Thursday, October 25, 2012

Game Wrap 2012 World Series Game 1 Giants 8 Tigers 3

Pablo Sandoval has been building to a game like this for awhile now.  It all came together for the Panda in this one as he tied a World Series record shared with none other than Babe Ruth(twice), Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols with 3 home runs off Justin Verlander who many observers believe is the best pitcher in baseball.  In addition, the Giants offense mounted a sustained, withering, grinding attack on the maestro pitcher to add on even more runs.  Barry Zito had another excellent start and Tim Lincecum shut it down for 2.1 innings when it looked like the Tigers might try to get back in the game.  The Giants came away with a huge win in Game 1 of the series that not many people expected.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2 2B.  BA= .500.  Forget about the 2 doubles and the ball that caromed off 3B setting up Verlander's meltdown.  Pagan was grinding out AB's, refusing to go down without a fight already.  Every AB was 7,8, 9 pitches.  You could see that took a toll on Verlander.

Marco Scutaro- 2 for 4.  BA= .500.  Scooter just keeps on scootin' Another 2 hit game that was smack dab in the middle of 2 bit Giants rallies.

Pablo Sandoval- 4 for 4, 3 HR.  BA= 1.000.   As I said above, this did not come out of the blue.  Pablo has been building toward something like this for awhile as his in-season workout regimen has taken off pounds and put on muscle and his wrists have healed and gotten stronger and he has worked to get his timing back.  You could see the power returning in the NLCS and it was a matter of time before something like this happened.  Not necessarily 3 dingers in 1 game, mind you, but you could see that Pablo was getting ready to have a huge WS.  The pitches he hit were not hanging curves either.  #1: 0-2 FB out of the zone.  #2:  FB down and away that he took to LF.  #3 Slider down and in that he dropped the bat head on.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4.  BA= .500.  They were just a couple of singles, but it's a start.  Look for Buster to heat up as the series goes along.

Gregor Blanco- 0 for 4. BA= .000.  Defense was again a difference for the Giants as Blanco made 2 nice grabs at the tips of the grassblades to save some runs(Fangraphs snarks about his routes to the ball notwithstanding), while Austin Jackson overran a ball in CF and Delmon Young made a dying quail throw to give the Giants at least 2 extra runs.

Barry Zito- 1 for 2.  BA= .500.  Zito was already doing something he has become quite good at before he slapped that RBI single past Cabrera at 3B.  He was running up Verlander's pitch count.  Zito may still not get many hits, but he's learned to be selective at the plate and also learned how to foul off pitches and thus is able to contribute by forcing the opposing pitcher to throw more pitches than he wants to.

Barry Zito- 5.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 1.59.  Zito was not quite as sharp as he was in the NLCS but he kept the Tigers off balance and kept the Giants in the game early until they could build a big lead.  How many consecutive Zito starts have the Giants won now?

Tim Lincecum- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Timmy is quite clearly much more comfortable coming out of the pen right now.  Bochy could be criticized for burning Timmy in a near-blowout game, but The Committee needed a rest and Bochy understood the importance of making sure the Giants came away from this one with the W.  We saw how fast it can unravel with Kontos on the mound in the 9'th.

With the win, the Giants take an unexpected 1-0 lead in the series.  Madison Bumgarner goes tonight against Doug Fister.  OGC has a nice pre-game analysis up on his blog, so check it out.  We don't know which version of Bummy is going to show up, but Fister has trouble with LH bats and trouble pitching in road games.  Giants have already accomplished what they had to do in the first 2 home games, but it sure would be nice to go to Detroit up 2-0.

Go Giants!!

16 comments:

  1. It was a little shocking to see Kontos sweating on the mound and showing how nervous he was to be in the WS because not a single other player on the Giants looked like they were at all phased by the magnitude of the game!! This is beyond anything anyone could have hoped for or foreseen. This is a team of destiny, you can see it in their eyes and you can definitely see it in Detroit's eyes that they have no idea what just hit them. 2010 was amazing but this is mind boggling.

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    1. P-duk, nice to see you on the happy train!

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    2. I love to be critical but nothing I can say against what this team is doing. This is the best type of baseball around, a team that isn't the most talented or highest paid but no question they have the biggest hearts and want it the most. I would rather win this way then by buying a championship like the Yankees or Boston or the marlins did a few times. Nothing sweeter then watching guys who play hard and give everything for their team. I am in heaven right now.

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  2. Has it ever happened before you get 3 Cy Young winners pitching in the very first game of a World Series - Verlander, Zito and Lincecum?

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    1. Has it ever happened that 4 Cy Young winners pitched in the same game - regular season or post season?

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    2. 3 Winners, 5 awards.

      That is amazing.

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  3. Maybe it's just me, but Pablo doesn't seem to any bigger than Fielder or Miguel Cabrera.

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  4. Statement Game (even though Fox doesn't get it):

    The Panda slays The World's Best Pitcher. Literally historic, unconscious, and comical at the same time. Wow!!!

    My fortune cookie reads: In the hungry Panda's hands, the bat is like chopsticks. Up and OUT. Outside and OUT. Low and OUT. Not one a strike and all a dagger to Detroit's pitchers sanity.

    NOW, what's the book on how to pitch to Pablo? Love to be a fly on the wall for the next Detroit pitchers meeting.

    One key for the Giants, Posey to get hot too. Otherwise they are pitching around Panda to get to Posey - who would-a-thunk.

    Zito, who knew? Keep being The Good Zito and Leader of the Staff. Again this IS comical.

    Giants great D flashed again and Detroit's sucked. This WILL be a theme throughout the series. Not that Fox will see it.

    Bochy didn't have to out manage anyone tonight, but it sure was nice to see Timmy nail the door shut. I don't think Detroit's hitters match up to Timmy's stuff.

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    1. The 2nd homer and the mound visit by their pitching coach.

      What happened there? Did Verlander take it not too seriously? Did the coach disrupt his rhythm? Maybe there was nothing that needed to be said from the coach to the pitcher at the time? Maybe no need for pitchers meetings?

      I have no idea.

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    2. Can you imagine Rags, walking out there and putting up with Verlander's 'tude. Rags would have (verbally) grabbed him by the balls right there in front of everyone to see.

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    3. Monterey, can you imagine Rags going out mid-AB to talk to Cainer, though? Sure, JV looked bad in his reaction, but he had a right to look upset with the pitching coach.

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  5. Taking a toll on Verlander...

    That's what I also believe, though the commentators mention the Detroit manager doesn't believe it impacts Verlander to have him pitch 120+ pitches in a game often. I guess eveyone is unique and he could be correct. Certainly, I do not believe in the robotic uniformity implied by stat geeks. So, the question worth asking is this: is Verlander losing something, having all those 120+ pitches games recently?

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  6. Dr B is, I think, absolutely right in defending Bochy's use of Lincecum for the reasons he gives: keeping the Committee fresh, and securing the Game 1 win without angst. In addition, we have no experienced, competent middle relief apart from Lincecum: Kontos is inexperienced, as we saw, and Mota isn't competent. Lincecum's coming in and striking out five of seven batters was properly demoralizing, especially because L. offered a dramatically different alternative to what the Tigers had been seeing from Zito. No doubt the decision to use him last night puts more pressure on Bumgarner to eat innings tonight, but Bumgarner doesn't seem the type to be fazed by increased pressure. If the game is close today, in any case, Lincecum pitched to only seven batters yesterday, and will be able to join an extended version of the Committee.

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    1. I agree also....the job was to win last nights games not manage for the next game..Yes, it's a long series but you have to grab wins when you can....Still, I do worry about the Giants pen if MADBUM becomes unglued early (which, unfortunaely, is quite possible)..Where do they turn? Hopefully, if we need him, Mota can be part of the Magic train for a few innings or maybe Affeldt early like in the WS clincher in 2010...

      Speaking of 2010, I and many Giant fans have been mentioning that the Giants stood a good chance against Verlander last night just as they did against the ALl-world unhittable Cliff Lee in 2010 when they detroyed him...None of the medie experts mentioned this before Game 1 butthey sure as hell mentioned it after the game....


      SteveVA

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  7. Live blog today DrB??

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