The Charm

Alex Omar Hinshaw, born on Halloween (October 31) in the year 1982 of our lord. A former Aztec (from San Diego State) he stands 6'4" and wears the number 52. Bats and throws left-handed.

There's something magical about this guy who could pass as Tim Lincecum's big brother.

On May 30, 2008 he was unable to locate the five-sided slab of whitened rubber set at ground level at the front corner of the diamond. And not because the home plate umpire was devoid of interpreting what a strike was on this particular evening. You don't translate orally to people unable to hear, you use signs. And in this game, with overcast during twilight time, Alex Hinshaw could not find the zone. When he had to come in to the batter the batter obliged by slapping the pitch into left field for a hit.

Out came Manager Bruce Bochy and in came reliever Keiichi Yabu. With no outs and runners on first and second base Yabu induced the batter to hit a ground ball. Only this was a perfectly struck ball that made it into the glove of third-baseman Jose Castillo who stepped on the bag and threw to Ray Durham at second base for the force and then Durham fired the hot potato to John Bowker (at first) for Bowker to put the final squeeze on it and just like that the inning was over. One pitch equals three outs. The Giants defense turned a triple play!

On Alex Hinshaw's worst performance- at the big league level- he somehow came out of it like a charm.

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Brian Horwitz, called up for injured Dan Ortmeier, was batting .294, with 5-HR and 18-RBI in 44 games with Fresno. And oh by the way, Outfielder Nate Schierholtz has been tearing it up lately. He hit for the cycle on Monday. Hit a 3-run homer on Wednesday. Was 1-for-3, with 2-RBI on Thursday and went 3-for-3, with a 3-run homer on Friday.


(thanks to the Fresno Bee and Giants Web site)

Kevin Marquez