Notebook : Dravecky Still Inspiration to Giants

For the first time since suffering a broken left arm Aug. 15, San Francisco pitcher Dave Dravecky threw from the Candlestick Park mound Saturday.

It was with his right hand, and it was before anyone took the field for Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. But his fans--the 62,065 who were standing and cheering--didn’t seem to notice.

Although Dravecky is not healthy enough to face the Chicago Cubs or any other postseason opponent, his ceremonial first pitch was a reminder of the inspiration he provided the Giants with his comeback from cancer.

“I guess there’s been a quiet recognition about what’s happened,” said Dravecky, ever the unwilling hero. “But I really don’t know what to say about it.”

But others have. Beginning with his victory over Cincinnati Aug. 10 in his first game since last winter’s surgery on his left arm, the inspired Giants drove to the West Division title.

They had dropped five of their previous eight games when Dravecky, who lost more than half of his primary pitching muscle last October when his cancerous tumor was removed, made his comeback. Going eight innings against Cincinnati, he gave up only three runs in the Giants’ 4-3 victory. Including that game, the Giants won 27 of their final 48 games.

Five days after his comeback victory, Dravecky collapsed on the Montreal pitching mound when his arm broke from the strain of rehabilitation. His season was finished. But his courage remained.

“Everybody gathered together in their support of me, I know that,” Dravecky said.

Earlier, pitcher and team leader Mike Krukow had confirmed that.

“To see him come back and pitch after all he had been through, it helped inspire and unify all of us,” Krukow said.

Dravecky, having no way to thank those who sent 68,000 supportive letters, is doing all he can to pay back his teammates.

He is dressing and sitting on the bench during this series, even though his arm is still in either a sling or a brace.

“It is my goal now to be the best cheerleader I can be,” Dravecky said.

That’s not easy, considering that until recently he had to sleep in a chair to avoid rolling over on his healing arm. And he still can’t write or even eat with the arm, not to mention an inability to deliver high fives.

“I’ve finally graduated to my bed, and I’m just taking it from there,” he said, adding, “I have no idea when I’ll pitch again; it’s something we haven’t even discussed.”

He has, however, made detailed plans for one part of his comeback--the possible celebration mob scene if the Giants win the playoffs and/or World Series.

“The first day we have a chance to win it, I’m going to wear my sling, and my brace, and maybe an extra thick shirt, and maybe even my jacket,” said Dravecky. “I’m going to protect the arm as best I can, and then I’m going to celebrate on that field like everyone else.

“Maybe I won’t go jumping in the middle of the pile. But I’ll be there.”

Second base umpire Charlie Williams made two bad calls in the first four innings Saturday, both on phantom double plays, and both of which hurt the Giants.

In the third, with Kevin Mitchell on first base and one out, Terry Kennedy grounded a ball to first baseman Mark Grace. He threw to shortstop Shawon Dunston to force Mitchell at second, but Dunston needed to leap for the catch. When he came down, he wasn’t on the base, but he threw to first base anyway in an attempted double play. While the throw was late and Kennedy was safe, Mitchell was incorrectly ruled out.

It was nearly an identical situation in the fourth inning when Brett Butler grounded to Grace with reliever Jeff Brantley on first base. This time Grace’s throw was wide, and a leaping Dunston didn’t even land within a foot of the base, but Brantley was called out while Butler was safe on Dunston’s ensuing throw.

While Giant Manager Roger Craig ignored the first call, he chatted with Williams the second time. But Craig left the field without making a scene.

Both the Giants and the Cubs said they weren’t surprised by Robby Thompson’s game-winning homer in Saturday’s 5-4 victory.

“Anybody can hit the ball out,” Mitchell said. “You give anybody the right pitch, and anybody can hit it out.

“Robby is strong, he’s got a quick bat, and in that situation, he just got the right pitch.”

Said teammate Will Clark: “Anybody who says he can’t hit homers hasn’t seen him enough. All year long, he gets the pitch he can handle, he can take it out.”

Chicago’s Dunston agreed.

“It’s nice when somebody other than Mitchell and Clark do it for them, because that’s all you hear about,” he said. “I know people get on Robby sometimes, say he can’t do some things. But he’s a good person and a good player and, like a lot of shortstops and second baseman, he doesn’t get enough credit for things like tonight.”