Aubrey Huff in right field put to test in opening series

LOS ANGELES -- Before Sunday's game, Aubrey Huff was given the chalk body outline treatment. He was the victim of some good-natured ribbing from his Giants teammates, who had a laugh as they opted to immortalize his clutch, albeit clumsy, diving catch a day earlier.

But by the end of the seventh inning, Huff was, ingloriously, a trending topic worldwide on Twitter, the laughs having turned against him as the Dodgers' fly balls seemed to be equipped not with heat-seeking but Huff-seeking technology.

Two were particularly perilous -- the Jamey Carroll liner that skipped under his glove and past his diving body for an RBI triple in the first, and the Marcus Thames deep fly in the seventh that turned him around nearly half a dozen times before bouncing in for an RBI triple as he crashed into the wall.

As the defending champs fell, 7-5, to finish off a disappointing season-opening set against the rival Dodgers, Huff looked completely miscast -- a first baseman moonlighting as a right fielder with results that would be comical if they weren't so costly.

Still, a little perspective was in order, and Huff was quick to provide it.

"Guys, those plays aren't easy," he told reporters afterward. "Let's be honest. You guys are going to act like those are routine plays, but they're not. I tried my best. I didn't catch them."

Perhaps Huff will catch on in time. It's important to remember that he saw very little time in the outfield this spring. It wasn't until the eve of the season opener that the Giants decided to keep hot prospect Brandon Belt aboard and install him at first base, prompting Huff's selfless, last-minute switch to the corner outfield.

"He's such a good team player," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's unselfish. It's not easy to make a move late like that. It's not that easy a position to play if you haven't been out there a lot. He'll get back into a groove out there with more time."

Certainly, the more innings Huff plays in right, the better his reads could be.

That being said, in spite of his tongue-in-cheek claims to be this team's fittest athlete, the 35-year-old Huff isn't expected to wake up tomorrow with a suddenly sharpened skill set. What you saw Sunday night very well might be what you get from Huff, who, it should be noted, logged 57 starts in the corner outfield just last year before settling in at first for the championship run.

And that brings us to the root of the issue, which is the decision the Giants brass will have to make later this month, when October legend Cody Ross makes his return from a calf strain.

In embedding Belt in the lineup, the Giants have accepted a tradeoff, in the form of the defensive downside that is Huff in right and Pat Burrell in left. When Ross returns, something will have to give. Either Burrell becomes a part-timer to accommodate Ross, or Belt heads to Fresno for his first extended look at Triple-A.

Ultimately, Belt should be the one who dictates the direction of the decision. And if his first weekend at this level is any indication, he'll give the Giants plenty to think about.

While the raw data -- a 2-for-13 showing in four games -- might not dazzle the eyes trained to behold batting average, Belt consistently put up solid at-bats all weekend. In addition to cranking his first home run -- a towering shot to straightaway center after working Chad Billingsley to a 2-0 count Friday -- Belt also drew four walks, a testament to his superior plate patience that is all the more impressive when you consider he was in Class A ball just one year ago.

So while it's easy to pile on Huff -- and the national broadcast crew assigned to Sunday's game sure took advantage of the opportunity -- Belt might have the bat that makes it all worthwhile.

Huff, though, has to hold up his end of the bargain. He can't afford too many nights like this one. And neither, come to think of it, can the Giants, for whom this opening set was anything but an artistic success. Huff's bat clearly has tremendous value in the No. 3 spot of the lineup, but the Giants proved this weekend that damaging defense can upend their superior starting pitching.

"I'm coming around," Huff said. "I'm going to make the routine plays."

Little was routine for Huff in this game. When Belt wept upon being informed that he had been added to the active roster, Huff had joked that he ought to be the one crying, given that he'd be stuck in right all year. That line took on added meaning on a night in which what happened to Huff in right bordered on cruel.

The Giants have a few weeks to evaluate Huff's glove and Belt's bat. And when Ross returns, they'll have to decide if the trade they've taken on is worthwhile.



(mlb.com)