Giants lefty strikes out two while tossing two shutout frames
MLB.com
In one respect, Barry Zito already has improved vastly over last Spring Training.
Zito faced 72 Cactus League batters in 2008 before recording a strikeout. On Saturday at the Peoria Sports Complex, Zito slipped a called third strike past Ronny Cedeno, the second batter he faced. The left-hander remained stingy during his two hitless innings against the Seattle Mariners, walking one, striking out two and allowing one ball to be hit out of the infield.
Zito's effort, Fred Lewis' first-inning homer and the growing intensity of the second-base competition salvaged the Giants' 6-4 exhibition loss. San Francisco broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning before the Mariners scored three runs off Alex Hinshaw in their half of the eighth.
Zito attributed his success to late movement on his fastball. That, in turn, came from "being loose [and] being relaxed," he said. "... When you're not loose and you're a little tense, [hitters] can see everything right when it comes out of your hand."
Zito spent the offseason training with Giants closer Brian Wilson, a noted workout-aholic. Their regimen included long-distance catch, known within the game as "long toss," at a distance of 300 feet.
"I just let the ball go," Zito said. "Then I apply the same thing and let it go at 60 feet."
Zito also indicated that he no longer feels mentally burdened by last season, when he finished 10-17 with a 5.15 ERA after opening the year 0-6 with a 7.53 ERA in seven starts.
"I definitely came through a lot, so it just feels good to be myself once again and prove to myself that it was in there last year," Zito said.
Lewis, who was limited to two at-bats by discomfort in his surgically repaired right foot, explained that the scar tissue in his foot has begun to break up, forcing him to continue to play every other day for now.
"We just have to be cautious," manager Bruce Bochy said.
Lewis gave Zito a 1-0 lead with a two-out homer off Mariners starter Carlos Silva in the first inning, but was removed by Bochy after lining out to deep left field in the third. "Coming in today, knowing that my at-bats were limited -- swing hard," Lewis said, describing his hitting approach.
Eugenio Velez, who had played the previous three games in the outfield, started his first Cactus League game at second base and made an immediate impression in the first inning by charging leadoff batter Endy Chavez's bunt, barehanding the ball and firing it to first for the out.
"There aren't a lot of guys who can make that play," Zito said. "That just shows what he's capable of."
Not to be outdone, Kevin Frandsen, another second-base candidate, dove to his right to smother Cedeno's low fifth-inning line drive and record the out at first. Frandsen also manufactured the Giants' go-ahead run in the eighth by singling with one out, coaxing a balk from reliever Stephen Kahn, advancing to third on a fly ball and scoring on Pablo Sandoval's single.
Then Hinshaw yielded Chris Woodward's homer to christen the Mariners' eighth. Four of the next five hitters collected hits as Seattle pulled away.
Hinshaw, who looked promising in 48 appearances last year, is on the 40-man roster, which conceivably gives him an edge over the legion of non-roster invitees competing for a relief role. But Bochy indicated that he won't base his decisions on roster status.
From: MLB.com
 San Francisco | Seattle 6, San Francisco 4 |  Seattle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings | Recap: SEA |
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