M’S Least-Favorite Son Generates Win For Giants

It was a genealogical bonanza - a pair of games so deep in second-generation players that it was hard to keep track of which favorite son drew the most attention.

There were Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr., arguably the two best players on the planet, and for those who favor youth, there was Jose Cruz Jr. Each is following in the footsteps of his major league father.

And for the second time in as many days Wednesday, it was the lowest branch on that pedigreed family tree - San Francisco outfielder Stan Javier - who seized the big moment and won this game, this time leading the Giants to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

One night after beating Jeff Fassero with a two-run pinch-hit home run, Javier was back at it against Derek Lowe. Another home run, a spectacular juggling catch to deny a Mariners rally and an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to tack on an insurance run.

“The difference between me and those other guys?” Javier asked, laughing when queried about Griffey, Bonds and Cruz. “I just had two great days. Those guys have great months, great years, great careers.

“You walk into the parking lot after a game, Barry would get mobbed. Junior would get mobbed. A lot of people would know Jose. If I went out there in uniform some people wouldn’t know who I was.”

The Mariners know.

“He used to beat us in Oakland, and he just carried it across the bay and beat us in San Francisco,” manager Lou Piniella said.

The son of former St. Louis second baseman Julian Javier, Stan is now 33 years old and snatching playing time anywhere he can get it. A career .258 hitter now in his 11th big-league season, Javier has three home runs in 151 at-bats this season - two in less than 24 hours against Seattle.

In a two-game series that figured to be dominated by Griffey or Bonds or Cruz, the Mariners ran into one hot hitter in Javier, and an even hotter pitching staff.

Mark Gardner, Doug Henry and Rod Beck blew through Seattle’s diminished lineup, allowing just four hits. Two of those were home runs, solo shots by Jay Buhner and Russ Davis, but Javier canceled them out.

Playing an interleague game in a N.L. park, the Mariners were without a designated hitter - Edgar Martinez began the day on the bench - still without Alex Rodriguez and chose to rest catcher Dan Wilson.

“We traded a guy hitting .325 for a guy hitting zero,” Griffey said of losing the DH. “It’s tougher for an A.L. team to adjust to playing without a DH than it is for an N.L. team to adjust to using the DH.”

“You play a game under these rules and these circumstances, our offense becomes a whole different animal,” Piniella said. “We only gave up eight runs in these two games, but we only scored five.”

Rookie Lowe lost for the second time in three decisions despite pitching well, and said later he would gladly forsake the joy of hitting to have another bat in the lineup behind him.

After winning their first four interleague games in the Kingdome, the Mariners lost two in a row in San Francisco and head to their four-game showdown in Texas with a one-game lead over the Rangers in the American League West.

Starting tonight, the Mariners play 11 consecutive games against A.L. West opponents.