Giants Insider notebook: Speed kills

April 26, 2011BOX SCOREGIANTS VIDEOMLB PAGEMLB SCOREBOARDMychael Urban
CSNBayArea.com
Goat to hero: Darren Ford, who failed to execute a bunt properly in the top of the 10th inning, turned his night around very quickly by scampering all the way to third base after a pick-off attempt went awry and then -- pulling a move straight out of the Little League playbook -- boldly dashing for home while Freddy Sanchez was grounding out with the infield in. Speed: You can't teach it and it kills.RECAP: Giants ride Ford's speed to 3-2 win over Pirates
"I know the game is on the line," Ford told Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper on the game broadcast. "I gotta go out there and use my speed and it worked out today."
This is not the first time Ford's speed has led to a Giants win. On Sept. 1, 2010 -- the day he was called up -- Ford entered a tie game against the Rockies as a pinch-runner and scored the go-ahead run when he tried to steal third base, saw the throw sail into the outfield and made it all the way home.

Uncle Nasty: Pirates starter Charlie Morton gave the Giants fits all night, dominating with pinpoint command of a sinker that CSN Bay Area analyst Shawn Estes compared to that of Kevin Brown, who at one time was the top sinkerballer in the game. Morton, who flummoxed the Braves organization as a prospect with all the physical tools but much to be learned about the mental side, appears to have put it all together in the Steel City. He slipped a sinker under Buster Posey's bat for a tone-setting strikeout early in the game, and he went back to it over and over with great success.Cain was able: It was turn-back-the-clock time for Giants starter Matt Cain, and a pleasant trip to yesteryear it wasn't. Cain, formerly the poster boy for criminal lack of run support, spent the whole night working without a safety net. For a while it looked like Garret Jones' solo home run in the second inning on a hanging breaking ball was going to be all the Bucs needed, but Aubrey Huff's sixth-inning sacrifice fly locked things back up -- momentarily. Lyle Overbay's poke past third baseman Pablo Sandoval in the bottom of the frame put the Pirates back in front and again brought to the game the feeling that the Giants' only hope was to get Morton off the mound. Cain gave up four hits and a walk while striking out six over six strong innings.Chess match: Pirates manager Clint Hurdle appeared to do the Giants a favor when he lifted Morton with runners at first and second and nobody out in the seventh inning, but that's how much faith Hurdle has in his bullpen. At that point, Giants manager Bruce Bochy had a huge decision to make: have Cody Ross bunt the runners over, or let him take his hacks against Pittsburgh right-hander Chris Resop. Bochy decided against it; no surprise there. Ross has home-run power, and Bochy isn't big on bunting in general. But it backfired, with Ross and struggling Miguel Tejada both popping out in foul ground, and pinch hitter Mike Fontenot struck out to end the promising threat.Big-time Buster: It's what he does. It's who he is. Just when the Giants looked ready to shoot themselves in the foot again, after Aubrey Huff popped out with runners at the corners and nobody out in the eighth, Buster Posey jumped on the first pitch he saw from Jose Veras and launched it high and deep to left field for the game-tying sacrifice fly that took Cain off the hook for the loss. Props to Freddy Sanchez, too, for executing a hit-and-run by shooting a single through the left side to allow pinch runner Darren Ford to glide from first to third ahead of Huff's at-bat.