"I'm not here to disrespect anybody on a personal level," Blake told reporters. "Had I or anybody known that it was a religious deal or honored his father, I mean obviously you're not going to mock that or disrespect that in any regard.

(Wilson's gesture is) "all the other team sees after a ( Giants ) victory or after a save. I didn't know what it was about, I did it back. I didn't really do it back to him. I did it in the dugout.

"Should I have done it? Probably not. It was kind of uncharacteristic of me. I was excited. I was supposed to have the day off, I came in and had a big homer. I was excited. I got out of my box a little bit. Apparently they got real upset over it. Whatever."

When Blake was asked if he would apologize to Wilson, he said. "I don't know." After a long pause, he continued: "Obviously there's other closers and other players that do certain things on the field. If they can't handle somebody doing it back to them, then that's their deal."

Lewis doesn't start

Fred Lewis is mired in a 15-for-70 (.214) slump, but he was absent from the starting lineup for just the third time this season because of a sore left toe. Lewis, who had bunion surgery on his right foot last winter, stubbed his toe on the rubber lip of the warning track while trying to make a play during Monday's game. He's expected to be back in the lineup today.

Misch promoted

In need of a fresh arm in the bullpen, left-hander Patrick Misch was promoted from Triple-A Fresno. Osiris Matos, who threw 43 pitches in Monday's game, was optioned to Fresno. Misch was 2-0 with one save and a 2.45 ERA in 11 appearances with the Grizzlies.

Short hops

Wilson, who faced just one batter to earn save No. 8 of the season on Monday, already has had six multi-inning appearances, one fewer than all of last season. ... Barry Zito, who turns 31 today, has lowered his ERA from 10.00 to 3.57 ERA in his past four appearances entering today's start against the Nationals.

Laurence Miedema, MediaNews staff