliz has 21 HR and 82 RBI through Saturday. |
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