PHILADELPHIA -- This rematch was anything but a replay.
Last year's National League Championship Series featured drama and tension, with the Giants edging the Philadelphia Phillies three times by one run to secure the pennant in a six-game struggle. By contrast, Tuesday's outcome was essentially settled after the first inning, when the Phillies scored four runs and hit the first of their four homers to overwhelm San Francisco, 7-2.
Some might insist that the game was decided hours before it began, as Tim Lincecum, the Giants' scheduled starter, endured an apparent stomach illness, which forced manager Bruce Bochy to scratch him. Barry Zito replaced Lincecum and absorbed the Phillies' pounding, though the left-hander saved the bullpen by working seven innings.
Vance Worley never gave the Giants a chance to make matters competitive. The rookie right-hander pitched his first Major League complete game, surrendering three hits and retiring 23 of 25 hitters after Andres Torres doubled to open the game.
The Giants don't know when Lincecum will pitch again. Bochy maintained hope that it could be as early as Wednesday, explaining his refusal to name a starter for that game. Matt Cain will face Philadelphia if Lincecum remains weakened.
At least Cain will have more advance notice than Zito, who said that he was told approximately one hour and 45 minutes before game time to get ready. Still, if anybody was mentally equipped to handle an emergency assignment, it was Zito. He not only worked on three days' rest July 2 at Detroit but also pitched four shutout innings after a rain delay of nearly three hours.
Though Zito prefers to stick to particular routines between starts and on days he pitches, he insisted that the sudden command to fill in for Lincecum didn't affect his performance.
"Nothing really changed a whole lot," Zito said, explaining that 90 minutes notice typically suffices for pregame preparation.
But Zito couldn't establish immediate consistency. Then again, pitching on nine days' rest after being skipped in his last turn, steadiness might have eluded him no matter what. He had two outs with nobody on base in the first inning before Chase Utley singled and scored on Ryan Howard's double. Shane Victorino walked, setting up Raul Ibanez's first-pitch homer. Ibanez was batting .221 off lefties at the time.
John Mayberry Jr. added a fourth-inning homer and Utley hustled his way to an inside-the-park homer in the sixth. Howard added an eighth-inning homer off Guillermo Mota.
"I didn't really have anything working until probably the second or third [inning]," Zito said. "I think the difference in the game was that they didn't miss mistakes."
As examples, Zito cited the cutter he dangled for Ibanez and the curveball that didn't fool Mayberry when they homered.
Said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, "You have to show respect for a team when you got a lead, but at the same time you don't lighten up. You don't take it easy."
Bochy remained mostly upbeat about Zito, who was dropped from last year's postseason rotation and didn't face Philadelphia in the NLCS. The howling among fans for that to happen again could increase if Jonathan Sanchez, recovering from biceps tendinitis, delivers a strong performance in his injury rehabilitation start Wednesday with Triple-A Fresno.
Bochy said of Zito, "It's a shame he couldn't get out of that [first] inning because he regrouped and threw the ball fairly well. It's impressive on his part, not caving in and finding a way to give us innings."
Worley subdued the Giants without overpowering them. He struck out only five and allowed several hard-hit balls, including a pair of line drives by Cody Ross and fly balls from Eli Whiteside and Pablo Sandoval that were caught at the wall.
Ross praised Worley, but not excessively.
"For the most part, his fastball was pretty straight," Ross said. "He located it outstanding, in and out. He had a little cut to it sometimes and was mixing his slider, a few curveballs and some changeups. He pitched very well -- obviously, outstanding. He didn't miss too many spots, that's for sure. That being said, we hit the ball pretty well. We just got unlucky."
Even a more hotly contested game might not have roused the Citizens Bank Park crowd, which seemed surprisingly mellow. Phillies fans turned up the volume on their booing for Ross, the 2010 NLCS Most Valuable Player. But those catcalls weren't fierce.
"I really didn't take much notice to it," Ross said. "I was more worried about putting together a good at-bat than about how they were going to welcome me back."
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