Giants, Scutaro find new rally apparel for stretch drive

Share

BOX SCORE

HOUSTONOnce upon a time, with 30 games remaining in the regularseason, Aubrey Huff introduced his teammates to the Rally Thong.

The Giants have 31 boxes left on the schedule in 2012. And nowthey have a Rally Jersey.

Thats what Marco Scutaro is calling it, anyway.

It was good, you know? A rally jersey, said Scutaro, whodidnt match the rest of his teammates when he accidentally wore the Giantsalternate Sunday road uniform in the fourth inning Thursday night. You see howwe scored runs?

The Giants erased a four-run deficit to record their biggestcomeback win of the season, and Scutaro contributed two hits in a broad, collaborativeeffort as the Giants took an 8-4 victory over the Houston Astros.

Soperhaps the Rally Jersey is for real. And its lessembarrassing than skimpy red underwear, too.

But for a few moments, Scutaro was flush-faced.

Yeah, hell be in kangaroo court, Giants manager BruceBochy said. That turned out to be the bad luck piece. He wasnt in uniform andwe werent scoring.

Heres what happened: Scutaro was sweating through hisuniform top after three innings, so he went inside the clubhouse to change intoa fresh jersey. But much of the Giants equipment had been packed up inpreparation for a quick getaway and a day game Friday at Wrigley Field.

So Scutaro grabbed a gray jersey, thinking it was identical.It wasnt. This version had the SF logo on the left chest.

I saw the visiting jersey and I just put it on, he said. Ididnt notice till I was in the dugout, but the pitcher (Ryan Vogelsong) wasready. I thought, Well, itll be one inning. Hopefully nobody will notice.

But I guess everybody did -- even the guys on the otherteam.

Scutaro caught a line drive to start a double play thatended the fourth inning. By the time he came to bat in the fifth, he hadchanged back into the traditional roadie, with San Francisco across thechest.

(On a related note, Minute Maid Park was the site of anotherjersey mishap a few years ago, when Eugenio Velez played with a uniform thathad San Francicso stitched on the front. Nobody noticed until after the gamehad ended.)

Now well see if Scutaro gets it right on Sunday, when theGiants plan to wear their alternates at Wrigley.

Its a little harder these days keeping up with theuniforms, Bochy said. I know Ive come out with the wrong hat a few times.

It was easier back in the day, when Bochy broke in with theHouston Astros, wasnt it?

The rainbow uniforms? They werent too pretty, were they?Bochy said. You get called up, though, you dont care what they look like.

I kept mine. I like it.

--
As funny as Scutaro's jersey mishap was, it wasn't the biggest laugh of the night. Not even close.

Your terrific announcers, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, pulled an all-time great prank on Astros Hall of Fame broadcaster Milo Hamilton. Knowing how much Milo enjoys throwing out snack-sized bags of chips and Cracker Jack to the crowd during the seventh inning stretch, K&K cleaned out a local convenience store and picked up a dozen family-sized bags of assorted munchies. Then they tapped on the glass to get Milo's attention before gleefully flinging the huge bags to the crowd.

Well, Mr. Hamilton did not appear to take the prank in good humor. You just have to ... just watch. You'll be glad you did.

Contact Us