If Madison Bumgarner plays major league baseball as long as Nolan Ryan, 27 seasons, he may never pitch a bigger or better game than he did tonight. Bumgarner, coming in on 10 days rest, channeled all that energy into throwing 94 MPH darts at the corners of the strike zone giving the Texas Rangers nothing, nothing good to hit all night in one of the most astonishing performances I've ever seen as a Giants fan, not that I didn't think he was capable of doing it, but.......just astonishing! Key lines:
Andres Torres- 3 for 5, 2 2B, SB. Torres looks like he did back in the middle of the season when he was hitting line drive after line drive....a long way!
Aubrey Huff- 1 for 4, HR. Huff Daddy was the DH tonight and really got ahold of one. Absolutely crushed it down the RF line way, way past the foul pole into the highest rows of the bleachers for the Giants first 2 runs. Turned out those were the only runs Bumgarner needed before turning it over to Brian Wilson in the 9'th inning.
Buster Posey- 1 for 4, HR. Nice insurance run from Buster's bat. Didn't look like much of a swing, but the ball kept carrying and carrying and carrying. I think it's still carrying! I felt pretty good about the game at that point.
Edgar Renteria- 3 for 4. Rent continues to have a fine series. Again, if the Giants end up winning this thing, that $18 Million will be well worth it.
Madison Bumgarner!- 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. Did I say what a great game Bum pitched tonight? I really liked the way he was throwing from the first inning. I really started to think something special might be brewing when he got through the middle of the Rangers' order for the second time. That's when I knew he was going to take it deep into the game.
Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. Good call by Bochy to bring Wilson in for the 9'th. Bum was over 100 pitches and was starting to labor just a bit in the 8'th. Also, saves Bum for a possible couple of innings in a Game 7 that we all hope will not be necessary. That might have been the quickest 9'th inning by Wilson all season. Man, I went to the door for a couple of trick-or-treaters and it was over by the time I got back!
With the Win, the Giants take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead in the Best of 7 World Series.
Tim LIncecum faces off against Cliff Lee in a rematch of Game 1. Had the Giants lost today, Lee would be looming as a mighty imposing force, but after tonight, I'm thinking Timmy and the Giants might just finish it off tomorrow.
Go Timmy! Go Giants!!
Oh, and one more shout out to Madison Bumgarner for possibly the most thrilling pitching performance I've ever seen as a Giants fan!!
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I like the formula of winning 3 of 4 then making the opponent beat Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez in succession.
ReplyDeleteBumgarner's demeanor on the hill is so much like Matt Cain. I wonder how much of Bumgarner's loss in velocity for the stint put the rest of his pitches on the development fast track?
Vladdy just scheduled his next knee surgery he was so buckled and out-front on Bumgarner's changeup tonight. Very nice performance, very impressive effort for a 21 year-old.
everyone is crowing about madbum...and rightfully so...i just wanna touch on some other things
ReplyDeletefirst bochy....im impressed with the lineup he put together, and im wondering if he has been taken over by a pod person
the huff at dh and travis at first was obvious...but playing nate in right, over rowand? bochy doesnt do those things....and nate almost became a hero in the first and travis hit the ball a ton (just at people)
calling for freddy to bunt in the first? running torres? way to play small ball in a home run park....the giants were doing the things that texas has been hailed for
and freddy set up that huff dinger with his at bat...it was like watching that midget who has dogged this team since 02 (except freddy is taller and better looking)
bam bam with the perfect game plan....hunter pitches to contact, the type of pitcher these giants love...and the may version would have hit a ton off of him...and wouldve ended up hitting into a ton of dp's too...they battled him, made him throw strikes...drove up his pitch count and got him out in the 4th...forcing wash to use his pen...and forcing him to use his best middle guy one time too many
the giants just flat out outplayed the rangers...and may make people start questioning whether the al is really superior to the nl
great game...great series
this is what we have been waiting for. this is why we pay dish for the mlb package so we can watch every game on tv. this is why we drive out to san fran just to see a 3 game series, this is why we watch the games on gameday when we can't watch it on the tv, this is why we knock on wood. this is why we wear our giants gear in Los Angeles, this is why i was and will always be a giants fan.
ReplyDeletelet's do it!
So how many No. 1's do the Giants have??? It is so stunning that these kids have achieved. I guess Sabean has learnt that you can build a team around a bunch of kid slingers than one slugger... Buster is really something special...
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for the great comments everybody!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Freddy had a tough game at the plate, and I disagreed with wasting strikes on fake bunts, foul bunts, etc, but Freddy more than made up for it with several very good defensive plays in support of Bumgarner's effort.
Yeah, Vladdy might still be reaching for those changeups, huh? Yes, I do think Bum's loss of velocity last year forced his secondary pitches onto the fast track. That's how Joe Nathan ultimately became the best closer in baseball, being forced to get by on secondary stuff after shoulder surgery. When the velocity returned, he was lights out.
Kay, I don't know what I'll do if the Giants go on to win this thing. What would being a Giants fan be like without that giant chip I've been carrying around on my shoulder for the last 45 years?
Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey. Yeah, I don't think any team in baseball has gotten more out of their first round draft picks than the Giants. Just a remarkable run of drafting there.
The Giants need to keep up the plate approach tonight against Lee. Look for first pitch fastballs to hit hard, he'll be looking for first pitch strikes and those might be the best pitches they see all night. Take breaking balls and force him to throw strikes with them. Once the count gets to 0-2, protect the plate with their lives. Keep fouling off pitches. Run the pitch count up and get him out of his rhythm.
Yeah, some of it has been just acquiring hitters with a better approach at the plate, but I also think Bam Bam has finally started to get his points across to some of these players. Nate and Travis have much better approaches than last year. Now, somebody just needs to sit down with Pablo and let him know that he's not playing again until he gets in better shape and starts taking showing he's paying attention to coaching.
Yeah, DrB, MadBum is a monster now! He'll be a Godzilla later! :^)
ReplyDeleteI'll celebrate if the Giants do go on to win, I'll be happy to be a Giants fan after that! I'll be wearing a lot of t-shirts for that! I've been saying for a while that the 2010 is the decade of the Giants, the pitching (with Posey and Sandoval) will lead our team to multiple trips to the Fall Classic, just didn't think they would reach this season, Phillies looked so tough, thought this would be another step up the ladder. I'm more than happy that they are where they are at.
The Giants (and Sabean) have known for a long time that #1 draft picks are the way to turn around team, they just weren't as successful at it early on, if you look at all the draft picks they have traded, none of them gone on to do anything, not matter of believing in them, more matter that they weren't very good until Cain (though they came close with Ainsworth, Jerome Williams, Noah Lowry).
Yeah, incredible run there, much more success than could be expected, though part of that was making up for all the misses previously. Part is also due to luck, potential #1 overall picks fell to us, Lincecum and Posey. Hopefully Wheeler and Brown continue the recent run of successes, I think that Brown can, and Wheeler looking good but needs to get healthy and do it in a full season.
Yeah, totally agree, Giants need to rack up the pitch count against Lee. What you are saying, DrB, reminds me of Big Daddy, his philosophy was to let batters know that the best pitch to hit is the first pitch, then each would be worse. Kept his pitch count low, but he still racked up strikeouts.
I think Pablo is OK, not everyone can be like Bumgarner and not let the environment get to him. Luckily we had Renteria around to replace him, else we might not be here, at this point, today (can anyone imagine saying "Lucky we had Renteria" at any point of the past two seasons? LOL!). I totally agree, if we do end up winning, Renteria would have earned his $18M in my eyes.
Sandoval only needs to get his weight under control. I think he understands that now, his last off-season didn't work out because while he went on Project Panda to get in shape, he then went back home to Venezuela and fattened up with friends and family while playing winter ball. It has been reported that he has decided to stay at his home in San Diego (who knew?) and Bochy will check in on him there. He's only 23, I think he'll eventually get it right.
But it is not his weight causing him problems right now, it is nerves and adrenaline. He was fine coming into off-season, high 800 OPS for last two weeks. He was fine taking 7-pitch walk against Philly (only thing more amazing is Molina getting two walks against Sanchez; must have been too nervous, Sanchez thinks too much when pitching, though getting better).
People forget that Sabean was the head of scouting that led Yankees to draft and acquire Posada, Jeter, Pettitte, Rivera, and others for late 90's run.
ReplyDeleteHey, how about our draft position??? It'll be ruined.
ReplyDeleteI'll trade this for draft position any day. Good point that success gets harder to maintain as draft position gets worse. I think the Giants scouting operation is much better than it was just a few years ago, so they can find gems like Matt Cain later in the first round and beyond.
ReplyDeleteWE DIIIID ITTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!
ReplyDelete