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Yankees vs. A's |
Mariners vs. White Sox |
Braves vs. Cardinals |
Mets vs. Giants
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Monday, October 9
The highs and lows of a wild night at Pac Bell
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- J.T. Snow's two-year-old son Shane couldn't wait for Daddy to finish his interviews Thursday night.
"Daddy, Daddy," Shane called out in the hushed Giants locker room as the reporters started to leave Snow's side.
"OK, little buddy. I'm done now," Dad said with a smile. "Give me a kiss."
A kiss on the cheek and little Shane was content. He climbed off his Dad and began running around the locker room laughing, completely oblivious to the night Daddy and the rest of his teammates had at work.
|  | | Barry Bonds looks up in disbelief after striking out to end Game 2. |
After all, it was Snow's dramatic three-run pinch-hit homer in the ninth that sent the game to extra innings. It was the highest of highs, as the frenzied Pac Bell crowd jumped up and down like the San Andreas was at it again.
Even more mind-boggling was that the homer was Snow's first ever as a pinch-hitter and first in the postseason. For his career, Snow was just 4-for-22 in a pinch-hitting role.
But in the next inning, the New York Mets responded, putting together a two-out rally to take a 5-4 lead. The Mets, in fact, scored all five of their runs with two outs.
The scene was then set for dramatics again in the bottom of the 10th, with Mr. Giant Barry Bonds at the plate with two outs and the go-ahead run on third. But Bonds was completely frozen on a called strike three changeup and was left standing at home plate, black bat still in his hand, as the Mets ran on the field and began to celebrate. It was the lowest of lows.
"Sure, the homer meant something at the time. It got us back in it," Snow said. "But winning is a team thing and we lost tonight. Right now, that home run doesn't mean much."
Snow's blast was the climax of an emotion-filled night that saw Giants starter Shawn Estes leave in the third inning, because of an injury he suffered running the bases. It saw Mets starter Al Leiter consistently weasel his way out of jams and subsequently yell at himself as he walked off the field.
And it saw Bonds, the San Francisco leader, fail when it counted most. Now the Giants, much like their Oakland counterparts across the bay, must regroup and head for a forecasted frigid weekend in the Big Apple.
"They came here and got what they wanted, a split," said the Giants' Jeff Kent of the Mets. "But I know that everyone in here thinks we're a better team than they are. And I know everyone in that locker room believes they're better than we are. But we're going to stick it to them and see what happens. It's up to us to turn the page."
While Snow was spending quality time with his son after the heartbreaking loss, Bonds quickly headed for home with little fanfare. He showered, dressed, grabbed a soda and was headed for his car in a 25-minute span. His only gesture while filing through a collection of onlookers on his way out of the ballpark was a silent wave goodbye to the parking attendant.
"It was a heck of a turnaround in a short period of time," Giants manager Dusty Baker said of the late-inning flury. "A lot happened. The difference was that they got some big two-out hits today. In a series like this, the team that gets the most two-out RBI hits is the one that wins. And they got the last one."
So off to New York the Giants go, but how they will respond to this emotional defeat remains to be seen. Against the Mets this year, San Francisco won just one of the four games played at Shea Stadium. Lucky for them, that win came against New York's Rick Reed, the Mets' starting pitcher in Game 3. San Francisco's Russ Ortiz won that game and he is scheduled to oppose Reed Saturday.
Ortiz pitched seven shutout innings in that game, surrendering just one hit in an 11-1 Giants win.
"That was a big game for me because I was facing a lineup that was playing very tough," Ortiz said. "To be able to hit my spots and throw quality pitches, like I want to do, and shut those guys down was a big confidence booster."
Added Baker: "I stressed to the guys at that time that there was a good chance, if we were going to get to the World Series, that we'd have to come back through New York. We certainly had to show them and ourselves that we could win there."
New York's win Thursday was its first in five tries at Pac Bell. Lost in the late-inning dramatics of J.T. Snow and the Mets was the performance of Kirk Rueter in relief of Estes. Rueter, who has never beaten the Mets in his career, pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up just three hits.
He was scheduled to start in Game 4, but with his appearance Thursday, Baker said he will go with veteran Mark Gardner or staff ace Livan Hernandez, on three days' rest, if necessary.
One positive is that Estes' injury doesn't seem as serious as it first appeared. On the play, Estes was in so much pain, that he stepped off second base and was tagged out, even after arriving safely.
Estes fell to the ground after stepping off the base and rolled on his side. As he hopped off the field, a bitter grimace drawn across his face, the fans let out a collective, "ewww" when the replay showed the grotesque angle at which the bottom of Estes' foot connected with the side, not the top, of second base.
After the game, Giants head trainer Stan Conte said that X-rays were negative and Estes' status is day-to-day. But the immediate question on everyone's mind, from the man selling Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bread Bowl to the boaters waiting for a home run in McCovey's Cove, was why Estes didn't slide.
"He was trying to hang on to the bag," Baker said. "It was just that he should have slid. When in doubt, slide. That's what happens a lot of times when pitchers are on base."
As quickly as the Giants grabbed the momentum Wednesday, thanks to a three-run home run by Ellis Burks, the Mets snagged it back one night later with their resiliency to fold after surrendering Snow's blast.
Now the ball is back in San Francisco's court to respond. And the more the postseason losses pile up, the more consoling will be necessary.
"We have won as a team and lost as a team all year long," Snow said. "So we just have to pick ourselves up after this. That's all there is to it. And I know we will do it."
Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com.
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