If it's any consolation to Barry Zito, there was a better lefty-lefty challenge at China Basin on Sunday than the advertised pitching matchup. The real show was Fred Lewis against Randy Johnson, and, in a sense, both men won.
The game was a composite of the Giants' depressing season, a 7-2 loss to Arizona that thoroughly deflated a crowd of 40,071. After an encouraging start, Zito gave up four runs in the fourth inning and later surrendered a Mark Reynolds homer that was summarily crushed into the left-field bleachers. By the time the Giants put numbers on the scoreboard, Johnson had pitched seven masterful, scoreless innings and the game was well in hand.
Lewis, however, was a champion in defeat. The Giants have become increasingly concerned with the bunion on Lewis' right foot, a harmless-sounding injury that is, in fact, quite serious. There are days, Lewis admits, when "it bothers me so much, I don't feel like running."
Sunday was not one of those days. On an afternoon that raised his average to .280 and his spirits to the skies, Lewis became the first left-handed batter in history to get four hits in a game against Johnson.
All of the hits had the look of authority: first-inning single to center, third-inning single to right, fifth-inning double down the left-field line, seventh-inning double to left-center. And that was only part of the show. Lewis stole second and third in the first inning, only to be left stranded, and he raced to the far left-field corner in the seventh to make a sparkling catch on Chris Burke's flyball.
To top it off, Lewis was at the plate for one of the strangest pitches of Johnson's career. He has had some beauties (who could forget the pitch behind John Kruk at the ... All-Star Game?), but this one surprised even the man himself.
With Lewis leading off the Giants' first and a 1-1 count, Johnson had started his delivery when he heard "some kind of horn" go off in the stands, halting his concentration. Figuring he'd better go ahead and throw, Johnson tossed a high-floating lob that moved so slowly, it didn't even register on the speed gun or the "MPH" slot on the left-field scoreboard.
"I couldn't figure out if it was accidental or on purpose," said Lewis after the game. "I didn't know what that was. Later I was thinking, man, I could have hit that pitch."
Johnson might not be ready to add that pitch to his repertoire, but "if I knew I was going to have that kind of success with it," he cracked after the game, "maybe I should throw it more often."
As the days drag on, it becomes increasingly clear that the Giants are playing for next year, and the seasons beyond. All of the Giants were raving about Lewis' day, and it seems certain that Lewis (who hopes to avoid foot surgery with plenty of offseason rest) has a lock on the left-field job.
Saturday night, meanwhile, had "next year" written all over it. There might be a time when the Giants let Tim Lincecum pitch the full nine innings, but as everyone discovered when the bullpen turned his seven-inning gem into disaster, now is not that time. The Giants thought they needed a revitalizing win Sunday, and Zito (5-13) was upset to have come up short.
"I was just nit-picking out there instead of being aggressive," said Zito, whose three fourth-inning walks (not counting the intentional walk he issued) included one to Chris Snyder with the bases loaded. "There's no excuse for it. Instead of going with the approach that worked for me the past few games, just pitching free and easy, I went back to grinding.
"It's frustrating to let the team down, especially the way things went last night. It was important for me to make a statement, tell those (Arizona) guys we're not gonna roll over, and I didn't do that."
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