HUFF ONCE HAD RIGHT STUFF
Giants slugger shook off a slow start to 2011 season with three-homer, six-RBI performance against Cardinals
This story was originally published June 3, 2011
J.T. Snow walked up to Aubrey Huff, fresh off the first three-home run game of his career, and offered him a fist bump.
“Way to take over the torch, dude,” Snow said. “You had a three-homer game?” Huff replied, smirking. “Really?”
Not since Snow tickled the Philadelphia flower beds in 2004 had a Giant gone deep three times in a game. Huff pulled it off Thursday at Busch Stadium, completing the task with a two-run blast in the ninth inning as the Giants leapt back into the NL West lead after a 12-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
The timing couldn’t have been better — for the team, for Huff and for his better half, too.
“My wife, Baubi, it’s her birthday today,” Huff said. “She wanted me to hit her a home run. I hit three. That’s Brownie points.”
It was Mrs. Huff who first convinced him to purchase the Rally Thong last year, and everyone knows how that played out. But it took more than magic underwear for Huff to break out of a two-month slump that dragged down the lowest scoring lineup in the National League.
It took hitting the mental reset button.
“I woke up June 1, and it was opening day for me,” Huff said. “Just breathe, relax and have some fun again. It’s hard to have fun when you’re crappy for two months.”
Huff began to emerge from his doldrums a day earlier, when his solo shot broke a streak of 73 at-bats without a homer. He also drew a walk that led to the tying run in the ninth in Wednesday’s comeback victory.
The Giants were forced to rally again Thursday after Jonathan Sanchez’s wildness contributed to an early 3-0 deficit. Huff hit a tworun shot in the fourth. He singled in a run as the Giants pulled ahead in the sixth. He hit a solo homer in the seventh.
And after Colby Rasmus launched a grand slam off Guillermo Mota to tighten up a 10-3 game, Huff went deep one more time. His two-run shot in the ninth off left-hander Brian Tallet bounced into the bullpen.
It was the third threehomer game in the history of new Busch Stadium. Albert Pujols owns the other two.
Huff had 12 multi homer games in his career, but that third one always proved elusive.
“It’s on your mind, but you don’t expect it,” said Huff, who also matched his career high with six RBIs. “I got a pretty good pitch, a slider, and I barreled it. I thought man, that’s got a chance.”
For all their catastrophic losses, Buster Posey chief among them, the Giants are realizing they got a pretty
good chance, too. After taking three of four from the NL Central-leading Cardinals and clinching a winning road trip, they return home and finally can unpack for a spell. They’ll play 19 of their next 22 games in the Bay Area.
They not only survived playing 35 of their first 56 games on the road, but they also return home in first place.
Before the game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he was looking forward to some home cooking. And afterward?
“We’re going to make sure Huff gets on the plane,” Bochy said. “Hopefully he’ll relax and get back to who he is.”
Huff hit .218 through the end of May, and his .612 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentages) ranked as the sixth lowest among N. L. everyday players. He hit four home runs in his first 53 games.
He has four home runs in twogamesinJune.
“With our pitching, if we can hit at all, we’ll be right there,” Huff said. “It all revolved around me having a good start, and I haven’t. So hopefully this gets me going.”
Freddy Sanchez keeps on going with no signs of slowing down. His threerun shot in the seventh preceded Huff’s blast, and Bochy said there’s a good chance Sanchez will remain in the No. 3 spot even after Pablo Sandoval returns.
“When Huffy gets going, he can carry a team,” Sanchez said. “He did it last year. It looks like he’s getting that confidence back and his swing back. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that we’re getting it going as a team, too.”