Mercury News
Barry Zito turned catcalls to cheers in his third year as a Giant, but a respectable season came to a sudden, painful and ultimately lucky end Friday night.
Zito was struck just below the left elbow by a line drive in the sixth inning of the Giants' 7-2 victory over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. The left-hander reflexively held both arms in front of his chest as he was struck by Adrian Gonzalez's vicious liner, which caromed high in the air.
X-rays were negative, Zito was diagnosed with an elbow contusion, and he should be fine to make his next start. It helps that his next start won't come for seven months.
Zito can't wait for that day.
"I think I made a lot of strides," said Zito, who finished 10-13 with a 4.03 ERA — his best in three seasons after signing a seven-year, $126 million contract.
"For the most part, I got back to doing the things I was used to doing. "... I maintained my delivery and mechanics the whole year. I'm definitely excited. I'm not going to be tinkering too much."
This is a time for the Giants to experiment, though. They will use this final series to evaluate younger players and puff up their winning record.
Making sure they didn't go 0-for-2009 at Petco Park? That had to feel good, too.
Juan Uribe hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning to begin a six-run rally as the Giants won their first game in seven tries by the light of the gaslamps here. Pablo Sandoval hit his team-leading 24th homer in the fourth inning and Buster Posey scored his first major league run in the seventh as the Padres kicked the ball around the infield. The Giants knocked out former teammate Kevin Correia, whose streak of 231/3 scoreless innings was interrupted by Sandoval's homer. Zito had retired 14 of his last 15 batters before getting hit. He stalked around the mound and grimaced, later saying he feared his arm was broken. "It got me as square as it could get me, but the baseball gods treated me good," said Zito, adding he had never been hit harder. Zito wasn't the only pitcher who walked off with an injury. Right-hander Sergio Romo's trick right knee locked up in the eighth inning, but the issue comes and goes. Manager Bruce Bochy wouldn't rule out Romo being available over the weekend. Not every Giant can exit with grace and fanfare, as Rich Aurilia did during Thursday's highly choreographed home finale. That game also might have been the final farewells for impending free agents Bengie Molina and Randy Winn, neither of whom will start a game in San Diego, Bochy said. Molina's sore left hand bothered him in the late innings Thursday, but he might be available for a pinch at-bat over the weekend. Winn had no physical issue, but Bochy told the veteran outfielder that he planned to look at John Bowker and others. Bochy's loyal adherence to Winn, usually in the third or fifth spot in the order, had been a chief source of complaints from critics, especially because Winn hasn't hit a home run since April 25. Winn acknowledged he might have made his final start as a Giant on Thursday, but he said he didn't take the field with any extra emotion. "It would be easier to come up with an answer if you were 100 percent sure you weren't coming back next year. But that's not the case," he said. While it's widely assumed that the club will not re-sign Winn even as a reserve, the San Ramon Valley High graduate said he will instruct his agent to make his first call to Giants officials after the season. "We'll go from there," he said. "I'll take a wait-and-see approach. I would like to come back here."
From: MLB.com
 San Francisco (87-73) Won 5 | San Francisco 7, San Diego 2 |  San Diego (74-86) Lost 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Standings thru 10/2/09 | Recap: SF | SD | Wrap | Gameday |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment