Giants win NLDS on Barrett bounce 3-2!

Aaron Barrett's wild pitch in the seventh inning allowed Joe Panik to score from third with the game winning run and give the San Francisco Giants a 3-2 win and with it the NLDS three games to one over the heavily favored Washington Nationals.
The Giants had scored two runs in the second inning after Gregor Blanco walked in a run and Joe Panik's grounder to second scored another run,but Washington trimmed the lead to one before tying the game on a titanic blast by Bryce Harper that landed in McCovey Cove on the fly off Hunter Strickland in the top of the seventh.
The stage was then set for the game winning run on the Aaron Barrett wild pitch that sent the Giants in the NLCS and the St.Louis Cardinals on Friday night (I think)

Giant Steps

1) So the Giants won this game scoring their runs on a walk,a groundout and a wild pitch,
As much as I hate to say it,this series was lost by the Nationals more than won by the Giants.
Looking at especially games two and four,the Nationals mistakes did more for this series than anything.

2) Especially former Giant (and Indian) Matt Williams,who made the questionable decision to pull Jordan Zimmermann in game two and then brought in rookie Aaron Barrett,who had control issues at times this season in the situation that ended their season.
The former Hagerstown Suns uncorked the wild pitch that allowed one run to score and almost allowed another because he threw the ball over the head of Wilson Ramos on an intentional walk.
Only an extremely fortunate bounce off the backstop to Ramos saved Barrett,who narrowly nipped Buster Posey at the plate.
Not a series to remember for the rookie manager in Washington...

3) As long time readers know I'm not a fan of Ryan Vogelsong going back to his days in Pittsburgh and I was concerned about his starting such a big game,but Vogelsong gave the Giants more than they could have asked for over five and two thirds.
Vogelsong allowed just one run and gave the Giants a chance to win,all that I could have hoped for....

4) I dislike Bryce Harper as most of you should know,but I can see talent and his blast off Hunter Strickland was to be admired as it went into McCovey Cove on the fly.
Simply phenomenal bat speed against someone that throws as hard as Strickland.
What I don't admire is his attitude.
Obviously,there is something between Harper and Strickland as both times that Harper took Strickland over the wall,Harper was offering remarks toward Strickland both as he rounded the bases and yelling from the dugout.
Combine that with the "Devout Mormon"'s language in the dugout (bad enough that the telecast was silent for ten seconds) and I'll pass on the sainting of St.Bryce.
I watched his pious act in Hagerstown,so this is not new to me.
I'm not anti-cursing (as anyone that knows me knows),but I'm pretty strongly anti-hypocrite....

5) The saving grace for Ryan Vogelsong?
Hunter Pence's tremendous catch against the right field wall.
Pence saved runs with that catch that would changed the complexion of the game,of not won it for Washington.
Pence seems to do things like that when they are least expected...

6) The Giants just aren't getting enough offense and though it was enough to get by the Nationals,if they want to get by a team that wins big games-the Giants are going to have to get the wood burning.
Michael Morse returning for the Cardinals series will hopefully boost the offense,but the current offense isn't good enough to win.,.

7) Well,I'm glad my prediction was wrong and now here come the Cardinals again after their dumping of the hated Dodgers.
In many ways,these two teams are a lot alike,a few really good players,good pitching and a knack for getting the most out of guys that never to be as good elsewhere.
Just have a feeling that things even out this year-Cardinals in six.

Nationals upend Giants in Game Three

Madison Bumgarner's throwing error in the seventh snapped a scoreless tie as two runs scored by the Washington Nationals for all the runs that they needed in a 4-1 Washington win.
The Giants would score one run in the ninth to avoid the shutout off reliever Drew Storen on a Brandon Crawford sacrifice fly,but were otherwise stymied on the scoreboard.
Bumgarner picked up the defeat for the Giants,who still lead the series two games to one.
Game four takes place in San Francisco with Ryan Vogelsong for the Giants and Washington countering with lefthander Gio Gonzalez.

Giant Steps

1) Key play of the game was of course the Madison Bumgarner error.
The Nationals would have likely scored anyway as they would have later hits in the inning and had Bumgarner taken the safe out at first,it still would have second and third and one out.
Buster Posey took the blame by saying he called out "third" on the bunt,which is the catcher's job to call the base unless he himself in fielding the ball,but still the game was decided right there.

2) Even still,there was a fluke portion to the play as the Giants had two pitchers warming in the bullpen down the left field line and the ball rattled around in the pen,which gave Travis Ishikawa problems in locating the baseball.
By the time the ball was found,Bryce Harper had just enough time to roar around third and beat the throw home narrowly.
I know the trend in some of the more recent parks is to have the bullpens in foul play,but I've always preferred the relievers area to be beyond the outfield fence.
I think it looks better and keeps away the odd issue like today...

3) Other than that play,the pitching was excellent by both Bumgarner and Washington's Doug Fister.
The two teams combined for just ten hits off the pair in fourteen innings.
This entire series has been noted by some pretty solid hurling from both teams...

4) I am not a fan of Bryce Harper or his attitude,but no denying that the ball that he crunched off Jean Machi was hammered.
The run was an insurance run in the ninth inning,but still a bomb.

5) The Giants best shot in this game other than the meaningless run in the ninth,came in the second inning when the Giants loaded the bases with two outs and Madison Bumgarner at the plate.
Bumgarner is an excellent hitter for a pitcher,so he's not your typical almost automatic out.
Fister fanned him and San Francisco would challenge no more....

6) I'm worried now.I've never been a Ryan Vogelsong believer and he'll have the chance to prove me wrong and win this series.
I was at work today for meetings and a lady that I know that is a Nats fan discussed the series with me and I told her that I though if the Giants didn't win game three that I wasn't sure that they win the series.
Now I'm concerned....

Giants belt their way to 2-0 series lead

Brandon Belt crushed a Tanner Roark pitch into the upper deck at Nationals Park in the top of the 18th inning to give the San Francisco Giants a
2-1 win over the Washington Nationals and lifted the Giants to a 2-0 series in the NLDS.
Yusmeiro Petit was the winning pitcher with Hunter Strickland nailing the game down with the save.
The Giants return to San Francisco on Monday to attempt to clinch the series in game three with Madison Bumgarner on the hill against Doug Fister for Washington....

Giant Steps

1) Washington fans and media are slaughtering Matt Williams for taking Jordan Zimmermann out with two outs in the ninth after walking Joe Panik.
I would have stuck with Zimmermann,I think,but Buster Posey was the batter and I can see wanting the fresh guy (Drew Storen in this case),but Zimmermann had dominated the game and I think I might have stayed there for one more batter.

2) This game lasted so long that I finished the game at work,but since that happened, I watched the Nationals post game show,which I NEVER would have done if I was at home.
The whining about this game from a bunch that had one close call in the game that went their way about umpiring was ridiculous.
Ray Knight mentioned umpiring as a reason for the loss when he wasn't pummeling Matt Williams like Larry Holmes against Marvis Frazier,but the worst was F.P.Santangelo,who actually blamed the umpires for the loss because "they didn't give Jordan Zimmermann any calls when he walked a ROOKIE in Joe Panik".
Santangelo must have complained for well over a minute on this.
That's a ridiculous premise to begin with as the umpiring was just fine earlier in the game.
F.P used to be on the Giants pregame crew before moving to Washington and he used to do the same thing in the Bay Area.
Just a ridiculous statement.

3) What a fun game to watch if you like pitching duels.
Aging veteran Tim Hudson against in his prime Jordan Zimmermann.
Both guys were sharp and sharp enough that they rarely had to work their way out of jams.
Zimmermann really didn't have any and Hudson worked his way out of the one inning that the Nationals did score that could have been far worse,but was smooth otherwise.
I like pitchers and tight scoring games that every at bat matters much more than a 11-10 slugfest,although those are fun too.
However,give me a tough low scoring game every time..

4) The one close play at the plate went Washington's way and I still hear grumbling from Washington fans.
I spent the whole game on Twitter and nothing but grumbling.
I thought Buster Posey was safe at the plate,but I'll concede that the play was razor close and was the type of call that was going to stick with the result called on the field.
It was that close and I didn't have an issue with it not being overturned.

5) I thought Brandon Belt was the Giants best chance of an extra base hit later in the game due to the lefty vs righty matchups coming,but I didn't expect an upper deck homer for sure.
Tanner Roark made one mistake and Belt was ready.
Brandon struggled with injuries this season,but a healthy Brandon Belt has the potential to be an All-Star level player.

6) Yusmeiro Petit deserved this win with six scoreless innings in relief in the most pressure packed situation-postseason on the road..
Think about the rules for a "Quality Start" six innings and less than three runs.
So the Giants received TWO quality starts in the same game.

7) Longest game ever in the postseason-six hours and twenty three minutes.
That ran from four and a half hours at home,the drive to work and then another ninety minutes of so at the road office.
I tweeted during the game-If I invest this kind of time in a game for a loss-I'm going to be ticked!!

8) Asdrubal Cabrera ejected and Matt Williams too?
Cabrera deserved to go as soon as he slammed the helmet to the ground.
You aren't going to show an umpire up like that and stay in the game.
Williams didn't seem to be too out of control,so I'll reserve judgement on his case...

9) Matt Williams denied this,but the single pitch that may have made his decision to pull Jordan Zimmermann was not ball four to Joe Panik.
It very well may have been the long fly ball by Panik that just missed smacking the foul pole.
Panik pulling that ball may have triggered that thought.

10) I'm not crowing yet.
I remember the 2012 Giants being down 2-0 to the Reds and grabbed three in a row to win the series.
This series is not over and until the Giants win another game,no screaming from me....

Giants hang on,take Game One of NLDS

Jake Peavy gave the San Francisco Giants what they needed in his five and two third innings of shutout baseball and the Giant bullpen hung on with outs when they were needed as the Giants stunned starter Stephen Strasburg and his Washington Nationals 3-2 at Nationals Park in Washington..
The Giants used run scoring singles in each of the 3rd,4th and 7th innings to build a 3-0 lead before two solo blasts off Hunter Strickland brought Washington to within a run in the seventh inning,but no closer.
Santiago Casilla slammed the door with a flawless ninth inning to end the game.
Game two is tomorrow in Washington with veteran Tim Hudson for the Giants and Jordan Zimmerman for the home Nationals.

Giant Steps

1) Ten singles among twelve hits for the Giants,who just nickled and dimed their way around the Washington staff.
This teams doesn't have an abundance of power or speed and their pitching is good,not great,but they find a way to get things done.

2) I've made my opinion on Bryce Harper well known,but man,did he just punish Hunter Strickland's fastball into the upper deck in right field?
The ball was measured at just under 120 miles per off the bat.
Simple physics that all hard throwers discover on occasion-a ball thrown hard that is struck quickly and solidly tends to leave parks immediately.

3) I will say this despite the two solo homers that Hunter Strickland allowed,he showed the arm that if he has the head to go with it will eventually make him the closer for the Giants.
His four pitches that blew Ian Desmond away with runners on in the 6th measured (in no particular order) 98,98,99,100.
For a guy that was in Richmond a few weeks ago,that's serious gas....

4) I really like Joe Panik,who doesn't do anything special,he just gets the job finished.
Not a ton of power or speed,Panik has enough of both to be a solid player for years to come.
Panik's triple to lead off the seventh looked innocent enough at the time,but Buster Posey's infield single that scored Panik was the game winning run and considering the Giants issue with the second base position most of the season before Panik's arrival,a real argument can be made that Panik's solidifying might have saved the Giants season.

5) Jake Peavy may not be the Cy Young winner of his youth at the age of 33,but he's become crafty enough to survive and yesterday's 100+ plus pitch outing in under six innings may have lacked artistic flair.
However,Peavy's grown as a pitcher in the way that you hope dominant throwers in their 20's change enough to be productive in their 30's.
Peavy's numbers were lousy in Boston,but at this stage of his career-a park like AT&T Park suits a flyball pitcher perfectly and I think Peavy could win 15 games next season pitching in San Francisco rather than a small hitters park as he had in Boston.

6) Not giving this series to the Giants by any part,but a split in Washington goes a long way towards the chances of doing so.
The only thing that is guaranteed is this-either the Giants win the series in 3 or the one of the two best ball parks in baseball gets two games in the postseason.
I don't care which one you pick as number one,the two best parks in baseball reside in Pittsburgh and San Francisco.