While getting ready to remind everyone that the Giants only scored five runs in 32 innings against San Diego at home, Fred Lewis came up to the plate against Trevor Hoffman.
After one of the furthest non-homers ever hit, Lewis stood on third base as the winning run. When Jose Castillo hit his slow grounder to short that scored Lewis, it wasn’t just a much-needed win against the hated Hoffman (well, hated if you’re a Giants fan who’s still bitter about Robby Thompson getting beaned in the face by the all-time saves leader back in 1993). Today’s bottom of the 10th was one of those rare times during a Tim Lincecum start when the most exciting half-inning of a game occurred while the Giants were at the plate.
When Lincecum’s on the mound, one can usually expect long at-bats ending in strikeouts for opposing hitters. Today was different in that Lincecum only threw 100 pitches in seven innings (very few for him) and only recorded two strikeouts.
The Giants’ offense is so pathetic, this afternoon I found myself hoping terrible plate appearances by Omar Vizquel would end quickly so I could watch more Lincecum. With fewer strikeouts, Lincecum’s performance — while still outstanding — wasn’t the electric, you’re-watching-a-star-in-the-making outing Lincecum has had five or six times this season. But he pitched more than well enough to deserve a win, if only the Giants could score runs at home.
But in the end the Giants did score some runs, they avoided getting swept at home by the Padres and they moved to 9-3 in games Lincecum has started. The rest of the games? 15-30.
Weekend Notes
-I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night at the Kabuki Theater, which was teeming with large groups of heterosexual women and homosexual men giddy off a combination of cosmos and their anticipation of Sex and the City. My buddy Tut and I let our girlfriends watch the Sarah Jessica Parker voiceover fest with their friends and enjoyed Indy more than I figured we would.
If you can get over the general ridiculousness of the action sequences, or the extremely generous use of soft-focus, or that George Lucas’s beardprints were all over the film’s ending, it’s a fun time. It probably also helped that I’ve been on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland as recently as December, and this movie was another reminder that nobody has more fun in big off-road vehicles than Indy. Maybe the key to enjoying this version of “Indiana Jones” is the same as with the Giants: go in with low expectations.
-As much history as the Lakers and Celtics have, these teams don’t really have much bad blood against each other. Sure, Ray Allen said a lot of negative stuff about Kobe Bryant, but that was like four years ago when Allen was scoring 26 a game.
-The guess here is Sasha Vujacic does something in the next two weeks that makes him a hated man in Boston for life. If Vujacic isn’t careful, he’ll get clotheslined by Brian Scalabrine.
-Since they’ll probably have two sideline reporters for the Finals, how big a fight do you think Michele Tafoya and Ric Bucher (Stuart Scott’s the host, remember? Ugh, I never thought I’d be writing these words, but I miss Dan Patrick) will have to be the one who interviews Doc Rivers (media darling) instead of Phil Jackson (the prince of patronizing)?
-With all apologies to Dave Fleming, I don’t think Patrick Misch is that great.
-Really, it’s like Misch is the godfather of Fleming’s twin daughters. Maybe Flem watched Kruk and Kuip for years and said, “I want to have a Woody of my own.”
-And by Woody, I mean Kirk Reuter. Get your heads out of the gutter.
-Speaking of Reuter, he talked to the great Amy G. today in front of the “Build a Bear Workshop” at AT&T Park. After the insightful interview, he signed autographs for several kids. It reminded me of that night in 1999 outside Wrigley Field when Woody stiffed my buddy Carp for an autograph after a Giants/Cubs doubleheader. This might sound like sacrilege to Giants fans, but Woody’s a phony!
