Thursday, October 21, 2010

Game Wrap NLCS Game 5: Phillies 4 Giants 2

If it should come to pass that the Giants fail to win either of the next two games and thereby fail to extend their season to the World Series, the 3'rd inning of tonight's game will haunt the dreams of Giants fans for years to come, much like numerous other nightmarish events in the history of the San Francisco era of the franchise. To set the stage, the Giants had scratched out a run in the first inning and forced Roy Halladay to throw a ton of pitches in the second inning by fouling off a bunch of pitches. Meanwhile, Tim Lincecum sailed through the first two innings with ease.

The top of the third inning started off innocently enough with a soft Texas Leaguer single over second base by Raul Ibanez. Then, things started to get weird. As rain clouds started to gather eventually turning AT&T Park into an erie something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, Lincecum threw a splitter/change that did exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to do and sailed up and in to Carlos Ruiz, who nearly fell forward onto the plate trying to get hit by it. With runners on first and 2'nd, no outs, Halladay bunted a ball onto home plate. Buster Posey jumped forward and grabbed it just as it rolled off the plate and fired the ball to 3B. Only problem was Pablo was standing about 3 feet in front of the bag and could only stretch his back leg 2 feet. Everybody as safe! But wait! Roy Halladay thought the ball was foul as it clearly rolled off the back, outside corner of the plate, so he just kind of stood there at home plate. The throw then went to first base and Halladay was out. It was simply a successful sacrifice bunt, but it clearly distracted the Giants. The next batter, Shane Victorino hit a routine 3 hopper right at Aubrey Huff. Bochy had the infield playing back, but Huff must have been watching the runner at third with ideas of either holding him or throwing him out. The ball kicked off his glove and right arm and caromed all the way into shallow CF where Juan Uribe had to run it down. Two runners scored and Victorino ended up on second. A, by now, thoroughly distracted Tim Lincecum then gave up singles to Polanco and Utley before Timmy settled down and pitched his way out of the inning without further runs scoring.

The damage was done. The Giants would keep pecking away at Halladay all night, but never quite break through. It was just another chapter in a long litany of inexplicable events that have frustrated Giants fans throughout their history. No key lines tonight. That is the story of the game.

With the loss, the Giants now must fly to Philadelphia and try to win 1 of the 2 remaining games of the series. Jonathan Sanchez takes the mound Saturday facing Roy Oswalt. I am sure Sanchez will give it a battle. I am less sure of which Roy Oswalt will show up, the one who dominated the Giants in game 2, or the one who was throwing meatballs down the middle of the strike zone in relief in game 4.

Go Jonathan Sanchez! Go Giants!!

3 comments:

  1. hahaha throwing meatballs! you are so funny daddy. but disheartening game tonight.

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  2. look doc, you have a fan...and i see she is following in your medical footsteps....guess all those hours of being on call didnt freak her out

    daddy's little girl...so sweet

    i was not depressed by this game

    i didnt expect them to beat halladay twice in a week

    in fact, i enjoyed their approach at the plate...once they knew the low strike wasnt gonna be called...they worked roy...had this been august in philly, he wouldve been out by the 6th...he was gassed

    ya...defensive miscues killed them and timmy (who i think pitched better than halladay for a second time) charlie said that roy injured his groin in the second...but it must not have been that serious, he didnt seem stiff or in any pain...he is just a very smart pitcher and kept himself out of too much trouble

    ross having a brain fart on the bases didnt help either

    im still disturbed at bochy's pen management...which i think has lent to their not being anywhere as effective as in sept

    pablo is a mess

    i think his problem is, things came so easy for him right up to last year, that he just stopped doing the work...i wish the giants would hire jerry rice as a personal trainer and get his body and mind into shape

    posey has made a name for himself throughout the baseball world...im sure that anyone who didnt pencil him in as roy is feeling kinda stupid now.

    totally impressed by torres...never seen a guy learn so quickly from his mistakes

    would love to know why bochy went with fontenot and not rowand to ph

    anyway...didnt think this series was gonna go only 5...all the experts who said philly in 5 have egg on their faces

    i just hate the idea of the team playing more games in that joke of a park...especially with the philly bats starting to come to life

    btw, what ever happened to the rule that a batter must at least attempt to get out of the path of a ball?

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  3. Yeah, the batter is suppose to make a good faith effort to get out of the path, not take one for the team. Giants should have hit Utley on the wrist to pay them back for Ross's HBP.

    The Giants have been playing games like this all year, in terms of closeness and just misses. The difference is that most of the year, it went their way. And, yeah, it would be totally unlike the Giants not to make it a little more nail-biting, no?

    I think the Giants are still in good shape. They would have won if not for the long series of miscues, any one of which not happening, probably either tie game or Giants win. Sanchez has stepped up the past two months, while Oswalt melted in his relief appearance. The hitters are starting to come out of their shells, and will be able to take advantage of the Phillies home park, plus Burrell has always hit well there.

    Not saying they are going to win it, but they are in very good position for taking the series still. And I'll take that.

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