[新聞] Long balls don't carry Giants far enough
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Long balls don't carry Giants far enough
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com | 4/17/2011 10:15 PM ET
PHOENIX -- It wasn't as if Aubrey Huff was going to traverse an entire season
without hitting a homer, but he picked game No. 15 on Sunday at Chase Field
as an opportune time to blast No. 1.
Huff's fourth-inning homer off D-backs starter Barry Enright was one of three
Giants long balls on the day, although the defending World Series champs
dropped a 6-5 decision to Arizona, which salvaged the final tilt of the
three-game weekend series.
Huff was long gone from the game in the 12th inning when Stephen Drew singled
home Justin Upton from second off left-hander Javier Lopez, the fifth Giants
reliever of the day. Drew had three RBIs as the D-backs snapped San
Francisco's modest four-game winning streak.
"The point's moot because we lost, but it was good to get on board," said
Huff, who hadn't hit a regular season homer since Sept. 25 at Colorado, but
had one long knock in the team's World Series victory over the Rangers. "I've
definitely been on longer streaks than that, but not one at the start of the
season, I don't think. It was just a matter of time before I got hot."
The Giants still won the series on the road, and have been victorious in
seven of their last 10 games since opening 1-4. They now travel to Denver to
play a three-game set beginning Monday night against the blazing Rockies, who
hold first place by four games in the National League West. To be sure, it's
only mid-April. But the way things are shaking out early, the series boasts
what looks like the top teams in the West -- and will have long-range
implications.
"The Rockies are playing good ball, right now. They're really hot," Huff
said. "If they stay this hot all year, then good for them. It's just one of
those things. They're 12-3 or whatever they are. They're playing great
baseball. Hopefully, we go in and slow them down a little bit."
Huff added a sacrifice fly in a four-run Giants sixth, giving him 10 RBIs on
the season. That was followed by back-to-back homers off the bats of Buster
Posey and Pablo Sandoval. The homers were the second of the series for both
players. Posey's two-run shot matched his blast in Saturday evening's
victory, and was his third of the season. Sandoval's homer was his fourth. He
also hit a three-run homer in Friday night's win.
Posey's blast chased Enright and tied the score at 4. Sandoval hit his on the
second pitch from reliever Esmerling Vasquez, giving the Giants a 5-4 lead.
It was the first time this season the Giants hit back-to-back homers.
Just like that, the D-backs' bullpen shut down the Giants' offense. After
Sandoval's homer, five Arizona relievers retired the final 20 of 21 San
Francisco hitters, including the last 16 in a row. Aaron Rowand singled with
two out in the seventh and was the last Giant to reach base.
Still, the Giants might have won anyway had second baseman Freddy Sanchez
cleanly fielded an infield single off the bat of Miguel Montero with a runner
on first and two out in the eighth. Montero just beat the throw after Sanchez
recovered from bobbling the ball. Moments later, Ryan Roberts singled home
the run that tied the score at 5.
D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said that maintaining composure was a big issue
for his 6-8 team in beating the Giants.
"They believe in themselves, regardless of what the score is," he said. "They
had their way with us the first two games. They've beaten us 15 of the last
19 times we've faced them. So they've got a good feeling playing against us.
Confidence is big in this game."
Huff knows that's the honest truth. Two years ago, he split his season
between the Orioles and Tigers, and hit 15 home runs. The Giants picked him
up off the scrap heap a month before Spring Training in 2010, and signed him
to a one-year, $3 million contract. Huff hit 26 homers and knocked in 86 runs
to become a mainstay of a team that won the World Series for the first time
since 1954.
In return, the Giants signed him to a two-year deal that will guarantee him
$22 million. Huff, at 34, now has his stature and his place. When paychecks
were passed out in the clubhouse before the series began, Huff dropped his to
the floor and quipped that he needed "a crane to pick it up."
Not that he was a pauper beforehand, but this is pretty heady stuff. And with
all that money comes the much higher expectations.
"He can hit," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "When all's said and done, his
numbers are going to be pretty good."
Barry M. Bloom is national reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog,
Boomskie on Baseball. Follow @boomskie on Twitter. This story was not subject
to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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