SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Imagine climbing Mount Everest and having 49ers head coach Mike Singletary at base camp upon your descent saying, "Very nice. Now do it again."
The Giants are in the same spot. They swept Colorado at home in late August in a monumental three-game series and came to work Monday knowing they had to repeat the improbable.
With their ace leading the climb, they took a steady first step by conquering the Rockies 9-1 Monday night and narrowing Colorado's lead in the wild-card race to 3 1/2 games.
Tim Lincecum returned from a cranky back and a missed start to record his 14th win with another outstanding effort against the Rockies, holding them to a run in seven innings and with 11 strikeouts.
Only 31,307 paid their way into a showdown game with the reigning Cy Young winner on the mound, a sign that some of the faithful might have thrown in the towel after a four-game losing streak that ended with Sunday's 7-2 win against the Dodgers. Might these latest two wins re-energize the fans?
"I hope so," Lincecum said. "The way things were going, that skid, it didn't look like we'd ever come out of it. But here we score that many runs against the Dodgers, and tonight, too. It's never too late."
Manager Bruce Bochy also decided it is never too late to make a major lineup change. He dropped Bengie Molina to fifth in the lineup, the first time Molina has not batted cleanup since 2007. Although it is hard to say the move paid dividends, because Pablo Sandoval went hitless at cleanup, Molina had a fine night.
He singled to start a three-run second inning against Jason Hammel, then homered in the third. He also scored three runs in a game for the first time as a Giant.
Aaron Rowand had a two-run, bases-loaded single in the second. Juan Uribe had an RBI single in a five-run eighth after the Rockies walked Molina intentionally to get to him, following Randy Winn's stolen base on a pitchout. Eugenio Velez hit a three-run triple in the inning and had four RBIs.
Molina can be sensitive but said before the game that he was fine with the lineup change.
"My feelings? I can't have any feelings," he said. "I'm really OK. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I've done more than they've asked me to do. Going to the fifth spot doesn't make any difference."
After the game, he reiterated he happily will hit anywhere Bochy puts him, but he smiled and added, "I hope tomorrow I'm not hitting ninth."
Bochy said Lincecum's arm seemed refreshed with the time off to heal his back. His velocity had been down, but returned to the mid-90s. The medical staff kept checking on Lincecum to see if his back pain recurred. Bochy essentially covered his ears and screamed, "La la la la la."
"I didn't want to (hear bad news) and be forced to take him out," he said.
Lincecum did not seem to think his arm was livelier but did say the time off allowed him to review the way he had been throwing and devise a game plan against a division foe that has seen him often.
He befuddled the Rockies with everything in his arsenal. Lincecum was extremely antsy to pitch after 11 days off. Colorado paid the price.
"I had all this energy pent up," Lincecum said. "To keep hearing someone say, 'No, we're going to wait one more day,' it was hard to hear."
This might be hard to hear, too: As great as Monday's win was for the Giants, they need to do it again tonight, with Barry Zito facing Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez, and again Wednesday night, because the Rockies have to win only once to leave town with a comfortable lead for the wild card with the season's end drawing nigh.
 Colorado (82-63) Lost 3 | San Francisco 9, Colorado 1 |  San Francisco (78-66) Won 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 9/14/09 | Recap: COL | SF | Wrap | Gameday |
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