If adversity is strength, the Giants are a very, very strong team. They do not make it easy on themselves or their fans, either. But they are not out of it yet, and have been in this place before, like for instance, 2012 vs Cincinnati.
Getting Super-Aroldis was huge, it must have put doubts in the Cubs mind as to whether they could lose this series. Or does that really happen? Maybe only in the minds of the fans. But that's good enough for today. Too bad that, once that happened, the fans then had to believe that the Giants can also blow saves, because they did. I felt bad for Romo, who went an inning too far, but it shows that, after all the struggles this season, the Giants still don't really have a closer. That is not true of the other teams, and may hurt the Giants yet (again). Our ace, Madison Bumgarner, was not his uber-self. 101 pitches in 5 innings, mainly because used 40-something in the 2nd, when the Cubs got a home run and then put runners on before we got out 3 outs. But he went 5, and then the Giants chipped, chipped, chipped until they were able to take the lead, in spite of what seemed to be bad calls inevitably going against the Giants. The rest of the pitchers looked great. Law gave us 2, Strickland 1, Smith 1 and rookie Ty Blach 2. He got the win. Buster went 3 for 5. Span and Crawford were each 2 for 6. Conor Gilaspie was the hero against Chapman, and Joe Panik (3 for 4) came through in a big way in the 13th. We need his bat. I'm exhausted and we have to do this again today.
Meanwhile, one of the most annoying-fanbase teams got eliminated and another is down 2 - 1. The AL is going to sit around until the AL Championship series starts between the Blue Jays and Tribe.
4 comments:
Torture-fest, to be sure. Great effort against Chapman--did you see the Nats whoop on Jansen? What a weird post-season, a lot of ace pitchers got clobbered. Price, Porcello, Bucholz, Darvish, Hamels, Maeda, for example. Both Bum and Kershaw only managed five IP and gave up three runs. Even Arrieta was merely good, not great. Best pitched game was Cueto-Lester (other than Bum beating the Mets).
I thought Ty Blach saved the night. Gave us that "second chance" and thank god Craw and Panik delivered. I was fading fast but I'm glad I hung on until the end. What a finish!
Matt Moore: biggest start of his career tonight. He's had one good LDS start (2011) and one lousy LDS start (2013), both for the Rays. But this is an elimination game! He also threw relief innings in both series. So he's been in the pressure cooker before, let's hope that helps.
C'mon, Giants! Send it back to Chicago!
The video replay calls were not even correct, and until they embarrassed themselves with horrendous calls, they finally had to make some calls appropriately. The Gillaspie play at first, seemed to be a clear play to over turn and by that time it was the second play that went the wrong way and to the Cubs despite the evidence. What was that earlier in the game when they gave Rizzo another chance at an at bat after he struck out. Looked to me that he missed the ball, and even if he tipped it, Posey caught it. But, why did they give the Cubs the extra look, and how could the umps at first and third see what did not happen. The check thing calls seem to continue to heavily go in the Cubs favor. Anyway, it all turned out the right way, but don't these guys know that everyone can see these replays?
Exciting night, but ... who is our Closer now? I think that it's Law, but I'm not sure that's where Bochy will go.
The Core 4 is No More - Affledt's gone, Lopez's reliability is not where it used to be, Romo's hit-&-miss, & Casilla is downright scary. Big area for re-tooling.
But, we march on - I believe in Moore tonight, & I believe that we can get to Lester, if we earn that opportunity.
C'mon Giants!!!!!
Lopez is not used for more than a batter or two. So it is rare that he is a closer. But he might be if a lefty comes up. Casilla seems like he has his stuff, but no confidence. There is Strickland, Law and Blach. But Law and Strickland didn't really take over the role when they had the chance and Blach has never really been tried in that role. And Romo - who was in for 2 innings. That should be OK, but wasn't. My guess is that Bochy will guess as long as we are still in it. He has guessed incorrectly so often this season, but maybe he can guess right for a few games.
The Gilaspie call as first was egregious. You could see a space the size of a fist in between the bag and Rizzo's foot. If you want to believe in umpire favoritism, or that the league is pulling strings for ratings, here is exhibit #1. Both teams are tired. Giants may have managed their pitching staff better, Montgomery is pretty well burned up for today, but Kontos was never used. All Giants pitchers (not Bumgarner) can pitch again as needed.
Post a Comment