Giants Get Big Lift From Schmidt

Jason Schmidt made sure the San Francisco Giants started this trip in a much better frame of mind than they did their last one.

Schmidt pitched another strong game Sunday, striking out 11 and taking a shutout into the ninth inning to lead the Giants to their ninth consecutive victory, 3-1 over the Colorado Rockies.

The Giants have turned their season around in only two weeks, thanks in part to their ace. After getting swept at home by Pittsburgh two weeks ago, they fell to a season-worst eight games below .500.

Schmidt (6-2) then started the turnaround with a one-hitter in Chicago for a 1-0 win. The Giants lost the next day but haven’t fallen since and have played their way back into the West Division race.

After beginning the season with two losses after a stint on the disabled list, Schmidt has quickly regained the form he had last season, when he was 17-5 and led the league with a 2.34 earned-run average. He is 6-0 with a 1.73 ERA over his last seven starts.

Although Manager Felipe Alou and Schmidt’s teammates credit him for the team’s recent surge, Schmidt deflects the praise.

“I just go out there every five days to pitch. I don’t try to set the tone,” he said. “When I’m not pitching, the other guys have to play. I’m not doing anything. Personally, I think it’s all a bunch of baloney.”

There’s no doubting Schmidt’s influence on the days he pitches. Despite struggling to get loose early, he still struck out seven of the first 11 batters. He gave up two hits and four walks, and only one batter reached second before he was replaced by Jason Christiansen after a leadoff walk in the ninth to Mark Sweeney.

Schmidt threw 115 pitches before he was taken out, far fewer than the 144 he threw against the Cubs but enough to drain him on a sunny day.

“I could have finished it, but I was getting pretty tired,” he said. “With the middle of their lineup coming up it was the right time to come out.”

Christiansen retired Todd Helton on a groundout before Matt Herges relieved and got Vinny Castilla on a flyout. Jeromy Burnitz then hit a high, catchable fly to center that defensive replacement Marquis Grissom lost in the sun. The ball landed just shy of the warning track for a run-scoring triple.

Herges then struck out Matt Holliday for his 16th save, sending the Rockies to their 10th loss in 11 games and ninth in a row in San Francisco.