Giants manager Bruce Bochy told his No. 5 starter Todd Wellemeyer that his next turn in the rotation would be 
skipped due to off days the Giants have scheduled on Thursday and Monday. In other words, the skipper put his 0-3 right-hander who entered Tuesday’s game against the Phillies with an 8.16 ERA on notice.Wellemeyer heeded the call, and so did the Giants as they picked up a 6-2 win on the shores of McCovey Cove Tuesday night.
The perhaps prematurely maligned starter struck out Chase Utlley, looking, as part of a perfect first inning. It was evident that Wellemeyer’s pre-game discussion with pitching coach Dave Raghetti was already paying dividends, as he dodged in and out of a few jams, but turned in his best start as a Giant, by far, pitching 7-plus innings of two-run ball, while striking out four and walking three.
“I’v been working with ‘Rags’ and (Mark) Gardner and have been trying to iron some stuff out mechanically,” said Wellemeyer, who moved to the first-base side of the pitching rubber in order to open up the plate. “(I) just tried to stay within myself, … I knew I could pitch better than what I’d shown the last two games.”
Not only did Wellemeyer win the start, he also won over many of the 31,792 fans in attendance. Many of whom were presumably unhappy with his Giants tenure up to this point.
“It’s natural for them to think that way,” said Wellemeyer of the standing ovation he received when he departed in the eighth, and the early criticism he’s endured. “You know I don’t blame them, they can get on the bandwagon though if they want, they’re welcome.”
Despite the tune-up, Wellemeyer and the Giants were trailing 1-0 in the second when Aubrey Huff deposited his first “real homer” as a Giant in the arcade in right. A batter later Matt Downs hit a no-doubter out to left for his second career home run as a Giant, as the home team showed no mercy to 47-year-old Jamie Moyer. The only outs made the inning were a laser off the bat of Bengie Molina that was snared by Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco, a sharp Mark DeRosa groundout, and a strikeout of Wellemeyer, which followed Nate Schierholtz’s double off the top of the fence in left.
Schierholtz was impactful in the outfield too. In the first he made a diving catch on Polonco’s liner, which seemed to settle down his pitcher. In the second he threw out Ryan Howard, who was cruising into second base after what looked to be a sure double. Giants’ short stop Edgar Renteria gets credit for an assist, as he was standing, flat-footed, waiting nonchalantly for the throw, encouraging Howard to go in easy. Howard strolled in and was tagged out a step before he reached the bag. The decoy didn’t go unnoticed by the Giants either, as both Bochy and Schierholtz complemented the veteran infielder.
Later in the fourth, Howard smoked a pitch off the right field wall, and was more than satisfied to stay at first instead of challenging the arm of Schierholtz again.
“I’m sure they know (about Nate’s arm) it’s tough down there on that wall, you think it’s gonna be a double and Nate plays it as well as anybody and he’s got the arm to throw with,” said Bochy of his right fielder’s prowess.
The Phillies flashed some leather too. Juan Castro started a spectacular double play on Pablo Sandoval’s grounder up the middle with a diving stop, and issued a shovel pass with his glove under and across his body to second baseman Chase Utley, who grabbed it barehanded and threw to first where it was scooped by Howard. Replays confirmed that Sandoval beat the return throw, but the first base umpire clearly got caught up in the play.
Moyer, who joins the likes of Jack Quinn (47), Phil Neikro (48) and Satchel Paige (58) as the oldest hurlers to start a game in MLB history, hasn’t won in San Francisco since July 16, 1987. Considering the results of his most recent effort, Moyer’s unlikely to pick up another start, let a lone a win in The City.
For the second straight night the Giants touched up a Philly starter for 10 hits, and Moyer allowed four earned runs over his six innings. So far on this daunting nine-game homestand, the Giants are 4-1 against two playoff teams from a year ago, and have allowed just six runs.
“Pitching’s been there, timely hitting’s been there, you know, you just have to play your best ball against a team like this,” said Bochy, who admitted he would reconsider allowing Wellemeyer to make his next start. “‘Welly,’ he settled in there as he went, you could see him get more and more comfortable as the game went on, he was hitting his spots.”
Andres Torres continues to make loud contact, as he flew out to the warning track twice and had four solid at bats. But he wasn’t rewarded until his double in the fifth which set up a one-out second-and-third situation. Renteria, who was 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs, singled scoring Wellermeyer, who singled himself off of Moyer. Sandoval later smashed a base hit, this time past a diving Castro, scoring Torres, making it 4-1. The Giants would tack on two more in the seventh off reliever Chad Durbin, when Torres walked, stole second and scored on Renteria’s single.
Medders pitched a perfect ninth with help from Schierhotlz, who gunned down Utley trying to stretch a single into a double, in hopes of sparking some late-inning magic.
But, as the ads say, Chase, there’s magic inside, just none for you, at least on this night.
“We’ll keep it going and ride it as long as we can,” said Wellemeyer, “and (we’ll) take it through Colorado, and take it to Florida with us.”
Re-printed with permission of the author.
Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. Besides his contributions to Examiner.com, the I.J. and Sports Climax, Theo is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.
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