The Giants were lucky to be up 2-1 in the 9th. Matt Cain, after a long battle with Seth Smith in the 6th, gave up a rope down the right field line that would have scored two, only it was ruled foul. The replay seemed to show the A's got hosed on the call. Smith then fouled out to left field and the Giants clung to the lead. After Matty worked a brisk 7th inning, Jeremy Affeldt did his best to give it away in the 8th with a lead off double by pinch hitter Brandon Hicks that missed being a home run by inches. He then dodged a bullet by getting a nice 4-6-3 double play from Josh Reddick. Santiago Casilla, unfortunately, had none of the magic dust of his predecessors. The A's roped two singles in between two strikeouts, and rookie catcher Derek Norris worked a full count, fouled off the next pitch, then blasted his first big-league home run to win the game. It was a no-doubter. Casilla poured in a fastball and the kid jumped all over it. That's back-to-back poor outings for the Giants closer. The A's deserved to win today, that's hard for me to say but it is true. Their rookie starter, A.J. Griffin, gave up a two-run homer to Buster Posey in the 1st, then mowed everyone down after that, at one point retiring 13 in a row. Lefty Sean Doolittle got three strikeouts in his 1-2/3, and righty Jim Miller stranded two runners in the 8th and worked a perfect ninth. The home team got revenge for their closer blowing it in the 9th on Friday. The visitors never got anything going after Buster's homer and looked pretty feeble for most of the day. The guys on the telecast mentioned that the Giants have never swept an away series against the A's. Three games, three 9th-inning comebacks. That was the last interleague game, by the way. No more designated hitter for the rest of the regular season.
--M.C.
p.s. Dodgers lose in Anaheim. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Big showdown tomorrow night!
2 comments:
Most managers will put in a closer right away after a bad outing. I think this is a mistake. Often a pitcher, just like a hitter will go into a slump, or a mini-slump. If he was terrible yesterday, give him a break especially before the dodger series, and let someone else close. Not Loux, but somebody if available, perhaps Romo. If not, there still were other options.
This would have been Cain's 9th win in 9 starts.
At least Dickey had a weak outing against the Yankees yesterday.
Advantage Cain.
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