The San Francisco Giants defeated the St Louis Cardinals, 3-0, in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Busch Stadium in St Louis last night.
Madison Bumgarner pitched seven and two-thirds innings of four-hit shutout ball, striking out seven and walking one. He extended his personal postseason scoreless-inning streak in road games to 26-2/3, an arcane but remarkable record dating back to the 2010 NLCS at age 21. His "Road Warrior" persona was the talk of the postgame shows, where experts engage in the now-familiar routine of trying to explain how the Giants win so many games in October. It's now twelve out of their last thirteen, with a chance to put a hammerlock on the series tonight.
Uncharacteristic errors by the Cardinals' infielders led to three Giants runs early on, and doomed Adam Wainwright to the loss, although he pitched well, escaping several jams in four and two-thirds innings of work. He didn't have his good stuff, and was touched for six hits and three walks, but he and four relievers kept St Louis in the game until Santiago Casilla finally got the last out in the ninth for his third save this postseason. Indeed, the same lineup and batting order Bruce Bochy used in the Washington series was deployed here last night, and thanks primarily to Pablo (3-for 4 with a walk) Sandoval and the nearly-forgotten man, Travis Ishikawa (2-for 3), that lineup delivered, once again, just enough to win despite stranding, you guessed it, ten baserunners.
Sandoval opened the second with a bomb to deepest right that Randall Grichuk gloved with a leap at the wall, but lost after a collision with said wall. Hunter Pence worked Wainwright for a walk, and Brandon Belt dropped a blooper just over short, enough only to move everyone up and load the bases. Wainwright struck out Brandon Crawford for the first out; then, looking for the inning-ending double play, yielded Ishikawa's chip shot into shallow left, Sandoval scoring, bases still loaded. After a strikeout, Gregor Blanco grounded to third, which should have ended it, but reliable Matt Carpenter simply booted the ball as Pence scored and all hands were safe. Wainwright then got Joe Panik on a comebacker, and the Giants had left 'em loaded again-- but for a change, they'd also plated two runs.
"Bum" had enough to make that stand up, but he got another assist in the third. Once again the Giants opened with back-to-back singles (Buster Posey and Pence), and this time Wainwright got the double-play grounder he needed. But second baseman Kelton Wong fumbled the exchange with shortstop Jhonny Peralta; the latter made a quick forceout at second to get one, but left men at first and third. Belt's fly ball to center, which ought to have ended the inning, instead became a RBI sacrifice fly as Posey scored standing up.
That was pretty much it. The Cardinals' bullpen picked up Wainwright ably, allowing only three baserunners over the final four-plus innings. Meanwhile Bumgarner cruised his way into the seventh before a hint of trouble arose. The seventh inning is when the Cardinals came back--twice-- against Clayton Kershaw; in fact St Louis had trailed in all three of their wins against LA before rallying late. Thus when Yadier Molina and Jon Jay hit back-to-back one-out singles in the seventh, the crowd came alive and "Boch" sent Dave Righetti out for a chat with "Bum." Eager to atone, Wong hit a push-'em-up grounder wide of first; Belt's toss to Bumgarner was gloved by the lanky pitcher just as the speedy Wong charged past him to the bag. "Bum" slapped a thigh-tag just before the two tangled legs on the basepaths, neither losing his balance; ump Bill Welke immediately made the "out" call, but to the crowd and the Cardinal bench it looked an awful lot like obstruction. Matheny protested to no avail; the clean tag had made the later contact irrelevant. If there was ever a time for Bumgarner to get a bit rocky, it was this moment, with second and third and pinch-hitter Tony Cruz up. "Bum" may have been a bit distracted when he subsequently stepped off after tapping his lead foot; Molina, Matheny, and both base coaches pointed and screamed "BALK" but no balk was called. What very well could have been the Cardinals' first run soon went a-glimmering as "Bum" fanned Cruz to put another goose-egg on the scoreboard.
Hardly fazed by the late events, Bumgarner batted for himself in the eighth, got the first two outs in the bottom of the frame, then unprotestingly yielded to Sergio Romo, who retired the dangerous Matt Holliday. Casilla needed only twelve pitches to dispense with the Cardinals in the ninth, and there you have it. When your main points of postgame contention are two phantom judgment calls, you know you've been dominated, and to a man the Cardinals indeed knew it. Bumgarner threw 112 pitches, stayed absolutely calm except for a quick flash of anger when he walked Peralta, and shrugged off controversy afterward. "It was close, no doubt about it," he replied when asked by FOX's Erin Andrews, "but I don't think that I balked." Asked if he'd seen the replay, he grinned. "Nope. haven't seen it yet." Something tells us he won't bother. It's in the past, and there may yet be a fifth game in this series and another start for Bumgarner.
Jake Peavy starts for the Giants against Lance Lynn tonight in Game Two (7 PM CDT, 8 PM EDT at Busch). Starting lineups have not yet been announced. Here at Autumn Acres we were speculating whether Michael Morse might bat for Bumgarner leading off the eighth, but that didn't happen. Morse may get the start in left tonight, but other than that we expect little change as long as the Giants keep winning. There's a lot Bochy has in common with the great Earl Weaver-- he rides his starting pitchers, he uses the whole lineup, he works the platoon advantage, albeit in a different way-- but "Boch" also seems a firm believer in the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" motto. As long as the Giants keep winning, he'll keep dancin' with the gal what brung 'im-- and right now, the San Francisco Giants are, indeed, winning. No need to change that!
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Saturday, October 11, 2014
The San Francisco Giants face the St Louis Cardinals in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Busch Stadium in St Louis tonight. Game time is slated for 7 PM CDT (8 PM EDT).
It will be Madison Bumgarner, the Giants' unquestioned ace, against Adam Wainwright, the Cards' 20-game-winner, in a battle of best against best. "Bum" will be working on standard four days' rest after his Monday start against Washington, while it's been a week since Wainwright started his last game-- the NLDS opener at LA where he was shelled through five innings. Those among us who would take heart from that last performance had best quit kidding ourselves.
Bruce Bochy and Cardinals skipper Mike Matheny have already announced starters for tomorrow's second game as well-- Jake Peavy and Lance Lynn. Beyond that it's mostly speculation, though a battle of aging veterans between Tim Hudson and John Lackey could well inaugurate the San Francisco portion of the series when it moves west next week.
As expected, the Giants are also working on some playing roster and lineup adjustments. Aware that the team's outfield and bench against Washington were pitifully weak, limiting the team to nine runs scored in four games, "Boch" has indicated Michael Morse will be added to the roster today, probably at the expense of Juan Perez. The plan is to keep Morse on the bench tonight as a late-inning power threat, but starting in left field against Lynn tomorrow would certainly be a possibility. The Giants' success against St Louis two years ago was due as much to a potent offense as to Barry Zito's and Ryan Vogelsong's pitching. This 2014 team, without Angel Pagan, has yet to show it can deliver consistent big-inning offense. Surviving Washington was one thing, but can anybody's pitchers expect to hold the likes of Matt Carpenter, Jon Jay, Matt Holliday, and Matt Adams to a combined 7-for-72 as they did against the Nats' Jayson Werth, Denard Span, Adam LaRoche, and Ian Desmond?
Wainwright started one game (Four) of the 2012 NLCS against the Giants, allowing one run on four hits and benefiting big-time as the Cards battered Tim Lincecum and several relievers for 8 runs on 12 hits. Lynn did not fare as well over two starts. His poor start in Game One was picked up by his teammates, who built a quick lead and held on after he frittered two-thirds of it away over four innings. In Game Five, with the Cards ready to clinch in front of the home crowd he again imploded in the fourth, giving Zito the four-run cushion he needed to turn the series around. The Redbirds' other two starters from that series, Chris Carpenter and Kyle Lohse, are long gone. Replacing them are Lackey, veteran of many a post-season skirmish, and young Shelby Miller. Both are right-handers and both pitched well in NLDS games against the Dodgers.
Bumgarner's experience against the Cards from the 2012 series is an entirely negative one. He started that opener against Lynn and didn't survive the fourth, falling behind 6-0 in a game the Giants lost 6-4. As you'll remember, "Boch" didn't let him near the pitching mound again in that series; in fact. Zito's heroic Game Five start was as Bumgarner's replacement, while Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain started two games each. At the time, the story was that "Bum," who had just turned 23, was worn out and arm-weary from his first full-length season and postseason. (Certainly the layoff ultimately helped both pitcher and team, as Game Two of the World Series against Detroit proved conclusively.) Whether or not a more seasoned Bumgarner will be fine on four days' rest is something we'll be looking for early and often as the action begins tonight. His last two outings were excellent, if that's any indicator. The only other pitcher from that 2012 club likely to start in this series is Vogelsong, who won two games (Two and Six) while allowing just one run in each. It's debatable whether that sort of history informs Bochy's decisions. He has already stated he wants to get Tim Lincecum involved in this series, but with Yusmeiro Petit also showing some serious "cred" of late, it's hard to see Timmy making a start. Most likely, he'll be in ready reserve in case a starter falters early, a role he prepared for, and one that was not needed, in the Washington series.
We can expect "Boch" will trot out the same lineup that opened at Washington. Whether the batting order gets shuffled or not is always fun to consider, though rarely does it happen with this team. Given the anemic run production in the NLDS, and the paucity of alternatives, we'd like to see the Giants try front-loading this thing: Pence, Panik, Posey, Sandoval, Belt, Crawford, Ishikawa, Blanco, and the pitchers' spot. Something needs to change right away, and scoring more than a few runs in this series opener is and ought to be an imperative. The Giants like to get off first and set the tone for a series in these openers. Well, boys, it's time to reset the tone-- because nine runs in four games against this bunch is likely to get us swept!
Notes
Morse's injury and the time it's taken him to recover, if indeed he has, finally drove us to get the medical-dictionary definition of "oblique," and it ain't a happy one. The obliques are vertical abdominal muscles on either side of the torso extending downward at an angle greater than 90 degrees (hence the "oblique" reference). At our age we're certain we've strained at least one, and probably both, sets of these over the past few years, generally when overreaching, twisting, stretching, or doing some sort of contortion best left to a man Morse's age or younger. We can only imagine the effort it must take to strain the oblique muscles of a conditioned professional athlete. And it's painful even to contemplate what it must feel like to run full speed, swing a bat with full strength, or stretch and dive after a ball while recovering from such an injury. More than the injury itself, it's the nagging concern of re-injury, at any time, which hovers in the back of the mind as the player returns to action. And compensating for pain in such a central locus of the body threatens strained, stretched, and even torn muscles in other loci. This reminds us, most uncomfortably, of the "strained groin" suffered by Eric Wright, outstanding cornerback for the 49ers, back in 1985. An All-Pro with talent worthy of Canton, Wright was never the same afterward; even after "full recovery" he unconsciously favored that sensitive, high-stress area-- for a football player, especially on defense, what is more critical than being able to swivel back and forth on one's hips?-- until he stress-fractured the adjacent pubic bone and was forced into retirement. Our concern is that the oblique carries the same high-stress importance to a baseball player as the groin area does to a football player. Obviously we want Morse in the lineup as soon as possible, and preferably swinging the bat as he did in May. But we also want him to be able to continue his career after 2014... The Kansas City Royals are the absolute terror of extra innings. Last night they survived a late Baltimore rally, blew a bases-loaded-nobody-out chance in the ninth, and then put three across in the tenth, enough to survive a last-ditch Oriole attempt that scored one and got the winning run to the plate before expiring. In five postseason games KC has won them all, four of them in extras. They now hold the home-field advantage in the ALCS, and even with a split today can go home to Kauffmann Stadium and win out.
It will be Madison Bumgarner, the Giants' unquestioned ace, against Adam Wainwright, the Cards' 20-game-winner, in a battle of best against best. "Bum" will be working on standard four days' rest after his Monday start against Washington, while it's been a week since Wainwright started his last game-- the NLDS opener at LA where he was shelled through five innings. Those among us who would take heart from that last performance had best quit kidding ourselves.
Bruce Bochy and Cardinals skipper Mike Matheny have already announced starters for tomorrow's second game as well-- Jake Peavy and Lance Lynn. Beyond that it's mostly speculation, though a battle of aging veterans between Tim Hudson and John Lackey could well inaugurate the San Francisco portion of the series when it moves west next week.
As expected, the Giants are also working on some playing roster and lineup adjustments. Aware that the team's outfield and bench against Washington were pitifully weak, limiting the team to nine runs scored in four games, "Boch" has indicated Michael Morse will be added to the roster today, probably at the expense of Juan Perez. The plan is to keep Morse on the bench tonight as a late-inning power threat, but starting in left field against Lynn tomorrow would certainly be a possibility. The Giants' success against St Louis two years ago was due as much to a potent offense as to Barry Zito's and Ryan Vogelsong's pitching. This 2014 team, without Angel Pagan, has yet to show it can deliver consistent big-inning offense. Surviving Washington was one thing, but can anybody's pitchers expect to hold the likes of Matt Carpenter, Jon Jay, Matt Holliday, and Matt Adams to a combined 7-for-72 as they did against the Nats' Jayson Werth, Denard Span, Adam LaRoche, and Ian Desmond?
Wainwright started one game (Four) of the 2012 NLCS against the Giants, allowing one run on four hits and benefiting big-time as the Cards battered Tim Lincecum and several relievers for 8 runs on 12 hits. Lynn did not fare as well over two starts. His poor start in Game One was picked up by his teammates, who built a quick lead and held on after he frittered two-thirds of it away over four innings. In Game Five, with the Cards ready to clinch in front of the home crowd he again imploded in the fourth, giving Zito the four-run cushion he needed to turn the series around. The Redbirds' other two starters from that series, Chris Carpenter and Kyle Lohse, are long gone. Replacing them are Lackey, veteran of many a post-season skirmish, and young Shelby Miller. Both are right-handers and both pitched well in NLDS games against the Dodgers.
Bumgarner's experience against the Cards from the 2012 series is an entirely negative one. He started that opener against Lynn and didn't survive the fourth, falling behind 6-0 in a game the Giants lost 6-4. As you'll remember, "Boch" didn't let him near the pitching mound again in that series; in fact. Zito's heroic Game Five start was as Bumgarner's replacement, while Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain started two games each. At the time, the story was that "Bum," who had just turned 23, was worn out and arm-weary from his first full-length season and postseason. (Certainly the layoff ultimately helped both pitcher and team, as Game Two of the World Series against Detroit proved conclusively.) Whether or not a more seasoned Bumgarner will be fine on four days' rest is something we'll be looking for early and often as the action begins tonight. His last two outings were excellent, if that's any indicator. The only other pitcher from that 2012 club likely to start in this series is Vogelsong, who won two games (Two and Six) while allowing just one run in each. It's debatable whether that sort of history informs Bochy's decisions. He has already stated he wants to get Tim Lincecum involved in this series, but with Yusmeiro Petit also showing some serious "cred" of late, it's hard to see Timmy making a start. Most likely, he'll be in ready reserve in case a starter falters early, a role he prepared for, and one that was not needed, in the Washington series.
We can expect "Boch" will trot out the same lineup that opened at Washington. Whether the batting order gets shuffled or not is always fun to consider, though rarely does it happen with this team. Given the anemic run production in the NLDS, and the paucity of alternatives, we'd like to see the Giants try front-loading this thing: Pence, Panik, Posey, Sandoval, Belt, Crawford, Ishikawa, Blanco, and the pitchers' spot. Something needs to change right away, and scoring more than a few runs in this series opener is and ought to be an imperative. The Giants like to get off first and set the tone for a series in these openers. Well, boys, it's time to reset the tone-- because nine runs in four games against this bunch is likely to get us swept!
Notes
Morse's injury and the time it's taken him to recover, if indeed he has, finally drove us to get the medical-dictionary definition of "oblique," and it ain't a happy one. The obliques are vertical abdominal muscles on either side of the torso extending downward at an angle greater than 90 degrees (hence the "oblique" reference). At our age we're certain we've strained at least one, and probably both, sets of these over the past few years, generally when overreaching, twisting, stretching, or doing some sort of contortion best left to a man Morse's age or younger. We can only imagine the effort it must take to strain the oblique muscles of a conditioned professional athlete. And it's painful even to contemplate what it must feel like to run full speed, swing a bat with full strength, or stretch and dive after a ball while recovering from such an injury. More than the injury itself, it's the nagging concern of re-injury, at any time, which hovers in the back of the mind as the player returns to action. And compensating for pain in such a central locus of the body threatens strained, stretched, and even torn muscles in other loci. This reminds us, most uncomfortably, of the "strained groin" suffered by Eric Wright, outstanding cornerback for the 49ers, back in 1985. An All-Pro with talent worthy of Canton, Wright was never the same afterward; even after "full recovery" he unconsciously favored that sensitive, high-stress area-- for a football player, especially on defense, what is more critical than being able to swivel back and forth on one's hips?-- until he stress-fractured the adjacent pubic bone and was forced into retirement. Our concern is that the oblique carries the same high-stress importance to a baseball player as the groin area does to a football player. Obviously we want Morse in the lineup as soon as possible, and preferably swinging the bat as he did in May. But we also want him to be able to continue his career after 2014... The Kansas City Royals are the absolute terror of extra innings. Last night they survived a late Baltimore rally, blew a bases-loaded-nobody-out chance in the ninth, and then put three across in the tenth, enough to survive a last-ditch Oriole attempt that scored one and got the winning run to the plate before expiring. In five postseason games KC has won them all, four of them in extras. They now hold the home-field advantage in the ALCS, and even with a split today can go home to Kauffmann Stadium and win out.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
We Know You Guys Like "Small Ball," But This Is Ridiculous
The San Francisco Giants defeated the Washington Nationals, 3-2, at AT&T Park last night, and thereby won their National League division series, three games to one.
Reducto ad infinitum. Last night the Giants showed just how small "small ball" can be, scoring all of their runs without benefit of a RBI hit. Two unearned runs arrived via bases-loaded walk and groundout, and the game-winner scored on the first of two consecutive wild pitches (with another nearly scoring on the next). While managing to strand an appalling ten runners over eight innings of play, the Giants owe this win (and, indeed, this series) to the stoutest, most resilient pitching staff in baseball. It was Ryan Vogelsong who set the tone last night, Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla who protected the most fragile lead imaginable, and these representatives of a most outstanding group deserve first mention as the champagne flows. Once again, baseball's unlikeliest dynasty is on the move.
And so it will be the San Francisco Giants and the St Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series beginning Saturday at Busch Stadium in St Louis. The Cardinals earned their fourth straight trip to the league's big dance with a tight, 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday afternoon, giving them a 3-1 division series win.
Vogelsong, pitching on ten days' rest, was both rested and tenacious, and his fastball consistently popped in the mid-90s, the way it did back in April when everyone was fresh. He carried a no-hitter into the fifth, just as teammate Jake Peavy did in Game One, on only 56 pitches. FSN commentator John Smoltz went out of his way to praise "Vogey's" pitch selection, something the former Atlanta ace knows a few things about. Meanwhile, opposite number Gio Gonzalez, the Nationals' lefty starter, had issues with his control, his glove, and his concentration. In just four innings of work, Gonzalez got better as he went along, but his early struggles were enough to force Matt Williams' hand sooner than he'd have liked.
Gonzalez gave up two first-inning singles to Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, but stranded them by getting Pablo Sandoval, who has not been hitting well from the right side. Then in the second, Brandon Crawford (.294 for the series) singled with one out. "Babe" Perez slapped a grounder to Gonzalez that the pitcher fumbled like a loose football, and both runners were safe. Vogelsong dropped a perfect sac bunt up the third base line that Gonzalez charged, freezing third baseman Anthony Rendon-- but Gio then inexplicably pulled up and the ball lay untouched for a bases-loading single. Clearly off his game, Gonzalez then walked "Babe" Blanco on four pitches to force in the game's first run. Joe Panik followed with a grounder to first that Adam LaRoche fielded, but he had no chance for a throw home. The only play was at first, and Perez scored to make it 2-0. Posey had a shot a breaking it open, but Gonzalez got him on a sharp grounder to third to end it.
Having retired ten in a row, "Vogey" lost the no-hitter opening the fifth as Ian Desmond singled. Bryce Harper, emerging as the Nats' putative MVP, then sliced a double down the left-field line, Desmond scoring to make it 2-1. Vogelsong made his best pitches of the night to Wilson Ramos and Asdrubal Cabrera, retiring both as Harper waited at second. When our old friend Nate Schierholz walked pinch-hitting for Gonzalez, Yusmeiro Petit began warming up in the bullpen; but "Vogey" got Denard (2-for-19) Span to end it and Harper never moved.
Opportunity arose fresh in the bottom of the fifth as Blanco and Panik greeted Tanner Roark with singles. Posey belted one to deep center, where they go to die, but it was far enough to advance Blanco to third with one out. Pence grounded to LaRoche, and the sure-handed first basemen fell victim to what an old friend of ours referred to as a "brain fart." He fired the ball home-- where there was no force, and no play on Blanco, who wisely held third-- and Pence was safe to load the bases for Sandoval, now swinging from the left side. Or not. Williams called for southpaw Joe Blevins, and he handled the bases-loaded one-out threat with aplomb, getting both Panda and Brandon Belt. It stayed 2-1.
Worked hard in the fifth, Vogelsong didn't make it through the sixth-- not after Jayson (1-for-17) Werth absolutely crushed an opposite-field drive to right. Pence turned, backpedaled, made an ungainly leap-- and caught the ball against the padded fence as he crashed into the chicken-wire
SRO section beside the scoreboard. The fielding highlight of the series, it was also "Vogey's" last pitch. He left to a standing ovation, and Javier Lopez came in to get LaRoche for the third out.
Hunter Strickland was entrusted with the one-run lead in the seventh, and with one out he faced Harper, who had hit that tape-measure homer off the young fireballer back in Washington. Trying to avoid the same mistake, Strickland fell behind 3-1-- and then made the same mistake. This one landed in McCovey Cove with an indignant splash, and Harper had a few things to say to Strickland as he rounded the bases, concluding with "Shut the @#$%&*! up!" which was yelled from the dugout. Having blown the lead, Strickland yielded a single to Ramos to put the go-ahead run on base, but after a confidence-building visit from pitching coach Dave Righetti, he recovered to get Cabrera and pinch-hitter Ryan Zimmerman.
"Answer back" is the motto when a team puts a big score on you, and the Giants' version of it in the bottom of the seventh will stand, along with Saturday's eighteen-inning marathon, as the indelible moments of this peculiar series. Big lefthander Matt Thornton gave up one-out singles to Panik and Posey, and out came Williams with the hook, calling on righty Aaron Barrett. Pence worked him hard and drew a walk to load 'em up for Sandoval, now definitely batting from the left side. Trolling for a double play, Barrett's fastballs were low, in the dirt-- and then ball three hit the front lip of home plate and caromed high over Ramos' startled head. Panik came charging in to score, putting the Giants up 3-2. Clearly rattled, with a 3-1 count and first base now open, Barrett chose to intentionally walk Panda-- but the intentional ball sailed over Ramos' startled glove! Here came Posey-- and here came Barrett, and here came the ball after Ramos grabbed the rebound off the backstop and flipped a desperate-but-perfect, throw to the pitcher covering. Again Posey slid under the tag. Again his front foot appeared to avoid taggation. Again the umpire called "OUT!" Again Bruce Bochy demanded replay. Again the huddle, the headsets, the interminable waiting-- and again the call stood. There would be no insurance run.
Barrett was excused before any more errant pitches sprang loose, and erstwhile closer Rafael Soriano ably cleaned up the mess. That set the stage for the Romo-Casilla Two-Step, a nervous dance carried on for benefit of San Francisco fans. Romo, who has shaken off whatever ailed him at midseason, was in closer form-- three popups. The Giants then stranded their obligatory runner in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth, and Casilla came on to finish the job. He got LaRoche (.056) on a soft fly ball for one. Then it was Desmond, who's battled through a tough season. It was nothing but 95-MPH heat from Casilla; Desmond fouled off two. Then came a knee-cracking knuckle curve on the outside; Desmond hacked, then seemed to hold up-- and was called out by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt: "HE WENT!" It was at best a questionable call, at worst a bad one, and Desmond let everyone know it, his face a portrait of frustration and disbelief.
Then it was Harper, by now the one man the Giants truly feared. He ripped a fastball foul, then saw nothing but off-speed stuff in the dirt. After swinging at one, he let four go by and took the walk. Casilla promptly brought the heat to Ramos, who tapped a 2-1 fastball right at Joe Panik, who immediately threw to first and set off the on-field celebration, capped by several joyous laps around the perimeter by the entire team, shaking hands and bumping fists with the fans.
Giants pitchers held Washington to a .164 mark for the series, striking out 39 Nats and walking twelve. MVP awards aren't given for these division series, and it's just as well, for whom would we choose? Peavy, Hudson, Vogelsong, Petit, Romo, and Casilla all deserve mention in a series where every Giants win was decided by one run and no lead ever was safe. Odd, too, that Tim Lincecum made not one appearance; we expected to see him warming up in the fifth last night, not Petit. Whether Vogelsong, Hudson, and/or Petit have now earned NLCS starting assignments will be one of Bruce Bochy's major decisions over the next two days; so too will be whether to revamp this lineup with its weak outfield and weaker bench. It's not like there are lots of options, but there may yet be some.
Any day the Giants win and the Dodgers lose is a big day for Giants fans, and when that day comes in October, well, it's all the more sweet. Yes, the chance of a Dodger-Giant showdown in the NLCS was appealing-- shades of 1951 and 1962, anyone?-- but it'll have to wait for anther year. This time, we get a reprise of 2012, and we know one team, the Cardinals, has a most important score to settle. It took the Giants seven games, and heroics from Barry Zito and Vogelsong, to turn the tide two years ago. As we look back on this Washington series, and forward to the Cardinals set, the prospect appears positively daunting-- a David-versus-Goliath matchup. But we must take confidence in the proven fact that the Giants have faced these odds before, and overcome them.
But with this team? Matt Cain goes down mid-season and needs surgery. Marco Scutaro plays one game all year. Tim Lincecum, after throwing a no-hitter, regresses so badly he's moved to the bullpen. Angel Pagan, whose presence in the lineup makes it legitimately major-league, drops out, also needing surgery. Last night the Giants started both Gregor Blanco and Juan Perez in the same outfield and lineup, and when we heard that news we'd have torn out our hair if we had any left. Our MVP catcher, who once missed most of a whole year after a collision at the plate, was thrown out at the plate-- twice, in the space of three games. The team hit .222 for the series and left 32 men on base over four games, losing five more on the basepaths. The Cardinals, in their four games, scored twice as many runs on fewer hits. Seven of their hits were home runs and they beat Clayton Kershaw. Twice.
In other words, it appears the Giants have the Cardinals right where we want 'em. It's October!
Notes
Kershaw is now 0-4 against the Cards in two postseason series. Last night he wasn't shelled, but he surrendered a three-run homer in the seventh to Matt Adams, and that was just enough to lose. It was the same M.O., though: cruising along with a lead, then suddenly ambushed. Kershaw was pitching on three days' rest, and had the Dodgers survived, Zack Greinke would have done the same tomorrow night. This does not bespeak a lot of confidence for Don Mattingly in the rest of his pitching staff, and we have to wonder if Mattingly will take the fall for this disappointing loss... Every time we see Anthony Rendon, we're reminded of that "V for Vendetta" guy... Sign in the stands last night: "Superman Wears Hunter Pence Underwear"... Posey, Crawford, Belt, and Pence were the only Giants to hit above their own weight in the series. Joe Panik, who started like a house afire, slumped badly in games two and three, though he did perk up last night. He'll be fine... Every Giant except Lincecum played at some point, Joaquin Arias had one inning in the field, but did not bat. Andrew Susac and Gary Brown each batted once, and Matt Duffy four times, but none of them took the field... Commiseratin' a little bit with the Angels fans, who must feel a lot like the Nationals' fans about now, as in "How exactly did this happen? (Two extra-inning losses on home runs, followed by a 8-3 meltdown.) Mike Scioscia is signed through 2018, and let's hope cool heads prevail in Orange County. It's unlikely they will in Chavez Ravine... The Giants' clincher was the tenth one-run game (out of 14 total) in the four division series... It will be the fifth straight year that either the Giants or the Cardinals represents the National League in the World Series. The two are 3-1 over that period... The AL Orioles and Royals, who open their series on Friday, are throwbacks by comparison. KC last made it in 1985 and Baltimore in '83. Both won... Adam Wainwright is already slated to start Game One of the NLCS which, we have just learned, will begin at 7 PM CDT (8 PM EDT) on Saturday. Bochy, meanwhile, must choose between Jake Peavy and Madison Bumgarner. If it's "Bum", he'll be be working on his regular rest; were Peavy then to go Sunday, he'd have a full week in between starts. Going the other way gives both extra rest. This sort of thing is one reason why managers generally appear older than their actual age.
Reducto ad infinitum. Last night the Giants showed just how small "small ball" can be, scoring all of their runs without benefit of a RBI hit. Two unearned runs arrived via bases-loaded walk and groundout, and the game-winner scored on the first of two consecutive wild pitches (with another nearly scoring on the next). While managing to strand an appalling ten runners over eight innings of play, the Giants owe this win (and, indeed, this series) to the stoutest, most resilient pitching staff in baseball. It was Ryan Vogelsong who set the tone last night, Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla who protected the most fragile lead imaginable, and these representatives of a most outstanding group deserve first mention as the champagne flows. Once again, baseball's unlikeliest dynasty is on the move.
And so it will be the San Francisco Giants and the St Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series beginning Saturday at Busch Stadium in St Louis. The Cardinals earned their fourth straight trip to the league's big dance with a tight, 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday afternoon, giving them a 3-1 division series win.
Vogelsong, pitching on ten days' rest, was both rested and tenacious, and his fastball consistently popped in the mid-90s, the way it did back in April when everyone was fresh. He carried a no-hitter into the fifth, just as teammate Jake Peavy did in Game One, on only 56 pitches. FSN commentator John Smoltz went out of his way to praise "Vogey's" pitch selection, something the former Atlanta ace knows a few things about. Meanwhile, opposite number Gio Gonzalez, the Nationals' lefty starter, had issues with his control, his glove, and his concentration. In just four innings of work, Gonzalez got better as he went along, but his early struggles were enough to force Matt Williams' hand sooner than he'd have liked.
Gonzalez gave up two first-inning singles to Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, but stranded them by getting Pablo Sandoval, who has not been hitting well from the right side. Then in the second, Brandon Crawford (.294 for the series) singled with one out. "Babe" Perez slapped a grounder to Gonzalez that the pitcher fumbled like a loose football, and both runners were safe. Vogelsong dropped a perfect sac bunt up the third base line that Gonzalez charged, freezing third baseman Anthony Rendon-- but Gio then inexplicably pulled up and the ball lay untouched for a bases-loading single. Clearly off his game, Gonzalez then walked "Babe" Blanco on four pitches to force in the game's first run. Joe Panik followed with a grounder to first that Adam LaRoche fielded, but he had no chance for a throw home. The only play was at first, and Perez scored to make it 2-0. Posey had a shot a breaking it open, but Gonzalez got him on a sharp grounder to third to end it.
Having retired ten in a row, "Vogey" lost the no-hitter opening the fifth as Ian Desmond singled. Bryce Harper, emerging as the Nats' putative MVP, then sliced a double down the left-field line, Desmond scoring to make it 2-1. Vogelsong made his best pitches of the night to Wilson Ramos and Asdrubal Cabrera, retiring both as Harper waited at second. When our old friend Nate Schierholz walked pinch-hitting for Gonzalez, Yusmeiro Petit began warming up in the bullpen; but "Vogey" got Denard (2-for-19) Span to end it and Harper never moved.
Opportunity arose fresh in the bottom of the fifth as Blanco and Panik greeted Tanner Roark with singles. Posey belted one to deep center, where they go to die, but it was far enough to advance Blanco to third with one out. Pence grounded to LaRoche, and the sure-handed first basemen fell victim to what an old friend of ours referred to as a "brain fart." He fired the ball home-- where there was no force, and no play on Blanco, who wisely held third-- and Pence was safe to load the bases for Sandoval, now swinging from the left side. Or not. Williams called for southpaw Joe Blevins, and he handled the bases-loaded one-out threat with aplomb, getting both Panda and Brandon Belt. It stayed 2-1.
Worked hard in the fifth, Vogelsong didn't make it through the sixth-- not after Jayson (1-for-17) Werth absolutely crushed an opposite-field drive to right. Pence turned, backpedaled, made an ungainly leap-- and caught the ball against the padded fence as he crashed into the chicken-wire
SRO section beside the scoreboard. The fielding highlight of the series, it was also "Vogey's" last pitch. He left to a standing ovation, and Javier Lopez came in to get LaRoche for the third out.
Hunter Strickland was entrusted with the one-run lead in the seventh, and with one out he faced Harper, who had hit that tape-measure homer off the young fireballer back in Washington. Trying to avoid the same mistake, Strickland fell behind 3-1-- and then made the same mistake. This one landed in McCovey Cove with an indignant splash, and Harper had a few things to say to Strickland as he rounded the bases, concluding with "Shut the @#$%&*! up!" which was yelled from the dugout. Having blown the lead, Strickland yielded a single to Ramos to put the go-ahead run on base, but after a confidence-building visit from pitching coach Dave Righetti, he recovered to get Cabrera and pinch-hitter Ryan Zimmerman.
"Answer back" is the motto when a team puts a big score on you, and the Giants' version of it in the bottom of the seventh will stand, along with Saturday's eighteen-inning marathon, as the indelible moments of this peculiar series. Big lefthander Matt Thornton gave up one-out singles to Panik and Posey, and out came Williams with the hook, calling on righty Aaron Barrett. Pence worked him hard and drew a walk to load 'em up for Sandoval, now definitely batting from the left side. Trolling for a double play, Barrett's fastballs were low, in the dirt-- and then ball three hit the front lip of home plate and caromed high over Ramos' startled head. Panik came charging in to score, putting the Giants up 3-2. Clearly rattled, with a 3-1 count and first base now open, Barrett chose to intentionally walk Panda-- but the intentional ball sailed over Ramos' startled glove! Here came Posey-- and here came Barrett, and here came the ball after Ramos grabbed the rebound off the backstop and flipped a desperate-but-perfect, throw to the pitcher covering. Again Posey slid under the tag. Again his front foot appeared to avoid taggation. Again the umpire called "OUT!" Again Bruce Bochy demanded replay. Again the huddle, the headsets, the interminable waiting-- and again the call stood. There would be no insurance run.
Barrett was excused before any more errant pitches sprang loose, and erstwhile closer Rafael Soriano ably cleaned up the mess. That set the stage for the Romo-Casilla Two-Step, a nervous dance carried on for benefit of San Francisco fans. Romo, who has shaken off whatever ailed him at midseason, was in closer form-- three popups. The Giants then stranded their obligatory runner in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth, and Casilla came on to finish the job. He got LaRoche (.056) on a soft fly ball for one. Then it was Desmond, who's battled through a tough season. It was nothing but 95-MPH heat from Casilla; Desmond fouled off two. Then came a knee-cracking knuckle curve on the outside; Desmond hacked, then seemed to hold up-- and was called out by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt: "HE WENT!" It was at best a questionable call, at worst a bad one, and Desmond let everyone know it, his face a portrait of frustration and disbelief.
Then it was Harper, by now the one man the Giants truly feared. He ripped a fastball foul, then saw nothing but off-speed stuff in the dirt. After swinging at one, he let four go by and took the walk. Casilla promptly brought the heat to Ramos, who tapped a 2-1 fastball right at Joe Panik, who immediately threw to first and set off the on-field celebration, capped by several joyous laps around the perimeter by the entire team, shaking hands and bumping fists with the fans.
Giants pitchers held Washington to a .164 mark for the series, striking out 39 Nats and walking twelve. MVP awards aren't given for these division series, and it's just as well, for whom would we choose? Peavy, Hudson, Vogelsong, Petit, Romo, and Casilla all deserve mention in a series where every Giants win was decided by one run and no lead ever was safe. Odd, too, that Tim Lincecum made not one appearance; we expected to see him warming up in the fifth last night, not Petit. Whether Vogelsong, Hudson, and/or Petit have now earned NLCS starting assignments will be one of Bruce Bochy's major decisions over the next two days; so too will be whether to revamp this lineup with its weak outfield and weaker bench. It's not like there are lots of options, but there may yet be some.
Any day the Giants win and the Dodgers lose is a big day for Giants fans, and when that day comes in October, well, it's all the more sweet. Yes, the chance of a Dodger-Giant showdown in the NLCS was appealing-- shades of 1951 and 1962, anyone?-- but it'll have to wait for anther year. This time, we get a reprise of 2012, and we know one team, the Cardinals, has a most important score to settle. It took the Giants seven games, and heroics from Barry Zito and Vogelsong, to turn the tide two years ago. As we look back on this Washington series, and forward to the Cardinals set, the prospect appears positively daunting-- a David-versus-Goliath matchup. But we must take confidence in the proven fact that the Giants have faced these odds before, and overcome them.
But with this team? Matt Cain goes down mid-season and needs surgery. Marco Scutaro plays one game all year. Tim Lincecum, after throwing a no-hitter, regresses so badly he's moved to the bullpen. Angel Pagan, whose presence in the lineup makes it legitimately major-league, drops out, also needing surgery. Last night the Giants started both Gregor Blanco and Juan Perez in the same outfield and lineup, and when we heard that news we'd have torn out our hair if we had any left. Our MVP catcher, who once missed most of a whole year after a collision at the plate, was thrown out at the plate-- twice, in the space of three games. The team hit .222 for the series and left 32 men on base over four games, losing five more on the basepaths. The Cardinals, in their four games, scored twice as many runs on fewer hits. Seven of their hits were home runs and they beat Clayton Kershaw. Twice.
In other words, it appears the Giants have the Cardinals right where we want 'em. It's October!
Notes
Kershaw is now 0-4 against the Cards in two postseason series. Last night he wasn't shelled, but he surrendered a three-run homer in the seventh to Matt Adams, and that was just enough to lose. It was the same M.O., though: cruising along with a lead, then suddenly ambushed. Kershaw was pitching on three days' rest, and had the Dodgers survived, Zack Greinke would have done the same tomorrow night. This does not bespeak a lot of confidence for Don Mattingly in the rest of his pitching staff, and we have to wonder if Mattingly will take the fall for this disappointing loss... Every time we see Anthony Rendon, we're reminded of that "V for Vendetta" guy... Sign in the stands last night: "Superman Wears Hunter Pence Underwear"... Posey, Crawford, Belt, and Pence were the only Giants to hit above their own weight in the series. Joe Panik, who started like a house afire, slumped badly in games two and three, though he did perk up last night. He'll be fine... Every Giant except Lincecum played at some point, Joaquin Arias had one inning in the field, but did not bat. Andrew Susac and Gary Brown each batted once, and Matt Duffy four times, but none of them took the field... Commiseratin' a little bit with the Angels fans, who must feel a lot like the Nationals' fans about now, as in "How exactly did this happen? (Two extra-inning losses on home runs, followed by a 8-3 meltdown.) Mike Scioscia is signed through 2018, and let's hope cool heads prevail in Orange County. It's unlikely they will in Chavez Ravine... The Giants' clincher was the tenth one-run game (out of 14 total) in the four division series... It will be the fifth straight year that either the Giants or the Cardinals represents the National League in the World Series. The two are 3-1 over that period... The AL Orioles and Royals, who open their series on Friday, are throwbacks by comparison. KC last made it in 1985 and Baltimore in '83. Both won... Adam Wainwright is already slated to start Game One of the NLCS which, we have just learned, will begin at 7 PM CDT (8 PM EDT) on Saturday. Bochy, meanwhile, must choose between Jake Peavy and Madison Bumgarner. If it's "Bum", he'll be be working on his regular rest; were Peavy then to go Sunday, he'd have a full week in between starts. Going the other way gives both extra rest. This sort of thing is one reason why managers generally appear older than their actual age.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
The San Francisco Giants face the Washington Nationals in Game Four of their National League division series tonight at AT&T Park. Game time is slated for 6 PM PDT (9 PM EDT). Thanks to pitcher Doug Fister and some questionable defense by the home team, Washington pounced on the opportunity to stay alive in the series yesterday with a solid 4-1 victory on a beautiful day at the 'Bell.
Without question, one of the lowest-percentage plays in baseball is the attempt to throw out the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt. It was this play that turned the game, and perhaps the series, yesterday. Madison Bumgarner, so brilliant against Pittsburgh in the wild-card playoff last week, pitched well again yesterday, matching his opponent, Fister, out for out and zero for zero through six splendid scoreless innings. But it was his decision to make a throw to third ahead of a sacrifice attempt that everyone will remember from yesterday, not his excellent pitching-- because that decision may have cost the Giants the win and a sweep of the three-game series.
It happened this way. Leading off the seventh, Ian Desmond singled for the Nats' fifth hit, all singles. At that point "Bum" was working on a personal 22-inning postseason scoreless streak dating back to Game Two of the 2012 Series, in which he also opposed Doug Fister. Then, facing Bryce Harper, Bumgarner really struggled for the first time since-- when? He couldn't get his slider over, and he walked the Nats' young phenom on five pitches. Wilson Ramos then laid down a good bunt to the right side of the mound-- a tough play for left-handed "Bum", requiring him to wheel around 180 degrees and throw to first to get the slow-moving Ramos. Perhaps because of this, Buster Posey shouted "Three!" Bum's hard throw to third would not have been in time to get Desmond regardless, but it went appallingly wide of the bag and ricocheted through the bullpen down the left-field line. Harper followed Desmond home, Ramos taking second, and the Nationals' bench let loose in celebration for the first time, really, in the entire series. They had "Bum" wobbling now, and the perennially-annoying Asdrubal Cabrera then singled through short, bringing Ramos home with a most critical third run.
The worm had turned. Fister, already on top of his game through six, shrugged off a leadoff single by Brandon (.357 for the series) Belt and retired the side, then turned things over to Washington's solid bullpen. Tyler Clippard handled the eighth without a ball leaving the infield, and manager Matt Williams brought out Drew Storen, he of the nightmare ninth on Saturday, to get a little redemption. For a moment, it looked like The Blunder II: Pablo Sandoval dropped a Texas Leaguer into left, and Hunter Pence hammered one off the fence in center to set up second and third with one out. But Storen had room to trade runs for outs, due in no small part to young Harper. Having helped open the floodgates in the seventh, Harper had capped his day in the top of the ninth against Jean Machi with a titanic home run onto the promenade behind the right-field wall, mere yards from McCovey Cove. Now leading 4-0, Storen got the most critical out by fanning Belt, then was more than happy to yield Brandon Crawford's sacrifice fly, which broke the shutout but also left the Giants desperate. Travis Ishikawa's groundout ended it moments later.
At the risk of belaboring a point well past acceptability, it's critical that coaches across the land understand the importance of OUTS in a defensive context. Once a man is already on base, the single biggest determinant of whether he, or others, will score is not whether he advances, but how many outs there are. That is, a team has a greater chance of scoring with a man on first and nobody out, than they do with a man on third and two out. This ought to be obvious, but evidently many in decision-making positions don't see it. The only way Bumgarner's fielder's choice works is if the out is made at third. What is the probability of that happening? It's very, very low. And any other result is disaster, because the out has not been made. The reward is not worth the risk. It ought to be baseball gospel from Little League on up: on a sacrifice bunt, make the play at first, period. Take the out being given. Second and third with one out is a tough situation, yes; but it's better than bases loaded, nobody out-- and it's far, far better than a man on second, nobody out, and two runs scored.
Ryan Vogelsong takes the baton for the team tonight. Like Tim Hudson, Vogelsong had some shudder-to-think starts in the second half, but his last real awful outing was the four-homer barrage on September 3. In five of his last 17 starts the Giants were shut out, including three in a row back in July; in eight of those last 17 starts he allowed three or fewer runs. "Vogey" has't pitched since September 26; ten days' full rest may work wonders for him the way it did for Hudson. Opposing is Gio Gonzalez, the first lefty the Giants have faced this postseason. As we documented awhile back, the Giants faced more southpaws than any other team in the majors and did not do especially well against them. They didn't see Gonzalez in any of the seven games they played against Washington in the regular season, but regardless it may be time to tweak the lineup. The Giants have scored five runs in 36 innings of this series, and Gregor (1-for-14, no runs) Blanco has been a boat-anchor in the lineup, let alone the leadoff spot. It couldn't hurt to put Gary Brown and his right-handed bat in center, move Hunter Pence to the leadoff spot, and start Andrew Susac at catcher with Posey at first. Who starts in left under such arrangement is open to debate, or desperation, depending on your point of view. None of the right-handed candidates-- Juan Perez, Joaquin Arias-- are hitting at all, and the best-hitting candidate, Belt, has played left but not lately. Absent trying Belt there, it'd probably be best to stay with Travis Ishikawa and bat him eighth.
There's a level of import going into this game that the last two contests lacked; having won the opener the Giants were playing, in a sense, with "house money" in games two and three. Now no such nonsense prevails. The Nationals have shown their pitching depth, their excellent defense (check out Harper's diving catch on a drive hit by Ishikawa with a man aboard in the seventh), their suddenly opportunistic hitting, and their no-longer-latent power (after Harper's blast, both Ramos and Cabrera ripped scorchers off Machi that Blanco and Pence had to run down in a hurry). There's a reason they finished with the league's best record, and now we all have seen it. The Giants have been in this spot before against good teams; lately they've risen to the challenge and won these showdowns, right here and right now. It's time to do it again.
GIANTS! GIANTS!!! GIANTS!!!!!
Without question, one of the lowest-percentage plays in baseball is the attempt to throw out the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt. It was this play that turned the game, and perhaps the series, yesterday. Madison Bumgarner, so brilliant against Pittsburgh in the wild-card playoff last week, pitched well again yesterday, matching his opponent, Fister, out for out and zero for zero through six splendid scoreless innings. But it was his decision to make a throw to third ahead of a sacrifice attempt that everyone will remember from yesterday, not his excellent pitching-- because that decision may have cost the Giants the win and a sweep of the three-game series.
It happened this way. Leading off the seventh, Ian Desmond singled for the Nats' fifth hit, all singles. At that point "Bum" was working on a personal 22-inning postseason scoreless streak dating back to Game Two of the 2012 Series, in which he also opposed Doug Fister. Then, facing Bryce Harper, Bumgarner really struggled for the first time since-- when? He couldn't get his slider over, and he walked the Nats' young phenom on five pitches. Wilson Ramos then laid down a good bunt to the right side of the mound-- a tough play for left-handed "Bum", requiring him to wheel around 180 degrees and throw to first to get the slow-moving Ramos. Perhaps because of this, Buster Posey shouted "Three!" Bum's hard throw to third would not have been in time to get Desmond regardless, but it went appallingly wide of the bag and ricocheted through the bullpen down the left-field line. Harper followed Desmond home, Ramos taking second, and the Nationals' bench let loose in celebration for the first time, really, in the entire series. They had "Bum" wobbling now, and the perennially-annoying Asdrubal Cabrera then singled through short, bringing Ramos home with a most critical third run.
The worm had turned. Fister, already on top of his game through six, shrugged off a leadoff single by Brandon (.357 for the series) Belt and retired the side, then turned things over to Washington's solid bullpen. Tyler Clippard handled the eighth without a ball leaving the infield, and manager Matt Williams brought out Drew Storen, he of the nightmare ninth on Saturday, to get a little redemption. For a moment, it looked like The Blunder II: Pablo Sandoval dropped a Texas Leaguer into left, and Hunter Pence hammered one off the fence in center to set up second and third with one out. But Storen had room to trade runs for outs, due in no small part to young Harper. Having helped open the floodgates in the seventh, Harper had capped his day in the top of the ninth against Jean Machi with a titanic home run onto the promenade behind the right-field wall, mere yards from McCovey Cove. Now leading 4-0, Storen got the most critical out by fanning Belt, then was more than happy to yield Brandon Crawford's sacrifice fly, which broke the shutout but also left the Giants desperate. Travis Ishikawa's groundout ended it moments later.
At the risk of belaboring a point well past acceptability, it's critical that coaches across the land understand the importance of OUTS in a defensive context. Once a man is already on base, the single biggest determinant of whether he, or others, will score is not whether he advances, but how many outs there are. That is, a team has a greater chance of scoring with a man on first and nobody out, than they do with a man on third and two out. This ought to be obvious, but evidently many in decision-making positions don't see it. The only way Bumgarner's fielder's choice works is if the out is made at third. What is the probability of that happening? It's very, very low. And any other result is disaster, because the out has not been made. The reward is not worth the risk. It ought to be baseball gospel from Little League on up: on a sacrifice bunt, make the play at first, period. Take the out being given. Second and third with one out is a tough situation, yes; but it's better than bases loaded, nobody out-- and it's far, far better than a man on second, nobody out, and two runs scored.
Ryan Vogelsong takes the baton for the team tonight. Like Tim Hudson, Vogelsong had some shudder-to-think starts in the second half, but his last real awful outing was the four-homer barrage on September 3. In five of his last 17 starts the Giants were shut out, including three in a row back in July; in eight of those last 17 starts he allowed three or fewer runs. "Vogey" has't pitched since September 26; ten days' full rest may work wonders for him the way it did for Hudson. Opposing is Gio Gonzalez, the first lefty the Giants have faced this postseason. As we documented awhile back, the Giants faced more southpaws than any other team in the majors and did not do especially well against them. They didn't see Gonzalez in any of the seven games they played against Washington in the regular season, but regardless it may be time to tweak the lineup. The Giants have scored five runs in 36 innings of this series, and Gregor (1-for-14, no runs) Blanco has been a boat-anchor in the lineup, let alone the leadoff spot. It couldn't hurt to put Gary Brown and his right-handed bat in center, move Hunter Pence to the leadoff spot, and start Andrew Susac at catcher with Posey at first. Who starts in left under such arrangement is open to debate, or desperation, depending on your point of view. None of the right-handed candidates-- Juan Perez, Joaquin Arias-- are hitting at all, and the best-hitting candidate, Belt, has played left but not lately. Absent trying Belt there, it'd probably be best to stay with Travis Ishikawa and bat him eighth.
There's a level of import going into this game that the last two contests lacked; having won the opener the Giants were playing, in a sense, with "house money" in games two and three. Now no such nonsense prevails. The Nationals have shown their pitching depth, their excellent defense (check out Harper's diving catch on a drive hit by Ishikawa with a man aboard in the seventh), their suddenly opportunistic hitting, and their no-longer-latent power (after Harper's blast, both Ramos and Cabrera ripped scorchers off Machi that Blanco and Pence had to run down in a hurry). There's a reason they finished with the league's best record, and now we all have seen it. The Giants have been in this spot before against good teams; lately they've risen to the challenge and won these showdowns, right here and right now. It's time to do it again.
GIANTS! GIANTS!!! GIANTS!!!!!
Monday, October 6, 2014
The San Francisco Giants face the Washington Nationals in Game Three of their National League division series this afternoon at AT&T Park. Game time is slated for 2 PM PDT (5 PM EDT). The Giants are looking to sweep the Nationals and win the series outright today after taking a 2-0 lead in games following Saturday's historic, 18-inning, 2-1 victory in Washington.
Here we go again. The Giants, after an up-and-down regular season, without any big-name stars or commercial endorsements, despite a stat line best described as ordinary, unable to gain any sort of home-field advantage-- the Giants are only one game away from the NLCS while other, more powerful, popular, and bankable teams have already fallen by the wayside.
Saturday's incredible marathon game/endurance contest, which began in late afternoon and concluded, some six hours and thirty minutes later, several minutes past midnight, was a crucible of epic proportion for players, managers, fans, and even announcers. As the innings rolled on and the temperature dropped, the roll-call of heroes mounted-- Jordan Zimmermann, Tim Hudson, Anthony Rendon, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Wilson Ramos, Yusmeiro Petit, and, finally, Brandon Belt, whose 18th-inning no-doubt-about-it home run won the game. All winter long Nats fans will debate the wisdom of Matt Williams' decision to pull starter Zimmermann with one out to go and a man on base in the ninth-- a move that backfired immediately, allowing the somnambulant Giants to awaken, tie the game, force the extras, and provide a highlight-film reel for the ages on a bang-bang play at the plate that could have gone either way. (And shucks, fellas, after that there were still nine more innings of baseball left to play.) All winter long Giants fans will salute Bruce Bochy and his "second starter" of choice, Petit, who pitched six scoreless innings from the twelfth through the seventeenth, complementing the game's "first starter," Tim Hudson, who was nearly as good from innings one through seven.
Yes, the Tim Hudson who took the mound Saturday pitched like, well, like Tim Hudson. Gone were the floating fastballs and unsinkable sinkers from late in the season. Given nine days' rest, "Huddy" was his early-season borderline-Hall-of-Fame self again, dropping those sinkers out of the zone just as the Washington hitters swung, holding the Nats to one run on seven hits while striking out eight. He never even came close to walking a batter. It wasn't all Hudson's doing, but he set the tone for a night when the Giants limited the heart of Washington's order-- Jayson Werth, Adam LaRoche, Ian Desmond, and Bryce Harper- to two hits in 28 at-bats. Asdrubiel Cabrera's third-inning leadoff double, golfed over Travis Ishkawa's head in left, was followed by a RBI single from the redoubtable Rendon, who went 4-for-4 in regulation. Other than that, Hudson never gave an inch.
And for a long time it looked like that 1-0 score would hold up and tie the series. The game zipped briskly along thanks to Hudson and to the near-unhittable Zimmermann, who completely dominated the Giants. After stranding a baserunner in each of the first three innings, "Zim" got really serious and retired 20 in a row through the eighth inning and into the ninth. Like Madison Bumgarner back in Pittsburgh last week, there was no doubt Zimmermann was going to open the ninth, and while he didn't have "Bum's" eight-run cushion to work with, the Nats' ace made the one run he did have look like Everest.
The game was less then two and a half hours old-- and that primarily because of Bruce Bochy's patented lefty-righty two-step in the eighth, which prevented a Washington rally from bringing in another run-- as Zimmermann retired Matt Duffy and Gregor Blanco without incident to open the ninth. With two out, "Zim" gave Joe Panik nothing but heat; battling to stay alive, the rookie fouled off one fastball, took another that much of the crowd and the Nationals' bench thought was strike two, and then took ball four. Out came Williams and without hesitation he called on Drew Storen to finish the game for Zimmermann. The Nats have been up and down and in and out with their closers this year, and it hadn't hurt them much because they'd been winning so many lopsided games. The last time we'd seen Storen had been two years previous, in the 2012 NLDS, when he blew the save, and the series, in an epic ninth-inning meltdown against the Cardinals.
It was no meltdown this time, but Storen did give up a clean single to Posey, moving Panik and the tying run into scoring position, Then came the ineffable Sandoval. John Smoltz on FSN was expounding on the Panda's postseason exploits as Sandoval fouled off a pitch. Then-- it wasn't three homers in a game, nothing that spectacular, it was just what the pros call "a good job of hitting." Panda went with the pitch and sliced one down the left-field line. Panik scored the tying run as Harper corralled the ball and fired a throw in to Desmond; third-base coach Tim Flannery was already windmilling the grimly hard-charging Posey around third as the ball hit Desmond's glove. The shortstop fired a perfect one-hop throw to the plate; Ramos had to lunge forward to make the tag, which he did as Buster's front foot crossed the plate. A heartbeat, two; then the "OUT" call by umpire Vic Carapazza. The crowd roared and Posey howled in protest; out came Bochy; a flurry of blue coats surrounded the scene; then the place fell silent as everyone waited for the judgment from above. It came: Carapazza reprised his "out" gesture and it was time for extra innings. Lots of them.
We can pontificate that it was already lost for Washington at that point; removing Zimmermann had broken the spell, allowed the tie, and guaranteed the inevitable. Of course we know no such thing. Williams' move was the book move, the percentage play, the plan all along. And yet... we Giants fans need only remember Dusty Baker, Russ Ortiz, Felix Rodriguez, and Game Six of the 2002 World Series to feel a certain sympathy for our red-uniformed friends. Because when these things go wrong, they really go wrong... as they did for the Nats in the top of the tenth. Called out on strikes by Carapazza, whose strike zone judgment during Panik's at-bat had made him a marked man in the Washington dugout, Cabrera became unhinged, slamming his bat down and screaming into the ump's face. Immediate ejection was followed by Williams himself charging in, shoving his second baseman aside before Cabrera earned himself a suspension, and treating Carapazza to a second colorful aria of abuse. Soon he too was tossed, and the crowd vented its frustration in full roar. Chaos loomed, but order was eventually restored, with coach Randy Knorr taking over for Williams.
Nobody hit in extra innings, not for either side. For the Giants, Jeremy Affeldt handled the tenth, Santiago Casilla the eleventh; when it became apparent to Bochy that this one might require a long haul, out came Petit, who up until that moment was a candidate to start Game Four if needed. The big guy pitched his way into history and into the heart of every Giants fan with six innings of yeoman work, allowing three walks while striking out seven; the lone hit was by Werth, who broke an 0-for-7 slump. After the game Posey tried to describe the strength and courage of Petit's performance in words; he couldn't. We'll just say it stands on its own-- right now Yusmeiro Petit holds title to the greatest relief appearance in San Francisco Giants history.
Through twelve, Knorr plowed through his bullpen as if it were an inexhaustible resource; he even yanked Aaron Barrett in the twelfth after a single batter when Hunter Pence bombed one off the center-field wall. But lefty Joe Blevins rose to the challenge, retiring lefty hitters Belt and Brandon Crawford, then getting Andrew Susac to pop up as Bochy nearly emptied his entire bench. Then Craig Stammen was brought in and emulated Petit for three scoreless innings. Unlike Petit, however, Stammen wasn't allowed to bat for himself. After former Giant Kevin Frandsen pinch-hit in the fifteenth, Knorr was out of relievers and on came the Nats' fifth starter, Tanner Roark. It was he who served up the homer to Belt. After getting two quick strikes, Roark battled Belt with fastballs; Brandon fouled off two, then launched the eighth pitch of the at-bat into the upper deck in right.
The final act was left up to Hunter Strickland, the rookie with the high heat. With two out, Rendon drew a walk on a full count, bringing the home folks to the brink of hope one last time. Strickland got Werth into a two-strike hole, then worked the count to 2-2 before the bearded slugger hit one hard but right at Pence to end one of the most exhausting but exhilarating nights in franchise history.
Madison Bumgarner takes the mound this afternoon with Doug Fister opposing. It's true "Bum" has done much better on the road than at home this year; on the other hand he's also done better in the day than at night. But those considerations pale in the light of what the Giants' ace has done over three Octobers. The Giants know well that a 2-0 division series lead, even a home, is not bulletproof: they themselves disproved it two years ago in Cincinnati. But it says here the Giants will win this series, tonight or tomorrow or, if that's what it takes, back in Washington Thursday. This team is moving on-- and who out there is equipped to stop them?
GO GIANTS!!!
Here we go again. The Giants, after an up-and-down regular season, without any big-name stars or commercial endorsements, despite a stat line best described as ordinary, unable to gain any sort of home-field advantage-- the Giants are only one game away from the NLCS while other, more powerful, popular, and bankable teams have already fallen by the wayside.
Saturday's incredible marathon game/endurance contest, which began in late afternoon and concluded, some six hours and thirty minutes later, several minutes past midnight, was a crucible of epic proportion for players, managers, fans, and even announcers. As the innings rolled on and the temperature dropped, the roll-call of heroes mounted-- Jordan Zimmermann, Tim Hudson, Anthony Rendon, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Wilson Ramos, Yusmeiro Petit, and, finally, Brandon Belt, whose 18th-inning no-doubt-about-it home run won the game. All winter long Nats fans will debate the wisdom of Matt Williams' decision to pull starter Zimmermann with one out to go and a man on base in the ninth-- a move that backfired immediately, allowing the somnambulant Giants to awaken, tie the game, force the extras, and provide a highlight-film reel for the ages on a bang-bang play at the plate that could have gone either way. (And shucks, fellas, after that there were still nine more innings of baseball left to play.) All winter long Giants fans will salute Bruce Bochy and his "second starter" of choice, Petit, who pitched six scoreless innings from the twelfth through the seventeenth, complementing the game's "first starter," Tim Hudson, who was nearly as good from innings one through seven.
Yes, the Tim Hudson who took the mound Saturday pitched like, well, like Tim Hudson. Gone were the floating fastballs and unsinkable sinkers from late in the season. Given nine days' rest, "Huddy" was his early-season borderline-Hall-of-Fame self again, dropping those sinkers out of the zone just as the Washington hitters swung, holding the Nats to one run on seven hits while striking out eight. He never even came close to walking a batter. It wasn't all Hudson's doing, but he set the tone for a night when the Giants limited the heart of Washington's order-- Jayson Werth, Adam LaRoche, Ian Desmond, and Bryce Harper- to two hits in 28 at-bats. Asdrubiel Cabrera's third-inning leadoff double, golfed over Travis Ishkawa's head in left, was followed by a RBI single from the redoubtable Rendon, who went 4-for-4 in regulation. Other than that, Hudson never gave an inch.
And for a long time it looked like that 1-0 score would hold up and tie the series. The game zipped briskly along thanks to Hudson and to the near-unhittable Zimmermann, who completely dominated the Giants. After stranding a baserunner in each of the first three innings, "Zim" got really serious and retired 20 in a row through the eighth inning and into the ninth. Like Madison Bumgarner back in Pittsburgh last week, there was no doubt Zimmermann was going to open the ninth, and while he didn't have "Bum's" eight-run cushion to work with, the Nats' ace made the one run he did have look like Everest.
The game was less then two and a half hours old-- and that primarily because of Bruce Bochy's patented lefty-righty two-step in the eighth, which prevented a Washington rally from bringing in another run-- as Zimmermann retired Matt Duffy and Gregor Blanco without incident to open the ninth. With two out, "Zim" gave Joe Panik nothing but heat; battling to stay alive, the rookie fouled off one fastball, took another that much of the crowd and the Nationals' bench thought was strike two, and then took ball four. Out came Williams and without hesitation he called on Drew Storen to finish the game for Zimmermann. The Nats have been up and down and in and out with their closers this year, and it hadn't hurt them much because they'd been winning so many lopsided games. The last time we'd seen Storen had been two years previous, in the 2012 NLDS, when he blew the save, and the series, in an epic ninth-inning meltdown against the Cardinals.
It was no meltdown this time, but Storen did give up a clean single to Posey, moving Panik and the tying run into scoring position, Then came the ineffable Sandoval. John Smoltz on FSN was expounding on the Panda's postseason exploits as Sandoval fouled off a pitch. Then-- it wasn't three homers in a game, nothing that spectacular, it was just what the pros call "a good job of hitting." Panda went with the pitch and sliced one down the left-field line. Panik scored the tying run as Harper corralled the ball and fired a throw in to Desmond; third-base coach Tim Flannery was already windmilling the grimly hard-charging Posey around third as the ball hit Desmond's glove. The shortstop fired a perfect one-hop throw to the plate; Ramos had to lunge forward to make the tag, which he did as Buster's front foot crossed the plate. A heartbeat, two; then the "OUT" call by umpire Vic Carapazza. The crowd roared and Posey howled in protest; out came Bochy; a flurry of blue coats surrounded the scene; then the place fell silent as everyone waited for the judgment from above. It came: Carapazza reprised his "out" gesture and it was time for extra innings. Lots of them.
We can pontificate that it was already lost for Washington at that point; removing Zimmermann had broken the spell, allowed the tie, and guaranteed the inevitable. Of course we know no such thing. Williams' move was the book move, the percentage play, the plan all along. And yet... we Giants fans need only remember Dusty Baker, Russ Ortiz, Felix Rodriguez, and Game Six of the 2002 World Series to feel a certain sympathy for our red-uniformed friends. Because when these things go wrong, they really go wrong... as they did for the Nats in the top of the tenth. Called out on strikes by Carapazza, whose strike zone judgment during Panik's at-bat had made him a marked man in the Washington dugout, Cabrera became unhinged, slamming his bat down and screaming into the ump's face. Immediate ejection was followed by Williams himself charging in, shoving his second baseman aside before Cabrera earned himself a suspension, and treating Carapazza to a second colorful aria of abuse. Soon he too was tossed, and the crowd vented its frustration in full roar. Chaos loomed, but order was eventually restored, with coach Randy Knorr taking over for Williams.
Nobody hit in extra innings, not for either side. For the Giants, Jeremy Affeldt handled the tenth, Santiago Casilla the eleventh; when it became apparent to Bochy that this one might require a long haul, out came Petit, who up until that moment was a candidate to start Game Four if needed. The big guy pitched his way into history and into the heart of every Giants fan with six innings of yeoman work, allowing three walks while striking out seven; the lone hit was by Werth, who broke an 0-for-7 slump. After the game Posey tried to describe the strength and courage of Petit's performance in words; he couldn't. We'll just say it stands on its own-- right now Yusmeiro Petit holds title to the greatest relief appearance in San Francisco Giants history.
Through twelve, Knorr plowed through his bullpen as if it were an inexhaustible resource; he even yanked Aaron Barrett in the twelfth after a single batter when Hunter Pence bombed one off the center-field wall. But lefty Joe Blevins rose to the challenge, retiring lefty hitters Belt and Brandon Crawford, then getting Andrew Susac to pop up as Bochy nearly emptied his entire bench. Then Craig Stammen was brought in and emulated Petit for three scoreless innings. Unlike Petit, however, Stammen wasn't allowed to bat for himself. After former Giant Kevin Frandsen pinch-hit in the fifteenth, Knorr was out of relievers and on came the Nats' fifth starter, Tanner Roark. It was he who served up the homer to Belt. After getting two quick strikes, Roark battled Belt with fastballs; Brandon fouled off two, then launched the eighth pitch of the at-bat into the upper deck in right.
The final act was left up to Hunter Strickland, the rookie with the high heat. With two out, Rendon drew a walk on a full count, bringing the home folks to the brink of hope one last time. Strickland got Werth into a two-strike hole, then worked the count to 2-2 before the bearded slugger hit one hard but right at Pence to end one of the most exhausting but exhilarating nights in franchise history.
Madison Bumgarner takes the mound this afternoon with Doug Fister opposing. It's true "Bum" has done much better on the road than at home this year; on the other hand he's also done better in the day than at night. But those considerations pale in the light of what the Giants' ace has done over three Octobers. The Giants know well that a 2-0 division series lead, even a home, is not bulletproof: they themselves disproved it two years ago in Cincinnati. But it says here the Giants will win this series, tonight or tomorrow or, if that's what it takes, back in Washington Thursday. This team is moving on-- and who out there is equipped to stop them?
GO GIANTS!!!
Saturday, October 4, 2014
The San Francisco Giants defeated the Washington Nationals, 3-2, at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., yesterday to take the first game of the National League division series.
Starter Jake Peavy pitched five and two-thirds innings of the gutsiest ball you'll ever see, taking a no-hitter into the fifth, allowing just five baserunners, and outdueling-- barely-- the mega-talented Stephen Strasburg. The 2010 top draft pick won most of his own battles, but gave up just enough to lose, and to give the hard-luck Peavy his first post-season win after a dozen years in the major leagues. Meanwhile, three youngsters provided the game's drama. Rookie Joe Panik, 23, drove in the Giants' first run in the third, and tripled in the seventh, scoring the game's winning run on a single by Buster Posey. Rookie Hunter Strickland, 24, faced a two-on two-out situation in the bottom of the sixth, and struck out slugger Ian Desmond to end the threat. But he was also tagged for two seventh-inning solo homers that brought the Nationals to the brink of comeback-- one of them a monster third-deck shot by 21-year-old Bryce Harper.
"Get off first." That's been a Giants trademark in the postseason under Bruce Bochy, and for the fifth time in seven playoff series since 2010, the Giants have taken the opener. The win negates Washington's home-field advantage; the Nationals now have to win a game in San Francisco to win the series while the Giants can win out at home. And once again the game's learned commentators are singing the same tune: they don't have the numbers or the names, but in the postseason the San Francisco Giants do tend to get the wins.
The Peavy-Strasburg matchup was fascinating; the archetypal wily veteran against the youngster (more on that later) with the multi-million-dollar arm. There was no doubt Strasburg, in his first postseason start, brought the 99-MPH heat, but he gave up eight singles, struck out only two, and had to battle through every inning. And battle he did as he stranded ten Giants in his six innings of work. Peavy, meanwhile, went deep in almost every count-- he was over 90 pitches through five-- but again and again hit his spots. And when Harper broke up the no-hitter opening the fifth with an infield single, Panik, Brandon Crawford, and Brandon Belt killed the budding rally with a tricky, unorthodox double play that turned Peavy into a finger-pointing fist-pumping cheerleader: "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!" he roared at his infielders.
The yearly debate about rest versus rust and its effect on the division winners surfaced again in the third inning as two Nationals mistakes produced the Giants' first run. Adam LaRoche's attempt to throw out Travis Ishikawa at second on Peavy's sacrifice bunt resulted in a two-on nobody-out pickle for Strasburg-- albeit only after Bruce Bochy challenged the initial "out" call at second and had it reversed. Strasburg got Gregor Blanco on a liner to center which froze the runners, but then catcher Wilson Ramos suffered what appeared to be a simple lack of concentration as Strasburg's pitch glanced off his glove for a passed ball. The runners moved up, and Joe Panik brought Ishi home with a single, Peavy holding third. Strasburg then forced Buster Posey to ground into a double play, ending the inning, but the Giants had the lead. And a little small-ball brought a second run in the fourth. Hunter Pence legged out what should have been another DP, then stole second and came flying in on Belt's single. Again Strasburg had to battle: after Brandon Crawford followed with yet another single, the tall young righthander got Ishikawa and Peavy-- on a fine diving stop by Anthony Rendon-- to end the threat.
The Brandons, Belt and Crawford, opened the sixth with singles, and that was all for Strasburg, Matt Williams brought in lefty veteran Jerry Blevins, who retired the side without incident, marking the fourth straight inning the Giants left two men on base. Then came Peavy's final crucible. Our old buddy, Nate Schierholz, pinch-hit for Blevins and ripped a double off the wall in right. Bearing down and determined to stay the course, Peavy faced the top of the order and got Denard Span and Rendon-- but then he walked Jayson Werth and out came Bochy. Defiant, shouting encouragement to his teammates, Peavy left the mound in favor of Javier Lopez and the lefty-lefty matchup with LaRoche. But the normally-reliable Lopez walked the slugger on five pitches, and he left the mound in grim silence. Here came Strickland, with all of seven major-league games behind him, and he struck out Desmond on a 100-MPH fastball. "Giants closer of the future!!!" texted an ebullient fan to us after that memorable moment.
The other side of that 100-MPH heat tested Strickland in the seventh. After Panik and Posey had extended the lead to 3-0 in the top, Harper's titanic blast awakened the somnambulant crowd, and Asdrubal Cabrera's laser shot-- shorter in distance but no less hard-hit-- made it a one-run game and sent the 44,035 back into their pregame frenzy. But Strickland calmed the seas a bit by retiring pinch-hitter Ryan Zimmerman-- they'll DH him in the World Series if they should get there-- before Bochy summoned Jeremy Affeldt to retire Span in a lefty-lefty matchup that worked this time.
Sergio Romo took over in the eighth, but not until the Giants had lost another runner in scoring position-- Brandon Crawford ran himself into a rundown after his one-out double. And Romo had to do some stranding himself, as both Rendon and LaRoche singled around Werth's popup. But Romo fanned Desmond (0-for-4, 5 LOB) and got Harper on a sharp grounder to Belt, who flipped to Crawford for a just-in-time force. Gregor Blanco, with a walk and a steal, became the last Giant left in scoring position in the top of the ninth, and as the announcers revived Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow's 2010 adage about "Giants torture," Santiago Casilla came in and finished off an agony-free ninth, retiring the side without incident on seven pitches.
Whatever side one takes in the rest-versus-rust debate (no need to ask how Matt Williams feels; he rigged up an intrasquad game on Thursday to keep everyone fresh) it's unlikely to matter from here on. Jordan Zimmermann, who pitched a no-hitter his last time out in the season finale, starts tonight against Tim Hudson, whom we hope will channel his postseason persona from Oakland and Atlanta days and not his September 2014 self. The Nats know they could have won last night's game as sure as they lost it, and it's hard not to look up and down the lineups and wonder why they didn't. During the game we noted that Washington calls upon the likes of Schierholz and Zimmerman when they need a pinch-hitter; the Giants answered with Matt (.602 OPS) Duffy and Juan Perez (yes, we're afraid they did). With Michael Morse off the roster for this series, it's hard to understand why a Quiroz or a Duvall couldn't find a place, instead of a twelfth pitcher. If it comes down to bench strength, we're uncomfortably reminded of Garry Schumacher's old wisecrack about Napoleon at Waterloo.
Game Two is slated for 4:30 PM; the day has dawned bright, cool, and sunny here in the Blue Ridge, ninety minutes west of Washington. Good football weather. It is, after all, October-- and October in even-numbered years lately has been "Giants season."
Roundup
A beloved family member, back in early childhood, decided to cast his lot with the fate of the Los Angeles Angels, who've gone through more name changes than the late Elizabeth Taylor. This did nothing for domestic tranquility around here back in the 2002 World Series, but since then Mike Scioscia's club has become known for regular-season success followed by quick postseason exits. The latest edition of the Angels, built up over the last four years, unfortunately seems to be following the same pattern. After two excruciating extra-inning losses to the Kansas City Royals at home, the Angels now must win out-- two at Kauffmann Stadium and one back at the Big A-- to avoid a one-and done. The great Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton-- the powerful core of this ballclub-- have been largely silent so far (Pujols has one RBI). Meanwhile KC, who have redefined the role of the "scrappy underdog" far past anything the Giants might have done, set a record with their third consecutive extra-inning postseason win. Names like Yordano Ventura (who was still bringin' it at 100 MPH in the seventh inning last night) and Eric Hosmer (who won it with a homer in the 11th) are far from household status, but they're one win away from the ALCS.
Detroit is in similar straits as LA, down 2-0 to the Baltimore Orioles, but at least they're heading home to Comerica Park, and they have David Price starting tomorrow in a last attempt to reverse the course. We earlier opined that the Orioles had a rather ordinary, if solid, lineup and pitching staff; we're obliged to reconsider after the way they pounded Matt Scherzer Thursday and then held the powerful Tiger lineup in check until they fashioned an eighth-inning rally yesterday. We well remember the Giants' back-from-the-dead rally against Cincinnati in the 2012 NLDS, but that was a rare occurrence indeed, and for it to happen twice in the same year in the same league-- well, let's just say a LA-Detroit ALCS is not in the cards.
Speakin' of Cards... Clayton Kershaw took a 6-2 lead into the seventh last night at Dodger Stadium, the only blemishes a couple of solo homers-- and then he awoke in the ER, groggily wondering, "Did anyone get the license number of that truck?" Well, of course, what really happened was an eight-run Cardinal explosion, capped by Matt Holliday's three-run blast off Pedro Baez, who had relieved Kershaw after five singles and Matt Carpenter's two-run double chased the ace. Now the game's premier pitcher holds the dubious distinction of being the first to give up seven or more runs in back-to-back postseason starts. We recall the Cards beat him twice in last year's NLCS, the last a 7-0 shellacking-- but this was unprecedented; Kershaw had never before lost a game in which his team scored six or more runs. We'll find out today whether or not this body blow has a disabling effect on the Dodgers-- or whether it was just "one of those nights," unseasonable 100-degree weather producing a climate in which no pitcher was safe. St Louis' Adam Wainwright was himself shelled, and gone by the fifth, obliviating any expectation of a legendary pitchers' duel between he and Kershaw.
Strasburg, Virginia
That's the picturesque town we call home, and four years ago much fuss was made here about the young "phenom" from San Diego State whom the Washington Nationals had made the first player taken in the draft. That year, coach Jeff Smoot led an undermanned Strasburg High School baseball team to the State Championship and won it. Baseball fever was in the air here, at every level; the summer amateur Valley League had just landed a franchise, the Express, here in town, thanks to the efforts of local attorney/personal friend/fellow Giants fan Jay Neal. When talk turned to the possibility of young Mr Strasburg making a visit to the high school, a petition was quickly circulated encouraging the town council to rename us "Stephen Strasburg, Virginia" for the day. Fortunately, nothing came of it.
Stephen Strasburg, at 26, is a fine young pitcher, and he is remarkable for his recovery from elbow surgery without losing his electric 99-MPH fastball or his big curve. Over three full years in the majors he's developed a workable changeup, and settled into place as a solid starter. He's also the same age as Clayton Kershaw, who has won two Cy Young Awards. Yesterday John Smoltz, whose incisive commentary and intelligence resemble that of the impeccable Orel Hershiser, noted that Strasburg, until recently yoked to a pitch count so severe that the team disabled him for the 2012 postseason-- is still just a "kid" and still developing as a pitcher. We love ya, Smoltzie, but that's hard to figure. Aside from the Kershaw comparison, we note that Strasburg is a year older than Madison Bumgarner, and that by age 26 Tim Lincecum, like Kershaw, had won two CYAs. The time for Stephen Strasburg is right now, not some indefinite date in the future. Frankly, we still expect Strasburg will shortly rise to the rank of the game's best, on a level with Bum, Kershaw, Wainwright, Verlander, and the other aces. And it can be argued that having his arm rebuilt in 2011 essentially restarted his career from scratch in 2012, at age 24. In that case, he's right about where Bumgarner was two years ago and where Lincecum was in 2009. His time is now-- and we need only look at the Royals' Ventura, who just turned 24, to be reminded that time waits for no one, not even Stephen Strasburg. We wish him well-- and we hope we don't see him again in 2014!
Starter Jake Peavy pitched five and two-thirds innings of the gutsiest ball you'll ever see, taking a no-hitter into the fifth, allowing just five baserunners, and outdueling-- barely-- the mega-talented Stephen Strasburg. The 2010 top draft pick won most of his own battles, but gave up just enough to lose, and to give the hard-luck Peavy his first post-season win after a dozen years in the major leagues. Meanwhile, three youngsters provided the game's drama. Rookie Joe Panik, 23, drove in the Giants' first run in the third, and tripled in the seventh, scoring the game's winning run on a single by Buster Posey. Rookie Hunter Strickland, 24, faced a two-on two-out situation in the bottom of the sixth, and struck out slugger Ian Desmond to end the threat. But he was also tagged for two seventh-inning solo homers that brought the Nationals to the brink of comeback-- one of them a monster third-deck shot by 21-year-old Bryce Harper.
"Get off first." That's been a Giants trademark in the postseason under Bruce Bochy, and for the fifth time in seven playoff series since 2010, the Giants have taken the opener. The win negates Washington's home-field advantage; the Nationals now have to win a game in San Francisco to win the series while the Giants can win out at home. And once again the game's learned commentators are singing the same tune: they don't have the numbers or the names, but in the postseason the San Francisco Giants do tend to get the wins.
The Peavy-Strasburg matchup was fascinating; the archetypal wily veteran against the youngster (more on that later) with the multi-million-dollar arm. There was no doubt Strasburg, in his first postseason start, brought the 99-MPH heat, but he gave up eight singles, struck out only two, and had to battle through every inning. And battle he did as he stranded ten Giants in his six innings of work. Peavy, meanwhile, went deep in almost every count-- he was over 90 pitches through five-- but again and again hit his spots. And when Harper broke up the no-hitter opening the fifth with an infield single, Panik, Brandon Crawford, and Brandon Belt killed the budding rally with a tricky, unorthodox double play that turned Peavy into a finger-pointing fist-pumping cheerleader: "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!" he roared at his infielders.
The yearly debate about rest versus rust and its effect on the division winners surfaced again in the third inning as two Nationals mistakes produced the Giants' first run. Adam LaRoche's attempt to throw out Travis Ishikawa at second on Peavy's sacrifice bunt resulted in a two-on nobody-out pickle for Strasburg-- albeit only after Bruce Bochy challenged the initial "out" call at second and had it reversed. Strasburg got Gregor Blanco on a liner to center which froze the runners, but then catcher Wilson Ramos suffered what appeared to be a simple lack of concentration as Strasburg's pitch glanced off his glove for a passed ball. The runners moved up, and Joe Panik brought Ishi home with a single, Peavy holding third. Strasburg then forced Buster Posey to ground into a double play, ending the inning, but the Giants had the lead. And a little small-ball brought a second run in the fourth. Hunter Pence legged out what should have been another DP, then stole second and came flying in on Belt's single. Again Strasburg had to battle: after Brandon Crawford followed with yet another single, the tall young righthander got Ishikawa and Peavy-- on a fine diving stop by Anthony Rendon-- to end the threat.
The Brandons, Belt and Crawford, opened the sixth with singles, and that was all for Strasburg, Matt Williams brought in lefty veteran Jerry Blevins, who retired the side without incident, marking the fourth straight inning the Giants left two men on base. Then came Peavy's final crucible. Our old buddy, Nate Schierholz, pinch-hit for Blevins and ripped a double off the wall in right. Bearing down and determined to stay the course, Peavy faced the top of the order and got Denard Span and Rendon-- but then he walked Jayson Werth and out came Bochy. Defiant, shouting encouragement to his teammates, Peavy left the mound in favor of Javier Lopez and the lefty-lefty matchup with LaRoche. But the normally-reliable Lopez walked the slugger on five pitches, and he left the mound in grim silence. Here came Strickland, with all of seven major-league games behind him, and he struck out Desmond on a 100-MPH fastball. "Giants closer of the future!!!" texted an ebullient fan to us after that memorable moment.
The other side of that 100-MPH heat tested Strickland in the seventh. After Panik and Posey had extended the lead to 3-0 in the top, Harper's titanic blast awakened the somnambulant crowd, and Asdrubal Cabrera's laser shot-- shorter in distance but no less hard-hit-- made it a one-run game and sent the 44,035 back into their pregame frenzy. But Strickland calmed the seas a bit by retiring pinch-hitter Ryan Zimmerman-- they'll DH him in the World Series if they should get there-- before Bochy summoned Jeremy Affeldt to retire Span in a lefty-lefty matchup that worked this time.
Sergio Romo took over in the eighth, but not until the Giants had lost another runner in scoring position-- Brandon Crawford ran himself into a rundown after his one-out double. And Romo had to do some stranding himself, as both Rendon and LaRoche singled around Werth's popup. But Romo fanned Desmond (0-for-4, 5 LOB) and got Harper on a sharp grounder to Belt, who flipped to Crawford for a just-in-time force. Gregor Blanco, with a walk and a steal, became the last Giant left in scoring position in the top of the ninth, and as the announcers revived Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow's 2010 adage about "Giants torture," Santiago Casilla came in and finished off an agony-free ninth, retiring the side without incident on seven pitches.
Whatever side one takes in the rest-versus-rust debate (no need to ask how Matt Williams feels; he rigged up an intrasquad game on Thursday to keep everyone fresh) it's unlikely to matter from here on. Jordan Zimmermann, who pitched a no-hitter his last time out in the season finale, starts tonight against Tim Hudson, whom we hope will channel his postseason persona from Oakland and Atlanta days and not his September 2014 self. The Nats know they could have won last night's game as sure as they lost it, and it's hard not to look up and down the lineups and wonder why they didn't. During the game we noted that Washington calls upon the likes of Schierholz and Zimmerman when they need a pinch-hitter; the Giants answered with Matt (.602 OPS) Duffy and Juan Perez (yes, we're afraid they did). With Michael Morse off the roster for this series, it's hard to understand why a Quiroz or a Duvall couldn't find a place, instead of a twelfth pitcher. If it comes down to bench strength, we're uncomfortably reminded of Garry Schumacher's old wisecrack about Napoleon at Waterloo.
Game Two is slated for 4:30 PM; the day has dawned bright, cool, and sunny here in the Blue Ridge, ninety minutes west of Washington. Good football weather. It is, after all, October-- and October in even-numbered years lately has been "Giants season."
Roundup
A beloved family member, back in early childhood, decided to cast his lot with the fate of the Los Angeles Angels, who've gone through more name changes than the late Elizabeth Taylor. This did nothing for domestic tranquility around here back in the 2002 World Series, but since then Mike Scioscia's club has become known for regular-season success followed by quick postseason exits. The latest edition of the Angels, built up over the last four years, unfortunately seems to be following the same pattern. After two excruciating extra-inning losses to the Kansas City Royals at home, the Angels now must win out-- two at Kauffmann Stadium and one back at the Big A-- to avoid a one-and done. The great Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton-- the powerful core of this ballclub-- have been largely silent so far (Pujols has one RBI). Meanwhile KC, who have redefined the role of the "scrappy underdog" far past anything the Giants might have done, set a record with their third consecutive extra-inning postseason win. Names like Yordano Ventura (who was still bringin' it at 100 MPH in the seventh inning last night) and Eric Hosmer (who won it with a homer in the 11th) are far from household status, but they're one win away from the ALCS.
Detroit is in similar straits as LA, down 2-0 to the Baltimore Orioles, but at least they're heading home to Comerica Park, and they have David Price starting tomorrow in a last attempt to reverse the course. We earlier opined that the Orioles had a rather ordinary, if solid, lineup and pitching staff; we're obliged to reconsider after the way they pounded Matt Scherzer Thursday and then held the powerful Tiger lineup in check until they fashioned an eighth-inning rally yesterday. We well remember the Giants' back-from-the-dead rally against Cincinnati in the 2012 NLDS, but that was a rare occurrence indeed, and for it to happen twice in the same year in the same league-- well, let's just say a LA-Detroit ALCS is not in the cards.
Speakin' of Cards... Clayton Kershaw took a 6-2 lead into the seventh last night at Dodger Stadium, the only blemishes a couple of solo homers-- and then he awoke in the ER, groggily wondering, "Did anyone get the license number of that truck?" Well, of course, what really happened was an eight-run Cardinal explosion, capped by Matt Holliday's three-run blast off Pedro Baez, who had relieved Kershaw after five singles and Matt Carpenter's two-run double chased the ace. Now the game's premier pitcher holds the dubious distinction of being the first to give up seven or more runs in back-to-back postseason starts. We recall the Cards beat him twice in last year's NLCS, the last a 7-0 shellacking-- but this was unprecedented; Kershaw had never before lost a game in which his team scored six or more runs. We'll find out today whether or not this body blow has a disabling effect on the Dodgers-- or whether it was just "one of those nights," unseasonable 100-degree weather producing a climate in which no pitcher was safe. St Louis' Adam Wainwright was himself shelled, and gone by the fifth, obliviating any expectation of a legendary pitchers' duel between he and Kershaw.
Strasburg, Virginia
That's the picturesque town we call home, and four years ago much fuss was made here about the young "phenom" from San Diego State whom the Washington Nationals had made the first player taken in the draft. That year, coach Jeff Smoot led an undermanned Strasburg High School baseball team to the State Championship and won it. Baseball fever was in the air here, at every level; the summer amateur Valley League had just landed a franchise, the Express, here in town, thanks to the efforts of local attorney/personal friend/fellow Giants fan Jay Neal. When talk turned to the possibility of young Mr Strasburg making a visit to the high school, a petition was quickly circulated encouraging the town council to rename us "Stephen Strasburg, Virginia" for the day. Fortunately, nothing came of it.
Stephen Strasburg, at 26, is a fine young pitcher, and he is remarkable for his recovery from elbow surgery without losing his electric 99-MPH fastball or his big curve. Over three full years in the majors he's developed a workable changeup, and settled into place as a solid starter. He's also the same age as Clayton Kershaw, who has won two Cy Young Awards. Yesterday John Smoltz, whose incisive commentary and intelligence resemble that of the impeccable Orel Hershiser, noted that Strasburg, until recently yoked to a pitch count so severe that the team disabled him for the 2012 postseason-- is still just a "kid" and still developing as a pitcher. We love ya, Smoltzie, but that's hard to figure. Aside from the Kershaw comparison, we note that Strasburg is a year older than Madison Bumgarner, and that by age 26 Tim Lincecum, like Kershaw, had won two CYAs. The time for Stephen Strasburg is right now, not some indefinite date in the future. Frankly, we still expect Strasburg will shortly rise to the rank of the game's best, on a level with Bum, Kershaw, Wainwright, Verlander, and the other aces. And it can be argued that having his arm rebuilt in 2011 essentially restarted his career from scratch in 2012, at age 24. In that case, he's right about where Bumgarner was two years ago and where Lincecum was in 2009. His time is now-- and we need only look at the Royals' Ventura, who just turned 24, to be reminded that time waits for no one, not even Stephen Strasburg. We wish him well-- and we hope we don't see him again in 2014!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
The San Francisco Giants defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-0, at PNC Park in Pittsburgh last night, winning the National League wild-card playoff game behind a complete-game four-hit shutout from ace lefthander Madison Bumgarner.
As Brandon Crawford's grand-slam home run sailed into the right-field deck in the top of the fourth inning, breaking a scoreless tie, it was as if a giant door softly swung closed on the Pirates' season and the frenzied celebration of the SRO crowd that up until that moment had greeted every pitch with rowdy, cacaphonous noise. And as the score steadily mounted in one direction only, the cheers, handclaps, and "Let's Go Bucs!" chants became less frequent and less raucous, and were accompanied by decidedly fewer voices. There really was little to say or explain after Crawford's blast gave "Bum" far more support than he needed. Pitching on a week's rest, he was Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, and Randy Johnson for a night, consistently out-thinking the hitters, getting half of his ten strikeouts on balls in the dirt (Buster Posey assisted at least four of those to first base), and brooking no dugout discussion about leaving the game. Pittsburgh didn't get a man to third until the eighth, which was also the only inning they got more than one man on, and both those mighty feats were the result of errors in the field (Crawford booted a tough grounder and Joaquin Arias-- in the game for defensive purposes, hah?-- made an errant throw). "Bum" presented the same stoic face in the ninth with which he began his pregame warmups, and while a couple of relievers may have loosened up in the bullpen during the eighth, there was no way they were getting into this game. He threw 109 pitches, 79 for strikes; and he was clearly disgusted with himself when reigning MVP Andrew McCutchen managed to draw the Pirates' lone walk.
In a way it was too bad. The Pirates, from manager Clint Hurdle to their solid lineup to their picture-postcard ballpark to their big-hearted fans and town, are a class act. But as we all know, "the only team of which to be a fan is the San Francisco Giants,"* and it's just a doggone shame the Buccos had to be the ones standing in the way.
And so it will be the San Francisco Giants against the Washington Nationals in the upcoming National League division series which opens tomorrow afternoon in Washington. Game time is slated for 3 PM EDT. The league's best team this year, and one which has had more than its share of success against San Francisco, will try to become the first team to win a postseason series against the Giants since 2003. They've got their work cut out for them.
Crawford's earthshaking blast was, astonishingly enough, the first postseason grand-slam home run ever hit by a shortstop! (You mean, over the course of 109 World Series and Lord knows how many semifinal series, there's never been a...) It followed successive walks given up by starter Edinson Volquez, who in some ways is the anti-Bumgarner. Effusive, ebullient, and emotional, Volquez was high in the zone early as commentator John Kruk prophetically warned about being "over-pumped"; his night turned on a 2-2 breaking ball to Brandon Belt that "missed it by that much" (the inside corner, that is). Pablo Sandoval, who led off two innings with base hits, was on second, Hunter Pence, having drawn a rare walk himself, was at first. Volquez thought he had strike three, umpire Brian Gorman thought otherwise, and the emotion was palpable as a frustrated Volquez missed badly for ball four. That loaded 'em up for Crawford's history-making clout.
Belt went 2-for-3 with two walks, a run scored and three RBI; his big night marks, we hope, a most welcome return to form, especially with Michael Morse out. Panda scored twice on his two leadoff hits, Pence scored twice, Gregor Blanco drew a walk and scored a run, and Buster Posey tallied the eighth RBI. "Bum" needed no help from himself on an 0-for-4 night, but he got two great catches in the field, both on twisting foul balls. Pence ran a country mile and stabbed one just as it dropped foul over the low fence along the right-field line, but the highlight-film play was Sandoval's. On one of those difficult popups that tend to drop just behind the dugout rail, he grabbed the rail, caught the ball, vaulted his ample body over top of the rail and landed, rather gracefully for all that, right on his feet! (You really have to see it to appreciate it.) Yes, it was sure enough one of those nights.
Right now "Bum" is tabbed to start Game Three of the NLDS back at A&T Park Monday. He'll have a hard time duplicating last night's performance, but not last night's effort. He's been a doggone machine in the postseason for three years now, and this gives the Giants major advantage if they can take one of the first two games in Washington. It'll be Jake Peavy starting tomorrow, with Tim Hudson scheduled for Saturday evening (a 5:30 PM EDT start, we note). Bruce Bochy likes to get off first, and Peavy gives the Giants the best chance to take a 1-0 lead and the quick advantage. It won't be easy, of course; Stephen Strasburg, who's been especially dominant against the Giants, will oppose, and waiting behind him are Jordan "No-Hit" Zimmermann, lefty Gio Gonzalez, and our old friend from 2012, Doug Fister, who's had an especially terrific season on a team that's had many of 'em. And speaking of old friends, of course it's Matt Williams calling the shots there in the other dugout. He hasn't decided yet, he says, whether to go with three starters or four. It's doubtful Bruce Bochy has, either.
Six for Seven?
"Boch" warmed our hearts when he activated only ten picthers for last night's game. Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong were absent (interestingly, Tim Linceucm and young Hunter Strickland were not), while Matt Duffy, Adam Duvall, and third catcher Guillermo Quiroz gave Bochy lots of choices in the lineup, few of which he required. All this is likely to change by tomorrow, of course. Certainly "Huddy" will return, though "Vogey" may be on the bubble. We've said it before, many times, but ten pitchers is enough and eleven is plenty. The individual lefty-righty matchup just isn't as important as keeping those extra bats on the bench and those extra players for spot duty in the field or on the bases.
The Giants' ongoing dilemma here is that after Bumgarner and Peavy, none of the starters has shown any sort of consistency (except the kind we don't want). First-inning flameouts are beyond anyone's control, and are thankfully rare, so the concern is more about what happens when Hudson, or Vogelsong, or Petit, or even Linceucm, faces the Nats' batting order the third time around, usually about the fifth inning. How many fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-inning meltdowns have these guys had this year? We're lazy tonight and we're not gonna look it up, but it seems like a lot.
What if Bochy should plan for this? He has six starters, and two starting slots to fill (presuming a four-man rotation). What if Hudson started Game Two-- with Lincecum planned for the third time through the order? Of course this presumes a tight game and it presumes Hudson's OK, but not lights-out, through four or five . Would a pre-emptive move like that work? Would following Hudson's minimalist sinkerballs with Lincecum's angular delivery and assortment of pitches provide sufficient confusion to keep the opposition spellbound for one more trip through the order? (The last time through, it's up to Romo and Casilla, as usual.) In Game Four, "Boch" could pull the same stunt with Vogelsong and Petit. Bottom line: the two "starters" would be expected to get through seven innings, six in a pinch, together-- a minimum of three each, ideally four followed by three. With all six starters on the staff, then, the bullpen would consist of Casilla, Romo, the lefthanders Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez, and either Strickland, Jean Machi, or George Kontos to round it out. That leaves Bochy with six infielders (Belt, Panik, Sandoval, Crawford, Arias, Duvall), six outfielders (Blanco, Pence, Ishikawa, Perez, Duffy, and Morse to pinch-hit if nothing else), and catchers Posey and Andrew Susac. (Sorry, Quiroz.)
Who knows what'll happen. It's unlikely to look like anything we've suggested here, but as we tick down the hours toward tomorrow's first pitch (right now we're watching the LA Angels tied 2-2 in the fifth with Kansas City, fresh off their dramatic victory over the Oakland A's in twelve; Baltimore crushed Detroit earlier today) we're letting the speculative mind run free. It beats worrying-- and the Washington Nationals are a most worrisome opponent.
But the Washington Nationals also saw last night's game, and you can bet they're worried, too.
GO GIANTS!!!
* courtesy of Gregg Pearlman
As Brandon Crawford's grand-slam home run sailed into the right-field deck in the top of the fourth inning, breaking a scoreless tie, it was as if a giant door softly swung closed on the Pirates' season and the frenzied celebration of the SRO crowd that up until that moment had greeted every pitch with rowdy, cacaphonous noise. And as the score steadily mounted in one direction only, the cheers, handclaps, and "Let's Go Bucs!" chants became less frequent and less raucous, and were accompanied by decidedly fewer voices. There really was little to say or explain after Crawford's blast gave "Bum" far more support than he needed. Pitching on a week's rest, he was Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, and Randy Johnson for a night, consistently out-thinking the hitters, getting half of his ten strikeouts on balls in the dirt (Buster Posey assisted at least four of those to first base), and brooking no dugout discussion about leaving the game. Pittsburgh didn't get a man to third until the eighth, which was also the only inning they got more than one man on, and both those mighty feats were the result of errors in the field (Crawford booted a tough grounder and Joaquin Arias-- in the game for defensive purposes, hah?-- made an errant throw). "Bum" presented the same stoic face in the ninth with which he began his pregame warmups, and while a couple of relievers may have loosened up in the bullpen during the eighth, there was no way they were getting into this game. He threw 109 pitches, 79 for strikes; and he was clearly disgusted with himself when reigning MVP Andrew McCutchen managed to draw the Pirates' lone walk.
In a way it was too bad. The Pirates, from manager Clint Hurdle to their solid lineup to their picture-postcard ballpark to their big-hearted fans and town, are a class act. But as we all know, "the only team of which to be a fan is the San Francisco Giants,"* and it's just a doggone shame the Buccos had to be the ones standing in the way.
And so it will be the San Francisco Giants against the Washington Nationals in the upcoming National League division series which opens tomorrow afternoon in Washington. Game time is slated for 3 PM EDT. The league's best team this year, and one which has had more than its share of success against San Francisco, will try to become the first team to win a postseason series against the Giants since 2003. They've got their work cut out for them.
Belt went 2-for-3 with two walks, a run scored and three RBI; his big night marks, we hope, a most welcome return to form, especially with Michael Morse out. Panda scored twice on his two leadoff hits, Pence scored twice, Gregor Blanco drew a walk and scored a run, and Buster Posey tallied the eighth RBI. "Bum" needed no help from himself on an 0-for-4 night, but he got two great catches in the field, both on twisting foul balls. Pence ran a country mile and stabbed one just as it dropped foul over the low fence along the right-field line, but the highlight-film play was Sandoval's. On one of those difficult popups that tend to drop just behind the dugout rail, he grabbed the rail, caught the ball, vaulted his ample body over top of the rail and landed, rather gracefully for all that, right on his feet! (You really have to see it to appreciate it.) Yes, it was sure enough one of those nights.
Right now "Bum" is tabbed to start Game Three of the NLDS back at A&T Park Monday. He'll have a hard time duplicating last night's performance, but not last night's effort. He's been a doggone machine in the postseason for three years now, and this gives the Giants major advantage if they can take one of the first two games in Washington. It'll be Jake Peavy starting tomorrow, with Tim Hudson scheduled for Saturday evening (a 5:30 PM EDT start, we note). Bruce Bochy likes to get off first, and Peavy gives the Giants the best chance to take a 1-0 lead and the quick advantage. It won't be easy, of course; Stephen Strasburg, who's been especially dominant against the Giants, will oppose, and waiting behind him are Jordan "No-Hit" Zimmermann, lefty Gio Gonzalez, and our old friend from 2012, Doug Fister, who's had an especially terrific season on a team that's had many of 'em. And speaking of old friends, of course it's Matt Williams calling the shots there in the other dugout. He hasn't decided yet, he says, whether to go with three starters or four. It's doubtful Bruce Bochy has, either.
Six for Seven?
"Boch" warmed our hearts when he activated only ten picthers for last night's game. Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong were absent (interestingly, Tim Linceucm and young Hunter Strickland were not), while Matt Duffy, Adam Duvall, and third catcher Guillermo Quiroz gave Bochy lots of choices in the lineup, few of which he required. All this is likely to change by tomorrow, of course. Certainly "Huddy" will return, though "Vogey" may be on the bubble. We've said it before, many times, but ten pitchers is enough and eleven is plenty. The individual lefty-righty matchup just isn't as important as keeping those extra bats on the bench and those extra players for spot duty in the field or on the bases.
The Giants' ongoing dilemma here is that after Bumgarner and Peavy, none of the starters has shown any sort of consistency (except the kind we don't want). First-inning flameouts are beyond anyone's control, and are thankfully rare, so the concern is more about what happens when Hudson, or Vogelsong, or Petit, or even Linceucm, faces the Nats' batting order the third time around, usually about the fifth inning. How many fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-inning meltdowns have these guys had this year? We're lazy tonight and we're not gonna look it up, but it seems like a lot.
What if Bochy should plan for this? He has six starters, and two starting slots to fill (presuming a four-man rotation). What if Hudson started Game Two-- with Lincecum planned for the third time through the order? Of course this presumes a tight game and it presumes Hudson's OK, but not lights-out, through four or five . Would a pre-emptive move like that work? Would following Hudson's minimalist sinkerballs with Lincecum's angular delivery and assortment of pitches provide sufficient confusion to keep the opposition spellbound for one more trip through the order? (The last time through, it's up to Romo and Casilla, as usual.) In Game Four, "Boch" could pull the same stunt with Vogelsong and Petit. Bottom line: the two "starters" would be expected to get through seven innings, six in a pinch, together-- a minimum of three each, ideally four followed by three. With all six starters on the staff, then, the bullpen would consist of Casilla, Romo, the lefthanders Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez, and either Strickland, Jean Machi, or George Kontos to round it out. That leaves Bochy with six infielders (Belt, Panik, Sandoval, Crawford, Arias, Duvall), six outfielders (Blanco, Pence, Ishikawa, Perez, Duffy, and Morse to pinch-hit if nothing else), and catchers Posey and Andrew Susac. (Sorry, Quiroz.)
Who knows what'll happen. It's unlikely to look like anything we've suggested here, but as we tick down the hours toward tomorrow's first pitch (right now we're watching the LA Angels tied 2-2 in the fifth with Kansas City, fresh off their dramatic victory over the Oakland A's in twelve; Baltimore crushed Detroit earlier today) we're letting the speculative mind run free. It beats worrying-- and the Washington Nationals are a most worrisome opponent.
But the Washington Nationals also saw last night's game, and you can bet they're worried, too.
GO GIANTS!!!
* courtesy of Gregg Pearlman
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)