By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, March 2, 2014

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Given the nasty nature of Tim Hudson’s 2013 season-ending injury, the San Francisco Giants’ righthander was not only optimistic about his recovery following his first Cactus League start.

Hudson, then pitching for the Atlanta Braves, was covering first base when Eric Young Jr. of the New York Mets accidentally stepped on his leg above the ankle. He wound up with a fractured fubula and torn deltoid ligament – both surgically repaired last July – forcing him the miss the remainder of the season.

During his rehabilitation process, Hudson became a free agent and signed a two-year contract with the Giants. The former Oakland Athletics ace looked like his old self facing the Arizona Diamondbacks at Scottsdale Stadium Sunday, with a pair of scoreless innings, one strikeout, no hits, and no decision in the Giants’ 5-3 exhibition win.

“It was maybe a little more challenging that I would have liked it to have been, but I put some zeros on the board and got through those first two innings,” Hudson said. “It was good to get back out there.”

From everything involving location, pushing off the rubber and covering first, Hudson said the challenge today involved “a little bit of everything.”

“I was pretty anxious to get out there,” Hudson said. “My command was hit-or-miss, and I was a little off with the off-speed pitches, which you expect this early in the spring.

“I managed to find first base, one time out of two,” he continued, smiling. “(Covering first base) is just one of the things I’ve started doing in the last week or so. It figures that I’d have two pretty challenging plays right out of the gate.”

On the first play for Hudson at first, former A’s teammate Eric Chavez reached first on an error charged to first baseman Brandon Belt. On the second one, he helped complete a 3-6-1 double play.

“I put the first one on just the fact that I’m old and slow. That was ‘first game speed,’” Hudson said, laughing. “He’s probably used to having some of these young, fast pitchers getting over to first.

Then, describing himself at this stage of his career, the 38-year-old righthander added, “I’m like an old vintage car that you can’t take to a drag race!” Hudson said that, so far, pushing off on his delivery isn’t a problem.

“It’s good. Everything’s good, it’s just a matter of getting my body strong and getting ready for 100-plus pitches a game,” Hudson said. “I probably threw around 30 pitches (actually 27), but it was a challenging 30 pitches from a workload standpoint.

And, he added, there are no psychological aftereffects from the injury.

“I’m good with it, and it’s something I really don’t think about,” he said. “It is what it is. Everything’s healed right and feels right, so now it’s just the strengthening part of it.

So far, Hudson said throwing to catcher Buster Posey has “been good,” saying, “We’re still having to get to know each other. Once I get into a little better shape, he’ll have a better idea of the kind of stuff I throw and how I like to work. It won’t be long. It’ll get there.

“Buster’s great back there,” he added. “He has a great setup for pitchers.”

On facing Chavez, Hudson said, “You know what, he can still swing it. He’s always been able to swing it. His biggest question has been his health over the years. He’s found a nice spot over there (Arizona), not quite playing every day, but he’s staying healthy and doing well.”

Hudson struck out Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Gerardo Parra with a couple of sinkers and, he said, “a hanging split-finger that somehow dropped in there for a strike. It wasn’t a pitch I wanted a called strike three on – I was hoping to get him to swing and miss – the pitch was just bad enough.

“It’s all a work in progress.”

Bats were alive
San Francisco used a 12-hit attack to defeat the D-Backs. Angel Pagan, Buster Posey, Joaquin Arias and Juan Perez each had two hits for the Girants. Righthander Kameron Loe (1-0) was saddled with a blown save, but got the win, while ex-Athletic Brad Ziegler (0-1) took the loss. Jean Machi earned his first save of the spring.

(TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Tim Hudson,Spring Training,Cactus League)