SF 7 LA 1
The Giants secure the final spot with an emphatic win over the Dodgers behind a dominant Matt Moore. They also chased Kenta Maeda early and ultimately tallied 16 hits and four walks. Great play on both sides of the ball. The Giants threw three lefties--Bum, Blach, and Moore--in three days and got three wins. Here's the tally: 23-1/3, 14 H, 4 R, 5 W, 17 K. Think the Dodgers have a problem with southpaws?
First time since the Break that the Giants have won four in a row. The Giants finished the first half with four wins to lead baseball with a 57-33 (.633) record, they finish the second half with four wins and an ugly 30-42 (.417) record. But it matters not, they had to win four in a row to guarantee themselves a slot in the Wild Card game, and they got it. Thirty teams whittled down to ten, the Giants, with one win, can join the final eight. For a forgettable latter part of the season, it's a remarkable accomplishment. We may have expected more from this team but expectations are a bitch. The boys are playing October baseball because they did what they had to do when all appeared lost. What a great story!
--M.C.
p.s. I'll do a 9th-inning (10-8) post later. They were .500 over the final 30 games, 13-15 in September and 2-0 in October. When the Giants lost 9-3 in LA last week they had ten games left and were tied with the Mets and Cardinals, same 80-72 records. I said at the time it would take "at least 6-4" to get it done and the Giants did one better, going 7-3 to finish 87-75, one up on the 86-76 Cardinals! Mets also went 7-3 but held the tiebreaker with a 4-3 season-series advantage. Giants play Citi Field on Wednesday, I suppose we'll see Bumgarner and Syndergaard, that ought to be a good one.
7 comments:
Woo-Hoo! Awesome weekend series.
About a month ago, you asked how many wins the Giants finish with. You may recall this: "I say 87 win total." I'd like to amend my original answer to: "87*." Gotta get that asterisk. Game 163.
Matt Moore. Freakin' spectacular, so happy we have him. Great offense, defense, and special teams... Oh wait. (Sorry, it is a Sunday...) Nearly two months ago I tried to describe Giants Strong. This team needs to go take care of business at CitiField. They've got lefty bats. We've got Bumgarner. Whoa, should be an incredible game. Let's go get it!
Dream big.
Every time that we think that we're done facing Jay Bruce, there he is again. This time, let's shut his ass down! C'mon Giants!!!!
they have Jay Bruce and Cespedes among other giant killers. We need to take one game on the road, to then take it to the Cubs.
Do we really need the plastic, goggles, & champagne after every f-ing stage of the Post-Season's evolution? The Giants had the worst 2nd half of any best 1st half Team ever, & they had to do the whole routine, as if they had had a glorious run in, not some sputtering shitshow that just barely qualified them for the Crap Shoot Game? Now that they are on this path, there are potentially 5 champagne-&-beer-fests on the agenda - what a waste of plastic, goggles, champagne, & beer. It's the 21st Century - how about greening things up a bit? After they beat the Mets, lets go with winging kale around the locker room! Much less messy & no petroleum-based products need be involved.
"Just barely qualified" is like "just barely pregnant." You are or you ain't. Giants made the Tourney. That's OK by me. They can pour motor oil on each other if that's what's up. Yes, the 'celebrations' are stupid television--that's why I listen to the radio.
The game is Wednesday 5 pm Pacific on ESPN.
I'll be at the Taphouse in downtown Yreka in case any of y'all are around! First round's on me.
How great was that? To sweep LA is wonderful by itself.
I have to admit I loved the 3rd inning when they let Vin Scully call it. He was brilliant. Has he always been that good or was he extra good because it was his last game? What a shame he was wasted on the Doggers all those years.
The dumbest sports celebration tradition is the Gatoraid dump on the head coach at the end of the Super Bowl. I hope they use cheap sparkling wine for the baseball nonsense. You'll notice they're all just drinking beer and just wasting the wine.
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