Game Wrap 2014 NLCS Game 4: Giants 6 Cardinals 4

Relief pitching and defense continued to be the storyline of this postseason.  The Giants got 6 shutdown innings from their bullpen and took advantage of 3 fielding miscues by Matt Adams in 1 inning to overcome a 4-1 deficit and take a 3-1 lead in the best of 7 NLCS.  Key Lines:

Gregor Blanco- 1 for 4, 2B, BB.  BA= .167.  Amazing how big a role Blanco has played in this series with such an anemic BA.  A little burst of a hot streak at the end here would go a long ways toward a successful WS run by the Giants.

Buster Posey- 2 for 3, BB, SF.  BA= .250.  Posey seemed to be pressing a bit, but settled down in this one and just kept the line moving.  The result was 3 big RBI's!

Hunter Pence- 2 for 3, BB, SB(1).  BA= .286.  Pence seems to be coming out of his funk just in the nick of time.  Again, the Giants don't need dingers out of the middle of the lineup as much as they just need something!

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .154.  Crawford seemed to go into a funk after the grand slam in the Wild Card game.  He came out of it tonight with some key hits and smart baserunning.

Ryan Vogelsong- 3 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 12.00.  Matt Carpenter's leadoff hit might have been an out if it hadn't taken a bad hop over a diving Joe Panik's glove.  After that, it was just plain old fashioned bad pitching by Vogey.

Yusmeiro Petit- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Gotta think Petit is in line for a starting gig next season.  He's certainly earned it, although if the Giants can find an inexpensive alternative for the rotation, Petit gives them incredible depth.  Petit just might be the MVP of the postseason so far!

Rest of Bullpen- 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's, Save.  Romo got the fearsome Kolton Wong, a LH batter, on a groundout.  He gave up a harmless single to Tavares, but the RH batters Peralta and Grichuk, like all RH batters, had no chance.  I did not see any hanging sliders out of Romo in this appearance.  Casilla had to face 3 consecutive good LH batters to start the 9'th.  He got Descalso and Carpenter easily before giving up a harmless single to Jay, who is suddenly impossible to get out.  Holliday was overmatched for the final out.

Brandon Belt- 1 for 4.  BA= .273.  Belt is rated as a slightly negative fielder by UZR, but 1B D was the difference in this one.  Belt made a perfect throw to get a lead runner on a sac bunt attempt while Adams made 2 poor throws and a poor decision in the decisive 6'th inning even though no errors were charged.  He had to re-grip on the glove-hand transfer on a throw to the plate, allowing Juan Perez to score from third and a tapper which should have hung him out to dry.  The very next play, with runners at first and third, Adams fielded a hard grounder at the bag.  He again had to re-grip on the exchange which may have caused him to panic a bit.  He made an awkward step on the bag with the wrong foot, then made a wide throw to second, while forgetting to check Crawford coming down the line from 3B allowing Crawford to coast home with the go-ahead run.

BTW, a constant of Brian Sabean's tenure as GM has been a good fielding first baseman, often seemingly at the expense of offense.  First Base Defense, an undervalued commodity!

Again, the Win put the Giants up in the best of 7 series 3 games to 1.  Historically, 90% of teams in his situation have gone on to win the series.

Madison Bumgarner takes the mound for the second time in the series tonight facing Adam Wainwright, who continues to be evasive about the health of his arm.

Around the League:  The KC Royals completed a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles to advance to the World Series.  That popping sound you hear is heads exploding over at Fangraphs.  That sound will get louder and more frequent if the Giants end up as the Royals' opponent.