Major League Baseball

Tim Kawakami: No hero to save the day for Giants in Game 2

Published Oct. 9, 2010 11:06 a.m. ET

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The Giants searched for a Game 2 hero all night, searched and searched and searched, but they could not find one.

They searched deep into the night, into extra innings, through almost their entire roster, and "... no.

Instead, the Atlanta Braves found their own surprise heroes: Kyle Farnsworth to come in and save the day after an injury to closer Billy Wagner, and Rick Ankiel, who blasted a home run into McCovey Cove in the top of the 11th inning Friday.

That gave the Braves a table-turning 5-4 victory -- and completed a dramatic comeback from an early 4-0 Giants lead.

So, instead of taking a commanding 2-0 lead in this best-of-five NL Division Series, the Giants are now tied 1-1, heading to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4, and, yes, still searching for heroes.

"We push across a couple more there, pretty good chance they fold," Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff said. "We just let them hang around. Didn't get anything else going."

This is not a shock or an emergency: It's just who the Giants are in 2010. Even when things are going well, they find themselves in little and big jams along the way.

And they need to find a hero to set them free.

It looked it was going to be Pat Burrell, but his three-run home run in the first inning was wiped away by a late Braves rally, long after Burrell had been replaced for defensive purposes.

It could have been Giants starter Matt Cain, who pitched well but couldn't duplicate Tim Lincecum's Game 1 complete-game dominance and was out in the seventh inning, before the game was decided.

It absolutely could have been closer Brian Wilson, but after manager Bruce Bochy summoned him for an attempt at a weighty six-out save, Wilson swiftly surrendered a three-run lead in the eighth.

It definitely wasn't Pablo Sandoval, who misplayed a soft grounder in the eighth, which put the potential tying run on base and led to an unearned run.

It could have been Buster Posey, up with the bases loaded and one out against Farnsworth in the bottom of the 10th, but he hit a grounder to third baseman Troy Glaus, who started an inning-ending double play.

It was not supposed to come down to this, of course.

The Giants have always believed they will go as far as Lincecum and Cain can take them, and for many innings Friday, that was a pleasant understanding.

The Giants rolled out Cain in Game 2, and the Braves, once again, spent much of the evening flailing at fastballs and shaking their heads in frustration.

If you can't hit either Lincecum or Cain, you are not going to beat the Giants in a short series.

This is exactly what the Giants planned and imagined for the start of their playoff journey: Lincecum goes first and dominates, then Cain steps up and blows the doors down, too.

A day after Lincecum's epic 14-strikeout shutout set the tone for the series, Cain followed with a more workmanlike outing, cruising after Burrell's blast gave the Giants a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Cain threw well, wriggled out of a couple of middle-inning jams, and went 6 2/3 innings, giving up an unearned run and seven hits and striking out six. He left to a standing ovation from the orange-clad crowd.

"We're 1-1," Huff said. "The way our pitchers -- Cain and Timmy -- threw the last two nights, we should be 2-0. We've just got to find a way to push runs across in situations when there's less than two outs."

It's not just a two-man tag team: Jonathan Sanchez goes Sunday in Game 3, and it will be either Madison Bumgarner in Game 4 or Lincecum on three days' rest.

But that's getting ahead of things. Friday's game had drama enough, and a long parade of almost heroes and potential goats. Friday's game, for the last hour or so, was like a mini-NLDS all by itself.

Which should not be surprising for these Giants, and this season.

Read Tim Kawakami's Talking Points blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami . Contact him at tkawakami@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5442.

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