Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Catastrophe. Catastrophe averted. Victory.

The Giants put the go-ahead run on 3rd with nobody out in the top of the 9th and could not score him. It matters not who the culprits were, but name them we shall: Aaron Rowand and Miguel Tejada. And Buster Posey as well, who swung at the first pitch after Mike Fontenot worked a walk off Francisco Rodriguez to load the bases. Ugh. That was the game story, right there in that miserable inning. Sure, there were 10 hits and 6 runs and all sorts of other highlights up to that point, but that wasted opportunity was a catastrophe. The camera showed Ol' Boch stomping his feet and cursing, just like me. Javier Lopez, with a little help from Emmanuel Burriss, loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th with one out. All hope was lost. Then, not so much. Lopez got catcher Josh Thole to hit a little grounder right back to him. Lopez fired home and Posey went to Aubrey Huff at first to end the threat. 1-2-3 and on to the 10th. The swing in "win expectancy" got my saber-gland a-pumpin'. With two on and no outs in the 9th, the Giants WE was 73.1%. The Mets, with two on and one out in their half, had a WE of 83.5%. Whole lotta mo' swinging this way and that.

Huff, leading off the inning and sporting an oh-fer, launched a moon shot off Taylor Buchholz. It was a cathartic blast for the slumping lefty (.190/.254/.314) and turned the whole game around. Brian Wilson closed it, looking suitably difficult to hit. It was, for May, an epic struggle. It was a game the Giants needed to win after getting whipped in Washington. Starter Ryan Vogelsong got rocked, but the team battled back against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Great work by the 'pen and a big hit by a stone cold hitter added up to a victory. Grind on, you Giants.

--M.C.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

All I can say is, 'BOUT MOTHER FLIPPIN' TIME!

Anonymous said...

The Chronicle needs to write an article about how last year was a fluke, to light a fire under everyone's ...

JC Parsons said...

I'm going to make it my cause to NOT TALK about the (so-called) Giants offense. They are not worthy...even after last night's outburst, 99% of this post (and almost all posts) is about our feeble offense. It gets too easy not to mention the 6 inning, 6 hit, 1 run job done by the bullpen. Too easy to not notice how outstanding Lopez has been all year. Too easy to forget WE ARE ALL ABOUT THE PITCHING!!

Tim throws a shutout today. If that is what we need, that is what he must do!

Brother Bob said...

Clearly nothing is going to be easy.
After last night I'm now afraid to turn on the radio. I got my shift and the midnight replay was under way. I hear Flem saying something about Vogelsong-"..first win in seven years.." then WHACK a 3-run homer by Beltran. Oh he hit that one a mile. My first thought is "Shit we lost."
So I realize I don't cause any of these things to happen by turning on the TV or radio. Having it happen during the midnight replay is proof of that. But seriously, it feels like something is telling me to not watch.