San Francisco Giants

Astros: Starter Doug Drabek pitched on the side yesterday to test his hamstring pull and will pitch Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants.Cardinals: Shortstop Ozzie Smith is still bothered with a right hamstring pull and continues to be day-to-day.Cubs: Ryne Sandberg is 0-for-8 after coming out of retirement.Dodgers: Hideo Nomo declined to talk about his losing outing, shunning the media, including his following of 80 Japanese credentialed media for the game because he said they distracted him when he warmed up Tuesday.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Matt Williams' biggest worry Sunday night wasn't his mending right foot, and that's good news for the San Francisco Giants.The slugging third baseman had more difficulty with his timing as a hitter in his first rehabilitation game in three weeks.Williams, who said he hopes to rejoin the Giants on Aug. 21, reported no pain while going 1-for-3 with two strikeouts in five innings for the Single-A San Jose Giants."There's no pain or anything," said Williams, who led the NL in home runs (13)

ATLANTA -- It was merely the biggest game in the history of the world.Or as close as any baseball game ever comes on Sept. 2, anyway.Had the Atlanta Braves lost on their home turf to the San Francisco Giants last night, it wouldn't have ended their season, and it wouldn't have ended their first-place dreams. But . . ."To win this game was huge," Braves pitcher Steve Avery said after his team came stampeding from behind to stun the first-place Giantsagain, 5-3. "If we lose, we're 5 1/2 behind -- six in the loss column.

John Burkett, San Francisco Giants: "I've heard so much about it that my expectations were high, and it's great it lived up to my expectations. I saw it on TV, but it's so much better in person. It's a new park that's designed to be old, but look new. What else could you want?

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- The San Francisco Giants apparently ran out of patience with power-hitting outfielder Kevin Mitchell, who was traded along with left-hander Mike Remlinger to the Seattle Mariners early yesterday for pitchers Bill Swift, Mike Jackson and Dave Burba.The morning deal was the first in a series of trades consummated on the final full day of baseball's winter meetings at the Fontainebleau Resort.Mitchell, 29, averaged 36 home runs the past three seasons and is considered one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, but his relationship with the Giants steadily deteriorated after he became an instant superstar with a major-league-leading 47 home runs in 1989.

Glen Burnie High School 1988 graduate Jeff Locklear, a first-team All-County infielder his senior year, was selected yesterday by the SanFrancisco Giants in the major-league baseball free-agent draft.Locklear, a first baseman and left-handed pitcher for the Gophers, will attend a minicamp this weekend in Scottsdale, Ariz., before being assigned to one of the Giants' minor-league teams."I'm pretty excited right now," said Locklear, 21. "It's something that I've always wanted. I hadheard some news about it (getting drafted)