DENVER -- Despite a long rain delay, Giants right-hander Jason Schmidt wanted -- for competitive reasons -- to return to the mound, even if it was a 1 hour, 47 minute wait
The veteran had gone five innings against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night at Coors Field, and after early command problems, he seemed to find his groove again, only to see the rain come, and although he lobbied with manager Felipe Alou, he didn't return.
Perhaps it wouldn't have mattered, with the Giants trailing by three runs and on their way to seeing their three-game winning streak end in a sluggish, wet, 6-1 loss.
Oddly enough, however, maybe there was a benefit to Schmidt's weather-shortened outing.
The veteran loves to gobble innings, but his efforts take a toll on his arm, as his pitch count routinely hits triple figures, around 120 at times, and as the All-Star break approaches, Schmidt is beginning to feel a bit weary.
"I wanted to go out there so bad, but at the same time, I definitely need a break," said Schmidt, who gave up three runs -- but only one earned, on Todd Helton's solo homer -- over five innings.
"It's been 115, 120 pitches every game for the past who knows how long," he said. "I don't feel tired, but you can tell by the command of your pitches. It's time to back off a little bit and get rejuvenated."
This night, Schmidt (6-4) would throw "only" 82 pitches, but he stretched his winless streak to five games, with two losses and three no-decisions since topping Florida in a 16-strikeout game on June 6.
While winning pitcher Jeff Francis kept the Giants bottled up over his five-plus frames, giving up only a Jason Ellison single in the second inning, Schmidt still pushed for sticking in the game after reaching first on an infield error to start the sixth right before the game was delayed.
"It's frustrating," he said. "You get in a little bit of a groove, and then it's raining."
Manager Felipe Alou said there was no debate whatsoever -- Schmidt was done.
"He threw well, but we just didn't play good ball behind him," said the manager. "We didn't hit, and he didn't have any kind of support. It was a bad game. We had champagne last night [for Alou's 1,000th victory as a manager] but we didn't drink it. That's not the reason for the [lack of offense]."
Hard rain and then extremely gusty conditions seemed to mirror ancient Candlestick Park with hot dog wrappers and other debris whirling in the outfield, but Schmidt felt it was kind of familiar territory.
"The wind was blowing hard, and a couple times, when you're going to release the ball, it felt like you were going to blow over," laughed Schmidt, who at 6-foot-6, 210 pounds, wasn't going to be knocked off the mound like earlier -- and much tinier -- Giants pitcher Stu Miller.
After the rain delay, Giants reliever Jack Taschner allowed a solo homer to Garrett Atkins in the sixth as well as two other runs -- one on his own throwing error.
Taschner, called up from Triple-A Fresno earlier in the day -- and who woke up much earlier in the morning, at 5 a.m. -- was admittedly dragging, but offered no excuses.
"I was tired, and the rain delay didn't help," said Taschner. "Last night, they had fireworks in Tacoma. You either had to catch the bus 10 minutes after the game or wait an hour and a half. We didn't leave the clubhouse until 11, 11:30 p.m."
Ellison said the wind was ferocious at times, and had difficulty catching one lazy fly by Francis that drifted nearly foul.
"The wind was blowing in every direction -- it was definitely tough out there, and we didn't know what the ball was going to do," he said.
The lone Giants run came in the ninth, when Omar Vizquel walked and scored on Lance Niekro's double off the left-center-field wall.