BOSTON — When you actually touch the Green Monster — and just about every member of the Giants’ traveling party made an effort to do so over three days — you get a real sense of how different it truly is from every other left field wall in the big leagues. Aside from the height and history, it’s made of metal, and that led to a pretty easy decision for umpires in the bottom of the fourth inning Sunday. Victor Bericoto thought he had made a leaping grab to preserve a one-run lead, but the entire ballpark heard the loud clank as the baseball skimmed off the wall first. The Boston Red Sox challenged, not only getting a run, but ending Matt Wilkinson’s day.
Had the ball landed two inches lower, Wilkinson would have hit the benchmark Tony Vitello set for him before the game. Vitello hoped to get him through 12 outs, and that would have given him two earned over four innings. Instead, it was four earned over 3 2/3 innings in a 5-4 loss.
Through one week with Wilkinson, the Giants have learned that one of his best traits is competitiveness. That was clear during and after the loss. Wilkinson yelled into his glove a couple of...