Game Wrap: World Series Game 3- Rangers 4 Giants 2

The Giants were pretty ripe for a letdown game. They were coming off two very emotional, almost cathartic, wins in SF. They had crossed a line from being underdogs to suddenly being the favorites. Scoring all those runs and having the Rangers look so inept in the process created an impression among casual fans that this was going to be a cakewalk for the Giants. What casual fans don't realize is that in baseball, a 9-0 win is as likely to be followed up with a 1-0 loss as anything. So, the loss tonight is not too surprising and certainly not devastating. The irony is that the damage against Jonathan Sanchez, from a Rangers lineup that is very scary for LHP's came from the two LH batters in their lineup. To their credit, the Giants gave it a fight right up to the end of the game. Key lines:

Andres Torres- 1 for 4, HR. Good to see Torres hit the long ball tonight. He seeems to be getting harder hits as he gets farther away from his Appy surgery.

Cody Ross- 1 for 3, HR, BB. Cody Ross stayed hot with yet another dinger and mostly great AB's. This time it proved to be too little, too late.

Pat Burrell- 0 for 4, 4 K's. Pat The Bat has become a giant black hole in the middle of the Giants lineup. 11 PA's with 2 BB's and 8, that's right 8, K's. He at least fouled a couple straight back against Cliff Lee. I don't think he even made contact tonight! I know he's lightning in a bottle, but just for tomorrow night, I'd like to see Cody Ross batting 5'th and Juan Uribe hitting 6'th.

Pablo Sandoval- 0 for 3, K. I thought Sandoval was the right choice to DH against the RHP, although Colby Lewis is the type of pitcher who gives him fits even in the best of circumstances. It's not just that he made outs tonight. His AB's were terrible. I'll take the Aubrey Huff with Travis playing 1B tomorrow if that's OK, Boch.

Jonathan Sanchez- 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 3 K's, 2 HR's. The game ultimately came down to one terrible pitch. With 2 runners on base and two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Sanchez was left with Mitch Moreland, a LH hitting rookie who should have been a fairly easy out. Sanchez got to 2-2 on him, but then he kept fouling pitches off, some just barely. Sanchez was throwing mostly sliders on the outside corner. I don't know who called the last pitch, but Posey set up on the inside part of the plate. I said to myself, "oh no!". Now, I find Tim McCarver as annoying to listen to as anybody, but they guy does have a few insights. One thing he preaches, to the point of beating it into the ground, is that in a situation like Sanchez and Posey found themselves in with Moreland, if you decide to try to sneak on by on the inside, you better be darn sure that if you miss, you miss inside and not over the plate. He said the same thing before Scott Speizio's HR in 2002 and he's said it again several times in reference to Cody Ross. Needless to say, I've decided that McCarver knows what he's talking about on this particular subject. That pitch was the ballgame, right there.

Colby Lewis- 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K's, 2 HR. Another difference in the game, the two HR"s that Lewis allowed came with the bases empty vs Moreland's 3 run job. The Giants had a great opportunity in the first inning with two runners on and Burrell at the plate. Unfortunately, Burrell isn't hitting anything but air molecules right now. Lewis was helped quite a bit by a very generous strike zone from the home plate ump, but in fairness, the zone was pretty much the same for both starting pitchers. Lewis just made better use of it than Sanchez.

Neftali Feliz- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. Let's all hope this series doesn't come down to the Giants needing a run or two against Ogando and Feliz in the last few innings of Game 7. I know the MPH isn't any faster than Brian Wilson's, but Feliz' fastball seems to have more life on it, or something. Man, that was pure, unaldulterated cheese! Credit to Cody Ross for almost taking him deep to RF on the 2'nd out.

With the loss, the Giants fall back to a 2-1 lead in the best of 7 games series.

Madison Bumgarner takes the mound against Tommy Hunter in tomorrow's game. Bumgarner has proven to be a resilient rookie this postseason, although as a LHP, he will be up against a formidable RH leaning Rangers lineup DH and all in their home ballpark. Hunter pitched pretty well for the Rangers in the regular season, but has been hit hard in the postseason. Game 4 will be a pivotal game for both teams. I don't think the Giants can count on Cliff Lee having two bad games in a row, and they don't want to come back to SF needing to win both games 6 and 7, so tomorrow's game would seem like a pretty important one to win.

Go MadBum! Go Giants!!!