AT LAST, HIS FIRST

THIS TIME, GIANTS GIVE HIM PLENTY OF RUNS IN SUPPORT

Daniel Brown - MercuryNews

Barry Zito finally got a W in a season that had gone straight to L.

The Giants' embattled left-hander beat the Florida Marlins 8-2 on Friday for his first win of the season. In doing so he avoided becoming the first pitcher in franchise history - its 125-year history - to start a season 0-9.

Zito allowed one run and three hits over 6 1/3 innings, his longest outing of the year. There was, however, no champagne celebration. No confetti fell from the ceiling. Zito barely even cracked a smile during his postgame session with reporters. Knowing how misleading those win-loss totals can be, Zito said he was concerned more with the fact the Giants won, not his credit for getting them there.

"You can't win a game on your own as a pitcher, and you can't win a game on your own as a hitter," said the pitcher, now 1-8 with a 5.65 ERA. "It was a big day for all of us."

Indeed, a pitcher does not go winless for as long as Zito had without some bad luck; that streak, too, was a team effort. The Giants never scored more than three runs in his nine previous starts. Six times, they scored one run or fewer while he was in the game.

But that changed against Florida as the Giants' suddenly potent offense produced an episode of "RBI: Miami."

Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand hit back-to-back home runs off Scott Olsen in the fourth inning, the first time in 2008 that the Giants have hit consecutive long balls. Jose Castillo, waived by the Marlins during spring training, added a solo shot in the eighth to give the Giants three home runs in a game for the first time this season. And Rich Aurilia had two doubles, the second of which drove in a pair of runs to make it 5-1 in the third inning.

Not bad for a team that had given Zito just 2.22 runs per game.

"We don't know the numbers, but trust me, we all know" about the run support, Rowand said.

Zito's first victory came against an unlikely victim. Florida was coming off a three-game sweep of mighty Arizona. In that series, the Marlins overcame three starters - Micah Owings, Brandon Webb and Dan Haren - whose combined record was 19-3.

Zito, meanwhile, was trying to avoid becoming the majors' first pitcher to fall to 0-9 since Detroit's Mike Maroth in 2003.

"We're all happy for Z," Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's great to get that first one. There's no getting around that."

Zito gave up Dan Uggla's RBI double in the first but did not allow another run. In four starts since returning to the rotation after getting skipped a turn, Zito has a 3.22 ERA. Reflecting on that skipped start, Zito said: "I think that was a good time to take a good, hard look in the mirror and ask what I was going to do about it."

Against the Marlins, Zito threw his 12-to-6 curveball with confidence. He also continued to resurrect a two-seam fastball that he had abandoned back in his days with Oakland at the suggestion of pitching coach Rick Peterson. (Zito said he had been getting into some bad mechanical habits with that pitch.)

Friday, his fastball hit 86 mph on the radar gun, which is fast enough when he has command of his other pitches. Rowand, who faced Zito in the pitcher's American League heyday, went so far as to say, "He threw the ball like I remember him throwing."

As Zito spoke at his locker, Rowand stopped by and gave the pitcher a big hug. Zito said his teammates have supported him, even during all those weeks when he had a 0 in his record.

"Guys that play the game know about struggling," Zito said. "They never get into judging or talking bad about guys. The people who go out on the field every day know about bumps in the road."