7 6 1 1 3 3
Game Score 61
Fred Lewis pinch-hit for Matt Cain to lead off the 8th, worked the count, and roped a single. It was the best plate appearance of the evening for the G-men. Wainwright had us completely mastered until that point. We had a shot (bases loaded, Sandoval batting) to take the lead, but had to settle for the tie. That's the fifth no-decision for Cain this year. Matt's 7 IP weren't pretty or efficient, but he's a GMF and whipped out his can of VSC when he needed it. The other guy was dominant, flashing the big strikeout stuff, working efficiently, and going the full nine, but suffered the same ND fate. Our fielding was a mess tonight, breaking a long run of solid defensive play. Pablo Sandoval dropped Cody Rasmus' foul pop fly right before the game-winning bomb. Romo, like Cain, was not at his best but still got the big outs. Affeldt was very impressive, again. We brought out our limp noodles tonight and Wainwright took advantage. Our pitching--the team strength--kept it close, of course, but it wasn't good enough. The whole show was like a World Cup soccer match, lots of feints and dodges and questionable officiating but only a handful of real shots on goal. Finally, after 90 minutes of pointless running around, and a spot of OT for good measure, the home team nailed the decider. Bleah.
10 comments:
Not a game they deserved to win, but it's one of those you'll look back on in the off-season if they are a game short from the playoffs. Kind of like Saturday's...
Comparing this game to soccer pretty much tells you all you need to know. UGLY.
As I have been telling MOC, I sense a real trend toward LOW SCORING baseball. I don't know if stats back me up but yesterday there were also three 1-0 games (hasn't happened in years). So you see, we are not really a bad offensive team, we are trend setters. We are just ahead of our time.
But in ANY kind of baseball, when you make 3 errors you should lose.
1-0 baseball games are beautiful things - tension so thick, you can cut it with a knife. As long as we keep winning, I am cool with low scoring baseball for the next decade, at least.
On another note, even though a 1-0 soccer game isn't the same as a 1-0baseball game (i.e. the 1-0 soccer game can be a lot of running around with a single lucky break), I still like soccer. Furthermore, soccer journalism, particularly British soccer journalism, whether of the 'serious' or tabloid variety, is far more creative than any trash that the American media spews out. For example, here is some fun stuff from today's Soccer Gossip Column in the Guardian newspaper regarding highly over-valued French winger Franck Ribery, currently playing in Germany for Bayern Munich:
"Poor Franck Ribéry. Word is Real Madrid have sploshed their entire transfer budget on Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema so won't now sign the French winger who's been cavorting suggestively in front of them like a vamp in a rap video, albeit a small white vamp with an unfortunate scar and a penchant for smearing toothpaste on footballers' doorhandles.
Of course, that prattle is probably untrue – it seems unlikely that the mighty Real pay any heed to such quaint notions as budgets? – but nevertheless, after weeks of feverish hope and speculation, and 40 years after the first lunar stroll, Ribéry finds himself feeling like Mike Collins, the astronaut who was blasted more than 384,000 miles away from Earth only to stay stuck in a muggy tin while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin capered about the moon and got all the glory."
I love the British sporting press--they are fookin' hilarious. I actually like football, er, soccer. I just detest the World Cup: the teams are so scared of losing that they don't attack. It's like pitchers who nibble, nibble, nibble and never throw a strike. But if you have to watch football, rugby is a lot more fun (but hurling in Ireland is even better). And of all the British sports, I obviously feel a greater kinship with cricket. Like in baseball, no matter what, you still have to throw the damn ball and let the other guy takes his hacks--no clock-sitting allowed.
We've got the "bowlers" this year, to be sure.
I think we should make an effort--all of us--to research scoring. Is offense down? It shouldn't be hard to answer that. Even if you have an aversion to sabermetrics, "runs scored" is pretty damn fundamental.
Wait a minute, which blog is this? Oh right, American BASEBALL. Could it be that fewer runs means better pitching? I think that in many years we will be able to say that we saw a great collection of classic sluggers playing at one time - Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, etc. Now we are seeing the ascendance of great pitchers. Look at last night - could you ask for a better game with two non-number 1 pitchers? You could tag Cain's sole run on Bochy for walking Pujols (who, I would note, fits neatly into the great slugger category, but doesn't seem to have a lot of competition). The Giants made a couple of mistakes in a game where that meant the difference. I was disappointed in Shierholtz's final at bat - he seems like the real deal until you see him flail in that situation. Affeldt was masterful. I want to see Matt Cain have 10 wins by the All Star break (and an equal number after).
I have been an American-born Coventry CIty supporter for 40 years, so I have unfortunately exposed myself to toxic levels of British journalism. To a man and woman, every one of those people believes he and she is better than every one of us. This attitude shows in their writing and, ultimately, their dealings with even the most anglophile of Americans. You'll learn, as I did.
Imagine if we'd managed to win last night. We'd be on cloud nine for sweeping the Cards.
Lewis' double was the best moment in the game. I was steamed that he was hitting for Cain; I figured Cain had just as good a chance of getting a hit as Lewis. Then it worked out and he eventually scored the tying run. Good for Fred.
John Bowker must be called up again. He's hitting the cover off the ball for Fresno. In June he hit .392 with 12 homers and 29 ribbies. The problem is, who does he replace? I say Lewis.
Cancel my "sweeping" comment. I wasn't aware it was a four-game series.
Zo, if you'd prefer not to read this next post, because it's about British sports journalism, I understand. However, I must comment on the post by 'alouredux'.
Having lived in England for long periods (Chelsea fan since age of 5), & followed British sports with varying degrees of intensity ever since, I know that the writing can often be flowery &, often, reflect a complete fabrication of events (for example, the use of the words 'desperate' & 'swoop' as in such phrases as 'Mourinho desperate to fund swoop for Lampard' has reached epidemic proportions). Nevertheless, I find it much more creative & certainly much more entertaining than the best anyone in the Chronicle has produced for decades.
"Sports" and "journalism" probably shouldn't go together, but "sports" and "entertaining writing" is OK by me!
If we are entering a new, pitching-dominated era, run scoring should be down across the league and we oughta be able to see numbers that reveal that. I got no beef with pitching duels, I like brisk, well-played affairs, regardless of the score.
We got out-pitched last night and then we played poorly in the field. Cain had another good start, as long as he keeps doing that the W's will come. Maybe on Monday when we are there he'll get number 10.
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