SAN FRANCISCO -- If the Giants' initial homestand was any indication, get ready for another wild ride this season.
The reigning World Series champions entertained six sellout crowds by coming from behind in all four of their victories and securing each by one-run margins. Controversy joined the mix Wednesday as Buster Posey was hit twice by pitches before the Giants outlasted the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-3, on sixth-inning home runs by Pablo Sandoval and Mike Fontenot.
San Francisco recovered from its season-opening 2-4 trip to Los Angeles and San Diego by winning both home series, two games to one, against the Cardinals and Dodgers. During this span, closer Brian Wilson regained his form and San Francisco climbed back to .500 (6-6), bolstering the Giants as they approach a stretch that features 16 road games in 19 dates.
Wilson retraced the almost inevitable path toward success that the Giants frequently take at AT&T Park.
"We've been playing one-run games since I've been here," said Wilson, who pitched a perfect ninth inning to save his second game in a row. "We're well-versed in the manner. The bullpen knows what it needs to do. That guy hands the ball off to the next guy. The starters know what they're capable of doing, and the hitters don't panic, because the other team has to beat us. It doesn't matter if we're down or not. Our crowd dictates the way we play and the way we feel, and they're on their feet cheering. There's a roar in the crowd and an extra energy that helps us lift each other up and eventually take the lead."
This time, the Giants forged ahead with an unlikely one-two punch. Swinging right-handed against Dodgers left-hander Ted Lilly with the Giants trailing, 3-2, Sandoval drove an 0-2 pitch into the left-field seats to tie the score with one out in the sixth. This was a welcome development for the Giants and Sandoval, the switch-hitter whose lone right-handed homer in 155 plate appearances last year came against Philadelphia's Cole Hamels on Aug. 19.
"I've been working hard from that side, in Spring Training, the offseason and right now," Sandoval said.
One out later, Fontenot drove Lilly's first-pitch fastball onto the right-field arcade for his first home run as a Giant -- and his first since last May 7 as a member of the Chicago Cubs. It handed the decision to Jonathan Sanchez (1-1), who struck out nine in six innings.
Fontenot, starting his second game of the season, was a late replacement for Mark DeRosa, who was scratched from the lineup with a sore left wrist. DeRosa himself was due to give sore-shouldered Freddy Sanchez a rest at second base, but felt discomfort in his wrist about 10 minutes before the game while taking extra swings in the batting cage adjacent to the Giants' dugout.
"It probably won us the game," DeRosa said of his disappearance from the lineup. "We got Mikey Fontenot in there. I'm always thinking."
Fontenot, hitless in nine at-bats entering the game, seized upon this windfall of activity. He lined a second-inning RBI double before homering.
"I was wondering if all the starting pitchers were going to get a hit before I was," Fontenot said.
Posey got hit, period, as Lilly struck him on the left arm in the first inning and in the side during the third inning. The second grazing prompted a conference among the umpires, who warned the Giants against retaliating and the Dodgers against perpetuating any hostility.
Lilly (0-2) insisted that he needed to pitch inside to Posey, who entered the game 3-for-7 with two homers off him. But Lilly emphasized that he wasn't trying to hit last season's National League Rookie of the Year.
"I think he's one of the better hitters in the league hitting balls over the plate and going the other way," Lilly said. "For me, I've got to stay hard in. I've missed over the plate before and he's hit me plenty hard. If I miss on him, that's [inside] where I want to go."
Posey reacted calmly.
"It is what it is," he said. "The way I've been taught to play the game, when you get hit, you go to first base."
Asked whether he felt being hit twice by pitches was unusual, Posey coyly replied, "I think so. Wouldn't you?"
Manager Bruce Bochy was visibly upset over the abuse Posey absorbed.
"It's obvious we weren't real happy about it," Bochy said.
Asked whether he assumed that the Dodgers were retaIiating for Tim Lincecum hitting Juan Uribe twice already this season, Bochy replied, "I don't assume that. Why would I assume that when Juan gets hit with a 2-2 pitch with the game on the line? Hopefully that's not what they're doing."
This drama will be continued May 17-18 in Los Angeles, when the Giants and Dodgers next meet.
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