Veterans support Wright's debut
04/08/2006 8:50 PM ET
Veterans support Wright's debut
Vizquel drives in five runs, Alou homers in rebound victory
By Tony Kuttner / Special to MLB.com
Jamey Wright enters the dugout after departing the game in the eighth inning.
(Jeff Chiu/AP)
SAN FRANCISCO -- When most pitchers talk about location being the key to
success, they're referring to a corner of the strike zone.
When Jamey Wright talks about location, it's the corner of Third and King
streets.
That's the location of AT&T Park, where Wright on Saturday made his Giants
debut and picked up the win in San Francisco's 12-6 win over Atlanta.
"I threw good in a lot of places outside Colorado, but here in particular
there's a lot of confidence right from when we rolled into the city," said
Wright, who toiled in the pitchers' purgatory of Coors Field for the majority
of his seven-year career. "I love the city, I love the music they play, the
fans -- it makes it a lot of fun to go out there and do the job."
The job can also be pretty fun when the Giants offense puts together rallies
the way it did against Atlanta's Tim Hudson and the Braves bullpen.
Moises Alou got things going in the first inning with his two-run homer, the
299th of his career and his second in two games.
San Francisco than poured it on with five more in the second inning,
highlighted by Omar Vizquel's three-run triple.
Vizquel, who turns 39 in just over two weeks, would be considered an old man
on most clubs, but he was a comparative puppy in the Giants lineup Saturday.
San Francisco trotted out the oldest starting outfield ever -- average age of
40 years and 300-some-odd days -- and those three, 41-year-olds Barry Bonds
and Steve Finley, plus 39-year-old Alou, filled out the first four spots in
the order by reaching base 14 times in 20 opportunities.
None outshone Vizquel, who went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and five driven
in.
"They can swing the bats, and they showed it today," Wright said of his elder
brethren. "I try not to let [opponents] hit the ball out there and let them
relax and get some rest. Hopefully, they'll wear themselves out running the
bases."
If that's what makes you tired, the Braves were well rested, at least through
the first five innings.
Wright limited Atlanta to just two hits over that span, throwing a mere 48
pitches in the process.
"The kind of pitcher Jamey is, you saw today," said Todd Greene, who was
Wright's teammate in Colorado before joining him on the Giants this year. "He
will strike guys out from time to time, but for the most part, we want guys to
put the ball in play early in the count."
Wright arrived in camp with stats inflated by Coors Field -- a career record
of 61-88 and an ERA of 5.13. But in six previous games at AT&T Park, the 31-
year-old righty had been 2-1 with a 2.29 ERA.
"I can relax because I have good stuff here," Wright said. "I always have a
lot of confidence here, a good sinker, a good curveball. I feel I can trust my
stuff a lot more here than in Denver."
The Giants were aware of that potential when they brought him into camp as a
non-roster player this spring.
"What we like is the fact that he pitches well in this building," manager
Felipe Alou said. "He's a low-ball guy, he has experience.
"He had to pitch under a lot of pressure in Colorado as a kid. It's a lot more
relaxing here because a lot of those balls won't go out."
The Giants have Wright listed as their No. 5 starter, because he still has
flaws that revealed themselves Saturday. After breezing through those first
five innings, he struggled a bit in the sixth, giving up two runs on two hits
and two walks. He escaped that inning, then struck out the side in the seventh
, but was lifted after issuing a single and a walk to open the eighth.
"Damage control has always been an issue for Jamey," Greene said. "He's always
been a guy who will throw up four or five zeros then have a four- or five-run
inning.
"I thought we did a nice job today of getting out of that with only two runs.
He made some quality pitches."
The same could not be said of Atlanta's Hudson (0-1), who left trailing 8-0
after four innings, with three more walks issued and eight more hits allowed
on his resume.
The Giants batted around against Hudson in the second, then did the same
against Joey Devine and Ken Ray in a four-run eighth.
Those runs were most welcome after Friday night, when the Giants lost, 14-6,
after giving up eight runs on two hits and what seemed like a couple hundred
thousand walks in the seventh inning.
There seemed to be a feeling of "Oh, no, not again" from Saturday's crowd of
39,050 when the Braves chipped away with two more runs in the eighth, and even
more so in the ninth.
That's when Jeremy Accardo twice was one pitch away from sealing the deal, but
gave up a walk and a two-run double to Edger Renteria.
Finally, Jack Taschner, whose two-walk, one-hit-batter appearance was at the
heart of Friday's nightmare inning, struck out Chipper Jones to close the
book.
Said first baseman Mark Sweeney, who was at the closing end of three Giants
double plays, "It was a big win for us today, especially coming off last night
and coming against Hudson."
Tony Kuttner is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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