The Giants took the rubber game for the 9'th time in 10 series in this showdown between the leaders of the NL West and the NL East. It may have been fortunate the Giants did not face either Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee, or it may have been by Bruce Bochy's evil design or it may not have mattered at all.
As an aside, I am still laughing myself silly 3 days later at Bochy's response to the whole All-Star game flap over whether he purposely used Halladay and Lee 2 innings each while not using Giants starters at all just so the Phillies guys would miss this series. I can just hear Bochy in is Eeyore drawl, "What? Why no! That though never crossed my mind! Those guys are good pitchers and I thought they gave us the best chance to win the game. Besides, neither of them went over 20 pitches. They will be very happy when they have the home field advantage in the World Series if they get there." IF THEY GET THERE! ROFL!!!! I mean, I'm sure Bochy said it all with the straightest of faces and not a trace of inflection in his voice but he stuck so many barbs into the Phillies and their fans with that comment, it just boggles the mind! In the end, I don't think it mattered whether Bochy messed with their rotation so much as the Phillies THINK he did!
Back to tonight's game: The Giants got a great start from Timmy who was fully recovered from his stomach virus. They got 4 runs even with Beltran going 0 for 4(BTW, how great is it that the Giants took 2 of 3 in this series with essentially no help from Beltran?) The bullpen clamped down(the Phils got 1 unearned run) and the Giants rode out of Philly once again leaving them talking to themselves. Charlie Manuel was typically sour grapes as he disparaged Matt Cain's performance last night. Too bad, Philly. Maybe your team isn't as much better than the Giants as you think it is!
Key Lines:
Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 4, HR(10). BA= .297. Pablo hit a slicer down the LF line that curved around the foul pole for a dinger.
Aubrey Huff- 1 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .239. Huff's double was hit with authority against the right-center field wall. He's been taking more walks lately, which is a good sign too.
Nate Schierholtz- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .283. I don't care what Keith Law says, Nate woulda had that blooper that Beltran caught.
Tim Lincecum- 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 2.78 Timmy had the Phillies flailing at the splitter. I think part of the 4 walks was because his stuff was so nasty it was difficult to control it.
Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(33). ERA= 2.72. Philly isn't a great matchup for Willie because they have so many LH bats, but his stuff was awesome tonight. LH, RH, didn't matter.
The Dangerous D'Backs lost to the Pesky Padres 4-3 to fall 4 games behind the Giants in the NL West. The Reeling Rockies and Desperate Dodgers were both idle to fall 12 and 13.5 games behind respectively while the Pesky ones stayed at 15.5 games off the pace.
The Giants now move on to Cincinnati where Ryan Vogelsong starts off a 3 game series facing non other than Dontrell Willis who has a 3.71 ERA in 3 starts for the Redlegs. He's walked 8 batters in 17 IP, so the Giants would be smart to be patient at the plate and make him throw strikes.
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nate woulda had the blooper, without breaking a sweat
ReplyDeletewish carlos would accept his limitations, focus on hitting, and move to left
nate remains one the best 2 strike hitters in the league....its amazin
happy that dontrell is back in the bigs...hope the giants crush him
giant are now in the heads of every philly's player and coach...its great
sunday's starter is tba....giants have lost all faith in zito...what does that mean for the next 2 seasons? cant they just pay him to open his restaurant and be done with it?
Well Beltran did catch the blooper. I think he can play RF fine. It's just that Keith Law reportedly tweeted that Nate wouldn'ta had it which is garbage and why tweet something like that anyway?
ReplyDeleteYeah, if the Giants don't feel they can start Zito, he's certainly going to be useless in the bullpen. They need to just bite the bullet and release him.
There seems to be a slightest whiff of a Zito to the Yankees rumor out there, but I see no reason why the Yanks would want him either.
I think the Phillies know they can't handle Affeldt or Lopez in the late innings. If they also can't handle Cainer or Timmy in the early innings, or Wilson in the 9'th, well now, that doesn't bode well for them in another playoff series now, does it?
Oh, and I can't wait to see what Bumgarner does to all those LH batters in the Philly lineup!
ReplyDeleteApparently, the Spanks offered Cano to the Giants for Zito and Cain. Sabean countered with Cain and Zito for Cano and Banuelos.
ReplyDeleteI take that as Sabean essentially telling the Spanks to f off.
calsnowskier,
ReplyDeleteWhere did you hear about possible Yankees trade? I have heard nothing on this.
If J Sanchez can come back healthy and pitch the way he did last year, it would help them win the West and especially in the playoffs. The Braves and Phillies don't hit lefthanders with good stuff as well.. That might change if one of them picks up a Hunter Pence.
ReplyDeleteCosta and Kaat stated also that Schierholtz would not gotten the blooper. Just goes to show that only the Giants fans are seeing the real Giants. Nate, might not have hit the ground as Carlos did. Pretty loose sod in that rain.
ReplyDeleteUtley and Howard were completely over matched by Timmy. Might have been better had they faced Halladay and Lee?
I would like to see the excess of OF fixed by trading Ross.
Roger,
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine is friends with a Spankee scout. Although I cannot 100% vouch for the accuracy of the deal, the offer makes sense enough for me to believe that the conversation took place.
Hopefully Cain is not traded. I would trade Zito for just about anything. I think the way Zito pitches he should be worth 6-8 million a year. Would be happy if someone like the Yankees paid 6 million a year for the rest of his contract and maybe a B prospect.
ReplyDelete