The 1997 National League Division Series

        Wednesday, October 1, 1997

        The San Francisco Giants lost Game One of the National League
        Division Series, 2-1, to the Florida Marlins at Miami's steamy Joe
        Robbie Stadium yesterday. Shortstop Edgar Renteria grounded a
        bases-loaded, two-out single into right field in the bottom of the ninth
        inning off Giants' reliever Roberto Hernandez, scoring Charles
        Johnson with the winning run.

        For seven quick, tense innings, this game was a marvelous pitchers'
        duel between Marlins ace Kevin Brown and the Giants' Kirk Rueter.
        Each gave up four hits, and each surrendered a solo homer in the
        seventh. Brown, who no-hit the Giants back in June, still never has lost
        to San Francisco, but he didn't win this one. That honor went to reliever
        Dennis Cook, himself a former Giant, who retired all six batters he
        faced over the eighth and ninth innings. His counterparts-- Hernandez
        and Julian Tavarez, who took the loss-- did not fare as well, and that
        was the difference in the game.

        Barry Bonds and Darryl Hamilton made superb catches in the outfield
        to help save Rueter's shutout through seven; meanwhile Brown was
        once again perfect early on, retiring the first 14 Giants he faced. But
        he made a mistake against Bill Mueller leading off the seventh, and the
        young third baseman lined one into the seats in right, breaking the ice
        in dramatic fashion. Brown seemed to lose his composure at that point,
        and Barry Bonds took quick advantage, blasting one off the top of the
        left-field fence for a double. A foot higher, and the Giants likely
        would have won this game. But Brown toughened up, refused to let J.T.
        Snow advance Bonds to third, and then got Jeff Kent and Stan Javier to
        end the threat. And catcher Johnson tied it up in the bottom of the
        frame with a solo shot off Rueter. That set the stage for Tavarez. He
        escaped a bases-loaded one-out jam in the eighth by forcing Moises
        Alou to hit into a double play, but then allowed a leadoff single to Jeff
        Conine in the ninth, and followed by hitting Johnson with a pitch.
        Dusty Baker went to Hernandez, whose 100-mph heat almost got him
        out of it, but after a force, a sacrifice bunt, and a intentional walk,
        Renteria delivered the game-winner.

        Now the Giants face what amounts to a 'must-win' game this afternoon.
        The strange best-of-five format makes the series opener a pivotal game.
        Losing today would force the Giants to win three straight at home, a
        tall order even for this resilient ballclub. Shawn Estes gets the start
        while Al Leiter goes for Florida in a battle of left-handers.  Estes has
        pitched two fine games against the Marlins, one here and one there;
        Leiter, for his part, has been superb against the Giants, with a 1.06
        ERA in three starts.




        Friday, October 3, 1997

        The San Francisco Giants face the Florida Marlins in Game Three of the
        1997 National League Division Series tonight at Candlestick Park. Game
        time is slated for 5 PM PDT.  The Giants are trying to avoid a
        three-and-out sweep of this five-game series; Wilson Alvarez will get
        the start.

        Florida won Game Two, 7-6, at Miami on Wednesday.  Although this
        game, replete with home runs, errors, walks, and-- with one exception--
        lousy pitching, bore no resemblance to Tuesday's tightly-played
        pitchers' duel, it had two things in common with Game One. First, it
        was a thrilling game; second, the Marlins again won it with a base hit
        off Roberto Hernandez in the bottom of the ninth.  This time, it was
        Moises Alou doing the honors, driving in Gary Sheffield with the
        winning run.

        Neither Shawn Estes, the Giants' 19-game-winning ace, nor Marlins
        starter Al Leiter was around anywhere near the finish. Estes'
        control and composure abruptly deserted him in the fourth; he'd
        allowed a mammoth two-run homer to Bobby Bonilla in the first but the
        Giants had pulled ahead twice since. After three walks and a RBI
        single to open the inning, Dusty Baker pulled Estes in favor of Doug
        Henry, who did about as well as anyone could expect, getting a
        double-play grounder that did score one more run. The Giants had
        scored one run in each of the first four innings off Leiter, but Marlins
        manager Jim Leyland made a brilliant call in the fifth, bringing out the
        stellar rookie Livian Hernandez to pitch relief. A tremendous Sheffield
        cannon-shot off Julian Tavarez in the sixth made it 6-4, and paid off
        when Brian Johnson answered with a solo shot in the seventh for the
        Giants. But young Hernandez pitched a scoreless eighth, and Florida
        took the field in the ninth with closer Robb Nen on the mound.

        Perhaps Leyland outsmarted himself there, though Nen was hardly the
        chief culprit, but the Giants immediately mounted one of their
        trademark improbable game-tying rallies. Darryl Hamilton hustled to
        first on a ground ball, and was safe when Jeff Conine bobbled it. Stan
        Javier singled to left; he hit .417 against the Marlins this year and added
        four more hits in this game. Jose Vizcaino, trying to bunt the runners
        along, struck out; however, this meant Nen had to pitch to Barry Bonds.
        And Nen got him, a slow roller to short-- but Bonds hustled like a
        demon, Javier slid high into second, and Craig Counsell's hurried
        relay to first went wild. Hamilton came flying around third to score,
        injuring his hip in the process.  Though the Giants couldn't take the
        lead, they'd tied it, and their record in extra-inning games this year
        was 11-3.

        It never made it to extra innings. Sheffield singled and quickly stole
        second, Bonilla walked, and Alou dropped one into short center. Dante
        Powell, Hamilton's replacement, came up with it fast and fired a
        one-hop bullet to the plate-- but the ball struck the pitching rubber
        and caromed skyward as Sheffield slid across with the winning run.
        Appropriately enough, Nen, who'd blown the save in the top of the
        ninth, emerged as the winning pitcher.

        The Giants must face the unpleasant possibility here that they've
        finally met their match: a team not merely of comparable talent, but
        of comparable toughness and tenacity, a team even more adept than
        they at winning late, winning in improbable fashion, and winning
        when it matters most.  The Giants now must win three straight at home
        to avoid elimination; they certainly can do it, but if they do do it,
        they'll have climbed their highest mountain yet.




        Monday, October 6, 1997

        The San Francisco Giants lost the National League Division Series to
        the Florida Marlins, three games to none.  The Marlins wrapped it up
        in Game Three at Candlestick Park Friday night with a convincing 6-2
        victory to sweep the series.

        So the 1997 Giants' implausible quest for glory finally comes to an
        end. There should be few doubts, few recriminations, few of those
        woulda-coulda-shoulda second guesses. Florida is a better team than
        the Giants; not better by much, but better nonetheless. The full house at
        Candlestick seemed to recognize this; though the mood had grown ugly
        out in the left-field bleachers in the final innings, everyone stuck
        around for the finale and serenaded the Giants with a long, heartfelt
        round of applause. It couldn't wash away the pain of seeing the Marlins
        celebrate on their home field, but it showed the club how much the fans
        appreciated this season that no one predicted.

        The game itself was a rather ungainly blend of the first two. For five
        innings Wilson Alvarez and his former teammate, Alex Fernandez, held
        each other at bay with solid pitching. In the bottom of the fourth,
        Jeff Kent broke the scoreless tie with a mighty wallop that carried
        through the stiff wind out to the deepest part of center field and
        still cleared the fence. But in the top of the sixth, Alvarez began to
        fade, allowing two singles and a walk after two were down. Dusty Baker
        paid a visit to the mound, as did catcher Brian Johnson and the whole
        infield-- and Alvarez stayed in the game. At bat was Devon White,
        veteran of many playoff games with Toronto over in the American
        League, but struggling at the plate this year. With the count 2-1, Alvarez
        dropped a breaking ball down, and White pulverized it: a soaring,
        majestic drive to deepest left that carried as high as it did far. A
        grand slam, four runs across, and slowly the life began ebbing out of
        the Giants.

        Not that they went down easy; Bill Mueller led off with a single in the
        bottom of the sixth. With Barry Bonds at the plate as the tying run,
        Mueller broke for second on a 2-2 pitch. But Fernandez' perfect pitch
        froze Bonds-- called strike three-- and catcher Charles Johnson threw
        out Mueller by a mile. The impact of this aborted rally hit home when
        Kent, the Giants' lone hero of the night, belted his second homer
        moments later. It kept it a ballgame at 4-2, but an ominous foreboding
        settled over the chilly field. Julian Tavarez pitched a quiet seventh,
        and then in the bottom of the frame Glenallen Hill drew a rare walk,
        Jose Vizcaino singled, and just like that there were two on with none
        out. But perhaps too many chances had already come and gone for the
        Giants; Fernandez sucked it up and made his best pitches of the night,
        fanning Johnson and pinch-hitter Marvin Benard, then getting Stan
        Javier on a ground ball to end the threat.  And in the eighth, Roberto
        Hernandez endured the third installment of his nightmare series.
        Having given up a game-winning ninth-inning hit in each of the first
        two games, here he helped kick away the Giants' fading chances. Jeff
        Conine singled and Johnson doubled down the left-field line, the ball
        glancing off a groundskeeper's door hastily closed by an unwitting
        stadium janitor and eluding Bonds long enough for Conine to score.
        One out later, Baker brought in Rich Rodriguez to face Craig Counsell,
        who clouted another RBI double up the alley in right-center for a 6-2
        lead. It was at this point that the drunken contingent, sensing that
        things were coming to an end, began throwing bottles and garbage into
        left field. Perhaps they hoped it would rattle the Marlins, but no
        home-field  advantage was going to matter this time.  The Giants went
        down nobly to the end with Rod Beck, appearing in San Francisco black
        and orange for perhaps the last time, working a scoreless ninth. In their
        final act, the Giants put two on against closer Robb Nen, but Nen kept
        his cool, trading bases for outs and finally closing the door with Damon
        Berryhill's routine grounder to second.



        Florida now moves on to play the powerful Atlanta Braves, who also
        swept their series over Houston. The two were rivals all year long in
        the East Division; though Atlanta won the pennant by six games,
        Florida won the season series between the two, eight games to four.
        Strong pitching predominates both ballclubs, but the Braves get the
        nod simply because they are the best and have been the best
        year after year, winning six straight division titles.  Either team will
        face a tough task in the World Series, whether against the
        superbly-balanced Baltimore Orioles or the peaking-at-the-right-time
        Cleveland Indians.



        And so the Giants will soon turn toward 1998, the harsh reality of the
        expansion draft, and the sober calculation of the bottom line. The
        amazing work turned in by this team must now be viewed in the light
        of future expectations, which will be high. Who among this group is
        likely to return, and who has shown himself to be expendable?

        The bullpen closer issue is a major concern already. Beck, the team's
        senior member, has lost the heat that once made him special. He's made
        up for it with better pitch selection, but not consistently enough.  A
        free agent, he still may command large dollars elsewhere, but not here--
        and that means he probably won't be back. It's hard to see the club
        shelling out megabucks for Hernandez now, either; three weeks ago was
        one thing, but the playoff memories will persist. Again, it's not that
        these guys are washed up, necessarily, it's that the Giants won't empty
        their wallets to keep them.  That means Julian Tavarez, still only 23,
        may get the opportunity he's been waiting for.

        Most of the late-season veteran pitchers are unlikely to return; that's
        Pat Rapp, Terry Mulholland, Danny Darwin, and, probably, Alvarez
        (who likely will command big money elsewhere). Doug Henry and
        Rich Rodriguez, both of them signed at bargain-basement prices, may
        well be back, but whether they can match their '97 performances is very
        much in question. And Jim Poole's season-from-hell likely makes him a
        goner. That leaves four starters (Shawn Estes, Kirk Rueter, Mark
        Gardner, and Osvaldo Fernandez), plus Tavarez, as the core of this
        pitching staff. Gardner's late-season fade remains a concern, but for
        now he's got to be included.

        Expect the Giants to keep three-fourths of the infield intact; Jeff
        Kent may never duplicate his 1997 numbers, but he means more to this
        team than the stats will ever show. J.T. Snow is a lock, and Bill
        Mueller's won himself a job. Odd man out is likely Jose Vizcaino, a
        free agent who'll find himself in demand elsewhere. Rich Aurilia hit
        .275 and slugged .500 in part-time duty; he's already got a big-league
        glove. His time may have arrived. The outfield of Bonds, Hamilton, and
        Javier is a good one, though the latter two have had durability problems
        of late.  Glenallen Hill, who lost his job at midseason, and Mark
        Lewis, who couldn't keep Mueller off the field, both make in excess of
        a million dollars and likely will not be retained. It's a shame,
        especially in Lewis' case, but high-priced backups are a luxury the
        team can't afford. Expect that Jacob Cruz and Dante Powell will get
        more playing time next season. Did we forget anybody? Oh, my
        goodness-- catcher Brian Johnson! No way do the Giants let him go
        anywhere, but veteran backup Berryhill is no sure thing, though they'd
        certainly like to keep him.

        The Giants, it must be said, are at a real risk of falling victim to the
        same fate that plagued the San Diego Padres this season. It was only a
        year ago that San Diego won the West over a Dodger team that didn't
        seem to want it bad enough until it was too late. The Padres finished last
        this year. With very few exceptions, parity-- not to say mediocrity--
        reigns supreme in major-league baseball. The Giants played well this
        year, were inspired and inspiring at crucial times, but they also were
        lucky in the injury department and in the schedule. Dusty Baker,
        certainly Manager of the Year for '97, and Brian Sabean, certainly
        Executive of the Year, give the team a strong advantage at the top.
        There is no reason to doubt that the Giants have survived their
        doldrums and will be contenders for the next few seasons, but in '98
        it would be unwise to expect another division title from a club that
        played ten games better than expected.  It takes nothing away from
        this wonderful 1997 team to note that there's work to be done if there's
        more to be won.






Copyright (c) 1997, 1999 by David Malbuff.  All rights reserved.