SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
The baseball deities were bored Sunday. There were no perfect games working and the "Survivor" series finale was hours away. Yes, even baseball deities have their guilty pleasures.
So they determined that one day after Brian Wilson needed 15 pitches to retire Kaz Matsui for the final out, they had to see another Wilson-Matsui duel with two outs in the ninth and the game in the balance.
It had to be a disappointment to the gods, then, when Wilson struck out Matsui in an economical seven pitches, with runners on the corners, to end a 4-3 Giants victory that completed their second sweep of Houston this season.
"Hard to believe," manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's Groundhog Day again."
The Giants again did to Houston what San Diego has done to them twice in 2010 - sweep.
After a 3-3 homestand constructed with the oh-for against the Padres and three wins against Houston, the Giants rise this morning precisely where they did Tuesday morning, a half-game behind first-place San Diego with the Pads up next, this time for two games at Petco Park.
Actually, there is one difference. The Giants were able to regain the three games in the standings they lost to the Padres because Los Angeles swept San Diego this weekend. Despite an odd pinkie injury to the league's hottest hitter, Andre Ethier, the Dodgers are charging quickly behind the Giants. Colorado is playing well, too.
In fact, every team in the National League West except for Arizona owns a winning record.
"The division is tightening up," Bochy said. "The Rockies had a good series (against Washington). The Dodgers did, too. I know we've had our troubles with San Diego. It's going to be that way the whole season. We're going to have to find a way to win some games in our division. We haven't had a good start."
If history is a guide, a good start from Matt Cain is what the Giants will get tonight. He has pitched well in San Diego with hard luck.
On Sunday, rotation-mate Barry Zito had what Bochy called "one of his guttier outings," holding Houston's weak lineup to three runs in seven innings despite lacking his best stuff or command.
"That was a battle from the beginning," Zito said. "I just had to keep attacking the zone and let guys get themselves out because the defense behind me was great today."
Actually, it was mixed. Aaron Rowand misread a Kevin Cash drive into a double that produced a run and cut the Giants' lead to 4-3 in the seventh. But that inning ended with nice defensive plays by Matt Downs and Aubrey Huff on both ends of a Brett Myers grounder that would have scored the tying run had Myers been safe.
Zito allowed his first homer of the season, to a slumping Carlos Lee, in the fourth inning.
But the long ball also helped Zito improve to 6-1. Andres Torres bounced a two-run homer into McCovey Cove in the first inning with Rowand aboard after his fifth walk of the year. With the score tied 2-2 in the sixth, Rowand hit a go-ahead homer for the second consecutive Sunday. Torres doubled and scored an insurance run in the inning for a 4-2 lead.
It had to be 4-3 in the ninth, and it had to be Wilson and Matsui after pinch-hitters Geoff Blum and Cory Sullivan singled with two outs. It made for great theater. Again, Wilson took the curtain call.
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