Andrew Baggarly - Mercury News
Matt Cain's luck. Greg Maddux throwing Whiffle balls. Petco Park. A fallible bullpen. A tired, aged roster.
When these things aligned last season, and they did often, it meant an agonizing loss for the Giants followed by shouts of frustration echoing off the walls of the manager's office.
Bruce Bochy had it all Wednesday night, except for a few more kids on the roster and more reliable arms in the bullpen. And the outcome was different, a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres in 13 innings at Petco Park.
Who said the Giants would be a boring team this season?
They felt exhilaration in the chilly marine air of Petco Park. With one swing, Bengie Molina wrecked Maddux's potential 350th victory, rescued Cain from another undeserved loss and heaped a blown save upon all-time leader Trevor Hoffman. He golfed a tying home run with one out in the ninth inning.
Then the Giants made the most of their extra life. Emmanuel Burriss doubled for his second major league hit and scored the tiebreaking run on Fred Lewis' bloop single in the top of the 13th. Aaron Rowand added a run-scoring single for an insurance run that proved vital.
That's because closer Brian Wilson loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 13th. Colt Morton lined a sacrifice fly that Rowand caught on a dead sprint in center field, making it a one-run game. But with the bases loaded again, Tadahito Iguchi grounded into a forceout to end it. was a victory that held special satisfaction, considering all the wounds the Giants suffered at Petco Park last year. They lost eight of nine in the Padres' home park, five of the defeats were by one run and two of those came on walk-off home runs.
"Any time we had games like this last year, we had a tough time," Bochy said. "But these guys fought. I'm so proud of them."
Last season, the Giants were 4-16 in games tied after eight innings. They were 6-15 in extra-inning games. Some of that was due to an older roster; their best player, Barry Bonds, was usually on the seven-inning program - long gone when games were on the line.
"I wasn't here last year, but some of our guys said we didn't fight to win these close games," Rowand said. "This team, it doesn't ever stop fighting, doesn't ever stop battling."
Before their 13th-inning rally, the Giants had scored just two runs over a 30-inning span at Petco Park, dating to last season.
It was the Padres' first game at Petco since the April 17 marathon between the Padres and Rockies, which Colorado won in the 22nd inning - the longest major league game in almost 15 years.
After Molina's homer sent the game to extras, you had the feeling both teams were just settling in.
The Giants were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position before Lewis' looping fly ball bounced in shallow center field. Burriss didn't get a great read on the ball, but had enough speed to slide underneath catcher Josh Bard's tag.
Burriss also had the pleasure of gloving Iguchi's grounder and throwing to second baseman Ray Durham for the final out.
"One thing I'll say about young players, they just keep pushing," Bochy said. "They don't have a tendency to start tiring at the end of the game."
The Giants also have a stronger bullpen. Four relievers combined for five shutout innings before Wilson entered.
Maddux held the Giants to four hits over seven briskly paced shutout innings, frustrating Cain yet again. He threw just 74 pitches and had his 350th career victory in hand until Hoffman threw a 1-2 change-up that Molina dug out and belted into the left field stands.
If Barry Zito needed reassurance that he can succeed without lighting up radar guns, it was neatly laid out in front of him. Maddux's fastball topped out at 83 mph, he didn't throw more than 14 pitches in an inning and the Giants didn't have an at-bat that lasted longer than six pitches.
Cain was nearly as efficient. But Maddux scattered his four hits over four innings, while Cain gave up four of his five to consecutive batters in the fifth. Brian Giles hit a chin-level fastball to drive in a run.
After giving up a career-high nine earned runs in his previous start, Cain didn't mess around. Of his 98 pitches, 84 were fastballs and most of them blazed at 95 mph on the stadium radar board.
But he is a doomed soul here in San Diego. He has a 1.63 ERA in six career starts at Petco Park, but just a 1-2 record to show for it. Last year, Cain had a 2.41 ERA in six starts against the Padres but was 0-3.
Several of Cain's losses have come against Maddux, whom the Giants haven't beaten since 2003. He has been untouchable in eight starts since he rejoined the NL West in the middle of the 2006 season: 5-0 with a 1.82 ERA, three walks and 37 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings.
The Padres went into the dusty pages of the record book to figure out that Maddux's career ERA against the Giants (2.80) is the lowest among all eight major league pitchers who have made at least 50 starts against the franchise since 1883.
The list includes Don Drysdale (2.92), Bob Gibson (2.99), Phil Niekro (3.07), Steve Carlton (3.20), Warren Spahn (3.23), Larry Jackson (3.33) and Don Sutton (3.78).
Sandy Koufax isn't included because he only made 46 appearances against the Giants (33 starts). But Koufax's 3.08 ERA against the Giants doesn't beat Maddux, either.
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