The Showdown: A Star Is Born!

 There are multiple incredible storylines from last night's potentially pivotal Game 3 of the 2021 NLDS, but the biggest may be the arrival of Camilo Doval RHP as a star in MLB.  When Manager Gabe Kapler brought in Jake McGee LHP to get two outs on the 7'th inning after bringing in Tyler Rogers RHP in the 5'th inning, I realized that Kap assumed he wasn't getting any more runs and he was rolling the dice with the one reliever who gave him the best chance of getting through two more innings with the shutout intact.  That would be young Mr Doval who is young, inexperienced and occasionally erratic in his command but has electrifying, unhittable stuff when he's at his best.  I texted a couple of friends saying I thought that was the plan.  For better or worse, I so respected it!

Doval came through and came through big time.  It was the first 2-inning postseason Save in the history of playoff baseball dating back to 1969.  Yes, he got help from the wind on the last out, but the dry, cold wind may have been what caused the hanging slider that Gavin Lux hammered to left-CF in the first place so the wind giveth and the wind taketh away.  Doval's performance brought back memories of K-Rod and Mariano Rivera who themselves were young, relatively unknown pitchers before shining in postseason play.  Make note, though that neither K-Rod nor Mo Rivera pitched 2-inning Saves in the postseason as rookies.

And what about Gabe Kapler?  Camilo Doval is not the only star born last night.  Coming into this job Kap's biggest weakness was widely believed to be pitching management.  Word was he was too tied to sabermetric dogma and not able to read the room or the game situation.  Well, he put THAT behind him last night!  I was shocked when I saw it was Tyler Rogers warming up in the 5'th inning and even more shocked when Jake McGee came into the 7'th.  That's when I realized that Kap assessed the state of the game, the weather conditions, the probability the Giants would not score again and was going for the kill shot.  He was going to bring in the pitcher who gave him the best chance of getting through two more innings with a 1-0 lead preserved.  I absolutely LOVE it!  This game just proves what we already knew.  Gabe Kapler is currently the best manager in MLB and should be the runaway winner of the NL Manager of the Year award.

Everybody is talking about Brandon Crawford's leaping, perfectly timed catch of Mookie Betts' bid to tie the game in the 7'th inning but Crawford has made at least one play at least that impressive in almost every game this season, often making multiple such plays in single games.  I don't know how he moves that 34 year old body around like that, but his defense this year has been incredibly athletic, brilliant, savvy.  Oh, and the arm is special!  I've said it before, combine the D with a strong season at the plate for a team that won 107 games and I believe Brandon Crawford is the NL MVP!

Time to see if Anthony DeSclafani RHP can shake off some subpar performances against the Dodgers and close this bad boy out tonight.  Go Giants!  Beat LA!