Something did not feel right around China Basin before Friday night's game. Too many folks outside the clubhouse were discussing a clinching victory as if it were fait accompli, too many "whens," not enough "ifs" and way too little respect for a desperate Padres team with 88 wins.
Make that 89 wins.
A night that began with orange-clad fans waving orange towels and cheering players in orange jerseys turned blue and silent in a hurry. The Padres shelled Matt Cain for three home runs on his 26th birthday, roared ahead 6-0 by the fifth inning then held on for a 6-4 victory that gave them an ingredient they have lacked of late - hope - while keeping the National League West race alive.
Cain had not surrendered three homers in a game all year before Ryan Ludwick hit a curveball over the center-field wall in the second inning, Adrian Gonzalez hit a three-run shot to right-center in the third after pitcher Clayton Richard started the rally with a single, and old man Matt Stairs hit a solo in the fourth. Ludwick and Gonzalez were a combined 5-for-48 on the Padres' just-completed homestand.
"I just left some big pitches over the plate," Cain said. He acknowledged he was "a bit nervous, but it was a good nervous."
The home clubhouse was not as glum as one might think after such a loss, as the Giants clung to their four-run rally. It was engineered by backup outfielders Cody Ross and Aaron Rowand, who combined for four big hits. Neither started the game.
The Giants forced manager Bud Black to run through his stable of prized late relievers. That included a four-out save from closer Heath Bell, who retired Andres Torres on a groundball with the tying runs aboard to end the eighth, then benefited from a terrible running mistake by Freddy Sanchez in the ninth.
After four innings, one might have argued that the momentum had shifted well into San Diego's corner. The Giants hope the final five innings shifted it back.
"For us to rally back down six runs and make a game of it, you can flip a coin," Rowand said. "They won the first game, but we definitely gave them something to think about, and we're not going to lie down."
The Giants remain in command. The Padres still have to beat them three times in a row to win the division, today and Sunday in San Francisco, and Monday in a potential one-game playoff in San Diego.
But the Padres got their most important win, the first one, by clobbering the Giants' best starter and beating them at their own game, the long ball. Cain had not lost since Aug. 18. Furthermore, the Padres know that today they face a pitcher, Barry Zito, with one win in his last 10 decisions.
At least for the Giants' sake it was his most recent decision. San Diego counters with Tim Stauffer, who has been rock-solid since he rejoined the rotation in early September.
The Giants had an opening in the ninth when Bell walked the leadoff hitter, Sanchez. Aubrey Huff then drilled a ball toward the right-field corner, where Wil Venable caught it at the wall. Sanchez said he thought Huff had homered, or at least hit one off the top of the wall, and was around second base when the catch was made. He was doubled off, and Buster Posey grounded out to end the game.
"I take pride in being a good baserunner, the best baserunner I can be," Sanchez said. "That wasn't my smartest move right there. It would have been nice to see what would have happened had I not done what I did. I'm going to try to be professional about it, get a good night's sleep and come back tomorrow."
Ross, who entered in a double switch, doubled in the fifth and scored the Giants' first run on a Sanchez single off Richard. Rowand hit a pinch two-run homer in the sixth off Richard, a shocking blow for a back-bencher who had batted only three times since Sept. 16. Ross drove in the fourth run with his second double in two innings.
As fans were filing in, a promotion for a Comcast news show ran on the big stadium video board. The announcer said loudly enough to be heard on Potrero Hill, "Will this be the night the Giants pop the Champagne corks?"
Might have been a good idea to keep that line on ice until the Padres finished batting practice and walked off the field. Perhaps they saw it. Perhaps they didn't. In either case, the Champagne stayed on ice.
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