Mercury News
NEW YORK -- Maybe it was Bruce Bochy's amateur knuckleball in batting practice. Maybe it was just a chance to face Mets right-hander R.A. Dickey, a pitcher who throws below the hitting speed.
Whatever the reason, Bochy's shaken-up lineup finally stirred.
Still, Aubrey Huff wasn't a part of their come-from-behind rally in a four-run third inning. He was hitless in his first four at-bats and even made an out when he swung at a 3-0 pitch -- a decision that didn't fit the theme of an intense hitters-only meeting earlier in the day.
When the game arrived in extra innings, though, the Giants needed one more rip. And Huff had one mighty catharsis of a swing. His solo home run in the 10th inning was just his second hit in 25 at-bats on the trip, and closer Brian Wilson protected the lead as the Giants took a 7-6 victory over the New York Mets at Citi Field on Tuesday night.
Huff might have saved the Giants from another meeting, too.
"We talked about some things," Bochy said before the game. "We needed to. We want these guys to be who they are and just relax. But at the same time, we've got to make adjustments. We're better than what we're doing.
"We're a team that will see more pitches, draw more walks. You know, getting hits with runners in scoring position is something that comes and goes. But what you want to do is create more opportunities, and we're not doing that."
How does swinging at a 3-0 pitch fall into that message? "You know what?" Huff said. "I'm not going to walk out of a slump." Besides, he said, "They probably looked at my average and said, 'The guy's hitting .183. You can't walk him.' " So Huff stayed aggressive on a 2-0 pitch from right-hander Taylor Buchholz in the 10th, blasting it into the right-field seats for his third homer of the season. "A game like this is important for the psyche of the club, and for Aubrey, too," Bochy said. "It's pretty simple. We needed to win." Aggressive managing helped spark the four-run third inning, which matched the Giants' entire output from their four-game depression in Washington. After Cody Ross walked and Manny Burriss blooped a single, the Mets infielders were positioned to run the wheel play and try to force out the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt. Shortstop Jose Reyes left a huge hole up the middle. So Bochy had pitcher Ryan Vogelsong swing away, and he rapped a run-scoring single. Mike Fontenot added a two-run single to put the Giants ahead. "It's a tough situation," Bochy said. "They're getting set up for the force at third. You know it. They're putting it on you to swing the bat, and Vogey put it where he needed." Vogelsong, who owns the only victory by a Giants starter in 12 games, only made it through the fourth inning. He allowed a three-run homer to Carlos Beltran in the first and a two-run shot to Ike Davis in the third that put the Mets in front 5-4. The Giants tied it in the fourth, then the teams traded runs in the sixth. After Nate Schierholtz hit a solo home run, Reyes -- who reached base in all six plate appearances -- tied it at 6-6 with a broken-bat single off Dan Runzler. Both teams squandered huge chances in the ninth. Miguel Tejada had another miserable game, going 0 for 5 and popping up with the infield in, one out and runners at second and third in a rally that Burriss and Darren Ford ignited by beating out bunt singles. The Mets loaded the bases on David Wright's double and two intentional walks, but Javier Lopez calmly fielded Josh Thole's hard grounder and threw home to start a jam-escaping double play. Huff likened Lopez's ice-water mentality to that of Super Bowl hero Tom Brady. "Who did we pick him up from? Pittsburgh?" Huff said. "They not like the guy for some reason?" By the end of the night, Huff could harbor a bit less self-loathing, too. "It's definitely been frustrating for me," he said. "Hopefully this gets me going, and scoring runs the way we did gets us all going."
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