At the end of the broadcast, AmyG talked to Brian Wilson and complimented him on his beard. He called it "The Beard of Zeus." That's the sort of thing it took tonight--divine intervention. Matt Cain pitched six top-notch major-league innings and one piece-of-shit inning, and the 4-0 pasting looked permanent until Buster Posey boomed a big one off Ted Lilly leading off the 7th inning. Edgar Renteria, who had looked like a resuscitated drowning victim at shortstop, led off the 8th inning with a solo bomb off Lilly, and the Dodgers went to the bullpen. Pat Burrell, pinch-hitting for Cain, launched a space probe off Octavio Dotel and all of a sudden the torture reached a new level. Would we fall short most agonizingly? Were we really mounting a comeback? Is this just another tease? Anguish, I tell you, anguish! Hong-Chih Kuo dashed some hopes by finishing off Huff and Posey, and you knew Jonathan Broxton was coming in for the final three outs. Broxton is pretty impressive, but he's had his share of struggles, too, so the idea of scratching out the tying run wasn't completely insane. Sure, I was down, and I thought the gig was up, but Cody Ross then legged out an impossible infield single with one out. The Giants had a pulse--just barely--but a pulse nonetheless. Juan Uribe stepped up next and delivered the biggest hit of the year, a no-doubter, a massive blast to straightaway center to make it 5-4 San Francisco. Brian Wilson scared the crap out of us all by putting two guys on in the 9th, but with the tying run at 3rd base he got the next two guys for the save. The Giants hit FOUR HOME RUNS and score five times to beat the Dodgers in an epic pennant race clash. With San Diego losing their 9th straight, the good guys find themselves two back in the West.
Make the proper sacrifices, lads, the gods are petty and cruel. Do whatever it takes to keep rolling!
--M.C.
p.s. Final line on Cain: 7 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, 28 batters, 100 pitches, Game Score 52
p.p.s.Wilson's 125th save ties Greg "Moon Man" Minton.
1 comment:
Now that was a game worth watching, although it was hard going until Posey's homer. That really felt like an infusion of hope. I love the way Posey's shown a willingness to pounce on a first pitch, although he's already demonstrated the discipline to wait for "his" pitch. He's truly special.
The Giants lineup was sick-inducing, playing Rowand and Renteria both. But Rowand led off with a nice double, so I had to take back some of the awful things I was saying about him. Then Renteria came up big later, so good for both of them.
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