SAN FRANCISCO (AP) So much for home field advantage.
Pacific Bell Park, where San Francisco had the best home record
in the National League this season, was not a comfortable place for
the Giants in a 9-5 loss Wednesday to the Florida Marlins in Game 2
of their NL division series.
Jose Cruz Jr., who quickly mastered Pac Bell's quirky right
field in his first season with the Giants, slipped in the mud on
the game's decisive play. It turned into a two-run double for Juan
Pierre, breaking a 5-all tie in the sixth.
There were boos from the home crowd for reliever Joe Nathan, who
allowed a homer and three straight singles before Pierre's double.
And that homer, by Juan Encarnacion, was helped into the left-field
stands by a strong wind.
The prone Cruz, who could only watch as Pierre's hit flew over
him, said the conditions were the worst he had experienced all year
at the ballpark along San Francisco Bay.
``Right when I was about to catch that ball, I stepped on a mud
patch and slipped,'' he said. ``It was tough out there today, maybe
the most difficult we've seen all year because of the way the ball
was moving around.''
The little things that the Giants did so well this season to win
100 games, including 57 at home, were missing Wednesday and now
they head to Miami with the best-of-five series tied at one game
apiece.
The normally solid bullpen struggled. Nathan, a 12-game winner
as a reliever this season, allowed three runs on four hits, while
retiring only one batter. Jason Christiansen relieved him, and gave
up Pierre's double before being yanked.
``It was my job to get outs, and I didn't do that,'' Nathan
said.
After starter Sidney Ponson lasted just five innings, allowing
four runs on seven hits, six relievers allowed five runs and seven
hits in four innings.
The usually flawless J.T. Snow made an error at first base,
letting a grounder split his legs as the Marlins added a run in the
seventh. Though he said he simply missed that ball, Snow also said
the conditions were awful.
``The last two days, the wind has been different than I've seen
it here. Maybe it's the autumn winds or something,'' Snow said.
``The sun was in and out of the clouds.''
And center fielder Marquis Grissom dropped a liner in the
eighth, giving the Marlins their ninth run.
The miscues by the Giants, who had the fourth best fielding
percentage in the majors during the regular season, overshadowed
some heroics by Barry Bonds.
Bonds, turning on a low inside pitch, had a run-scoring double
in the first. He made a sliding catch in left field to end the
second. In the fourth, after getting yet another walk he now has
five in the two games of the series he scored from first on a
double, almost running down teammate Rich Aurilia.
But the Marlins intentionally walked Bonds to load the bases in
the fifth, and got out of the jam when Edgardo Alfonzo and Benito
Santiago hit infield popups.
And Bonds popped out leading off the eighth against Marlins
rookie Dontrelle Willis.
``You can't worry about home field advantage,'' Bonds said. ``If
you can't win on the road, you shouldn't be playing.''
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)