Giants' Zito Hopes to Reach Back to Oakland Days in Game 4 Start CINCINNATI - The San Francisco Giants staved off elimination Tuesday night in their National League division series with the Reds, and now will turn to Barry Zito to start Game 4. With the season on the line it will be a strange sight, given the 34-year-old's enigmatic six years with the Giants. Zito signed a seven-year, $126 million contract after the 2006 season, but he has never come close to matching the three All-Star teams he made and the 2002 Cy Young Award he won with Oakland. In 2008 he posted a 5.15 earned run average and was left off the roster for the entire postseason when the Giants made their run to the World Series in 2010. In 2011 he battled injuries and was 3-4 with a 5.87 E.R.A. "It was tough in 2010 watching the boys go all the way and not being able to help out," Zito said. It's something I've grown from and put behind me. I don't like to really get back into the emotional stuff, whatever that was. It makes this year even sweeter. But even if Zito has not lived up to his contract, he has not been forgotten. In the first half of 2010, he was 7-4 with a 3.76 E.R.A. before falling to 2-10 after the All-Star Game. And this year he made 32 starts and won 15 games - his highest total with the Giants - and had a respectable 4.15 E.R.A. He has also been a something of a rabbit's foot, as San Francisco won the last 11 games he started. "You have to look at what Barry's done, how we have played the last 11 games that he's pitched," said Giants Manager Bruce Bochy, who chose Zito to start Game 4 over the 2008 and 2009 Cy Young Award winner, Tim Lincecum. He's been really on top of his game, and I think he's earned it. Zito has a career postseason record of 4-3 with a 3.25 E.R.A. in seven starts - all with the A's. He said his fondest October memory was in 2006 when he started Game 1 of the division series in Minnesota against that year's Cy Young, Johan Santana. Zito threw eight innings of one-run ball to beat the Twins. "Yankee Stadium was good, too," he added. Zito said he would draw on his Oakland years Wednesday. "I think any experiences are things we can draw on no matter how long ago it is," Zito said. The postseason is a little different, so just to know I've gone into certain games - big games - even here in the recent past in September, it's stuff that will give me confidence. The Reds will start Mike Leake, who will make his first postseason appearance Wednesday. Leake, who was 8-9 with a 4.58 E.R.A. this season, was added to the Reds' playoff roster ahead of Game 4 to replace the 19-game winner Johnny Cueto. Cueto has learned he has a strained right oblique. He will not be eligible for the Reds' National League Championship Series roster should they advance, but he would be able to pitch in the World Series.