"Let's try killing them with hits instead of hitting home runs..."

[Auggie]

The San Francisco Giants are staying competitive by thinking small.

S.F. CHRONICLE, 4-21-08

Bengie Molina was easy to spot in spring training. He was the wacky prophet standing beside his corner locker talking about the Giants winning 95 games and reaching the playoffs. In private, he was telling the other hitters not to listen to all that folderol about being the worst offense in the history of baseball because they have no pop.

"I told the guys, let's try killing them with hits instead of hitting home runs," Molina said. "Let's get a 15-hit game and see what happens. I think we're very capable of doing that."

They certainly were Sunday. Starting with a Fred Lewis single and ending with John Bowker's third big-league homer, the first six hitters in the third inning hung six runs on Cardinals starter Braden Looper, who had allowed a total of five over his first three starts. The Giants finished with 14 hits and smothered St. Louis 8-2.

Despite getting blown out 11-1 Friday night, the Giants had a satisfying weekend at Busch Stadium. They got their first road-series win and took the season series against St. Louis, four games to three. The Cardinals were not exactly the Bad News Bears. They started play Sunday with the second-best record in the majors.

More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/20/SPQG108UL4.DTL

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Hey Cleveland... Are you listening?