As Tsuyoshi Shinjo broke his stride and tumbled more than slid into second base in the second inning Thursday afternoon, the mind reeled at the possible outfield combinations the Giants might use to complete the game, an eventual 4-3 loss to the Cardinals.
Would manager Dusty Baker, boasting plenty of experience and already outfitted with a uniform and sweat bands, pick up a glove and head out to his old post in left field?
Would starter Ryan Jensen, who played some outfield while in college at Southern Utah, be shifted from the mound to plug the hole?
Or how about fellow pitcher Livan Hernandez, whom Baker had mentioned a couple of days before as a desperate-measure fill-in?
Sure those options are ridiculous, but no more so than having an entire outfield wiped away in less than a week with the same injury.
The delicious possibility of watching the portly Hernandez running down drives in the gap was just one muscle pull away after Shinjo had to leave the game with a hamstring strain, joining Barry Bonds and Reggie Sanders on the bench.
Alas, the Giants' three remaining outfielders -- well, two and infielder Ramon Martinez pressed into emergency duty -- remained hale and hearty.
So fans had to settle for watching Hernandez pinch-hit in the seventh. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, fully aware right-handed hitters were clobbering starter Travis Smith to the tune of a .356 average, promptly summoned Mike Timlin from the bullpen. Hernandez bunted, anyway, paving the way for the Giants' third run on Shawon Dunston's RBI single.
But with a lineup that included only two remaining regulars, that wasn't enough. And unless Bonds and Sanders come around quickly, the Giants don't figure to be in much better shape as they open a three-game series tonight against the visiting Dodgers. The teams are tied for second place in the NL West, four games behind Arizona.
"I've never seen anything like this," head trainer Stan Conte said amid a pack of reporters. "I don't ever want to see this again."
Not many would be clamoring to see Martinez in left instead of Bonds, though the Giants' utilityman acquitted himself well, handling all three chances he got in his major-league debut in the outfield.
Martinez frequently joins Shinjo in shagging flies during batting practice, so he wasn't completely lost out there. Still, batting practice doesn't compare with game action in front of a sellout crowd of 41,503. When Baker gave him the nod, Martinez had an immediate course of action in mind:
"Try not to make a fool of myself -- that was my first thought," Martinez said. "But after I caught my first flyball, everything went back to normal."
The same can't be said of the team's hitting attack. The patchwork lineup mustered only two extra-base hits -- Shinjo's double and Damon Minor's solo home run in the fourth -- against a rookie pitcher who was making only his ninth career start and lugged a 9.85 road ERA into the game.
The Giants scratched together single runs in the second, fourth and seventh, and even led 2-1 going into the sixth. That's when J.D. Drew, who had driven in the game's first run with a single, ripped a flat Jensen sinker over the fence in center for a three-run home run.
"Like I always say, that three-run homer, that's the kiss of death," said Baker, praising Jensen's otherwise fine outing. "It can either get you in games or put you out of reach of games."
With so little firepower, games can get out of reach at the snap of a hamstring.
Would manager Dusty Baker, boasting plenty of experience and already outfitted with a uniform and sweat bands, pick up a glove and head out to his old post in left field?
Would starter Ryan Jensen, who played some outfield while in college at Southern Utah, be shifted from the mound to plug the hole?
Or how about fellow pitcher Livan Hernandez, whom Baker had mentioned a couple of days before as a desperate-measure fill-in?
Sure those options are ridiculous, but no more so than having an entire outfield wiped away in less than a week with the same injury.
The delicious possibility of watching the portly Hernandez running down drives in the gap was just one muscle pull away after Shinjo had to leave the game with a hamstring strain, joining Barry Bonds and Reggie Sanders on the bench.
Alas, the Giants' three remaining outfielders -- well, two and infielder Ramon Martinez pressed into emergency duty -- remained hale and hearty.
So fans had to settle for watching Hernandez pinch-hit in the seventh. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, fully aware right-handed hitters were clobbering starter Travis Smith to the tune of a .356 average, promptly summoned Mike Timlin from the bullpen. Hernandez bunted, anyway, paving the way for the Giants' third run on Shawon Dunston's RBI single.
But with a lineup that included only two remaining regulars, that wasn't enough. And unless Bonds and Sanders come around quickly, the Giants don't figure to be in much better shape as they open a three-game series tonight against the visiting Dodgers. The teams are tied for second place in the NL West, four games behind Arizona.
"I've never seen anything like this," head trainer Stan Conte said amid a pack of reporters. "I don't ever want to see this again."
Not many would be clamoring to see Martinez in left instead of Bonds, though the Giants' utilityman acquitted himself well, handling all three chances he got in his major-league debut in the outfield.
Martinez frequently joins Shinjo in shagging flies during batting practice, so he wasn't completely lost out there. Still, batting practice doesn't compare with game action in front of a sellout crowd of 41,503. When Baker gave him the nod, Martinez had an immediate course of action in mind:
"Try not to make a fool of myself -- that was my first thought," Martinez said. "But after I caught my first flyball, everything went back to normal."
The same can't be said of the team's hitting attack. The patchwork lineup mustered only two extra-base hits -- Shinjo's double and Damon Minor's solo home run in the fourth -- against a rookie pitcher who was making only his ninth career start and lugged a 9.85 road ERA into the game.
The Giants scratched together single runs in the second, fourth and seventh, and even led 2-1 going into the sixth. That's when J.D. Drew, who had driven in the game's first run with a single, ripped a flat Jensen sinker over the fence in center for a three-run home run.
"Like I always say, that three-run homer, that's the kiss of death," said Baker, praising Jensen's otherwise fine outing. "It can either get you in games or put you out of reach of games."
With so little firepower, games can get out of reach at the snap of a hamstring.
