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I’ll never be mad at Aubrey Huff for playing poorly. The folks who were cursing him out were ministers of pure nonsense. The guy came out of nowhere to help the Giants win the World Series; he was the spool of thread in MacGyver’s homemade harpoon. He has built up enough goodwill with this franchise to last through ten down seasons. Twenty. Aubrey Huff is good people, and he doesn’t deserve to be badmouthed, even if he’s hitting .100/.100/.110, which I think he was before tonight.
I wasn’t angry with Huff, I was sad for him. Sad for me, sad for you, sad for everyone who had to watch his at-bats. There’s no telling what happened between 2009 and 2010 -- maybe he ate from a box of Milk Duds that Willie McCovey threw out -- but whatever happened, it was undone between 2010 and 2011. So, yeah, it was a little sad. More than that, though, it was way too easy to say thanks for the memories, and thanks for being the David Green to Brandon Belt’s Will Clark, but, uh, here’s a home version of the game as a parting gift.
And, dare I say it, Bruce Bochy wasn’t that far away from thinking similar thoughts. Another two, three hundred bad at-bats, and Bochy might have eased Belt into the lineup.
So now I don’t know what to think. Because eight months ago, Huff was a monster. He finished seventh -- seventh! -- in MVP voting. He pulled underwear out of his pants in front of a million people. He was the giantest Giant who ever gianted. I still remember that guy.
I also remember the guy who flailed at pitches that bounced. That was, like, two days ago. Those images aren’t going away. Them’s was ugly hacks.
A good way for him to convince us, though, is to keep hitting. Be the Aubrey Huff of 2006 if he can’t be the Huff of 2010 again. Take some pitches. Hit some dingerz. Make us laugh. For all of the Brandon Belt fervor, it would be really, really super swell if Huff hit enough to where we could all say, "Well, we can’t take that guy out of the lineup." I’m not ready to say that just yet -- he didn’t exactly hit his homers off Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw, and Heath Bell -- but I’d sure like to.
Oh, and just to leave this somewhere:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 1 |
Aubrey Huff J.T. Snow |
2011-06-02 2004-08-13 |
SFG SFG |
STL PHI |
W 12-7 W 16-6 |
5 6 |
5 4 |
3 5 |
4 3 |
3 3 |
6 4 |
| 2 | Barry Bonds | 2002-08-27 | SFG | COL | W 7-4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Barry Bonds | 2001-09-09 | SFG | COL | W 9-4 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | Barry Bonds | 2001-05-19 | SFG | ATL | W 6-3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | Barry Bonds | 1994-08-02 | SFG | CIN | L 7-9 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Kevin Mitchell | 1990-05-25 | SFG | PIT | W 9-8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 7 | Darrell Evans | 1983-06-15 | SFG | HOU | W 7-1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | Gary Matthews | 1976-09-25 | SFG | HOU | W 10-0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | Willie McCovey | 1966-09-17 | SFG | NYM | W 6-4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 10 | Willie McCovey | 1964-04-22 | SFG | MLN | W 8-6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 11 | Willie McCovey | 1963-09-22 | SFG | NYM | W 13-4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 12 | Willie Mays | 1963-06-02 | SFG | STL | W 6-4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 13 | Willie Mays | 1961-06-29 (1) | SFG | PHI | W 8-7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 14 | Willie Mays | 1961-04-30 | SFG | MLN | W 14-4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
Lost in the shuffle: Jonathan Sanchez walked six batters. Just because Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax found the magic control taffy doesn’t mean that Sanchez ever will. Man, is that guy frustrating. But at least he figured out how to win tonight and pitched to the score like a champ. He’s a winner!
But we’re missing the bigger point, which is Huff.
Huff!