In the sixth inning of tonight's game against LA, Clayton Kershaw led off the inning with his second hit of the night. Shane Victorino came up next in the lead-off spot, and hit into a fielder's choice. Mark Ellis promptly hit a line drive to right for an out. Victorino, hoping that the lightning arm of Buster Posey wouldn't strike twice, again tried to steal second, but this time was successful. This was only the second time the doggers had a runner in scoring position, but this time Matt Kemp was at the plate. Yeah, it was tense, maybe for everyone but Madison Bumgarner. Matt Kemp struck out.
Madison Bumgarner was superb. 8 innings, 123 pitches. 4 hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts. Clayton Kershaw wasn't bad either. He gave up 6 hits in 8 innings, but also gave up 2 runs to the Giants. He walked none and struck out 10. You said you wanted a pitchers' duel? You got one.
Matt Kemp was 0-4. Madison gave up 2 hits to Clayton Kershaw and 2 to their third base guy, Luis Cruz. Belisario came on in relief of Kershaw in the 9th and struck the side on 12 pitches. Romo came in for the Giants, got Mark Ellis to strike out and Matt Kemp to ground out. Then he hung a slider to Hanley Ramirez who stuck it deep in the bleachers. Fortunately, Javier Lopez was there to make quick work of Andre Ethier. Ha! Giants back in first.
5 comments:
Just not sure why Romo has a tendency to hang sliders since the allstar break. Twice to Ramirez and a few years ago to Manny Ramirez, then playing for the dodgers. Could Romo secretly be a Dodger fan?
He left one hanging on the previous pitch that Ramirez just missed and fouled back. You could see Buster exaggerate his stance and lean the glove outside like "c'mon, out here, out here." As soon as he threw that piece of cheese you could see Ramirez pounce. It was gone before he was done swinging. When you are a one-pitch guy it better be working!
Maddy was sensational. I sure get sick of watching Kershaw mow the Giants down. He's going to get two more chances before the season is over. Buster was overmatched, you don't see that often. Boy, he can throw, though. I love it when he nails baserunners. And that play at the plate with Pagan--Ellis never made a tag, just caught the ball. Looked like Pagan's hand might have ticked the glove, but the ump saw no movement by Ellis and the runner slide right past him. Fabulous play, truly a game of millimeters.
What really impressed me with Madison was 8 or 9 3 and 2 counts with no walks. I believe he got out of everyone of those situations. Excellent, most excellent. I'm no coach, but since he was pitching so well, why not leave him in for the ninth and a potential complete game? Pitch count too high? Inquiring minds need to know. Keep it up boys, keep it up. Duck the Fodgers.
Madison's pitch count was at 123. That seems like enough to warrant a closer. We do need someone to fill that role if Casilla is not dependable, and Romo has looked pretty good so far. Thank goodness Lopez was there to be a stud against Ethier.
A case where you are glad a lefty, Ethier was up next, as Romo was hanging too many sliders, in comes Lopez and game over. Belasario pitched a bunch of innings vs the Braves, and he comes in vs. the giants fresh as a daisy. Unhittable. I wonder if he crossed the path of Gaylord Perry on his way to the majors. It looked as if Kershaw and Bumgarner each had their own strike zones. Bumgarner getting more high strikes going his way and Kershaw getting more low strikes and a tad more outside corner. Dodger's did swing at some potential 3-2 walks, and turned them into outs. Posey just was not seeing Kershaw at all. He took pitches down the middle, and swung at pitches in the dirt. Not Poseylike, more Rowandlike. Hopefully Posey will get his Mojo back. He is too good.
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