June 15, 2011
URBAN ARCHIVE
GIANTS PAGEGIANTS VIDEO
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Mychael Urban
CSNBayArea.com
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Bruce Bochy joked that he was sending his "home-run lineup" out to face the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.We know he was joking because we know the Giants appear to be battling some sort of clinical aversion to sending balls soaring over fences.The best Bochy can hope for these days is a lineup that produces not home runs, but runs, period. Multiple runs, preferably.Then again, it was Madison Bumgarner on the mound for the champs, and if there's anything the Giants have recently appeared more clinically adverse to than long balls, it's scoring multiple runs for the kid.Ultimately, though, none of that mattered. The Giants had Bill Hall.Yeah. Bill Hall. The guy who drove in the winning run. Then doubled and scored a huge insurance run late. And played solid defense at second base all night.That Bill Hall. Who knew?RECAP: Bumgarner gets support, Giants beat D'backs
Who knew? Apparently Brian Sabean knew. Doesn't he always? So successful at picking players off the scrap heap and watching them shine in orange-and-black, Sabean has turned into that quasi-friend of yours from high school who got so many good breaks it was borderline annoying.You know the guy. He found wallets. He fell on fumbles in the end zone. The hottie in science class was assigned to be his lab partner -- and turned out to like Star Trek and De La Soul as much as he did.That's Sabean right now, only a little bit older version. His metal detector is forever buzzing on the beach, his bag full of baubles.Pat Burrell, Cody Ross, Javier Lopez were the baubles last year. Is Hall one of them in 2011?URBAN: Bumgarner gets a win
That remains to be seen, of course, and sure, one game makes a difference-maker not. Hall is no Freddy Sanchez, whose fate for the rest of the season remains to be heard.But because you saw what you saw last year, you can see Hall stepping in, as he did in his first start as a Giant, and being someone who does more than expected.Sabean, apparently, can see it, too.