Williams' injury gives Giants scare
By Andrew Baggarly
Special to The Advertiser
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants are eight games out of first place, playing bad baseball and getting booed by their home fans.
In spite of all that, they might consider themselves fortunate today.
WILLIAMS
That's because Jerome Williams gave them a major scare, but apparently little else in their 10-4 loss to the Phillies last night. Williams came out of the game in the fourth inning with a strained muscle in his right arm.
His arm hung limply at his side as he walked off the mound with the Giants trailing 2-1. But less than an hour later, he said the tingling feeling had subsided and he was upbeat about making his next start.
The loss of Williams would have been a crushing blow to the Giants. The 22-year-old owns three of the eight wins by their starting pitchers, and he had become their most consistent starter so far this season.
Williams said he injured his arm while making a sidearm throw to first base in the fourth inning. He threw three straight balls to David Bell and was removed.
"I'm not throwing it like that anymore," Williams said of his pickoff move. "I'm keeping my arm on top so it can't hurt me anymore. It's a wakeup call for me. I've been throwing that way since high school.''
Before the injury, Williams appeared to have good life on his pitches. He admitted he was pumped up to face the Phillies, the team that he debuted against on April 26 last year. He gave up five runs in five innings of a 10-2 loss.
"I wanted to get those guys," Williams said. "But I was all over the place. I was leaving a lot of pitches down the middle of the plate.''
Bobby Abreu hit a double and Jim Thome tripled as the Phillies scored twice in the first inning. Williams retired eight of the next 10 hitters, striking out three of them.
Then came the pickoff throw, and the scare.
"I kind of felt a little something and tried to shake it out, but it stayed there," he said. "It was a scary feeling. But it's cleared up now. It's no biggie ... It's nothing.''
Giants trainer Stan Conte concurred, but said he wanted to watch Williams play catch today before clearing him for his normal, between-starts activity.
Though Williams (3-2) left trailing just 2-1, the game quickly turned into a rout. Two pitches after first baseman J.T. Snow dropped a foul pop-up with two outs and the bases loaded, Marlon Byrd hit a three-run triple.
The Giants also hit into two double plays — they lead the majors with 41 — and fell a season-high eight games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
