Game Wrap World Series Game 3: Giants 2 Tigers 0

The story of this World Series continued to be the Giants pitching and defense absolutely suffocating a heavily favored Tigers team as the Giants took a 3-0 lead in the 2012 World Series on a cold night in Detroit.  Key Lines:

Hunter Pence- 2 for 3, BB.  BA= .300.  Pence scored the first run after the walk.  One of the hits was a swinging bunt on the IF, but Pence seems to have settled down a lot at the plate in his last few games.

Brandon Belt- 0 for 4, 3 K's.  BA= .000.  Absolutely dreadful night for Belt at the plate who struck out looking twice.  At least he got the bat off his shoulder for the last K.

Gregor Blanco- 1 for 4, 3B.  BA= .273.  Terrific night for Blanco who drove in the first run with a triple off the right-CF wall then scored the insurance run on Crawford's single.  He also went down into the LF corner to catch a  hooking drive that Peralta hit to lead off the 9'th inning that was quite remarkable.  That he was able to do it without slamming into the wall was a testament to his tremendous athletic ability in addition to his speed.  Big, big out there.

Hector Sanchez- 0 for 4, 3 K's.  BA= .000.  I'm not sure it's fair to let Hector sit around for days on end then put him out there in a World Series game on a freezing cold night and expect anything else.  He does seem to have all of a sudden developed Brandon Belt disease at the plate with way too many K's while looking.

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 3, SB(1).  BA= .222.  After The Hector struck out looking with 1 out and a Blanco on 3'rd, Crawford calmly stroked one to CF to pick up his teammate and get the extra run home.  That was the end of the scoring for the game.

Ryan Vogelsong- 5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  I think we can finally officially start writing the screenplay for the movie The Ryan Vogelsong Story.  This was his 4'th consecutive biggest game of his life and he came through each and every one.  He will likely never pitch a bigger game than this one no matter what happens the remainder of his playing career.  Gutsy performance, but that's the norm for Vogey.  First, he had to fight off a ridiculous strike zone that was severely asymmetrical towards the opposing pitcher.  Vogey couldn't get a strike called above the belt while Sanchez lived at the letters all night.  Fortunately, Vogey was still able to paint the corners down in the zone just enough to keep the Tigers in check.  He got help from his defense, but hey, that's part of the game.  Had to laugh at Grant over on MCC(yes, I still go over there occasionally) who commented on the Giants making various pantomime gestures and that after he struck out Berry and got Miggy Cabrera to pop up with the bases loaded in the 5'th, he could have pantomimed pushing a wheelbarrow as he walked off the mound.  I'll let you figure out what he would be carrying in that wheelbarrow.  LOL!  Anyway, I think it's safe to say Vogey has reached the pinnacle of his unbelievable comeback story.  Mrs. V can be extremely proud of what her man accomplished out there and what he has accomplished the last 2 years.

If you read Vogey's comments about Mark Gardner and Rags in the article about Gardy on the Giants official website, it is apparent that the Giants pitching coaches really are pitcher fixers and his reunion with them played a big part in Vogey's desire to come back to the Giants and for his success since coming back.

Tim Lincecum- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Wow! Timmy seems like a completely different person when he's coming out of the bullpen.  There were many times starting this year when he looked like the mound was the last place on Earth he wanted to be.  When he comes in out of the pen, there's a noticeable spring in his step and a look of enthusiasm on his face.  The Tigers are swinging at his dirtballs with regularity.  One of my theories about Timmy's struggles is that NL hitters have seen him enough that they can recognize the splitter as it's coming and lay off it.  The Tigers haven't seen him much, if at all, and it's still a bit of a mystery to them.

Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(2).  ERA= 0.00.  The Tigers haven't seen much of Romo's slider either, although Peralta seemed to have it figured out pretty good before Blanco caught up with his drive in foul territory down in the LF corner.

The Win gave the Giants a 3-0 lead in the series.  There have been 23 times in the history of the World Series where a team gets  a 3-0 lead.  20 of those Series have ended in Game 4.  No team has ever come back to win the Series from a 3-0 deficit.  Us Giants fans should know better than anyone, though, that there is a first time for everything.  Max Scherzer is no pushover and Verlander will be looking to avenge his first game loss if the Tigers can get past tonight. That would bring the series back to SF with the Giants only having to win 1, but the two pitchers would be Fister and Sanchez who were both pretty darn good in Games 2 and 3.  So, it ain't over 'til it's over, folks.

Matt Cain facing Scherzer tonight in Game 4.  I think Cainer is the guy we would all pick to close it out.

Go Giants!