But for a bit of better luck, Matt Cain would have gotten a couple of outs in the 6th inning instead of loading the bases. Michael Morse could not get to a popup from Yasiel Puig, and Hector Sanchez could not hold on to a foul pop from Hanley Ramirez. Neither were hit hard, but that's baseball. The Dodgers tied it up and eventually got the win. Morse hasn't been a liability this season, and we all know about his reputation. Sanchez has hurt the team with his mistakes, but has also shown he can make big plays. Sometimes the cookie crumbles, right? Just when I was raving about the fielders they don't get it done. Dee Gordon ran wild--he's doing that to everyone these days--and was the game's MVP.
Cain had thrown five scoreless despite what seemed to be some shaky command, and when he walked Gordon to start the 6th it felt like a harbinger of doom. The game was all Dodgers after that. The Giants found a chink in Zack Greinke's armor early, but he dominated late and gave his team a chance to come back and take the lead. Which they did in the 7th off Jeremy Affeldt and Jean Machi, a rare letdown by the bullpen. Brian Wilson loaded the bases in the 8th with two outs, but overpowered Hunter Pence to end the threat and the Giants chances, especially when LA tacked on two more against Juan Gutierrez.
Matt the Knife walked four and only 53 of his 92 pitches (58%) were for strikes. Krukow was going on about "arm slot" at first, then went into "he's getting under it" and "he's got push on that ball," ultimately making the point that the just-healed finger cut was responsible for screwing up Cain's grip on the fastball. Whatever it was, it wasn't enough to match Greinke, who has now made twenty consecutive starts without giving up more than two runs.
The Dodgers bring out Clayton Kershaw tomorrow and the Giants counter with Tim Hudson, their best pitcher this season. Should be a great game.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
3 comments:
Sounds like Hector might have still been a bit unsteady from some foul tips that came close to giving him a concussion.
Yeah, that's a good point, he got dinged pretty hard a couple of times. On one of them Buster headed to the dugout from first to suit up only to turn around and go back to his position.
Too many easy stolen bases against the giants.
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