Ratto: Baseball-kicking Giants still seeking Belt's first win

April 1, 2011RATTO ARCHIVEGIANTS PAGEGIANTS VIDEO
Ray RattoCSNBayArea.com

LOS ANGELES -- So, after another night of mythmaking and baseball-kicking, the Giants are 0-2, and clearly five months of afterglow have finally been spent.That is, unless you are one of those Pollyanna sissy-marys who thinks that a baseball season is not over after 1.23 percent of the schedule has been played.The baseball-kicking came from Pablo Sandoval and Jonathan Sanchez as part of a three-run sixth inning by the Los Angeles Dodgers that eradicated all the good feelings created by Brandon Belts first major league home run. Which, of course, would be the myth-making.But even then, it is a myth that may well have some mutant touches to it. After he leaned into a 2-0 fastball from Dodger starter Chad Billingsley and sent it over the center field wall to give San Francisco a 3-1 lead, a security guard beyond the wall collected it and flipped it into the center field stands, to the horror of Giants P.R.-ista Jim Moorehead.
RECAP: Belt's first HR not enough; Dodgers beat Giants
A quick call to Dodger security got the ball retrieved, and for an as-yet-unrevealed prize (maybe an autograph from Mel Ott), Belt has his first scalp as a major leaguer.Still, it came on a night when the Giants reprised its unsteady defense of the night before, and they have now allowed four of their six runs and committed four of their five errors in the sixth inning. Perhaps they can plan to skip that one in Saturdays day game (Matt Cain v. Ted Lilly). Maybe nobody will notice.And maybe if the Giants keep energizing Matt Kemp, theyll be able to get away with it. Kemp, mercurial Dodger center fielder, has been the man of the match both nights. Thursday he drew three walks and scored both runs in the Dodgers 2-1 win, and Friday he doubled home a run, singled, went from first to third on a high chopper to Sandoval, and scored the second of the Dodgers four runs.The Giants, on the other hand, managed yet again to show that the best way to lose is to have the opponent hit the ball to the left side. Sandoval committed his second error in two nights by mangling a throw to first on a ball hit by Aaron Miles, and Sanchez followed by failing to pick up a very pick-up-able grounder to his right that would have ended the inning with the Giants ahead 3-2.Instead, he bobbled it hopelessly, allowing Rod Barajas to score the tying run, and Rafael Furcal followed with a single off reliever Guillermo Mota for the game-winner.There was no celebration for Belt, clearly, and manager Bruce Bochy had his mean face on in the office.Thats a ball Sanchys gotta get, he said, lapsing into his nickname for the pitcher that never seems to quite fit. He went down with two hands, and maybe he should have just used one and made the throw.You dont like it, obviously. Are we discouraged? No. But theres no excuse. We have to do a better job of catching and throwing the ball.And also hitting it. Without the Belt home run, the Giants would've scored nothing. They left eight runners, had only the one hit with a runner in scoring position, and showed all the vulnerabilities they showed last year before they were kissed by the gods in September and October. They dont hit enough to throw the ball around, and they dont defend well enough to hide their hitting.Bochys responses will be to put Aaron Rowand in center tomorrow for Andres Torres (a righty vs. lefty thing), and Mark DeRosa will play third instead of Sandoval. Neither is expected to be more than a one-day thing, so one shouldnt view this as incipient panic unless one so chooses.But two things are clear. The World Series is now officially in the rear-view mirror, and Brandon Belt is the new blue plate special for a franchise that loves to make instant heroes. Belt is now tied with Duane Kuiper for career homers, and he has the ball to prove it.But he is also waiting on his first winning clubhouse, and theres no phone call to security that gets him that.