SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Washington -- the defending champs left spring training five weeks ago, they could not have dreamed they would finish April with their Kung Fu Panda bound for surgery, their injured center fielder playing camp games in Arizona and their No. 3 hitter slumping so badly their catcher had to borrow a mitt from another injured teammate and play first base.
The Giants understandably feel fortunate to finish April 13-13 after taking a nutty 2-1 victory against the Nationals on Saturday. The winning run scored when scuffling Aubrey Huff came off the bench in the seventh inning and drew a bases-loaded walk.
"Five-hundred for the month - moral victory," general manager Brian Sabean said after calming his nerves from a Brian Wilson Special. "It's a minor miracle the way we've played."
For the next four to six weeks, the Giants will play without Sandoval, who fractured the hamate bone in his right wrist on a swing Friday night and will undergo surgery in Arizona on Tuesday.
That is a long timeout for a player enjoying a great renaissance at the plate and third base, one of the few Giants who have hit with any consistency.
Many hitters have fractured their hamates and had the same surgery, to remove the hook that juts from the bone and makes contact with the knob of the bat on each swing. Ken Griffey Jr. and Dustin Pedroia had it. So did teammates Mike Fontenot, Mark DeRosa and Darren Ford, Jose and Ozzie Canseco and Sandoval's own brother, Michael.
Sandoval was philosophical about his fate, perhaps because he knew this roster.
"I'm fine," he said. "It's going to be quick. I'll just try to get better as soon as I can."
He also told head trainer Dave Groeschner he would use his time on the disabled list to rev up his conditioning and lose a few extra pounds.
Sandoval's teammates had to digest the news while playing the fifth game of a 10-game trip. They did not play well, especially early. Manager Bruce Bochy said the team seemed to be in a "fog" and agreed that some of that had to do with the Sandoval news. Huff said otherwise.
"This is a tough blow for us, especially the way he's been hitting," Huff said. "But you're not thinking about Pablo Sandoval when you're playing a baseball game. You've got a job to do."
Some job titles will be changing.
Miguel Tejada will shift from shortstop to third, Fontenot will be the principal shortstop, and the Giants will recall third baseman Ryan Rohlinger from Triple-A Fresno for backup.
Sabean said he has no plans to look outside the organization for help now, especially with Mark DeRosa's expected return in a little more than a week.
DeRosa did contribute Saturday, lending Buster Posey a mitt so Posey could play first base for the first time since Aug. 22, despite taking no groundballs there this season.
That was hardly the oddest part of a win that returned the Giants to .500.
Jonathan Sanchez walked four Nationals in the first inning and escaped, thanks to a double play. He walked or hit seven of his first 10 batters yet allowed no earned runs. The 11th batter, Rick Ankiel, singled home Ian Desmond for a 1-0 Nationals lead.
When Sanchez returned to the dugout after the second inning, Bochy yelled, "Snap out of it," largely because Sanchez failed to take one step toward first base on Adam LaRoche's inning-ending grounder to Posey.
Sanchez rebounded to last five innings. He finished with more strikeouts (seven) than walks (six) and retired 11 of his final 13 hitters as part of a combined two-hitter.
Eli Whiteside tied the game against John Lannan with a third-inning homer, the first homer by a Giant in 160 at-bats.
The Giants also went 89 plate appearances without an unintentional walk before Pat Burrell's to start the seventh. Pinch-runner Darren Ford was caught stealing, but Miguel Tejada followed with an infield hit on a headfirst slide.
The Giants were unlucky when Fontenot's booming double to center bounced over the wall, requiring Tejada to stop at third. The Nats walked Whiteside intentionally to load the bases before Huff walked to force home the go-ahead run.
Wilson then channeled Sanchez in the ninth. He walked Matt Stairs and Ankiel and hit Jayson Werth to load the bases. Then he went 3-2 on LaRoche before shocking everyone with a slider that LaRoche missed to end the game.
Routine stuff, and the Giants are 1-0 without Sandoval.
"He's a big part of this team. We're going to miss his bat," Fontenot said. "But the guys who are in there are going to try to hold our own and do everything we can to win some ballgames."
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