A win? Remind us again what a win is

A day short of two weeks ago, the Giants won a baseball game. We saw it, DVR’d it, and for the last few days we were wishing we’d saved the recording because it was starting to feel like the last victory we’d ever see.

This is what winning feels like!

It took seven games and a 12-inning botch-a-thon but our long national nightmare is over; San Francisco scraped out its first post-All-Star win with a 2-1, 12-inning win versus the Yankees in the Bronx. It wasn’t exactly a work of art, but a team riding a two-week skid certainly can’t be choosy.

Oh there were plenty of the issues that have plagued the Giants in recent days – some shaky bullpen work, poor situational hitting, defensive miscues and stunning mental lapses – but in the end the game was decided by a guy just trying to impress his folks.

Mac Williamson homered in the fifth inning and singled home the game-winner in the 12^th. That and solid starting pitching, plus a heroic effort from (go on, say it…SAY IT!!) Santiago Casilla won the day.

Manager Bruce Bochy reluctantly split his numbers one and two starters after the All-Star Game and said afterward it was always his intent to recombine the pair. Of course he forgot to inform anyone else so it came as aa surprise when Johnny Cueto and not Jeff Samardzija took the hill.

Cueto hasn’t been himself lately, an illness and side injury curtailing his effectiveness as an All-Star starter and in last Sunday’s loss in San Diego. On Saturday, the Cueto that started the season 13-1 showed up. Despite being moved up a day, Cueto was still pitching on extra rest and he made it count; striking out nine in six innings and allowing just one unearned run.

Just making the folks proud. (AP Photo)

That run came courtesy the man who would also play hero. Williamson, getting a rare start against a right-hander, bobbled Mark Teixeira’s fourth-inning single and allowed Didi Gregorius to score. It was a frustrating mistake for the Giants, who wasted four singles, a double and a walk over the first three innings, failing to dent Yankees starter Ivan Nova.

They couldn’t get hit with two on and one out in the first, Williamson was thrown out trying to score from first base on Ramiro Peña’s two-out double in the second, and they couldn’t score with no outs and runners at the corners in the third thanks to a strikeout and double play.

Williamson atoned for his sin in the fifth as his family, making the trip from North Carolina, watched him play a Major League game for the first time. He took Nova high and deep to left center to open the Giants fifth, tying the game at 1-1. Williamson was the only player to record more than one of San Francisco’s nine hits.Mom and Dad must have been proud.

It would become a bullpen game and the Giants had to stumble through. Derek Law (1/3 of an inning) and Javy Lopez (one full) each gave up a hit but combined with Sergio Romo and Josh Osich to get the game to extras. But Osich overstayed his welcome, walking the first two hitters in the 10^th to set up the unlikeliest of heroes. There, we said it.

Mac Williamson: souvenir thief. (AP Photo)

Casilla came on as Jacoby Ellsbury sacrificed the runners up. Carlos Beltran got the free pass to set up the double play that never came but wasn’t needed. Brian McCann’s fly to left wasn’t deep enough to advance the runner, and Starlin Castro fouled out with Williamson successfully battling a fan for the ball.

The Giants might have taken a lead in the 11th. Angel Pagan drew a lead-off walk from Dellin Betances and advanced to third on a steal and ground out. with two out. Betances, looking to walk Brandon Crawford, airmailed his toss to the backstop but Angel Pagan was on a mental trip to the Bahamas and failed to score. Thus inspired, Betances got Crawford to ground out. Threat over. Bochy had the stank eye going, too.

Casilla pitched a quiet 11^th and the kids went to work. Trevor Brown doubled off Anthony Swarzak to start the frame and Williamson came through with the Giants’ only hit in 11 at-bats with RISP. Hunter Strickland locked down the final three outs for his second save.

The win couldn’t have come at a better time (like there’s a bad time to win) as Los Angeles kept pace with a 7-2 drubbing of St. Louis. Despite the free fall, the Giants (58-39) have surrendered just 2 ½ games of their lead and hold a four-game lead in the NL West.

Samardzija (9-5, 4.05 EA) will actually throw on Sunday unless the front office suddenly produces a mystery arm; and we hear Rick Reuschel is available. Nathan Eovaldi (8-6, 4.93 ERA) stands between the G-Men and there first series win since July 10.

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