A Giants journeyman makes the most of a chance to revive his career
ST. LOUIS — When Travis Ishikawa arrived at the ballpark on Sept. 25, the last Thursday of the regular season, he looked at the San Francisco Giants’ lineup card and blinked. Over parts of seven seasons in the major leagues, he had never started anywhere in the field other than first base.
“I just came in and saw my name in the starting lineup in left field and had to look at it three or four times to make sure I’d seen it right,” Ishikawa said, smiling.
As he described that unlikely scene, Ishikawa was immersed in another one — surrounded by a group of reporters Saturday night after helping the Giants to a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series opener with two singles and a diving catch.
The Giants are striving for their third World Series title in five seasons, and they are doing so with a group of familiar characters: the baby-faced catcher Buster Posey, the unpredictable third baseman Pablo Sandoval, the overcaffeinated right fielder Hunter Pence and the unflappable ace Madison Bumgarner. They all played prominent roles in the Game 1 victory.
But these Giants are also being defined by players like Ishikawa, who have been handed unexpected opportunities as a result of injuries to teammates and have made the most of them.
Over the second half of the season, the Giants have lost four seem- ingly crucial pieces — pitcher Matt Cain, their former staff anchor; second baseman Marco Scutaro, the catalyst for their offense and the NLCS most valuable player in 2012; and outfielders Angel Pagan, their leadoff man, and Mike Morse, their biggest power threat behind Posey. All are gone for the season except Morse, who has just returned after missing more than a month with a strained oblique.
Nevertheless, the Giants are in a familiar place — a team rolling through October.
The rookie Joe Panik has filled in exceedingly well at second base, batting .345 since Aug. 4; a revived Jake Peavy — acquired from Boston at the July trade deadline — has taken Cain’s place; Gregor Blanco has moved into Pagan’s place in center field and at the top of the lineup; and Ishikawa has replaced Morse.
“We’re not full strength, but guys have stepped in and done a great job,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s what it takes.”
Of the replacements, Ishikawa may have been the most unlikely. Panik, 23, is a former first-round pick from St. John’s, Peavy is a former Cy Young Award winner and Blanco’s defense would very likely
have earned him a role as a late-inning replacement. But earlier this season, Ishikawa was mulling retirement.
Ishikawa at least offered a dependable bat with playoff experience.
“We felt like we needed a little bit more offense and he was our best option,” said Bochy, who had looked for new left fielders late in 2010 and 2012 when Jose Guillen and Melky Cabrera were given drug suspensions. “We worked him pretty hard out in the outfield before we put him there, and once he went out there, he started taking great routes.”
One of those routes came Saturday night. Ishikawa already had two singles — the first one driving in the Giants’ first run — when the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina laced a ball into the left-center field gap with two outs and a runner at first. Ishikawa closed on the liner and gloved it as he dived to the turf, Molina throwing his bat down.
Bumgarner noted that Ishikawa was wearing Mike Trout model spikes and now seemed to be playing like Trout, an AllStar outfielder.