Aubrey Huff’s saving shot

Padres closer Heath Bell completed his sprint from the bullpen – no sliding this time – and his arm was dangling as usual.

The Giants were three outs away from losing 1-0, dooming Madison Bumgarner to the title of “best 10-loss pitcher in the majors” and beginning the unofficial second half right where they left off, with Bruce Bochy’s dentist telling him to cut back on the gnashing.

Then Aubrey Huff hit a home run. It was his first since his three-homer game in St. Louis on May 2, a span of 125 powerless at-bats, and that wasn’t even the most amazing part. Far from it.

It was the first homer Bell had allowed all season. He only allowed one in 2010 – and that came way back on April 19, when Juan Uribe took him deep. So we’re looking at 102 innings in 99 appearances scattered over 15 months since Bell had occasion to call for a new baseball as someone trotted around the bases. Both times, it was a Giant. How about that?

Huff didn’t hit a 3-1 cookie fastball, either. It was an 0-2 breaking pitch. He fouled off a pair with two strikes before Bell threw him a curve or slow slider.

All these descriptions are in the game story. But because the game didn’t end until the 12th inning, Huff’s comments are not. So I’ll include them here.

“I was looking heater,” Huff said. “You have to, 0-2. I’m sure he wanted to bounce it but he left it up and I was just hoping it’d stay fair. It’s been one of those years, you know, nothing’s been falling. I knew I got it, but I was thinking, `Please, please, stay fair.’”

Huff gave and received some mighty firm high fives as he returned to the dugout.

“Listen, when you’re younger, you’re playing on losing teams,” he said. “You’re playing for yourself. I’d been so crappy in the first half and I was coming off one of my better years. I just wanted so badly to go out and do the same thing I did last year. The break really helped me unwind and take the step back.”

What did he do?

“I did nothing,” he said. “I didn’t think about baseball. Not a damn thing.”

Huff said he felt good in his other at-bats, too. He hit a broken-bat flare to right field, where Chris Denorfia made a tumbling grab. Yet Huff knows you can’t pronounce yourself fixed after one game. There was that three-homer explosion in St. Louis, remember? That turned out to be one small RBI binge followed by another month-long fast.

“It’s one game,” Huff said. “There’s no doubt that this offense, if I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, it’ll get rolling a little bit better. I‘ve got to get going for us to get where we want to go.”

Huff’s break started a day early when Bruce Bochy sat him last Sunday. The manager said he saw better at-bats from Huff in the No.5 spot Thursday.

“I really think it’s going to be important for him to wash off the first half and just have good at-bats,” Bochy said. “That (home run) was a great at-bat. He’s just trying to hit a ball hard there with two strikes and he ends up hitting the home run that saves us.”

No jazz hands, though. That’s a Uribe special.

“I heard that,” said Huff, told that he and Uribe own the only homers off Bell in two seasons. “He’s so good – one of the best in the game. But he’s not immune to making a mistake. I’m sure he wants that one back, but hey, I don’t feel bad for him.”


(mercurynews.com)