The San Francisco Giants got the upperhand in the World Series after easing past the Detroit Tigers 8-3 in Game 1. Barry Zito continued with his magical performances Wednesday night and stunned the Detroit Tigers batters with his almost unhittable pitches.
"You can't let your nerves get to you," Zito said. "You can't go out and try to make things happen. "You can't go try to strike guys out or get ground balls. You just have to take every pitch one at a time and give everything you've got to each pitch and let baseball play out from there."
Zito has chosen the perfect time to excel and quiet opposition players and critics with textbook curveballs, cutters and fastballs.
"I battled in September to make the postseason roster," Zito added. "The last thing I would have expected at that point was to be starting Game 1. Just the opportunity was just magical.
"To be able to go up against (Justin) Verlander and give our team a chance to go up 1-0, and the fact that we won, it's just kind of surreal. It's just a pleasure to be a part of it all."
Giants CEO Larry Baer said: "Especially in the down times, he could not have been more of a high-class, respectful, dignified professional. I think the reason 43,000 are cheering Barry are the reasons that all of us in the front office and clubhouse are so ecstatic about, is good things happen to good people.
"The temptation in sports is to blame somebody else when things go down - the pitching coach or the manager, the ballpark, the league, the this, the that - he never once (did). He always said, 'It's on me, and I'm going to own it and figure it out.' And here we are."
Two years back, when Bochy informed out of form Zito that he would not be part of the postseason roster, the pitcher took it as a challenge. He kept practicing so if the need arises he should be able to play efficiently.
When he came onto pitch first against the Tigers on Wednesday night at the AT&T Park, the crowd welcomed him by screaming "Zito! Zito!"
"He's kind of been our lucky charm," Bochy said. "Fourteen games now we've found a way to win his ballgames. He's just had great focus out there."
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