On to the Series

The Houston Astros dispatched the New York Yankees in seemingly effortless fashion. That's a team without any apparent weaknesses. They go to the World Series for the second straight season. The Philadelphia Phillies continued their magical run with a bruising take down of the feisty San Diego Padres. That was a tougher fight than the 4-1 tally would indicate. I like this Phillies team. Let's hope they turn the tables on the favorites. Bookmakers like the Astros: the moneyline -170. That's an expected win probability of almost 63%!*

In other news, Bruce Bochy comes out of retirement and joins the Texas Rangers as their new manager. It's a three-year deal. Boch is 67. Some guys just can't stay retired. That's sure not me!

Game 1 is Friday (5:03 Pacific) at Minute Maid Park.

--M.C.

 

*divide 170 by 100+170 and multiply the result by 100

LCS

In the National League the upstarts won. The defending champion Braves and juggernaut Dodgers were both bounced out of the playoffs. The NLCS is a wildcard affair. The Phillies took the first game from the Padres with great pitching and timely homers. I hope it is a seven-game set. I like that both teams were underdogs and found their groove at the right time. I've no rooting interest: either club in the Series would be fine with me.

Unfortunately the American League was boring and produced the Astros-Yankees matchup everyone expected. Yuck. I will be rooting for both teams to lose. The Astros are -180 favorites.

--M.C.

Wild weekend

There was plenty of crazy baseball this weekend if you're in to that sort of thing. I follow the action on MLB Gameday and/or Gameday Audio. I enjoy hearing a little from the other radio announcers. I must say the Padres have an excellent play-by-play man. The visiting teams won three of the four series. The one I was most interested in--SD at NYM--featured an underdog away team (Padres) turning the tables on the hometown big-shots (Mets). It took all three games whilst the others were 2-0 sweeps. The Phillies upended the Cardinals with a miracle comeback and great pitching. The Mariners used the same combo to stun the Blue Jays. NL Central winners Cleveland hosted Tampa Bay and played 24 innings. The two teams scored a total of four runs. Three of them belonged to the Guardians and the Rays went home.

The Phillies head to Atlanta to face the Braves. The Padres go to LA and take on the Dodgers. The Mariners meet the Astros in Houston. The Guardians travel to Yankee Stadium. The LDS is a five-game set with a 2-2-1 format.

Odds Shark lists the four home teams as approximately -200 favorites. I think the Phils are better than their record and will match up with the Braves and that the Guardians have a legit chance to knock off the Yankees. But the other two series look like mismatches. Picking winners has never been my strong suit, however.

--M.C.

9th inning: 12-6

1st inning: 13-5

2nd inning: 9-9

3rd inning: 7-11

4th inning: 10-8

5th inning: 8-10

6th inning: 6-12

7th inning: 8-10

8th inning: 8-10

9th inning: 12-6

81-81 .500

 

--M.C.

81

SF 8  SD 1

The Giants took the finale in San Diego to finish the season at exactly .500--81 wins and 81 losses. The Giants have never had an 81-81 record or even an exactly .500 record in their entire history going back to 1883 in New York. In 1975 they only played 161 games and finished 80-81.

The frustration of this season can be summed up with simple arithmetic. The Phillies are the #6 seed and they finished with 87 wins. (The Padres are the #5 seed with 89 wins.) The Giants fell short of the post-season by six wins. Six goddamn wins. Here's where it gets worse: the Giants were 5-14 against the Dodgers and 6-13 against the Padres. That's 11-27 (.289) against those two clubs. And 70-54 (.565) against the rest (including 5-1 vs. Philadelphia). Even if you take out the 14-5 beat down of the Rockies that's still 56-49 (.533). The 2023 Giants really need to play better baseball against LA and SD.

I'm happy the team made it to .500 even if it is a disappointing result overall. They played well in September and finished on a high note. Speaking of a high note, David Villar hit two homers today.

It should be an interesting off-season for Giants fans. Especially if it isn't interesting. The fanbase wants action and they'll be cranky if they don't get it. I suspect FZ & Co. will take their usual measured approach and that alone will get the pot boiling. Certainly we have plenty to talk about. Add in the rule changes for next year and there will be no shortage of material for the off-season!

I'll put together some posts with more of my thoughts about this season and next. Right now I'm just a little melancholy with the end of things. I'll keep an eye on the post-season, but not too close. It's good to get a little break from daily baseball.

--M.C.

Walkoff win takes series

SF 4  ARI 3  (10) 

It was Fan Appreciation Day and the Diamondbacks treated everyone to a 13-hit onslaught. Fortunately the Giants pulled off three double plays and kept the ball in the yard. Arizona was 3-for-17 with RISP and stranded ten runners. It seemed like they were going to bust the game open every inning but the bullpen kept the lid on. The Giants couldn't get much going themselves and even with help (seven bases on balls!) they also stranded ten runners. In the 10th the Diamondbacks got the automatic runner (the "Manfred Man") home and that put pressure on the Giants. They responded with a bases-loaded ground ball single from David Villar that scored Wilmer Flores from second base with the winning run. He probably should have been out but the throw was rushed and catcher Carson Kelly couldn't handle it.

After the Giants big win Friday night the Diamondbacks responded with an 8-4 thumping on Saturday. It was a very close contest this afternoon but the home squad prevailed to take the weekend series. Overall Arizona won 10 of the 19 games between the two clubs. It has not been pretty against the NL West in 2022. The Giants go to San Diego for the final three games. The Padres hold an 11-5 edge in the season series and they've clinched a Wild Card spot.

Logan Webb was scheduled to start today but they opted to shut him down. Carlos Rodón is supposed to pitch on Tuesday. Tomorrow night (6:40 PT) it is another bullpen game, this time against Joe Musgrove.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Power surge

SF 10  COL 4

Many times during this season I've thought "nothing a ten-game win streak can't fix." Alas, it never happened. This recent streak of good baseball (10 wins in 11 games) would have been just the thing for right after the All-Star Break or for the middle of August. It's all about sequencing, eh? Homer-double-walk is nice but walk-double-homer is better. The Giants finish September with an 18-10 record which is their best month since their 14-7 April. They are now 8-9 against the Diamondbacks with two games left to play. At 79-78 overall they have a real chance to finish 2022 with a winning record.

Last night the Giants got hits up and down the lineup with seven of their twelve going for extra bases. Evan Longoria smacked two homers and drove in five. Both Joc Pederson and Mike Yastrzemski had two hits and three runs scored. Alex Cobb got through five innings despite yielding nine hits and all the runs. He only managed seven swinging strikes against Arizona's pesky, patient lineup. But it was enough and he was backed by solid relief from Thomas Szapucki, Alex Young, and Yunior Marte.

Wilmer Flores received the Willie Mac Award before the game. Who doesn't love Wilmer? He's certainly a most deserving winner. This afternoon's game is at 1:05 PT and Scott Alexander will be the opener. He's done that twice this month, on the 8th in a 2-1 loss to the Brewers and last Sunday in Arizona in a 3-2 win. He was unscored upon both times and has only allowed two runs in 15 IP.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

p.s. If you didn't see Joc's "little league homer" (ruled a triple + error) in the 2nd you need to watch the video.