Williams wins first of season

By Andrew Baggarly
Special to The Advertiser

Junior Spivey scores on an errant throw by J.T. Snow as Jerome Williams covers on the play. Associated Press

In his first start, Williams opposed Houston's Roger Clemens in his National League debut. Yesterday, Williams, a Waipahu High alum, pitched the Giants' home opener and got lost amid Barry Bonds' 660th career home run.

Bonds' three-run homer in the fifth inning gave the Giants the lead in an eventual 7-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. It also made an unheralded winner of Williams, who continued his progression by holding the Brewers to three earned runs in six innings.

Williams (1-1) allowed eight hits, struck out one and did not walk a batter.

"Wow,'' he said, glancing in the direction of Bonds' locker. "That man in the corner — all our guys — are hitting in the clutch every time. Today, that was awesome.''

Bonds' home run tied him with his godfather and idol, Willie Mays, for third place on the all-time list. Before his home run off Brewers right-hander Matt Kinney, the Giants were trailing 4-2 and Williams was headed toward a tough loss.

Geoff Jenkins hit a run-scoring single off Williams in the first inning and the Brewers added two more in the third after a rare defensive lapse by first baseman J.T. Snow. With two on and one out, Jenkins hit a hard grounder that kicked off Snow's shin and rolled into foul territory. Craig Counsell tried to score from second base, and Snow's throw to the plate bounced in the dirt for an error. It got past catcher A.J. Pierzynski, allowing Junior Spivey to score.

Snow was charged with a throwing error, making one of the runs unearned.

The only other damage off Williams came in the fifth, when Scott Podsednik singled, stole a base and scored on Spivey's single.

"Jerome threw well,'' Pierzynski said. "He can't do anything about that one weird play where the ball took some funny hops.''

After Williams' last start, when he allowed five runs in six innings at Houston, Pierzynski joked that getting Williams mad might help him pitch better.

Pierzynski said he didn't try yelling and screaming, though.

"There are little things he can do better, like hold runners,'' Pierzynski said. "We need to get him to quicken up a little with guys on base. But he pitched pretty good out there. He faced adversity and he didn't cave in.''

Williams said he felt close to turning a corner.

"It's a little bit here, a little bit there,'' he said. "Just a few timing things now and I'm ready. I've got to get in that groove again. I was really down on myself in the spring but I feel more comfortable out there now.''

Williams will have plenty of time to refine things before his next start. Jason Schmidt is scheduled to come off the disabled list and start Friday against the Dodgers, with Kirk Rueter and Brett Tomko lining up for the weekend.

That puts Williams back in the No. 4 position in the rotation. It also means he won't start until April 19, giving him two extra days of rest.

NOTE: Long-time San Francisco Giants announcer Lon Simmons, who lives on Maui, was asked to introduce the Giants starting lineup yesterday. When he got to Jerome Williams, Simmons described him as "a young man I've been reading a lot about in the Hawaiian newspapers."