Many pitching duels don't live up the the anticipation. This one did! Madison Bumgarner went mano-a-mano with Clayton Kershaw in front of a less than sellout crowd at Dodgers Stadium and came away the winner despite an almost equally brilliant performance from Kershaw. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .283. Pagan was the perfect leadoff hitter tonight scoring both the Giants runs. He led off the game with a double off the left-CF wall, advanced to 3'rd on a bunt by Scutaro and scored on a sac fly by Pablo. Later, in the 6'th, he singled on a grounder to deep short with 2 outs, advanced to 2B on a single by Scutaro and scored from 2B on a soft single to CF by Sandoval. I have to say, Pagan looks fired up and like he wants to win this thing bad.
Marco Scutaro- 2 for 3, Sac. BA= .282. You won't see any runs or RBI's in Scutaro's line but the Giants probably don't win this game without him advancing Pagan on the basepaths. Great situational hitting by Scoots!
Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 3, SF. BA= .296. See the Pagan discussion. Pablo caused me a bit of heartburn with a late-inning error, but Bumgarner pitched out of it, so no harm.
Madison Bumgarner- 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 2.83. Holy Moly! What a game by Bumgarner. Just complete domination of the Hated Ones and against their ace of aces to boot! Matt Cain is the ace of the staff, but man, Bumgarner is right there. If you have one game you have to win, I'd almost be willing to flip a coin. What a great 1-2 punch in the rotation!
Sergio Romo- 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.15. After getting two quick outs in the 9'th, Romo showed once again why Bochy has never trusted him with closing duties giving up a dinger to Hanley. Fortunately, the Giants had an overpriced LOOGY to come in and close it out facing the LH hitting Andre Ethier.
Clayton Kershaw(Dodgers)- 8 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 2.87. Again, Kershaw was brilliant, but not quite as brilliant as Bumgarner and how great is that?
With the win, the Giants move back past the Dodgers into first place in the NL West by 0.5 games. The Marlins crushed the D'Backs 12-3 to push the snakes to 5 games behind the leaders.
Tim Lincecum tries once again to step it up facing Joe Blanton in Dodger Stadium tomorrow night. Go Giants! Beat LA!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Loogy crack cracked me up good Doc. Lopez might have earned 500K on that AB.
ReplyDeletePlayoff type baseball is so addictive. Just a great game to watch, where everything counts. This is going to be a great last quarter of the season.
Pablo had some nice situational hitting but also had the lazy boot and the GDP. He looks terrible to me, way out of shape. I know that debate will not die soon, but I am glad Bochy brought in Arias.
I agree, Pagan looks fired up. Nice snags from Pence and Scutaro, and a helluva gem from Bumgarner tonight. Great win.
Pablo looks pretty svelte to me, at least for him. He makes some great plays and then he boots easy little ones. I think it's more mental or something.
DeleteWell, for him is a slippery slope. He looks like 2010 Pablo to me, and he looks sloppy. We need sharp defense in crunch time. If I could see any jawline at all, I would agree with you, but I didn't, I saw a stay-puft type deal-i-o. Cannot complain about the bat when he drives in both runs, but he needs to get serious about his conditioning.
DeleteRight now, I would say if we can get consistent pitching from our starters, we should be fine.
ReplyDeletei luv watching the hawaiin punch guy go into a keniption fit...him as a bum is just so sweet...what a hateful little man
ReplyDeletethink they dont look alike?
http://www.retroplanet.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/Punchy.jpg
http://nbchardballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/victorino.jpg?w=320
both evil midgets
giants make kershaw cry....he looked extra greasy tonite
was listening to vin tonite...he was pining for the good old giant/dodger hate days...amazingly or interestingly, he only noted giants fans hate for the bums players
he also did a lot of praising of giants players tonite..especially pablo, and even though he wasnt playing, craw
methinks vin wants to switch booths
he also only made 2 mistakes...said timmy lost 13 (feels like it) and once called romo...romeo....which fits
he did pronounce bochy...boshy....but i think pumpkinhead sometimes does that too
Oh yeah, Vin Scully is definitely a secret Giants fan. Has been for several years now. He's got a mancrush on Posey that won't stop.
DeleteOh, and what's with The Latrine being half empty for a great, maybe historic, pitching matchup between historically rival teams in the middle of the tightest pennant race in oh, maybe 40 years? If Vinnie wants the old rivalry back, well, it ain't much of a rivalry if one team's fans don't show up!
DeleteOh, and Bacci,
DeleteIs Victorino a FA after this year? Maybe the Giants should sign him to a 3 years contract! Ha Ha!!
There was some website that listed all the things that Vin Scully has repeated about opponents over the last few years. (Kind of giving Vin a hard time for being repetitive.) Number one guy on the list was Posey, and all of the crazy positive things he repeats about him.
DeleteVin used to call Ray Durham "little Ray Durham" every time he came to the plate. He listed a few Giants but then he listed Drysdale as a Villain, and Jackie Robinson, so he spread it out in the end. I liked his story of the Doyer players being boo'd at the polo grounds as they came out of the clubhouse in CF.
DeleteIncredible game.
ReplyDeleteAgreed on Pagan. He looks intense and focused. Seems like he's stepping up into a leadership role for the playoff run.
Agree with Shank, Pablo did looked bad. There's making errors, and then there's looking all bumbly bad while making errors, and that's what Pablo did tonight. And at really, the worst possible time considering Madison's pitch count.
Honestly I'd say Kershaw outpitched Bum. The guy is incredible. Smart. Precise control, hits his spots, especially 2nd thru 5th. He sets up a hitter's subsequent ABs with the pitches in the previous one. Made Posey just look lost tonight. Unreal. And none of the 3 hits he gave up in the 6th were squared up. Giants had to do everything right to beat him, and did.
Not to say that MadBum isn't phenomenal. You want a Giant backing you up in a knifefight; that's the guy. Drops that low inside slider to righties, there's nothing they can do with it. 7 full counts? No walks! 7 outs! The guy does not give in. Command performance when the Giants really, really needed it.
Loved watching the AB between Romo and Mark Ellis. Ellis trying to lean into an inside pitch. And then, with two strikes, cheating to the outside, looking for the slider, and getting the inside fastball that locked him up. You could see en route, that the HR pitch to Ramirez was trouble. Could see it just hanging up there on its way in.
Realistically, Giants had to take a minimum of one game in LA. To do it against a very tough Kershaw in game one gives the G-men a little room.
Very interesting study in personalities on this Giants pitching staff. Cainer is the lunchpail guy. He's the family man who goes to work every day, brings home the bacon, protects the wife and kids from all dangers, asks nothing in return and doesn't understand what all the fuss is about when he's honored for it.
DeleteBumgarner may be country, but he's no bumpkin. Dude is a cold eyed assassin. Kind of like The Jackal who will keep shooting while the cops are banging down the door then turn around and calmly shoot the cops after he's finished the job.
I've never been so confident about a seemingly even to slightly negative matchup since I can remember. I went around telling all my Dodgers fans not to miss this great pitching matchup, but my real intent was I wanted them to see Bum take it to Kershaw and the Dodgers, I was that confident!
...er, make that my Dodgers fans friends....
DeleteYep, what a contrast between Cain & Bum.
DeleteGlad you were confident, Doc. Kershaw friggin haunts me after '11. He won that hardware standing on our backs. And he earned it.
I am hoping the Giants success against Kershaw this year (with him pitching well, his last two starts anyway) will start to get into his head.
It's just sweet to take him down in his house when he's on the top of his game.
Goes back to Bochy not screwing around - crunch time. Get the Pagan double, move him over. Romo gives up the tater, no screwing around with Ethier, bring in Javy. You know the stats Kershaw puts up, execute. This is where its nice having a savvy vet like Scutaro instead of clowning around with hapless Burriss.
DeleteKershaw made Blanco look terrible in addition to Buster, et al. He is a great pitcher. Feels great to payback for Timmy last year.
Yes yes yes on Bochy not jimmy-jacking around!
DeleteLove it.
The guy that comes in might not get the job done either. But he telling the guy who is currently on the field to perform or you're out.
2012, the baseball gods are keeping it cinch-tight between the Bums and our beloved Giants. Anyone think it's not coming down to the last three games against at the Latrine?
ReplyDeleteKershaw is getting payback for 2011. But so is Timmy for 2010/09/08.
DrB, sure is great to have over-paid LOOGYs when you need them.
Please dominate Timmy show up tonight, please.
Some nice stats over on Extra Baggs from Elias:
ReplyDeleteFirst time since before 1900 that a Dodger-Giants matchup featured starters who both had at least 10 K's and on walks.
Bumgarner is the first pitcher in Giants history to have 3 games in one season with 10+ K's and no BB's. Pretty phenomenal!
We've seen quite a few things this season that have never been done before!
Incredible.
DeleteValidates the euphoria I been feeling after having watched that game.
Wow Madidson. Wow.