Schmidt feels good despite opening loss Niekro drives in San Francisco's lone run vs. Padres By Rich Draper / MLB.com Jason Schmidt said he couldn't find his changeup until the seventh inning. (Lenny Ignelzi/AP) Giants Headlines SAN DIEGO -- The game didn't go exactly as Giants pitcher Jason Schmidt had planned, but considering the baffling season he had in 2005, his initial starting assignment can be considered a positive outing. The right-hander gave up four runs in seven innings in San Francisco's season-opening 6-1 loss to the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on Monday, yet in its aftermath Schmidt showed no signs of arm woes or a feeling his arm didn't belong to his body. He felt strong throughout, although admitted his downfall came in the sixth when a changeup changed into a two-run homer by Khalil Greene that stretched San Diego's lead to 4-1. Still, all systems are go. "Our guy threw the ball great," acknowledged Giants manager Felipe Alou of the team's ace, "and he was very strong when he left the game -- a very encouraging outing." It was also encouraging to see Schmidt sitting in the visitors' clubhouse wearing the usual postgame ice bag on his right arm, as opposed to being in the trainer's room or on the disabled list wondering what is going wrong and why. His effort Monday showed everything is right. Well, maybe not his changeup, which went walkabout against the Padres. "I felt really good," said Schmidt, who yielded seven hits overall, including a solo homer to new Padres catcher Mike Piazza in the second. "First-pitch strikes, location pretty good for the most part -- I guess it came on two pitches. "I made a stupid pitch to Piazza -- it was one of those I wasn't planning on throwing but did it anyway," said Schmidt of a fastball away. "The biggest thing was the changeup. I could not get it going. The one to Greene didn't do anything -- it was like a [batting-practice] fastball right down the middle." But the 34-year-old Schmidt, who labored long and frustratingly to rediscover his power and health last year, said that changeup, which has served him so well over his career, reappeared in the seventh when he moved the Padres down in order. Ah, too late. Especially considering counterpart Jake Peavy, the National League's strikeout leader last year with 215 K's, was definitely on his game on a cool afternoon at PETCO Park. He fanned five Giants and only allowed a second-inning run on Barry Bonds' ground-rule double to center field and Lance Niekro's RBI single. "My confidence is there," said Schmidt. "From a pitching standpoint, I'm fairly happy with the way I threw the ball. We lost the game, and Peavy pitched a great game. The only way to win that was to throw a shutout." Alou spent several minutes pondering the Opening Day contest attempting to find good performances in the defeat. One was certainly Schmidt's efforts, and he loved the way Niekro showed patience and poise vs. Peavy. Niekro laced that single up the middle, then walked in the fifth. The second-year player strolled only 17 times in 278 at-bats and had 58 strikeouts in 2005, but his days of swinging at bad pitches are apparently over. "Peavy's a great pitcher and he was on top of his game," said Niekro. "That first at-bat, I battled, then he left that fastball up. Next at-bat he just threw some pitches that I laid off of, ones he was trying to get me to chase." Opposing pitchers figured Niekro out midway through last season, then his average tumbled to .187 in the second half. A smarter, wiser Niekro, however, had a good spring and improved on pitch selection while also staying healthy. "I would love to get more patient at the plate, and it was something I took into Spring Training, trying to focus more on my strike zone and not chase too many bad pitches." There was also errorless play by the Giants, with center fielder Randy Winn taking an extra-base hit away from Greene in the fourth with the game still tied at 1 and shortstop Omar Vizquel nearly erasing Dave Roberts in the fifth when the ball rolled off his glove and landed in his throwing hand. The speedy Roberts beat the throw by a millisecond for a base hit. "It hit on the top part of my glove and I couldn't make the out," he said of the play, which allowed Josh Barfield to move to third and score on a sacrifice fly. "I think if I had come up clean, it would have been the same result." Vizquel, however, had a nice view of Schmidt's pitches and liked what he saw. "He threw the ball real good," said Vizquel. "I thought he was awesome today and threw a lot of strikes." That's what Alou thought, too. And Schmidt himself. That should, the Giants hope, bode well for the starter's next outing and the season ahead. Rich Draper is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. -- 诚泰COBRAS是王道!!! 17李明进 34杨骐嘉 11林恩宇 15蔡士勤 18许竹见 42陈家鸿 43张贤智 35杨睿智 12郭铭仁 28王传家 55谢佳贤 25丘昌荣 13邓莳阳 65吴昭辉 85周思齐 3施翔凯 53陈克帆 1黄高俊 24庄景贺 5黄仕豪 33陈致鹏 22翁再生 2贾西亚 29费南德兹 69塔尼 67吴复连 COBRAS COBRAS YA YA YA! --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 163.15.156.191