18 games in September: XI

Jonathan Sanchez started things off with a win on the 5th of September and had a hard-luck ND five days later. In neither start did he give up a run. On the 16th of September, he gave up two runs (one earned) to the Dodgers in 7 innings, but he also overwhelmed them with 12 strikeouts (and no walks). The Giants exploded for 10 runs and won easily. It was quite a night as the Padres got shut out in St. Louis. Suddenly the Giants had gained two games in the loss column and found themselves a half-game up! The disappointing Brewers, 10 games under .500, would come to town for a 3-game set, and the TortureMeter™ would be cranked to 11, but The Streak would continue.

--M.C.

                                                              
Pitching                     IP H R ER BB SO HR  ERA BF Pit Str
Jonathan  Sanchez W (11-8)    7 4 2  1  0 12  1 3.21 26  90  67
Santiago  Casilla             1 0 0  0  0  1  0 2.15  3  18  12
Chris  Ray                    1 0 0  0  0  1  0 3.81  3  10   9
Team Totals                   9 4 2  1  0 14  1 1.00 32 118  88

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/30/2011.

18 games in September: X

Matt Cain started the second half of The Streak by shutting down the Dodgers. The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the 7th when Travis Ishikawa doubled with one out. Chad Billingsley wild-pitched pinch-runner Emmanuel Burris to third, and he scored on a two-out Mike Fontenot single. A wild pitch by reliever Kenley Jansen in the 8th moved Aubrey Huff (who doubled off George Sherrill to start the inning) to third and he scored on a Pablo Sandoval grounder. That was enough. Brian Wilson surrendered a two-out 9th inning solo shot to Andre Ethier for the only blemish. Clayton Richard got thumped in Colorado and the Giants crept back to within 1/2 game of San Diego. The Giants only managed to go 6-3 in the first half of The Streak despite giving up a paltry 13 runs. They lost two 1-0 games and a 3-1 game! More importantly, though, they gained 1-1/2 games in the standings. The 82-64 Giants had just 16 games left to make their move!

--M.C.

                                                        
Pitching               IP H R ER BB SO HR  ERA BF Pit Str
Matt  Cain W (12-10)    7 3 0  0  0  5  0 3.08 24  91  61
Sergio  Romo H (17)     1 0 0  0  0  0  0 2.37  3   6   6
Brian  Wilson S (43)    1 1 1  1  0  2  1 1.90  4  16   9
Team Totals             9 4 1  1  0  7  1 1.00 31 113  76

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/30/2011.

18 games in September: IX

The Giants had an off-day after the Showdown in San Diego and came home to face the fading Dodgers on Tuesday the 14th of September. Clayton Kershaw was the story, dominating the home team with a 4-hit shutout. Barry Zito was the hard-luck "loser", giving up one unearned run. The Dodgers only got ONE HIT! The run scored on the old HBP-bunt-walk-walk-error play, a tactic employed at all levels in the Dodger organization and only used against the Giants. It was a hair-pulling, agony-inducing loss, but the Giants obviously subscribed to the "if it don't kill ya, it'll make ya tougher" school of thought and soldiered on without complaint. The 82-62 Padres won two in Colorado to take a 1-1/2 game lead over the 82-64 Giants. I remember being really bothered by the fact that the Giants were two back in the loss column. Such silly things I fretted about! Check out the Middle Four Death Squad of Santiago Casilla, Ramon Ramirez, Javier Lopez, and Sergio Romo doing their thing again. Those guys were a huge part of the championship run.

--M.C.

p.s. Scott at Crazy Crabbers gave RMC and our take on The Streak a nod in his link round-up. T'anks, lad! If you haven't checked out the excellent work being done over there, take the time to do so now.

                                                         
Pitching                IP H R ER BB SO HR  ERA BF Pit Str
Barry  Zito L (8-13)   5.2 1 1  0  3  5  0 4.02 21  82  49
Santiago  Casilla      0.1 0 0  0  0  1  0 2.20  1   5   3
Ramon  Ramirez           2 0 0  0  0  1  0 3.23  6  19  13
Javier  Lopez          0.1 0 0  0  0  1  0 2.28  1   3   3
Sergio  Romo           0.2 0 0  0  0  1  0 2.41  2   9   7
Team Totals              9 1 1  0  3  9  0 0.00 31 118  75

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/29/2011.

18 games in September: VIII

Buster Posey ripped a 2-run homer in the first inning off Mat Latos and that set the tone for an impressive getaway win. The Showdown in San Diego was all Giants--a 3-1 series victory guaranteed they would keep a share of first place. More than anything, the Bay City Boys had to prove they could beat the Padres. With two good teams in the West and the Braves playing well in the East, the only certain playoff spot was a division title. But that was a long way off. Giants pitchers were just getting into a groove! They would rip off another 10 in The Streak before coming down to earth. And they didn't stay grounded for long. They put on a historic display of power pitching in the post-season that won 11 of 15 games and stunned the baseball world. It was quite a stretch of baseball!

Tim Lincecum returned to Cy Young form and that, more than anything else, was the catalyst for the epic run. I would like to hear an argument for someone else as MVP. Anyone. And I don't mean NL MVP, I mean MLB MVP. Tim Lincecum is the most valuable player in the game. Seriously: if you were building a team right now from all the best players, who would you pick over Tim Lincecum? I'd like to know. From where I sit, having the best pitcher on the best team is pretty fucking awesome.

--M.C.

                                                           
Pitching                  IP H R ER BB SO HR  ERA BF Pit Str
Tim  Lincecum W (14-9)     7 7 1  1  1  9  0 3.60 29 109  78
Sergio  Romo               1 0 0  0  0  1  0 2.44  3   8   6
Jeremy  Affeldt          0.2 2 0  0  0  0  0 4.27  4  11   8
Brian  Wilson            0.1 0 0  0  0  1  0 1.79  1   6   3
Team Totals                9 9 1  1  1 11  0 1.00 37 134  95

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/28/2011.

18 games in September: VII

Some wag once opined that "turnabout is fair play." Uh, yeah, whatever. That must have been what Bud Black scrawled on the message board in the locker room before the third game of the Showdown in San Diego. After the Giants out-Padre'd the Padres on Friday, the Padres returned the favor on Saturday. Madison Bumgarner got the "loss" in the 1-0 affair, getting Cained by part-time starter Tim Stauffer and a Yorvit Torrealba homer. Evil Bullpen Triumvirate Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, and Heath Bell threw three hitless innings with five strikeouts to seal the victory. Giants ace Tim Lincecum would take the hill on Sunday to close out the series against Padres ace Mat Latos. The young righty beat Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers on the 7th of September with a dazzling, 4-hit, 10-strikeout performance. The big fella would throw 113 pitches in his 7 innings of work, his highest total for the season and the most of his career (41 starts). The 2010 Padres were a lot like the 2009 Giants--they relied too much on their staff and that eventually cost them down the stretch. The 2010 Giants, after a lot of re-arranging, finally put together a league-average offense that could complement the outstanding pitching, and that was a big reason why they went all the way.

                                                              
Pitching                     IP H R ER BB SO HR  ERA BF Pit Str
Madison  Bumgarner L (5-5)    7 3 1  1  0  4  1 3.28 23  79  55
Ramon  Ramirez                1 2 0  0  0  0  0 3.34  5  21  15
Team Totals                   8 5 1  1  0  4  1 1.12 28 100  70

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/27/2011.

--M.C.

18 games in September: VI

The Padres ran the old "pitch-like-hell-and-pray-for-a-run" con on the NL West for 139 games. It was good enough for a one game lead in the division with 23 to play. Then the Giants came to town and showed they could do it, too. It was the 142nd game for the visitors, who would move into a virtual tie (80-62 to 79-61) with the leaders after a shutout win. To really run the "pitch-like-hell" game, you have to throw a shutout. And it's best when it is a nail-biting, agonizing, torturous 1-0 shutout. Which is exactly what happened. Jonathan Sanchez walked 7 guys in 5 innings but only gave up 1 hit. He would do something much like that in Game 162 against this same team!

The Giants used six pitchers, including what would soon become known throughout the league as The Middle Four Death Squad. Santiago Casilla threw 55-1/3 innings for the Giants in 2010, giving up only 40 hits and striking out 56. Sergio Romo threw 62 innings, gave up 46 hits and struck out 70. Ramon Ramirez joined the club at the end of July, and chipped in 27 innings with 13 hits and 15 strikeouts, allowing only 3 runs. Javier Lopez, acquired at the same time, added 19 innings, 11 hits, 16 strikeouts, and only 3 runs. These guys really got a lot of big outs for the club--let's hope the 2011 'pen can do as well.

The go-ahead and ultimately game-winning run was scored in the top of the 7th and set up with an impossible play. Aubrey Huff had been hit by a pitch and stole second. That's not the part I meant. He then took third on a grounder to the shortstop. The Thonged One was on a mission! He scored on an out. That was Padres Giants baseball! Here's what I wrote then.

                                                              
Pitching                     IP H R ER BB SO HR  ERA BF Pit Str
Jonathan  Sanchez             5 1 0  0  7  4  0 3.29 22  88  44
Santiago  Casilla W (7-2)   1.1 1 0  0  0  1  0 2.22  5  28  18
Ramon  Ramirez H (5)        0.2 0 0  0  0  0  0 3.39  2   8   5
Sergio  Romo H (16)         0.1 0 0  0  0  1  0 2.48  1   5   4
Javier  Lopez                 0 1 0  0  0  0  0 2.29  1   3   1
Brian  Wilson S (42)        1.2 0 0  0  1  2  0 1.80  5  25  14
Team Totals                   9 3 0  0  8  8  0 0.00 36 157  86

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/26/2011.


--M.C.

18 games in September: V

The Showdown in San Diego featured a big start by Matt Cain who notched his first win of 2010 against the Padres. In three previous starts, he'd thrown 18 innings and given up 9 runs (6&2, 6&5, 6&2), earning two losses and a no-decision. The Giants had been swept at Petco in April and swept at home in May by this upstart club. They split a two-game set on the road later in the month--that victory took 12 innings and big contributions from the likes of Matt Downs and Eugenio Velez. The Giants then managed to win only one of the three played at AT&T in August. That was another torturous, extra-inning affair that ended 3-2 on an RBI hit by Juan Uribe that scored Buster Posey. The 2-9 Giants had to topple a first-place club that seemingly had their number. San Diego was up by two games with 24 to play, including a season-ending three-game set in San Francisco. All the pieces were in place for a dramatic confrontation and a scorching division race. Giants pitchers had just started their remarkable run of dominance, one that would lead them to World Series glory. Matt Cain pitched into the 9th and Aubrey Huff, Buster Posey, Pat Burrell, and Juan Uribe all hit home runs. Freddy Sanchez, emerging from his August slump, had three hits. The train left the station that day and didn't stop until Arlington!

                                                         
Pitching                IP H R ER BB SO HR  ERA BF Pit Str
Matt  Cain W (11-10)     8 5 3  3  1  8  2 3.19 30 117  77
Javier  Lopez          0.1 0 0  0  0  0  0 2.29  1   2   2
Ramon  Ramirez         0.2 0 0  0  0  0  0 3.43  2  14  10
Team Totals              9 5 3  3  1  8  2 3.00 33 133  89

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/25/2011.

--M.C.