California Sports Journal

"Those guys are good hitters, and that’s how they’ve done their damage," he said. "‘Be more selective.’ You tell the kids that in A ball."

Alou said different hitters prefer different counts, but yesterday, they all preferred Chris Capuano over the Brewers’ starter Friday, Victor Santos.

In one inning, the Giants put together enough offense to help Brett Tomko to his first win of the season, 6-2, and silence critics for at least one more day.

With the score tied 1-1 after a Yorvit Torrealba home run in the third, Brewers third baseman Russell Branyan became the ninth Giants opponent to launch a home run into McCovey Cove. Moments later in the bottom of the fourth, he became the butt of a schoolyard joke as he could not handle infield hits by Pedro Feliz and Moises Alou – both on the first pitch – sandwiched by a 10 pitch walk to Edgardo Alfonzo.

With the bases loaded, Marquis Grissom sacrificed home Feliz and Torrealba followed with an RBI double. This put runners on second and third for Tomko with a 3-2 lead.

On a 1-1 count, Tomko surprised even himself.

"I didn’t even know I hit it in play until the crowd cheered and then it was like, ‘I better start running,’" Tomko said. "I thought I’d fouled it off, and I was trying to see where I hit it."

Tomko had broken his bat, sending a flare into shallow right field in front of Geoff Jenkins, plating Alou and Torrealba for his first RBI of the season.

The four run inning brought the Giants to life and provided more than enough momentum for the bullpen to finish the job.

Closer Armando Benitez struck out three of six batters en route to his fourth and most dominant save this season.

"This is just beginning. We have another 150 games, no?" Benitez said. "I don’t have to show you everything I’ve got right now."

Benitez allowed one walk, but did not allow any balls out of the infield.

"That’s the guy we signed," Alou said. "He’s got the face of a closer."

Torrealba tied a career high with three hits in his third start this season, a triple away from the cycle.

Torrealba’s opportunity has been severely limited this year, and he has only 10 at-bats so far. "It’s been tough for a couple of years," he said. "But obviously there isn’t anything I can do about it."