Was It McCovey Cove or Bodega Bay?

It was a scene directly out of the movie "The Birds" concerning cawing aviaries circling above unsuspecting humans all the while slowly unmasking their unified malevolent intent to injure, torment, and/or destroy those ignorant bi-pedalistic behemoths below. But in the black and white Alfred Hitchcock horror film shot in Sonoma County in 1963, the motives of the feathered fear mongers were unspoken. However on Monday night in San Francisco, the message of those wheeling white flocks of seagulls was clear: The Giants were inviting doom by dilly-dallying around with the Washington D.C. Nationals baseball team late in this wackily played game. But I'm getting ahead of the story.

It was a bitter, biting wind that began to blow Monday evening. Randy Johnson gave up consecutive singles in the first inning before he ended the threat to rightfielder Adam Dunn and centerfielder Elijah Dukes on off-speed pitches in the 86-87 mph range. It was fortunate for Randy that he did since leftfielder Joshua Willingham led off the second inning with a majestic fly ball that bounced half way up the left field fair pole. But Randy Johnson ended that inning striking out pitcher Daniel Cabrera. In fact, Randy had at least one strike out in every inning he pitched tonight except the last one; the sixth. But I'm getting ahead of the story.

The Giants responded to Willingham's big blast by stringing together three singles and a walk in the bottom of the second for two runs. The big knock came from first baseman's Travis Ishikawa's bat driving in Fred Lewis from second base with the second run. Maybe hitting eighth in the line up agrees with Travis? And the Giants added a third run in the next inning on an identical three singles and a walk. But the Giants also left two runners on base in each of those innings and only led 3-1... soon to become just 3-2 in the next inning when second baseman Ronnie Belliard crushed a home run into the left field bleachers after Randy Johnson had struck out the first two batters in that inning on those same 86-87 mph sliders(?).

And then things got really interesting. Pablo Sandoval led of the fifth inning with a double and went to third base on Bengie Molina's first pitch ground out to shortstop. Randy Winn got hit by a pitch and Aaron Rowand struck out on an 80 mph piece of junk And then when Fred Lewis popped the next pitch high into left field, I was ready to mark it down as the last out of the inning in my scorebook. But Joshua Willingham changed direction and ran quickly back in to catch the ball only to have it sail over his outstretched glove by inches for a two run, too out error. Weird.

Even weirder was Daniel Cabrera walking pitcher Randy Johnson on four pitches just after walking Travis Ishikawa on four intentional balls to load up the bases. And then Emmanuel Burriss walked on eight pitches to drive in a run. And then Edgar Renteria walked on six pitches to drive in a run and drive Daniel Cabrera out of the cold night and into the warm showers. And then relief pitcher Logan Kensing walked Pablo Sandoval driving in Randy Johnson from third base with the Giants' eighth run of the game. I thought this could conceivably go on forever until Bengie Molina swung at the second pitch he saw in the fifth inning to make his second (and last) out in the inning. And then I thought, "Uh oh, Bengie didn't give Randy enough time to relax in the dugout."

Sure enough, Randy started the sixth inning giving up a long home run to Ryan Zimmerman who had already lengthened his hitting streak to 29 straight games earlier this evening. When the next two batters, Adam Dunn and Elijah Dukes, produced the Nationals' run of the game on a single and double, respectively, Bruce Bochy brought in Justin Miller to put out the fire. As if to squelch any Nationals thoughts of a comeback, Randy Winn, Aaron Rowand, and Travis ishikawa added two more runs for the Giants in the sixth inning and added another in the eighth inning on hits by Fred Lewis and Aaron Rowand capped off by reliever Osiris Matos legging out a single to second baseman Willie Harris in short right field driving in Rowand with the eleventh run of the game for the Giants. Those who were left of the 23,934 paid attendees of cold AT&T Park were very happy.

But like Randy Johnson in the sixth inning, running the bases in the eighth inning seemed to tire Osiris Matos in the ninth inning. Ryan Zimmerman's batting average stood at .363 after he blasted a three run homer in the last frame. And while the sea gulls began their aerial uprising by soaring sinisterly around the ballpark on this cold and chilly night, Osiris walked Adam Dunn and then the next reliever, Brandon Medders, allowed a single to Elijah Dukes. And the few freezing throngs left were worrying.

Enter Brian Wilson. Will he end this madness? Will the curse of the freaky feathery flocks be forsaken? Three straight fastballs to Joshua Willingham ended all doubt. The Giants triumphed and Randy Johnson won career victory number 298. And Brian dispelled the potentially fowl portent with his arms righteously crossed (barely seen below).

I trust Wednesday's day game will be warmer, but who knows for sure? Nobody. Not even Alfred. Go Giants!