Sunday, September 14, 2014

Giants Come Up Short

Clayton Kershaw is the obvious NL Cy Young choice and is making a case for MVP. In the rubber match of the biggest series of the year the talented southpaw kept a lid on the Giants and the Dodgers won 4-2. The Giants had one task this weekend: gain ground. It looked good after an ass-kicking win on Friday, but yesterday's historically bad debacle put the pressure on for today's game and they couldn't muster enough against Kershaw. Yusmeiro Petit made one mistake to Matt Kemp but otherwise pitched well. His error in the 2nd that led to a run was a bit of a fluke but had unfortunately followed an error from Hunter Pence immediately before and that put the team in a hole they could not quite climb out of. Petit also had two good plate appearances resulting in a walk and a run scored and looked like the toughest batter out there. Andrew Susac and Joaquin Arias both mustered two hits against Kershaw but only Buster Posey and pinch-hitter Matt Duffy could drive in runs. It was nice to see a tense, mostly well-played game even if it was a loss. I don't think I could have stomached another blowout. At some point the Giants are going to pile it on against Kershaw--the law of averages, at the very least, makes me think so. Maybe next time.

The Giants are now three back with thirteen to play. It's a bit of a climb but they have one more shot--three games in LA next week (22nd-24th). What's more important is they get back to their winning ways on the road in Arizona and San Diego this week and keep the pressure on.

Vogie tomorrow night.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

3 comments:

Zo said...

The Giants task, to beat LA four of the six games has become immeasurably tougher, though not impossible. In addition, they still have to play better than LA in the remaining games to finish in first without a playoff game. Perhaps LA will have as fruitful a trip to Colorado as the Giants did.

Brother Bob said...

Al the Dodgers' hits in the first were weak pieces of crap.

Russian River said...

Being at the game gives you a different perspective. First - There were a lot of Dodgers fans amongst the crowd and they were noisier than the rest of us at times. Second - The Giants lacked "spunk". They appeared flat to me. Pagan was slow running to first on a couple of his weak infield grounders. Is his back getting worse? Third - Blanco looked feeble at the plate, wiffing at Kershaws pitches. Fourth - Petit had the best at bat against Kershaw all day and walked. Fifth - Buster hit the ball pretty hard all day except for when he struck out on three pitches. Last - Mistakes killed any Giants chances at a win yesterday. GREAT day at the park except for the loss and having to watch Dodger fans high five-ing themselves.