This was a game that brought back a lot of very unpleasant memories from the past: Willie Mac's line drive out in Game 7 of the 1962 World Series, Benny Agbayani's HR in 2000 playoffs vs the Mets, Scott Speizio's HR in 2002 WS Game 6, Jose Cruz, Jr dropping a can of corn in 2003, JT Snow's legs churning but his body not moving also in 2003, Steve Finley's grand slam HR in 2004 when a simple Sac Fly would have accomplished the same thing.... This game might have been worse than all of those, because there were at least 3 such "memorable" moments, all every bit as painful to burn in our memories for years to come. Key lines:
Pat Burrell- 2 for 3, 2B, HR. The Bat giveth and Pat taketh away. 3 run dinger in the first gave the Giants what should have been an insurmountable lead right off the bat, so to speak. An error later in the game cost the Giants a run, and may have contributed to Cain's slightly early exit in the 7'th.
Buster Posey- 1 for 4, BB. Not a bad line, except for the GIDP in the bottom of the 10'th to snuff out the Giants final and best chance to win the game. Buster is a sharp kid who will adjust and probably hit a Grand Slam the next time he finds himself in that situation, but last night it was tough to swallow. If it was any other hitter in the lineup, I'm sure a lot of fans would be hoping to never see him in the lineup again. With Buster, you just have to believe it wasn't meant to be.
Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 4. A perfectly horrible game from Sandoval whose throwing error allowed at least 1 extra run to score. Sandoval hasn't had a great defensive season, but he generally makes that play.
Matt Cain- 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K's. Not nearly as dominant as Timmy in Game 1, Cain appeared to be struggling most of the game, but hanging in there. He appeared to be struggling a bit more in the 6'th and 7'th even though the run in the 6'th was unearned. No way was Cain coming back for the 8'th anyway, so it made sense to bring in the lefty specialist to face Heyward.
Sergio Romo- 0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. Here's my one quibble with the game management. After Romo gave up the single to Lee, McCann, a LH batter and the Braves most dangerous hitter, but far was coming up. My thought was to bring in Affeldt there to face the one batter, then go to either Wilson or Casilla. Romo gave up the single and the rest is history. Romo has been very good against both RH and LH batters, and McCann can hit anybody, but maybe Affeldt gives you a slight edge there? It's very debateable.
Brian Wilson- 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K's. I have no problem with bringing Wilson in with 0 outs in the 8'th. Maybe he didn't have a 6 out Save, but there is no reason to believe he couldn't easily do it. Willy has come in during the 8'th inning 14 times already this year, so it's not like it was a foreign concept to him. He was coming off 3 days rest with a travel day to follow. No reason not to give him the ball in THE high leverage situation of the ballgame. He might have pulled it off were it not for Pablo's throwing error.
Ramon Ramirez- 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K. Ramirez has been getting the job done since the Giants acquired him. 2 innings may have been stretching it though and there was no reason not to use the whole bullpen with the travel day to follow. Still, if he struck out Miggy Tejada in a key situation, you've got to think he can get Rick Freaking Ankiel out. Bochy probably was thinking this game might go on awhile and he was trying to get 2 innings out of each reliever, if possible. That thought was on my mind too, so I'm not going to castigate Boch for this one, except that I might have used Casilla before I used Ramirez. On the other hand, Ramirez got 6 other batters out without much of a struggle, so Ankiel's HR was just one of those things. It's not like we can say he wouldn't have hit it off Casilla or Mota, and I wouldn't have burned Affeldt in the situation.
For me, the 4 key Fails of the game were: 1. Romo failing to retire a batter in the 8'th. 2. Pablo Sandoval's throwing error. 3. Brian Wilson giving up the double with runners on 2'nd and 3'rd. 4. Buster's GIDP. Those are all failures of execution as opposed to game management errors.
With the devastating, disheartening loss, the Giants once again find themselves down for the count. They've been there at least twice before this year and managed to pick themselves up off the floor and keep fighting. 2 games in Atlanta will be an enormous challenge. Jonathan Sanchez gets the call against Tim Hudson tomorrow. It's not so much that I don't trust Sanchez, but more that Tim Hudson seems to have absolute ownage on the Giants. This could well be another game where Sanchez gives up 1 hit and loses, but you never know. That's why they play the game and I'll be watching!
Go Giants!!
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Great post as usual, DrB!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis for the most part. I would add that the Giants has been in this situation often the last part of the season, facing a tough pitcher who has some level of ownage on them with them coming through. Of course, as you noted many times, that is why they play the games, as you never know. I would also note that Hudson has struggled all through the last month, with a high ERA, so he might struggle again, while Sanchez rose to the challenge often in that last month. Still, you never know.