Derek Lowe took no-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the 6'th inning before it was broken up by a Cody Ross HR. The Braves quickly retook the lead on Brian McCann's HR to lead off the bottom of the 6'th, but then the Giants scratched out 2 runs in the 7'th and the bullpen made it stand up this time. Giants win the series! Giants win the series! On to Philly! Key lines:
Aubrey Huff- 1 for 3, BB. Huff Daddy's walk to lead off the 7'th got the winning rally going.
Buster Posey- 1 for 4. BA= .375. The hit was an infield dribbler, but it kept the winning rally going. Buster didn't exactly tear the cover off the ball this series, but hey, sometimes you can be both good and lucky!
Cody Ross- 2 for 3, HR. BA- .286. Where would this team be without Cody Ross? Thank God Brian Sabean had the foresight to keep him away from the Padres! Thank God Bruce Bochy put him on the NLDS roster over Jose Guillen! I would think Guillen doesn't have a prayer of making the NLCS roster now.
Madison Bumgarner- 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's, W. It might not have been pretty, but what a gutsy performance from the rook! Kept it close long enough to get the W. What a great experience for the kid. You can't get much bigger than a postseason series clinching win! I have a feeling this kid is going to be making us Giants fans happy for a long time!
Santiago Casilla- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. The perfect antidote for Romoitis and the parade of flame throwers coming out of the Braves bullpen. Not sure what his contract status is next year, but the Giants need to find a way to keep him around. Could be a closer option if something happened to Brian Wilson. He brings the heat!
Javier Lopez- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. Came in to get the LH hitting Jason Heyward and did his job. How valuable will he be against the Phillies who have Ryan Howard and Chase Utley in their lineup?
Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, Save. Bob Brenly says Willy has more guts than stuff. Well, his stuff isn't too shabby, so what does that say about his guts? Walked a couple but got the outs he needed.
Derek Lowe- 6.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K's. Tip of the cap to Derek Lowe who was a warrior in this series. He may not have the stuff of a Tim Lincecum or Tommy Hanson or Jonathan Sanchez or Matt Cain or even Madison Bumgarner, but dude pitched with heart and deserved a better fate. He is not the reason his team lost the series!
Bobby Cox- contrary to popular belief, I think Bochy outmanaged him this series. Cox is living proof you don't have to be good at game management to be a great manager. The thing that Cox brings, better than anyone else, is the loyalty of his players. Everything the dude does, from the whining, arm waving, getting thrown out.....everything is designed to take the heat off his players. If you have to blame the ump or the weather or the groundskeepers or heck if you have to blame Bobby, you aren't blaming his players. I see Bochy as cut from a similar cloth in a bit less volatile of a package.
BTW, I'm not sure what Bobby Cox had against poor Brooks Conrad. Kind of hung him out to dry if you ask me. A bit of a counterexample of Bobby protecting his players there.
With the Win, the Giants win the NLDS series 3 games to 1. One huge byproduct of tonight's win is that now Tim Lincecum will be the Game 1 starter for the NLCS against none other than Roy Halladay. We'll talk more about this as the week goes on, but whatever happens down the road, just the anticipation of this titanic matchup alone will be worth the ride.
Go Timmy! Go Giants! Pox on Charlie Manuel for not picking Pablo for the All-Star game last year!
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Wow, let the crazy train keep rumbling! I've been taking my aspirin every day because the Giants are going to give me a heart attack. So much for Bumgarner's lost velocity, throwing 95mph out there tonight, congrats to the youngster.
ReplyDeleteA few things...
1. Aaron Rowand looked like he was hoeing a garden out there tonight hacking away - is it logical to leave Rowand off the NLCS roster for Guillen, I just feel like despite all the heat, Guillen is capable of catching lightening in a bottle, especially in that sandbox up in Philly
2. Other than Lincecum, the other 3 starters are all flyball pitchers statistically. Do you think that will make a difference in Philly? Just 1 or 2 mistakes that are outs in SanFran could be taters in the City of Brotherly Love.
3. In all my years of closely watching and monitoring baseball, I can't remember a team with such a dominant bullpen so quickly losing my confidence! I'll be praying that no starter gets rocked early in one of the first couple games... that could spell disaster (or it could just spell an opportunity for the bullpen to redeem itself)
Happy Blogging.
Hey Doc... You were right. What an amazing bunch of youngsters. I really believe these veterans got caught up in the youthful exuberence. Timmy is really wild in that dugout. He brings such a love of the game to this team that it is contagious. Of all the Giants teams I can remember since 1951 - I love this team. Meeting Buster and MadBum at Adlento makes it so much better. I hope they win but if they don't, it will no change the way I feel about this bunch. I read this blog everyday. Thank you for the kindness... Tacklebox
ReplyDeleteas we all know, what a player does in the lds doesnt always transfer to the lcs.
ReplyDeletesaying that, ross has earned his continued starts in right....and fontenot at third
if rentaria can get to 80 percent in a week, maybe he can work a game at short
guillen cannot be brought in as a bench player...the one thing we didnt have, and it almost killed us, is team speed
my question is...with derosa on the dl, can anyone from the 40 replace him...cuz we need one guy who can pinch run in the late innings
im hoping that bochy sets the rotation as follows
timmy, durty, cain, madbaum
i would like to give props to bochy for one thing...he made sure that everyone on the roster had a chance to contribute...and they did
i would like to rebut your statements regarding cox vs bochy
ReplyDeletegiven what he had to work with, and that a hit or erra (how a man can get a gig announcing baseball and not be able to pronounce error or sanchez is beyond me...stay in sd mr stockton)were the difference in all four games, shows the strength of mr cox.
why did he stay with conrad? did you watch tonite? their ss got an erra because they were forced to use someone at third who cant move a foot in either direction....why the giants didnt spend the game bunting up the third base line is beyond me...and conrad's second error in the game, was caused by heyward not hustling for the ball.
when bochy panicked...cox was unflappable...the boot in game two was all preplanned...an apology for missing the call in game one.
i agree with you on lowe...i dont like the guy, i think he is human filth, with the morals of a rutting pig...but he is a damn good pitcher...but cox should not have listened to him...all pitchers say they have one or two more batters in them...lowe pulled an alex smith...and smith is a loooooooooser.
as for madbaum....let us for one moment juxtapose zito as the game four starter...does zito get out of a bases loaded jam? does zito bounce right back after giving up a dinger? that is no kid on the mound...that is a seasoned vet
the world is crowing about the phillies starting 3...the giants have the strongest rotation of 4 in their history
Wow! Thanks for the comments, everybody! I think Guillen permanently punched his ticket out of the Giants organization by not accompanying the team to ATL.
ReplyDeleteThe only guy in the bullpen I've lost confidence in is Romo. I imagine Bochy will give Romo one more chance in the next series to get his feet back on the ground, but that's it for him. It looks like Casilla is ready for some prime time action, so they may be OK without Romo.
Tacklebox: Yup, this has been a fun and interesting team to watch even without the daily heart attacks. Hopefully the Giants find a way to keep their young core together for awhile. Getting out to a minor league game once in awhile is a great way to build an emotional connection to the team once the kids graduate to the majors.
Bacci,
Sorry, but I just don't see where Bochy panicked. He made some debatable moves, but to say he panicked or made terrible moves is just way over the top. If anybody panicked it was Bobby Cox pulling Greg Kimbrel in Game 3, and yes, he allowed his emotions to get the best of him in leaving Lowe in 1 batter too long.
As for Lowe's personal life, not saying that all ballplayers are, well, players, but let's just say that I'm pretty sure Derek Lowe isn't an outlier.
Hey Bacci,
ReplyDeleteas Romo said "Somebody Gimme a hug" !!! So today let's give a hug to Bochy too !!!
Next step beat the Phillies !!!
Go Giants
GIP
DrB, what A GAME! I just realized this morning that Bochy now has as many first round series victories as a Giants manager as Baker.
ReplyDeleteI think the Giants have a good chance of getting to the World Series, particularly if the Phillies go with Blanton in Game 4 and we counter with Bumgarner, that would be an sure win.
Still, will be tough, some have been suggesting Sanchez 2nd leading to Doc-Timmeh, Oswalt-Dirty, and Hamels-Cain. Either way, should be good games.
Yeah, Cody Ross ensured a spot on the roster for the next round with his play, where would the Giants be if he weren't given up to the Giants for nothing. Could become our starting RF for 2011 with his play.
And MadBum (not MadBaum), what a cool customer he was, and with 10 days rest, firing 95 MPH pitches in the first couple of innings. With this national attention, the rest of the NL should be fearing facing the Giants rotation in 2011, strong 1 to 5.