The Giants win the Pennant! Uribe's bomb puts the Giants in the Series!

GIANTS 3 - PHILLIES 2

Maybe bomb isn't exactly the way to describe it.  But it will show up as a bomb in the box score.  As a matter of fact, it will probably go down as one of the biggest bombs in San Francisco Giants history!

I've had a night to sleep on it and I still can't quite wrap my mind around it.

The San Francisco Giants are going to the World Series!

The game itself was typical Giants baseball.  It was tied 2-2 until the 8th inning until Juan Uribe stepped up to the plate with 2 outs and nobody on.  Uribe hit a line drive over the fence in right field and the Giants had a 3-2 advantage.  Tim Lincecum came on in the bottom of the 8th and looked like he probably shouldn't have been out there.  He got a strikeout to start the inning but he gave up singles to Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez and then he was pulled in favor of the bearded one, Brian Wilson for a five out save.  Some of that Giants magic showed up when he got Carlos Ruiz to line into a double play.  The ninth was vintage Wilson torture but he made an absolute perfect 3-2 pitch to Ryan Howard to end the series looking.

The game had it's strange moment in the third inning.  After Jonathan Sanchez hit Chase Utley in a situations where he absolutely could not afford to hit him.  Utley flipped the ball back to Sanchez, they had some words, and the benches cleared.  I don't know exactly what the reason for the benches clearing was but it happned.  It ended Jonny no-no's night and it turned out to be the best thing that probably could have happened to the Giants. As Affeldt, Bumgarner, and Lopez came in and shut the Phillies down.

The Giants will go to the world series for the third time that I've been around to see and this team might be my favorite team out of all of them.  The 1989 team will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first season that I followed baseball intently, the 2002 team had a few unlikeable guys, this team kind of reminds you of Robin Hood's band of merry men!

But this band of merry men is going to the world series, not sleeping in the forest!

Sloppy game 5 sends giants back to Philadelphia

PHILLIES 4 - GIANTS 2

On a wet and sloppy night, the San Francisco Giants played a wet and sloppy game.  The game came down to two crucial plays, Roy Halladay's bunt that wasn't foul and Aubrey Huff's 2 run error.  The Giants' inability to take advantage of scoring opportunities was another part of problem last night.

It's amazing to me how the Giants, for probably the 50th time this season, can knock a pitcher around (they had at least 10 baserunners against Halladay) yet can fail to score more than 2 runs.  You can't credit Halladay, he was not very good last night. It's also not as if we haven't seen this kind of offensive performance before from the Giants.

Timmy was pretty good last night.  He allowed 3 runs, two of which were earned, on 4 hits and a walk.Huff's error led to all three Phillie runs and, other than a solo homer in the top of the ninth from Jayson Werth, would account for all of the Phillie's offense.

Cody Ross did contribute his nightly RBI.

The Giants have shown a knack for bouncing back from games like this all season.  the series goes back to Philadelphia with the Giants leading 3 games to 2.  I predicted that the Giants would win in 6 and with Jonathan Sanchez on the hill that looks like a pretty good bet right now.

This off day comes at a good time.  I really need it!  I don't think I can take another game like the ones we have been seeing lately so I think I'm gonna go totally baseball free today.

UUUUUU-Ribe gets the Giants within one win of the world series!

GIANTS 6 - PHILLIES 5






Finally someone on offense besides Cody Ross stepped up!  He was involved too with a big double in the sixth getting both himself and Pat Burrell in scoring position for Pablo Sandoval's two run double.

That double was the biggest hit of the game and he had to hit it twice for it to count!

In another scenario that will add to the case for instant replay in baseball, Sandoval hit a ball that appeared to graze the line in right field that would have scored Burrell and Ross.  Instead, the umpiring crew (one of which was standing directly over where the ball hit the line) ruled it a foul ball.  Pablo battled and drove the ball to left field for the 2 run double that put the Giants up 5-4 after previously being down 4-3.

The Phillies tied the game in the 8th and, in a show of desperation, Charlie Manuel brought in Roy Oswalt to pitch the 9th inning on two days rest.  Freddy Sanchez lined out to Jayson Werth.  next, Aubrey Huff singled on a groundball to right.  Buster Posey hit a single into the rightfield corner to get runners at first and third with one out in the ninth and set the stage for Juan Uribe.

Uribe, nephew of former Giants shortstop and fan favorite Jose Uribe, was on the bench for this game while still being bothered by an injured right wrist that kept him out of game 2 as well.  He battled Oswalt, at one point it appeared that he was hit by a pitch but replays showed it was more likely he was pulling a Derek Jeter,  he had 2 strikes on him and he finally hit a deep fly ball to left that brought Huff home with the game winning run and put the Giants one win away from the world series.

The Giants go for the series clincher tomorrow behind Lincecum.  It's not going to be an easy task with Roy Halladay going for the Phils.  But it's going to be exciting!

Go Giants!

Big Game Cain Dominates Phils, Giants take 2 games to 1 series lead!

GIANTS 3 - PHILLIES 0 

Big Game Cain.

I think it's safe to say that he has earned that nickname.  Cain absolutely dominated the Phillies holding them to 2 hits in seven shutout innings.  Other than 3 walks and 2 hit batters, the Phillies really didn't put up too much of a Phight.  Cain threw down a challenge to the rest of the Giants staff today.  He showed them this Phillie team could be dominated and as they have been telling us all season, the good pitching is contagious.

The scoring was opened by, who else, Cody Ross.  I want to take this moment to thank the Florida Marlins for giving the Giants this guy to the Giants for nothing.  They are also paying his salary so they can technically say they have a player in the post season.

Bruce Bochy must save his good decisions for the post season because everything this guy has done has worked out.  Flip-flop Matt Cain with Jonathan Sanchez?  Cool, Sanchez pitched decent and we already know about Cain.  Pull a struggling Torres and Fontenot and replace them with Renteria and Rowand?  They only scored two of the Giants 3 runs.  Bat Aubrey Huff 5th?  He only drives in Pat Burrell with 2 outs  in the fourth.  Put Nate Schierholtz in RF late in the game?  He only holds Jimmy Rollins to a single off the RF wall in the 9th with a tremendous defensive play and throw.

Bochy has been raked over the coals by all of us (myself included) for a lot of his decisions during his Giants career.  He could probably turn water into wine in this postseason right now.  MLB network has been gushing over him all day today and rightfully so.

So Boch, I am glad you are at the helm this postseason!

Only 2 more wins to the World Series!

Giants return to San Francisco with a split

PHILLIES 6 - GIANTS 1

Cody Ross with his third homer in 2 nights

Cody Ross was the giants offense last night.  He continued his amazing playoff stretch with a homerun off Roy Oswalt to break up Roy's no-hitter in the 5th inning and tie the game which the Phillies led 1-0 at that point.

Unfortunately that would be all the offense they would muster.

Every single offensive player on the Giants should watch the Phillies half of the 5th inning so they can figure out how to manufacture some runs.  Shane Victorino led off with a double.  Chase Utley flew out to deep right which allowed Victorino to advance to third.  Next. Placido Polanco flew out to center to allow Victorino to score on the sac fly.  I almost cried at the simplistic beauty of the perfectly executed fundamental baseball.  Please Giants, take note of how you score off a good pitcher.

The Giants are still in the driver's seat however.  They come back to SF and there is a very real chance that the series does not return to Philly.   It's unlikely that the Giants win 3 in a row in SF but I bet they win 2 out of 3 for sure.  Game 3 is Hamels V. Cain and the Giants absolutely rake against Hamels especially this season where they are hitting .348 against him.  The Phillies don't even know who they will throw in game 4 while the Giants will be running out the phenom Madison Bumgarner.  Then Philly will throw Halladay in game 5 against Lincecum and the Giants have already beat him twice this season!

So fear not Giants fans.  Sure it's a loss, but a split in Philadelphia is still huge!

P.S.

Fire-Sabean.com is asking all Giants fans to show their playoff beards.  I live in Palm Desert, Ca and with average temperatures of 110 degrees in the summer, I usually keep my hair pretty short.  I was growing out my beard and my hair at the same time mostly because I was too lazy to cut my hair.  Well last night I was tired of being too hot so I cut the hair and trimmed the beard and thought it looks like the style my new favorite Giant Cody Ross wears!  So I finally got around to sending my picture into Fire-Sabean and told him I'm calling it the "Cody Ross".  The result was this post and Cody Ross hit another homer last night!  I swear if Ross keeps up hitting like this he might start a national trend!

Cody Ross powers Giants to a 1-0 series lead

GIANTS 4 - PHILLIES3                                                               

Well the big pitcher's duel that was promised didn't exactly materialize.  Both starters pitched OK but neither of them even came close to matching the epic performances they put up in the NLDS.  In the end, Tim Lincecum was just a little bit better than Roy Halladay and that's all the Giants really care about.

The Giants were involved in their fifth consecutive 1 run game in the postseason.  Their record in those games is 4-1.  During the regular season they were only 28-24 in one run games so they have been finding ways to get the wins that they weren't finding during the regular season.  of course the fact that they aren't playing the Padres who probably beat them by one run 27 times probably has something to do with it.

Cody Ross was the player of the game and rightfully so.  I think any time you hit 2 homeruns in one game off of Roy Halladay you ought to be named the player of the game.   Ross is quite possibly the player of the postseason for the Giants since he has 3 of their 4 homeruns and was the difference maker in game 4 of the NLDS and was the same difference maker tonight.  Not bad for a guy who the Giants allegedly claimed off of waivers just to keep him away from the Padres.

It could also be argued that Bruce Bochy was the difference maker.  His decision to pinch run for Pat Burrell with Nate Schierholtz in the 6th inning.  If Burrell is still running in that situation there is no way he scores on Juan Uribe's single.  I seriously doubt that Burrell even gets sent from third.  But he did put Nate in and Nate did score what was ultimately the deciding run of the game.  Bochy has been crucified on this blog and in many other places so it's only fair to point out when he makes a good decision.

The Phillies are already in a tough situation in game 2.  Never mind the fact that 15 out of the last 18 NLCS game one winners have gone on to the World Series.  But, the Giants already know that they can beat Roy Oswalt.  Plus the Phillies know that they can't hit Jonathan Sanchez.  That puts the Phillies in panic mode.  If they get put in a position where they need to start Halladay in game 4 do they?  He has faced the Giants twice and they have been able to get at least 8 hits off them in each of those contests.  Of course they will start Halladay in a do or die game.  After all, who would you rather have representing you in a do or die game?  Roy Halladay or the Family Guy look-alike Joe Blanton?

I feel the need to comment on the Philadelphia fans.  I always knew they were pretty bad fans, but tonight they really showed that they are low class.   From signs that said "fix your teeth" and "Hippy trash" to whistling at Lincecum as if he was a girl the Phillies fans did everything they could to show they are idiots.  Really, how does a dude whistling at a dude make anybody but the guy doing the whistling look bad? 

It doesn't really matter I guess because for all their crap, they still went home losers after watching their ace go down in defeat. 

Best tweet of the Night: Bay Area Sports Guy:

"Cody Ross stayed at a Halladay Inn last night. And he trashed the room like a goddamned rock star. #sfgiants"

Giants rotation gives them the edge in NLCS

The San Francisco Giants Vs. the Philadelphia Phillies is being hailed as one of the greatest playoff pitching matchups in postseason history.   There is no disputing that these are some great pitchers but how did they fare against their opponents this season?

Well, let's take a look:

Game 1
Tim Lincecum Vs.
Roy Halladay

Lincecum faced the Phillies once this season.  He dominated them.   He struck out 11 and allowed three hits.  the Phillies managed 2 runs off of him.  He didn't get the win however because the bullpen fell apart and the Giants wound up losing 7-6.  His ERA stands at 2.16 against the Phillies.

Halladay also faced the Giants only once this season.  He gave up 10 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings pitched.  he lost to Jonathan Sanchez 5-1.  Halladay is sporting a nice 6.43 ERA against the Giants this season.

Game 2
Jonathan Sanchez Vs.
Roy Oswalt

Jonathan Sanchez is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 13 IP against the Phillies this season.  He has held them to an incredible .114 batting average as well.

Roy Oswalt is 1-3 with a 3.33 ERA against the Giants with 22 Strikeouts in 27 IP.  You kind of have to throw out the won - loss record since he was an Astro for his 3 losses to the Giants and his one win came with the Phillies.  Although he gave up 3 runs to the Giants and only won because Barry Zito gave up 4.  If Roy gives up three runs in this game, It's an almost certain bet he will be hung with an "L".

Game 3
Matt Cain Vs.
Cole Hamels

Matt Cain gave up 5 runs to the Phillies in 6 IP.  Only 2 of those runs were earned so it is tough to get a clear picture of how well he pitched against them.  He struck out 4 batters in 6 IP and gave up 7 hits so it would be safe to say that he struggled against them.  One of those 7 hits was a HR.

Cole Hamels appears to be the real weak link against the Giants for the Phillies.  He has pitched twice against them and is 0-1 with a 7.46 ERA.  He gave up 16 hits to them in 11 IP but he also managed to strike out 15 Giants in those same 11 IP.  the Giants are batting a modest .346 against him this season.

Game 4 is tough to preview.  If a team is down 3-0 or if a team is even down 2-1 we may see one or both of the pitchers from game 1 again.  If the Phillies do go with a different starter for game 4 we don't even know who that would be.  Joe Blanton is a possibility.  he beat the Giants earlier this season but it was only because they couldn't figure out how to score any runs off him after getting 8 hits in 6.1 IP.  Though his 4.82 season ERA  has got to be a concern for Phi.  ( his record was still 9-6 despite that ERA.  Could you imagine what his record would have been if he were on the Giants?  3-12 ? barry Zito's ERA was only 4.15 and he's not even on the postseason roster!  He was 9-14, BTW)

Kyle Kendrick is another option.  His 4.73 ERA was not good even though he wound up with a winning record as well (11-10).  he did not face the Giants this season so maybe the Phillies would throw a little bit of the unknown at them?

Madison Bumgarner would appear to be the wildcard in this series.  his 1.13 ERA in Sept as the Giants were in a bitter pennant race shows that this kid has the guts.  He did only go 3-2 but that's because the Giants didn't score a single run for him in either of the losses.  He has figured out how to win as a Giant since he only allowed 1 total run in the 3 wins he had in Sept.!  His 6 IP 2 ER performance against ATL showed that he can pitch in the postseason just as well as he can in the regular season.  He is definitely the wildcard but I believe that he is the guy who gives the Giants the edge.

The Giants have a big 4 while the Phillies have a big 3.  This is no small advantage in a 7 game series.  One game can be the difference between winning and losing the series.  Sure Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels have the name recognition but the Giants pitchers are simply better.  They are going to have to be since the likelihood of the offense waking up is remote at best.

Oh and who would you rather have pitching the 9th?  Brian Wilson or Brad Lidge?

Giants in 6

Giants advance to the NLCS

GIANTS 3 - BRAVES 2



The San Francisco Giants will face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS starting Saturday.

Until then we will have a week to bask in the glory of the hard fought four game NLDS win over the Atlanta Braves.  Hopefully the Giants will be able to find a little bit of offense along the way as well!

But for now we can celebrate.  This was a Giants team that was written off and left for dead during the season.  Both by the fans and by the media.  Hell, at some point during their 7 game losing streak I even purchased a Fire Sabean T-shirt!

That was before an epic run by the starting pitching and just barely enough offense to make that epic run stand up.

In the NLDS, they won the first game 1-0, gave game two to the Braves, tried to give back games 3 and 4, but the offense just eeked out enough runs to defeat the Braves and send the citizens of Atlanta back home with their foam tomahawks between their legs.

Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner.  These are your NLDS MVPs.  Sure the media is going to say that, if there was an NLDS MVP award (and why isn't there?), it should go to someone like Cody Ross or Buster Posey.  But in reality, the Giants MVP(s) is that 4 man rotation.  It has been all year long and it will be what the Giants need to ride if they are to slay the beast from the NL East.

It's going to be a tough series, but then again aren't they all?  The Giants will face the only other rotation in the playoffs that can hang with theirs but with a better offense.  They will be the underdogs.  I would call them the Giant killers but that somehow doesn't sound right.

Anyway, enough with the rambling and random thoughts.  Congratulations G-men!  But don't get too comfortable, there is still more work to do!

NLDS Trivia:
Did you know that the two Giants who hit homeruns in the NLDS were Pat Burrell and Cody Ross?  Yes they were the two guys that the Giants claimed off waivers for nobody in return and, if you are to believe some reports, to keep them away from the Padres!

Jonathan Sanchez dominates the Phillies!

GIANTS 5 - PHILLIES 2

This team is so Jekyll & Hyde.  One day they can't score runs, get good pitching, and look nothing like pennant contenders (actually it was for the better part of 2 weeks).  But then they have a great all-around performance against the National League's world series representative for the past 2 seasons.

Jonathan Sanchez turned in what was easily his most dominating performance of the season.  Even though he did have one start against the Padres earlier this season where he only gave up one hit and one run and still lost the game.  This one was better.

On the face of it, that game back in April was more dominating since he struck out more and he allowed two hits last night as opposed to one.  But you need to consider that the Giants starters have been reeling.  They haven't been credited with a win in their last 14 starts.  The Giants as a whole have just looked incredibly flat since their amazing 11 inning victory over the Padres on Saturday.

But Jonathan Sanchez came out last night, Put the Giants on his shoulders, and made us all wonder why we were so hot to trade him in the first place.  There is no #4 starter in all of baseball who pitches as well as Sanchez and is capable of the performances that he puts in.  We all get frustrated with Sanchez because he has Ace quality stuff, and he tantalizes us every so often with a gem like last night, but he never is consistent enough to attain that Ace status.

However as the guys over at Raising Matt Cain point out, Sanchez is getting better every season.  Think back to the first half of last season and remember that the guy was giving up six or seven runs every other start, he was demoted to the bullpen, and he only made the start when he threw the no-hitter because of an injury to Randy Johnson.

One thing to keep in mind is that Sanchez improved tremendously after throwing his no hitter last season and that, hopefully, he uses this start as a springboard to better success over the last month and a half of the season.

Another huge development on the offensive side of the ball.  Pablo Sandoval hit his first homerun of the season right handed!  the fact that it came off of Cole Hamels who is one of the better pitchers in the league makes it all that much more impressive.  Pablo has had his ups and downs this season but he is showing signs of taking off on an extended streak of good hitting this month and we all know the Giants could use that boost.

Tonight, the Giants travel to St; Louis to face Jake Westbrook and the Cardinals.  Madison Bumgarner faces one of the biggest tests of his young career as he faces the dangerous Albert Pujols and Co.

Oh and by the way, the guys who say the Giants can't consistently beat good teams should realize that the Giants split the season series with the Phillies 3-3.

Lastly, for those of you who saw yesterday's post on Yardbarker, I have no idea why they posted a picture of a fat Dodger pitcher with my story.  Rest assured you will never see one of those on this site.  Unless it's funny!

Burrell and Guillen homer. Giants still lose.

PHILLIES 9 - GIANTS 3

Things sure started out good for the Giants.  They scored two runs in the first off of Phillies starter Roy Oswalt in an innings which was highlighted by former Phillie Pat Burrell hitting a homerun.

Barry Zito battled through the first four innings and held a 2-0 lead into the 5th and then it all unraveled for him when he gave up 2 runs in the 5th and 2 in the 6th.

The only other highlight came in the 7th when the newest Giant, Jose Guillen, hit his first homerun as a Giant.  At this point it was still a game because Guillen's homerun made the score 4-3 Phillies.  But then Chris Ray, who had been pretty reliable since coming over in the Bengie Molina trade, came in and gave up 4 ERs without recording a single out to make a manageable deficit become unmanageable.

Much is being made about the Giants' alleged lack of success against teams with winning records.  But this is where the Giants season goes back to their atrocious record against the Padres.  the Giants are 31-41 against teams with winning records.  If the Giants had been able to win say 3 more games against the Padres so far this season and have a  record of 5-6 against them, their record against winning teams becomes slightly better at 34-37. They are still not world beaters but they are at least closer to .500 which is what you want to be against the good clubs.

Hopefully tonight's matchup of Matt Cain and Joe Blanton starts the Giants on the right path.  It's a winable game considering Blanton's 5.69 ERA.  The Giants need a win tonight to reclaim a tie in the wild-card standings.