The San Francisco Giants took a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS with a 6-4 win last night at AT&T Park on the west coast. Yusmeiro Petit got the win, in relief of starter Ryan Vogelsong, with 3 innings of effective relief work. Santiago Casilla picked up the save. Marco Gonzalez took the loss for St. Louis.
St. Louis broke on top with a run in the top of the 1st. Matt Carpenter doubled and Jon Jay walked. With one out, Matt Adams singled to left to drive in Carpenter. The Cards had the 1-0 lead.
The Giants answered in the bottom of the 1st. Gregor Blanco doubled to right to lead off. Joe Panik followed with a single that got Blanco to third. Buster Posey, who had 3 RBIs on the night, got Blanco home with a sacrifice fly to center. The score was tied 1-1.
The Redbirds would score another run in their half of the 2nd. Kolten Wong doubled to lead off the inning. AJ Pierzynski singled to drive in Wong and the Cards were back on top 2-1.
The Cardinals scored two more times in the 3rd. Matt Holliday doubled and Matt Adams singled with Holliday stopping at third. Jhonny Peralta hit into a 5-4-3 double play that scored Holliday. Kolten Wong hit a 3-2 pitch from Ryan Vogelsong over the right field fence to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead. Kolten Wong his 7 hits this postseason...all for extra bases.
Joaquin Arias, pinch hitting for Vogelsong in the third, singled. Gregor Blanco grounded out to first as Arias moved to second. Joe Panik flied out to center and Arias took third. Buster Posey singled to left and Arias scored. Pablo Sandoval walked and Hunter Pence singled to drive in Posey. The Giants had cut the lead to 4-3.
Marco Gonzalez took the mound for St. Louis in the bottom of the 6th. Juan Perez walked to lead off the inning for the Giants. Brandon Crawford singled to right and Perez stopped at second. Matt Duffy, pinch hitting for Yusmeiro Petit, laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Perez to third and Crawford to second. Gregor Blanco grounded to first and Matt Adams decided to throw home to get Perez but Adam's throw short hopped the catcher and Perez scored. The next batter, Joe Panik grounded to first. Adams stepped on the bag to get Panik but threw wildly to second trying to get Blanco. Crawford scored and the Giants had their first lead, 5-4. With Blanco on second, Buster Posey singled to left off of Cardinal reliever, Seth Maness, and Blanco scored giving the Giants the 6-4 lead.
With the 6-4 win and a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS, the Giants face the Cardinals tonight in game 5 at AT&T Park. If the Giants win game 5 they will face the Kansas City Royals in game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday the 21st of October. If the Cardinals win game 5, the NLCS heads back to St. Louis for game 6 and, if necessary, game 7.
dr. howl of SBNation has a great article on this game, and the series from a Cardinal point of view here.
W.D. Barr's unique perspective on what's important in the world of Mexican Baseball!
Showing posts with label NLCS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NLCS. Show all posts
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Giants Up 2-1 In NLCS On Throwing Error
A throwing error by Cardinal pitcher Randy Choate allowed Brandon Crawford to score the winning run in the Giants 5-4 victory in Game 3 of the NLCS.
The Giants scored four times in the bottom of the 1st. After two outs, Buster Posey singled to right. Pablo Sandoval followed with a single to center and San Francisco had runners at 1st and 2nd. Hunter Pence doubled to right scoring Posey and moving Sandoval to third. Brandon Belt was intentionally walked to load the bases.Travis Ishikawa doubled to deep right field to clear the bases and the Giants were up 4-0.
The Cardinals got two runs back in the 4th. Jon Jay singled as did Matt Holliday. After Tim Hudson got two outs, he gave up a triple to Kolten Wong that scored Jay and Holliday.
In the top of the 6th, The Redbird's Jon Jay singled. He went to second on a ground out by Matt Holliday and to third on a ground out to first by Matt Adams. Jay scored on a Jhonny Peralta single to left and the Cardinals had cut the Giants lead to 4-3.
Randel Gruchik, rookie right fielder for the Cardinals, tied the game at 4 all in the top of the 7th with a solo home run off of the first pitch he saw from Tim Hudson.
That was all the scoring until the bottom of the 10th. Randy Choate was on in relief of Seth Maness. Brandon Crawford worked an 8 pitch walk to lead off the inning. Juan Perez, after fouling off two bunt attempts, singled to left with Crawford stopping at second. Gregor Blanco bunted down the third base line attempting to move the runners along but Choate threw the ball away at first and Crawford scored.
The Giants won on a walk off error and lead the NLCS 2 games to 1.
The Giants scored four times in the bottom of the 1st. After two outs, Buster Posey singled to right. Pablo Sandoval followed with a single to center and San Francisco had runners at 1st and 2nd. Hunter Pence doubled to right scoring Posey and moving Sandoval to third. Brandon Belt was intentionally walked to load the bases.Travis Ishikawa doubled to deep right field to clear the bases and the Giants were up 4-0.
The Cardinals got two runs back in the 4th. Jon Jay singled as did Matt Holliday. After Tim Hudson got two outs, he gave up a triple to Kolten Wong that scored Jay and Holliday.
In the top of the 6th, The Redbird's Jon Jay singled. He went to second on a ground out by Matt Holliday and to third on a ground out to first by Matt Adams. Jay scored on a Jhonny Peralta single to left and the Cardinals had cut the Giants lead to 4-3.
Randel Gruchik, rookie right fielder for the Cardinals, tied the game at 4 all in the top of the 7th with a solo home run off of the first pitch he saw from Tim Hudson.
That was all the scoring until the bottom of the 10th. Randy Choate was on in relief of Seth Maness. Brandon Crawford worked an 8 pitch walk to lead off the inning. Juan Perez, after fouling off two bunt attempts, singled to left with Crawford stopping at second. Gregor Blanco bunted down the third base line attempting to move the runners along but Choate threw the ball away at first and Crawford scored.
The Giants won on a walk off error and lead the NLCS 2 games to 1.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Tim Kurkjian's 5 Questions for the NLCS
Four of the past eight World Series champions have come from the teams in this 2014 National League Championship Series, which might suggest that the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals have spectacular talent. Instead, they are more great organizations that teach the game properly, that every at-bat is a fistfight, and every pitch is the biggest one of the game. Each had less talent than their opponents in the division series, but the Giants were more tough-minded and October-tested than the Washington Nationals, and the Cardinals were focused on winning while the Los Angeles Dodgers were thinking too much about tipping pitches and the strike zone. Now these two will meet in the playoffs for the fourth time. The Cardinals are the first team since the 1998-2001 New York Yankees to go to four straight league championship series. And the Giants will be going for the third time in five years. It should really be great.
Here are five questions.
In what sort of shape is the Giants' rotation?
Very good. Ace Madison Bumgarner has thrown very well in this postseason -- and every postseason -- save for one wild throw to third base on a bunt in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Nationals. He has pitched much better on the road than at home this year, and will start Game 1 in St. Louis. The Giants support him well, scoring 5.03 runs per start during the regular season; only Clayton Kershaw and Jorge De La Rosa received better run support among NL starters. Jake Peavybattled through 5⅔ innings to win Game 1 of the NLDS, and Tim Hudson was terrific in Game 2. Ryan Vogelsong lifted the Giants in Game 4 with 5⅔ innings of solid work, this coming off a September in which he went 0-4 with a 5.53 ERA. What happens to him in October is amazing. He has made five straight October starts (his only five), allowing one run or less; only Curt Schilling, with six, has a longer streak in postseason history. Vogelsong's 1.19 ERA is the third-best in postseason history among those with at least five starts, trailing only Sandy Koufax and Christy Mathewson.
In what short of shape is the Cardinals' rotation?
A little unsettled. Ace Adam Wainwright got hammered in Game 1 against the Dodgers, but didn't get the loss because Kershaw got hit harder. Kershaw came back on short rest while the Cardinals weren't even committing to Wainwright for Game 5. He had some arm issues in August, pitched through them in September, but says he is ready to go in Game 1. The rest of the Cardinals' rotation -- John Lackey, Lance Lynn and Shelby Miller -- did very well in the NLDS. Lackey, who has thrown more postseason innings than any active pitcher, is past his tired-arm stage down the stretch, and his good, biting slider is back. The Giants were just 30-30 against left-handed starters this year; the Indians and A's were the only other teams to be .500 or below against lefties, but above .500 against right-handers. And the only starting pitchers the Giants are going to see in this series are righties.
How do the Giants score runs?
It's hard to tell sometimes. In the clinching Game 4 against the Nationals, they scored their three runs on a bases-loaded walk, a ground ball to the first baseman and a wild pitch. They were terrible with runners in scoring position against the Nationals, but somehow got enough big hits to win three times. In Game 2 of the NLDS, for instance, Brandon Belt became the first player ever to hit a game-deciding home run at the time that he was 0-for-6 in a game. The Giants beat the Nationals despite a 2-for-18, no-runs-scored performance from their leadoff man, Gregor Blanco, and while platooning in left field with Travis Ishikawa and Juan Perez. In the NLDS, when they faced a right-handed starter they had no left-handed hitter coming off the bench. Their hope is that left fielder Michael Morse, who missed most of September with an oblique strain, will be active for this series. But even if that's the case, the Giants' lineup is not imposing. Yet they seem to find a way to score just enough to win.
From where did the Cardinals' power come?
They finished last in the league (and 29th overall) in home runs with 105, then hit seven in four games against the Dodgers. Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenterbecame the first player in postseason history to hit a home run and a double in three straight games. And first baseman Matt Adams became the first player since Miguel Olivo in 2012 to hit a home run with at least two men on base against Kershaw. They took Kershaw deep three times, beating him twice, and pounding the Dodgers' bullpen. The Cardinals did not enter the seventh inning with a lead in any of the four games, but won three of them by outscoring the Dodgers 15-4 in the seventh through ninth innings. And they did it with power, left-handed power: Cardinals left-handed hitters hit five homers against left-handed pitching, second most in a postseason. The Giants' best pitcher is lefty Madison Bumgarner.
Does either team have an edge in the bullpen?
It's close. The Giants' bullpen saved the series with 10⅔ scoreless innings in the pivotal 18-inning win in Game 2 of the NLDS. Yusmeiro Petit threw six shutout innings, 80 pitches and had more strikeouts in extra innings (seven) than any pitcher has ever had in one postseason game. Set-up man Sergio Romo had his good slider back against the Nationals, and Santiago Casilla has done very well since becoming the closer in July. The Giants have won all of the past nine one-run games that they have played in the postseason, a tribute in part to their deep, versatile bullpen. The Cardinals' bullpen was very good against the Dodgers, specifically closer Trevor Rosenthal. He and the rest of that bullpen got some very big outs: They became the first team in postseason history to win each game of a series despite having the tying run on base when the last out was made in each victory.
The pick: Cardinals in seven.
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