Quandary Series

After woeful starts, they are two of the hottest teams in baseball, and they happen to be the two teams I follow, one from my childhood "hometown" and the other my current home area.  So what could go wrong?

Well, this week they play each other.

In the past this wasn't that much of a problem, I could be happy whichever won.  And when something was at stake, as in last season's Wild Card game, my allegiance was the Pirates.  They lost, the Giants won, and I happily rooted for the Giants all the way to the World Championship.

But now that I am more regularly listening to the Giants radio broadcasts, I wonder how I can stay neutral--that is, rooting for both.  I guess I'll see.

So it's a three game series.  The Giants have the advantage of home field, but the Pirates rotation has come around to their best pitchers: Cole, Burnett and Liriano, against Vogelsong, Heston and Hudson.  But those three Giants starters arguably pitched better in their last outings than MadBum (who on Sunday had a perfect game going for five and fell apart in the seventh) and Lincecum.  The Giants won the three games the second line pitched, and lost the other two.

The Giants have the better record.  Neither of them has absolute momentum coming in--the Giants lost their last two to the Braves (Sunday's game was so typical of why I hate the Braves--they won that kind of game too often against the 90s Pirates), and the Pirates got shellacked by the Padres on Sunday.

But I'm sure I'll enjoy at least hearing the at-bats etc. for the Pirates, since I haven't seen or heard any of their games this year.  Maybe that's the key--concentrate on the individuals.

Unfortunately for my desired equity, it's a three game series, so somebody is going to win it.  And lose it.

Friday was a great night to be at the ball park.  Saturday night was miserable.  It was cold both nights, but a lot colder when you get beat 7-0.  When I was listening to the first few innings, Dave started explaining what the meteorologist told him about why it's so cold this May. And he did so without saying the words El Nino.)  But the inning was about over, so he had to just explain the rest to himself, which you could hear in the background.  These guys are funny, and are allowed to be funny in a fairly sophisticated way because of the Bay Area audience.

And so a note on Bay Area baseball.  On Sunday Jon Miller talked a bit about this weekend when the Giants and A's were both home, on opposite sides of the Bay, and both drew big crowds.  Comparatively speaking, San Francisco-Oakland isn't all that big.  But baseball must be.  Chicago has the Cubs and the White Sox, but I don't think either does all that well these days. For a city supporting two big league baseball teams in this style,  I wonder if you have to go back to when New York City was itself bigger than every state (except of course New York, but including California) and they supported three home teams: the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees.

Big Night in SF

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Atlanta Braves 4-1 on Friday night, and moved into first place in their division for the first time this year.  Before that run was scored, they tied a club record for consecutive scoreless innings.  It was their 13th victory in the last 15 games.  Tim Hudson, facing the team that let him go to the Giants for the first time since, got the win.

In the stands for this home game was Willy Mays, and also the NBA MVP Steph Curry of the NBA championship series-bound Golden State Warriors (above photo), with their home across the bay.

Curry's buddy (and fellow MVP) Buster Posey hit a two run homer in the first and knocked in a third run with a double in the eighth, which is getting to be the Giants' favorite inning, especially with teams like the Braves that have good starting pitching but undependable bullpens.

Speaking of Golden State, their championship run hit a snag with the news that star Klay Thompson is uncertain for the finals with a concussion.  They start next week.  Cleveland is also banged up, but Thompson is a key to GS's offense, and facing the offense of James it's a big loss.

While I'm on other sports, the NFL recently made a change in extra points, to make them more "competitive."  The upshot of the change is that players will risk injury on extra-point plays now, which in this concussion-conscious time is tone deaf to say the least, and reprehensible altogether.  They should be reducing plays (like kickoffs) that create violent contact and otherwise look at sweeping changes (like the size of the field) that will address the concussion issue, or they will wind up with no players coming up (school teams are already feeling the parental boycott) except those who are so poor that they will risk mutilation in order to make money.  Welcome to the Roman Empire.

Getting Right

The San Francisco Giants survived the exhaustion challenge of 4 games in 3 days plus hours of rain delays in the thin air of Colorado including a long evening game before a day game in Milwaukee--and will return with no less than a 4-3 trip, with a good chance to get tomorrow's day game and come back with a 5-2 road trip.
 Update 5/28: That's just what they did--a late inning rally gave them a sweep in Milwaukee and a 5-2 road trip.  And first game at home a shutout (fourth in a row at home) by Chris Heston plus relievers, another breakout 8th inning rally for a 7-0 victory over Atlanta, my favorite team to beat.  Hunter Strickland, brought up for the double-header, has stayed with the team and has yet to give up a run, and maybe not even a hit in several relieving stints.  He's added new pitches to his blazing fastball. Out of their last 14 games, the Giants have won 12.  

Overall the Giants won 8 straight, then lost two, and that was another test--how for real are they, or will they lose 6 or 8 in a row as they were doing in April?  They won the next two, with lots of hitting and adequate pitching, plus clutch plays in the field.  Winning 10 of 12  both at home and away, that's for real.

Meanwhile the Pittsburgh Pirates have won 5 straight, featuring three straight in which their pitchers got double-digit strikeouts.  Andrew McCuctchen has come around to the extent that he was a National League player of the week.

So in recent days, baseball very very good to me.

During this run the Giants officially made young Matt Duffy their starting third baseman.   Duffy and Panik are two young players who give off great vibes, and they fit so well with the modest professionalism of Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey.  With Hunter Pence for flamboyance and MadBum for being MadBum, this is an appealing team.  And as the announcers pointed out today, most of the team either has Bay Area ties (grew up there, school, family, teams) or are confirmed San Franciscans.  So it's easy to like this team, especially (of course) when they are winning.  And is anybody really missing the Panda?

Brandon Crawford in particular is off to a great start with so many key hits and RBIs, solid fielding and spectacular plays like today when he might well have saved the victory by laying out for a line drive headed to hitville.  Speaking of Brandons, Belt hit another monster home run.  Right now most of the starting lineup is hitting around .300.  The Giants often have good or a very good first half of the season (as they did last year), but seems to me in the past they've been carried for the first months by one or two guys.  They've turned things around from April and have momentum going into June, all through the lineup.

 They passed a test of stamina with this ridiculous holiday weekend road trip. The bigger test will come in the dog days after the All Star break.  Last year they were a great team the first half, and a really mediocre one the second half, until the playoffs. I'll try not to anticipate and just enjoy this good baseball while it's on my radio.

With this weekend's win, Lincecum became the third winningest pitcher in Giants history.  And though I didn't hear anyone mention it, I believe today's game ended Buster Posey's hitting streak at 18, although it took a play almost as good as Crawford's to do it.

The Boys of Zero

The San Francisco Giants returned home for three games with the Los Angeles Dodgers, first place in their division and the hottest hitting team in the bigs.

The Giants pitchers gave up zero runs in the 27 innings of the three games, and won 2-0, 4-0 and 4-0.  By the time the Dodgers left, the Giants were but a game and a half behind them, in second place.

The starters pitched very well--the operative word being "pitched."  Hudson, Lincecum and Bumgarner got into trouble in various innings, none of them was throwing overpowering stuff consistently, but they pitched their way out of tight spots, aided by superior fielding.

The Giants hit homers (a titanic blast by Posey, MadBum's shot that became the winning run in his game), had timely singles (including RBIs by Hunter Pence in his first games in San Francisco this season) and extra base hits, and also scored on hustle and base-running.  It was a fun series to listen to, full of baseball drama and derring-do.

Now the Giants head back on the road, first stop Colorado where they've had their problems, battling the elevation and close-in fences, but the Rockies are rocky at the moment and the Giants have been out-powering teams used to busting fences.  The pitchers will have to adjust, and it's an exhausting-sounding series, with the first game Friday and a double-header on Saturday.

Giant Power

Who are these guys?  In the past two games--Friday and Saturday in Cincinnati--the San Francisco Giants scored a total of 21 runs, winning 10-2 and 11-2.  Before last week they hadn't scored more than 7 runs in any one game. Their average was 3.  And home runs were flying out of the park, including two by Brandon Belt--his first two of the season--and Brandon Crawford's fourth career grand slam.

Update: Make that 30 runs in three games, as the Giants prevailed in Cincy on Sunday 9-8, on Belt's THIRD home run in three games.  Hunter Pence had his first homer of the season, on the second day of his season.  But perhaps the most impressive moments were at the end of the game.  The runfest had all the pitchers rattled, including Cincy's "unhittable" closer who had the bases loaded before he got the final out.  In comes Casilla for the Giants in the last of the ninth--and retires the side on nine pitches, three strikeouts.  The coolest relief appearance of the year.

On Saturday the Giants were further energized by the return of Hunter Pence.  He'd come back earlier than expected from his tuneup in Sacramento where he hit two homers in three games.  But big league pitching?  In his first at bat he scorched a double, and flew around the bases to score on a single.  He went 3 for 4 and scored three times.

The starting pitching was as good as it needed to be.  Madison Bumgarner on Friday was not at his best but he stymied the Reds when they got men on base. Both starter Ryan Vogelsong and reliever Gene Machi had shaky moments on Saturday, too, but they also kept the Reds at bay.  Three of the four Cincy runs in the two games came on solo homers.

These two games were so different in a giddy way that the radio announcers were talking tongue in cheek about remembering the old days when the games were decided by one run.  Remember that?  The outbreak of power on the road is what the Giants need.  Everyone in the lineup is capable of hitting one out.  But in the long run they need homers on the road in ordinary games to make up for less than perfect pitching, fielding and baserunning--and bad luck.  This is a great start.

Brandon Belt is becoming the definition of a streaky hitter, and maybe that says something about the small difference between success and failure against today's pitching.  A little better vision, a little different quickness or whatever.

Brandon Crawford's first major league hit in his career was a grand slam.  Is he turning into an unlikely power hitter?  He's leading the club in homers and RBIs, and that no longer seems so unusual.

Getting Sober

The Giants last two losses--the last of two in Houston, then the first of a 4 game set in Cincinnati--suggest why they may be a .500 team this year: without home run hitters, their margin for error is small, especially on the road.

The two games were very similar: the starting pitchers were shaky, and left on the mound an inning or a batter too many.  Managerial gambles didn't pay off, there was sloppy play especially on the bases.  More than anything, there was a lack of key hits with runners on base.  So even though the Giants took a lead or at least a tie into late innings, the likelihood of them losing seemed pretty high.

When this team does well, they win by one run.  When they are less than near perfect, they lose by one run.  As they did both of these games.  The difference in both--since pitching was less than stellar for both teams--was clutch hitting and especially home runs.

The Giants only home runner hitter now in the lineup is Brandon Belt, and he's been striking out consistently again, after a nice streak of hitting at home.  He has yet to hit a single home run this season.  Other Giants, like Posey or Crawford or really almost anyone, are certainly capable of homering in these homer-friendly parks on the road.  But none are consistent at it.

Michael Moore's homers carried the Giants early last year, and he's gone. It might be awhile before Hunter Pence can be expected to return to form, even after he returns to the lineup.  It's hard to see what the Giants have to offer other teams in trade for a power hitter, but they've pulled rabbits out of a hat before.  Failing that, the law of averages suggests they're going to be a very good team that can't put away lesser teams, and so are always in danger of losing because of one mistake, or one whiff with runners on base.  The games will still be exciting, but to get to postseason will likely take a lucky streak at the right time.

As to what's wrong with the Pirates now, I've got no clue.  They've lost two low-scoring games to the Phillies.  So maybe they haven't turned the corner after all.

The Young and the Great

They're an old team, say the critics.  But youth was served up piping hot today as two young Giants starred: rookie pitcher Chris Heston--brought up last month from the minors because of injuries to the aging starting rotation--pitched a two hitter, a complete game with 10 strikeouts, which only two veteran pitchers could match all last year.  And for the second game in a row, young Matt Duffy brought in the winning run with a key hit--this time with a 3 hit, 5 RBI game.  The SF Giants beat the Astros in Houston 8-1.  In the Giants last game of the homestand on Sunday against the Marlins, Duffy got his first walkoff hit in the majors, winning the game with two outs in the last of the ninth. That's his swing in the photo above.

Granted that Houston is struggling, and key errors gave the Giants a bunch of runs, but it was highest run total for the Giants all year.  I'm guessing what impressed baseball execs throughout the league was that Heston knew how to pitch with a lead.  He stayed aggressive, as evidenced by those ten strikeouts (even granted that the Astros strike out a lot.)

Can't say enough about Duffy.  Maybe pitchers don't know him yet but he's taken advantage of situations and shown some power.  His double with the bases loaded in the third inning bounced over the wall or it would have been a triple.  Duffy has twice as many hits with the bases loaded as the rest of the team combined.

It's fun when the young guys are coming through.  The announcers add to everything.  A few days ago, when the Giants had completed their fourth shutout of the homestand, one (Kiper or maybe Miller) noted in the deadpan but enthusiastic voice used to announce meaningful records, "and the Giants won every one of them."  "Amazing!" Dave Flemming said.

Last night, Barry Bonds chose two of these announcers--Duane Kiper and Mike Krukow--to introduce him at the awards dinner inducting him into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.  Here's something very interesting they said earlier:

Asked for his favorite memory of the slugger, Kuiper pointed not to the diamond but to a plane ride. They were on the team flight headed for Atlanta, where Greg Maddux was scheduled to start for the Braves. Krukow and Kuiper were talking about Maddux when the hitter said, "You want to know something? I'll tell you the first seven pitches he's going to throw me." Bonds was so sure of the sequence that he insisted that the broadcasters write it down. 

 "It never got to seven, because he hit the sixth pitch," Kuiper recalled. "But the first five were right. He knew exactly what Maddux was going to do to him. "

So if he knew what Maddux was going to do him, then he knew what most guys were going to do to him. You don't think that's an advantage?" Krukow said: "Bonds is the best player I ever saw that I was old enough to appreciate. I saw Willie Mays when I was a kid, so I couldn't really appreciate how great he was -- I mean, I knew he was fabulous.

 "But you can actually see Bonds' genius at the plate. If you break down the mechanics of his swing, they were perfect to hit for average. They were perfect to hit for power. And he had one of the most brilliant minds ever to step into a batter's box."

Barry Bonds unites my baseball enthusiasms--I saw him play for both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the SF Giants.  He was one of my favorite players to watch on those Pirates teams, and what he did as a Giant is amazing. Beyond the whatever,  Krukow suggests why.

Meanwhile, the Bucs are continuing to stay hot, matching big hits with solid pitching.  They've also recently climbed just above .500  but like the Giants they've dug themselves a hole in their division.  They are both about six games behind.  The Pirates when they are hitting is the more formidable club--but you know, that was also sort of true last year.

Giant Streak

This streak has to be said.  The Giants beat the Padres 6-0 on Tuesday evening, for their fifth victory in a row.  It was also their third consecutive shutout, including the last two blanking the Padres, statistically the hottest hitting team in the National League.  And suddenly the Giants are in second place, 3.5. games behind the Dodgers.

As in the previous games, the Giants got excellent starting pitching deep into the game.  This time it was Ryan Vogelsong, starting only because of injuries, but with streaks of solid and even great starts in his past with the Giants.  He pitched a shutdown seven innings. In the final two innings  Kontos and Petit challenged the Padres hitters and struck them out.

That much was the same, but there were three notable differences from yesterday: first, they fielded well with some excellent plays, including one by Brandon Belt, and second, speaking of Belt, his hitting came around.  Third, they got hits to bring in baserunners pretty efficiently.  It was 5-0 after 5, and Joe Panik made it six with his second home run in the past three days.  Which puts him on pace for, what, 55? Okay, maybe not.

On the downside, Pagan was out of the lineup with an injury to his finger that hampers his ability to swing the bat.  Tomorrow a day game so he's unlikely to play then either.

On the other side of the continent, the Pirates are going the other way--still not scoring runs but giving up even more.  Their streak is a losing one, I think at four now.

Giants de Mayo

More on the Giants, after their Monday night 2-0 victory over the hot-hitting San Diego Padres--another shutout, this one while committing four fielding errors, the first time in more than 80 years a Giants team has shut out the opponent with that many errors.  The difference: Madison Bumgarner, who took a no-hitter into the seventh, went 7 and a third giving up two hits.

Besides contagious high level of starting pitching and consistent relief pitching, what other factors account for recent success?  Overall the new lineup is working, with Aoki replacing Pagan at leadoff, and Pagan feasting at .350 hitting third.  And so far staying healthy.  There's a nice rhythm to it, and at its best it works as last season's club did in the postseason.  Run production is the chief problem--missing the key hit.

Panik in his second season is still very solid, Susac is a valuable addition again this year and deserves to stay with the club, Maxwell is fielding well and hitting for power, McGehee is not yet consistent at the plate, Crawford is off to a very good start, Posey's batting average is moving up closer to normal.  Brandon Belt however is still floundering.  He made two of the four errors tonight (though charged with only one of them), and though he had a double and is showing some signs of regaining power, he's still a bit flummoxed at the plate.  If his fielding deteriorates and his hitting doesn't sharpen, it's a problem.

And even in this relative prosperity the Giants are still not hitting much, especially with runners aboard.

Giants Weekend

It's been a baseball weekend for me.  Saturday listening to SF Giants day game, then later through the miracle of YouTube I finished watching the 2004 ALCS in which the Red Sox came back from three to none to win four in a row over the Yankees, propelling them into a four game sweep and the first Boston World Series victory since 1918.  Then rewatched the 30-30 docu on that historic ALCS. At the time, with a crucial election coming up etc. I hadn't watched the ALCS until the 7th game, when I finally caught on to the historic possibilities for the team that had once been my home team, in the years I lived in Cambridge MA.

Then today listened to another Giants day game, another victory, with another twist of history.  Saturday the game ended with a baserunner hit by the ball, a bizarre finish that none of the experienced announcing team nor any of the players interviewed could remember ever seeing before.  It turns out it had happened, but was very rare.  And then, before the day was out, it happened again, in the Dodgers game. Oh the wonders of baseball.

The weekend victories completed the Giants 3 game sweep of the Angels, drawing them ever closer to a .500 record.  The most promising aspect was the starting pitching--Tim Hudson a strong 8 innings plus, Tim Lincecum a strong 8 and a shutout.  The game began with the first two Giants at the plate hitting home runs--the first time that quirk had happened on Giants teams in 51 years.  The 2-0 lead became 5-0 by the late innings.

The Giants aren't the only team struggling with a number of key injuries or gaps--arguably the Angels are, and the Dodgers certainly are.  But at the moment the Giants seem to be adapting to adversity the best.  But they will be tested with the hot bats of the Padres coming into town, a team that some project to win the division they share with the Giants, and most place ahead of the Giants.  Hunter Pence is taking batting practice but the two starting pitchers who are down are still weeks away.

Meanwhile the Pirates seem to have lost the ability to hit, and have lost three tight low scoring games to St. Louis.  Given each team's circumstances, the Giants are probably overperforming but the Pirates are underperforming.

Anyway, I enjoyed this baseball weekend.  It's just a joy to listen to the Giants announcing team (and fun to hear Jon Miller's voice on 30-30 calling some of the 2004 Red Sox moments, probably for ESPN radio.)  Baseball and the radio go together for me, and these guys are knowledgeable, informative during the game (an eye for pitches that I envy) and a lot of fun, especially when teamed up and for the post-game show when they all gather.  It's usually the only time I hear Mike Krukow, and he's the most interesting about aspects of the game, particularly the pitchers. Plus you get seagulls in the background--how great is that?  I've said all this before but it's still true.  I still enjoy them.  

Giants Over Dodgers

The first place Los Angeles Dodgers went into San Francisco with a seven game winning streak.  They left with a three game losing streak.  The Giants swept the series, comfortably outhitting the Dodgers in the first game, then getting the timely hits in the last at-bats of the following two.  A key was excellent starting pitching from Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong, and some key relief work.

The final game in the series went 10 innings and the Giants won it in Giants fashion--Pagan singled, stole second, and after an intentional walk to Belt, the Giants latest new hope Justin Maxwell roped one down the third base line to score Pagan with the winning run.

It was a great end to a dismal home stand, as the Giants particularly used the home field last at-bat to good advantage.  They have to feel good especially about the pitching they got.  Newer players are finding their space and veterans are starting to come around.  Pagan is showing he can again be a catalyst---his problem has always been staying healthy.  When Buster Posey gets going and Hunter Pence returns, the pop in the lineup will improve.

But out of this triumph the Giants go into the sinkhole of Colorado, where they don't often do well at that altitude.  They do have their rookie hope Chris Hatcher on the mound tonight, their best starter so far this season, and good starting pitching is weirdly infectious.

Early Baseball Blues

A terrible start for the San Francisco Giants, and not much better for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Both have won three games each.  The Giants started well, plucky and opportunistic until they got hit with more injuries.  Thursday night I listened to the last several innings of a home game (it went 12 innings) with the surprise first place club of Colorado, in which they came back several times to tie the game but could not seal the deal (which could have been taking that ball four with the bases loaded).   They lost their seventh in a row, and have yet to win at home.  Their pitching is wobbly (starting, relief), their hitting pale, their scoring nonexistent and their fielding is not great.  Can't get much worse.

Adding insult to much injury even before the season started, Pablo Sandoval starting bad-mouthing the entire team (except for a few) and its management (except for Bruce Bochy), stating that he'd decided very early last year that he wasn't returning to the Giants because salary negotiations showed a lack of respect to him and his agent.  This despite his postseason declaration that he wanted to remain a Giant forever.

Though Sandoval has been doing pretty well so far on his new team of the Boston Red Sox, and they are leading the league at the moment, his comments probably helped the separation process in San Francisco, among fans as well as players.  Turns out he's a hypocrite.  So good riddance.

The Giants faltering is expected, though not so early or so thoroughly--they're bound to get better than this--but the Pirates slow start is more puzzling.  Still, they may well be coming around, with the Cutch feeling better.

When I lived in or near Pittsburgh, going to opening day of the Pirates was a tradition.  This year the opening day crowd--which looked large and enthusiastic--was treated to a Pirates home run on the first pitch of the game, by Josh Harrison.  They also have the early season distinction of being the only team so far to beat the Detroit Tigers.

Play Ball!

Baseball!  I paid no attention to NCAA this year, and though I'll probably follow Golden State through the NBA playoffs, I can't help feeling the dislocation of a league in which the two most prominent franchises--LA Lakers and New York Knicks--are among the worst teams.

So baseball.  The season starts with my Pirates pretty highly rated, and my Giants holding onto respect but not high hopes among the baseball writers etc.  And despite the opening day loss for the Bucs and the MadBum victory for the Giants, it's hard to argue with the writers.

Already the Giants are facing injury problems with their aging starting pitchers.  It's amazing how well they did late last year with several key injuries, but with Brandon Belt going down, both hitting and pitching are a mess to start the season.  Belt is due for a big year, so is Angel Pagan, but neither has been able to stay healthy.   It really looks like the off year, the odd numbered year, for this team.  They added no discernible power to the lineup, and lost a lot that they had.  And that starting corps is worrisome.

The Pirates look better than the Giants at least on paper, and I'm sure it's going to be an exciting summer at PNC Park.  They certainly have more power, and potentially very good pitching.  So the Pirates seem to have a much better chance of getting into the postseason than the Giants.  But that's how it looks.  They still have to play the games.  Play ball!

Super Stupid

Tom Brady did not win the Super Bowl for New England.  Coach Pete Carroll lost the Super Bowl for Seattle.

All Seattle had to do was make a half yard into the end zone in the last 40 seconds of the game to repeat as Super Bowl champions.  They had this year's most dominating short yardage back in the NFL.  It was second down.

Instead Coach Carroll got cute, called a pass play, the pass was neatly intercepted in traffic--and the game was essentially over.

How many ways can we count that this play was a stupidly wrong call?  The likelihood of an interception versus a fumble?  The lack of risk involved in a pass defense when an interference penalty would have resulted in meaningless yardage?  The time that could conceivably be left on the clock after a touchdown and extra point?

I watched only the fourth quarter, on my computer, and that turned out to be too much.  I didn't really much care who won, but a game decided on a play like that is just such a bummer that I regret watching any of it at all.

In another NFL note, Johnny Football (currently on the Browns roster) has reportedly entered "treatment" for an unspecified reason.  It's pretty clear from accounts of his behavior that they constitute a textbook pattern of alcoholics.  I'd be surprised if that doesn't turn out to be the case.

Blount Talk in Pittsburgh

Let the moaning in Pittsburgh begin.  I guarantee it's already happening, and will happen big this week, after the New England Patriots blew out the Indianopolis Colts to represent the AFL in the Super Bowl.  They did so with 148 yards and 3 touchdowns on 30 carried by LeGarrette Blount.

For most of this season, Blount was a Steeler.  But after a game which saw Le'Veon Bell dominate the running back carries and install himself as the starter as well as a league leader, Blount left the team early and was soon released.

Then in the final game of the regular season, in which the Steelers won their division, Bell was injured and could not play in the first playoff game.  Without Blount, the Steelers had no experienced quality backup and no running game.  They lost, badly.

The Steelers may have had few good choices but at the moment it's going to look to many like they managed themselves out of a Super Bowl.  With Blount they would have had a good chance to win their playoff game against the Ravens at home.  And on Sunday, Blount showed what he could do against Indianapolis, and perhaps what New England lacked without him.

(The counter-argument is that the Steelers offense actually outgained the Ravens, but their defense couldn't hold. But then there are all those trips to the red zone with only field goals.)

There's a real possibility the Steelers were punked.  Blount saw that he'd lost the starting role, and knowing how Belichick operates on both edges of the rules, I wouldn't be surprised if Blount had already been in touch with the Patriots (or that the Patriots "informally" got in touch with him), and deliberately got himself thrown off the Steelers so he could sign as the Patriots feature back.

Could the Steelers have kept Blount somehow?  Could they have promptly replaced him with an experienced backup, instead of assuming in what now looks like wishful arrogance that they could always depend on Bell?  Some of this discussion has already been raging, but now all of it will be hashed out endlessly and angrily in Pittsburgh this week and probably next.

Pittsburgh Memories R.I.P. 2014

With the Pittsburgh Steelers back in the playoffs, and my annual Pittsburgh-themed Christmas gift from one of my sisters (this year, a Pittsburgh scenes calendar) I pay homage to my hometown city and some of the people from its past--and my past--who passed away in 2014.

Chuck Noll was the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in their 1970s glory days, winning 4 Super Bowls.  I met him after their 1979 championship, on a story.  I asked him about Pittsburgh fans, and his face lit up.  He loved them.  And they loved him.  In football he was above all a teacher.  In the rest of his life, a civilized man.  He was a class act, and Pittsburgh learned from him.

Ralph Kiner was probably the first baseball player whose name I knew.  He was not just the Pirates' best player in the early to mid 50s, he was just about their only good player.  He led the National League in homers for seven straight years, with little help from the rest of the lineup.  Later he became an affectionately remembered baseball announcer, though in a different town.

Bill Nunn, Jr. was the managing editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, the premier African American newspaper in the US.  He then became the first African American executive of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hal Smith was one of two catchers on the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates.  Smoky Burgess was the hitter--he was kind of the Pablo Sandoval of his day--he hit bad pitches, and came up big in big games.  But in the seventh game of the World Series, Hal Smith came up in the eighth with the Pirates behind, and hit a three run homer that put them temporarily ahead, setting the stage for Bill Mazeroski's tie-breaking ninth inning solo homer.

Another former Pirate who passed away in 2014 was Eddie O'Brien, from their not great 50s team.  But when his brother Johnny played, he became half of the first twins to play for the same team in the same Major League game.

But life isn't all about sports, not even in Pittsburgh.  There's also music!  And Porky Chedwick was a legendary DJ in Pittsburgh and beyond, the original daddio of the radio, the platter-pushing papa, whose most influential era (even beyond Pittsburgh) was the doo-wop 1950s.  I was just a little too young (and a little too far away for good reception from his station) to catch him in his first flush of local fame, but everybody knew his name.  He brought a lot of attention to a lot of black acts in particular, not only on the radio but with live shows.

Pittsburgh had some great mayors, two of whom became PA governors.  Another great one was Richard Caliguiri, who I once interviewed at length.  But there was no Pittsburgh mayor who screamed Pittsburgh! in every way than Sophie Masloff.  As president of the City Council she became mayor upon Caliguiri's death in 1988, and was later elected in her own right.  Her proposal for a new baseball-only park was laughed to oblivion, but she lived long enough to attend games at PNC Park.  She left office in 1994.

Giants Trouble

Here it is late December and the World Champion San Francisco Giants are unable to attract the players they need while other teams in the division--notably the Dodgers and Padres--are trading like crazy, and at least on paper, improving immensely.

The Dodgers are putting together a formidable rotation of starting pitching, while the Padres are adding lots of power.  But the Giants, who need starting pitching, power and two key position players, are seeing their championship team losing important pieces without gaining any.  The Padres are in the midst of installing an entirely new and very impressive outfield.  The Giants can't seem to find a left fielder.  Or someone to play third base.

The Giants have lost two keys to their 2014 success: Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse.  While the Dodgers add pitching, the Giants don't have a starting rotation.  They signed reliever Romo, who was shaky for a period in 2014.

Sure, there's still time and other ways to get good players.  But it does seem mysterious.  In the competition for big name free agents (including Sandoval) their money offers were close if not the same.  And their reputation for a close-knit clubhouse, an exceptional organization, and great fans, presumably would have been an attraction.  The mystery is why it wasn't.

 It may be that San Francisco doesn't draw nationally.  The ratings for the 2014 World Series were pretty bad until the seventh game.

Last year the Giants had a great first half, then barely made it into the playoffs.  The competition within the division is likely to be greater this year.  Nobody knows of course whether all those new Dodgers and Padres will jell into a team, or when.  But the Giants will likely need to find some players somewhere just to remain competitive in 2015.

The Panda Blues

It's not a decision that is easy to understand, and as this piece implies, one that Pablo Sandoval may come to regret, but the Panda is gone from San Francisco Giants baseball.  He's signed with the Boston Red Sox for about the same contract as the World Champion Giants were offering.  Anyway, a really good piece on Sandoval and the Giants, and their respective futures.

They Might Not Be Giants

The constant is change in the three recent San Francisco Giants world championship teams.  At the same time, the teamwork and clubhouse attitudes were at the core of the team's success.  Manager Bruce Bochy is known for his loyalty to his players, and GM Brian Sabean is known for going the extra mile to re-sign his best players.

Still, next year's team is bound to be different.  Among the free agents now are pitchers Jake Peavy, Ryan Vogelsong and Sergio Romo.  Jeremy Affeldt nears the end of his two year deal.  Position players include Michael Morse and the one everyone is talking about, Pablo Sandoval.

There was a lot of "this may be the last time in a Giants uniform" in the World Series, but negotiations start with Sandoval's uninhibited declaration that he wants to remain a Giant for the rest of his career.

Who could blame him?  Among the best fans in baseball come to watch "the Panda", he's a beloved player even when he's not playing all that well, his teammates and the culture of the clubhouse are nurturing and fun, and he's on a persistent winner.

Fortunately for the Giants, they've already signed Madison Bumgarner, or they might not be able to afford anyone else.

It seems likely that the Giants will want to resign Romo and Morse.  But Bumgarner's dominance can't long mask the problems the Giants have with their starting pitching rotation for next year.  Peavy and Vogelsong, as well as Hudson and Lincecum are big question marks in terms of coming back. Nobody knows how effective Matt Cain will be, coming back from his injury.  That's a lot of spots to fill.

The relief corps may also need to be refreshed.  Affeldt had a rocky season but he was stalwart in the postseason, so he'll be back.  Hunter Strickland demonstrated that he's not quite ready for prime time, so he probably won't, at least to start the season.

The rookies that the Giants would be nuts not to hold onto are Joe Panik, who can be their second baseman for the next decade, and Andrew Susac, who didn't play in the Series but showed signs of being a good backup catcher and pinch hitter, who can spell Buster Posey behind the plate during the season.

But this is going to be an active offseason for the Giants management.  Signing Sandoval is their first priority, but that's just the start.  The starters is where the real problems are.  

It's MadBum Time--Giants Are World Champs

An improbable year for an improbable championship team ends with an historic pitching performance by Madison Bumgarner in five scoreless innings of relief, just two days after his complete game masterpiece in the fifth game.  The final score was Giants 3 Royals 2.

Records fell all over the place with this win, including many for Madison Bumgarner, quickly named MVP of the World Series.  But this was a team that led the Majors for the first half of the season, and fell so far so fast that it squeaked into the postseason with the last possible playoff spot.  It started the playoffs with its best hitters in slumps, with Angel Pagan and Matt Cain out for the season, with Brandon Belt just returning from injury, and Michael Morse still not back from his injury.

The Giants won the World Series with only one starter who got a victory, and two who didn't get out of the second inning--but Madison Bumgarner got three of their four wins, though an scoring change gave the official win in this one to Affeldt.

The quote of the night belongs to Jeremy Affeldt: "Sometimes we sit around wondering if Madison is human.”

The most dramatic moment had to be in the last of the ninth, when just one out from victory, an error in the outfield by normally excellent fielder Gregor Blanco put a man on third for the Royals.  It seemed like one of those awful portentous plays that forecasts doom.

But on a 2-2 count, MadBum induced a pop-up with a pitch that rode high inside, the Panda squeezed it before falling to his knees, and the San Francisco Giants became 2014 World Champions.

Major contributions on offense by Pablo Sandoval (who set a Major League record for hits in postseason play), DH Michael Morris (2 of the 3 RBIs, including the winning run) and Hunter Pence (two hits this game, .444 average for the Series, and hit in all seven games.)  Major contribution on the mound by Jeremy Affeldt, who pitched 2.5 scoreless innings, stopping the bleeding after Tim Hudson was knocked out in the second, and before MadBum took over.

Major contributions on defense by Perez in left, Crawford at short and by Joe Panik at second, whose great grab in the third stifled a rally and started a double play (which was assisted by Bruce Bochy who appealed the safe call at first.  After lengthy review, it was overturned.)

When the Giants went back ahead 3-2, Bruce Bochy seized the moment to get MadBum into the game.  It was a perfect baseball move, and a perfect psychological move, since the Royals knew he had completely mystified them in two previous games.  Bochy's decision to play Perez in left for his defense also paid dividends.

In the end, this is Bruce Bochy's championship.  He managed the Giants through this crazy year, and made the right moves when they counted in the postseason.  It's no coincidence that Bochy was the manager for three championships by three quite different Giants teams in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Finally, there is the resilience and the attitude of this team.  I was really surprised by the buoyancy with which they and everybody with the Giants (including their announcers) greeted their wild card berth, which they backed into.  It was as if the burden of the questionable season were lifted.  They were a new team.  They played like one.

And so, San Francisco celebrated.  In Pittsburgh, the Pirates are the city's longest love, but the Steelers are the most intense.  But in San Francisco, it's the Giants.

Except for the Panik photo from Fox, all the photos--like all the articles linked to--are from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Royals Erupt in Game 6

It was their night, as Hunter Pence so aptly said.  The Royals piled up 10 runs and the Giants got 0.  So the seventh game of the 2014 World Series is tomorrow in Kansas City.

Once again, it wasn't as bad as it looked.  Some errant play, especially by Brandon Belt, allowed KC to keep the second inning going, when they eventually got 7.  The really bad news was that they got to Petit after sending Peavy to the showers in near-record time.

It isn't just history that's now against the Giants.  The Royals are pumped up at home, and they finally got to SF's best long reliever.  Tim Hudson starts, with everybody else--including Bumgarner--in reserve.  The Royals obviously didn't have to use their late inning relievers, but neither did the Giants.  Except for Petit, everybody else that's been getting the Royals out is rested.

The Royals got an excellent start from Ventura on Tuesday.  They'll need an excellent start on Wednesday as well.  The Giants got six hits, and they've won games on fewer.  So it's game on.

6:50 Pacific: Sure didn't see this coming.  Instead of the game of his life, Jake Peavy had one of the worst starts of his career (which with the Giants may be over.)  The Royals had another of their explosive innings and in the fourth lead 8-0.

Seize the Sixth

It was the last day of baseball in San Francisco for the season, but it's not yet time for a retrospective of an interesting year.  Monday's a travel day before the sixth game of the World Series, so that's topic A.

It's looked like a seven game series and it may yet turn out to be.  But I'm feeling more and more that the Giants have the edge in the sixth game.  I base a lot of that on how the Giants have improved as the series has gone on.  They've now seen the entire pitching staff and hit starters, middle and late relievers.  This is their second look at Ventura, a young fireballer.  Curt Schilling said something interesting at ESPN.  He said Ventura is a thrower, not a pitcher.  He expects the Giants to be looking for fastballs to hit.  If Ventura's stuff is not exceptional, they could get to him.

Then what does Yost do?  He has to go all out with his staff, none of whom (except for his closer and his 7th game starter) have gone untouched.

On the Giants side, Jake Peavy is a veteran who has been in pressure situations before.  He knows that this is potentially the game of his life.  He pitched well in the second game, and that hellish inning wasn't entirely or even mainly his fault.

Nobody knows what pitchers have until the game is well underway.  But I think Peavy has the edge this time.  And the Giants have a "rested and ready" bullpen (as reliever Jeremy Affeldt said.)  So far the Royals have not touched Petit or (in a couple of innings) Lincecum, and hardly grazed Affeldt, Lopez, Cassia and Romo.

This is the Giants' second trip to Kansas City this Series.  It didn't bother them in the first game, which they won.  So it's unlikely to bother them tomorrow.  They have two games to win one, but the Royals must win tomorrow--that can help them, and that can hurt them.  The Giants, many of whom have felt World Series victory, can smell it.  They won't get tentative.

The Giants bats are hot, the Royals are cold, and though that can change, it looks more to me like series adjustments by the Giants hitters, and their pitchers. Every game is itself, but I like the Giants today.

Giants Behind Bumgarner Win 5-0 to Take Series Lead

In a dominant complete game performance, Madison Bumgarner pitched a 4-hit shutout, and the San Francisco Giants got to the Royals late relievers to add to their lead.  The 5-0 victory in the last game of the season at their home park, sends the Giants off to Kansas City needing to win one of the next two games to win the World Series.

He pitched the first World Series shutout since 2003.  Bumgarner set all kinds of other marks, as summarized here.  He threw eight strikeouts, many swinging, and many with the batters looking silly.  He walked no one.  It was an historic performance, and if the Giants win the Series, he's likely to be named the MVP.

But going forward it was the Giants' hitting that was most encouraging.  First their ability to scratch out runs from timely hits but also productive outs, bunting and base-running, and taking advantage of mistakes.  Second, they got to two of the Royals' previously untouchable late inning relievers.  So they've touched up starters, middle relievers and now the finishers.  They've seen everybody the Royals have.

Also important for the Giants: Sandoval and Pence continued hot hitting.  Brandon Crawford produced in the clutch (3 RBIs this game.)  Blanco was the only Giant besides Bumgarner not to get a hit in this game, and Blanco has gotten some key hits in the Series.

The Series is not won, of course.  The Giants now face the two starting pitcher that beat them in the second and third games.  From the Giants perspective, they need just one of the next two.  From the Royals' perspective they've accomplished what they needed to: won one of two at home, and one of three away.  Both teams have now won two games in a row, so the Royals winning two at home is hardly a stretch.  But the Giants are playing their best baseball right now, and the Royals aren't.

For the last pre-game of the year at the home park, I'd expected some acknowledgement of the players who helped the Giants get here but aren't on the roster, namely Matt Cain and Angel Pagan.  Maybe that's happened and hasn't been reported.  What is documented is the pre-game ceremony honoring the late Robin Williams, who was among other things a San Francisco Giants fan.  His son threw out the first pitch, caught by Billy Crystal.


630 p. pacific: Through four innings, it's Giants 2 Royals 0.  Bumgarner is very sharp but Shields is almost as sharp.  It's his infield that's let him down, and the Giants have cashed in a couple of opportunities.  Singles, a smart bunt by Belt, contact to move the runners, and the Giants manufactured two runs.

6:51: Bumgarner bears down with a man on second to get out of the inning without damage in the top of the fifth.  In the bottom half, the Giants get two on, Pence hits a titanic drive but excellent outfield play rescues Shields, who may have pitched his last inning.  It remains 2-0.

7:12: Bumgarner cruises through the sixth, Shields does pitch, gives up a single but the Giants strand the runner on second.  However their hits and at-bats have stretched Shields pitch count past 90.  Hererra, one of their big three late innings relievers, was warming up so he's likely to pitch the seventh.  After 6, the score is still 2-0.    Bumgarner starts the seventh with 7 strikeouts and no walks.

7:24: The Royals get a hit but Bumgarner pitches out of it in the top of the seventh.  It seems likely that barring a jam he'll finish the game, regardless of how that affects the possibility of relief in the seventh game.  Yost uses his late relief trio for one inning each, and with a travel day tomorrow, the risk of using them all in this game in terms of the next two games are pretty minimal.

7:38: The Giants strand a runner but they forced Hererra to throw a lot of pitches in the bottom of the 7th.  His pitch count is way up from the regular season.  He doesn't look unhittable anymore. Yost made some other roster moves that will play out in the 8th.  After seven, Giants 2 Royals 0.

7:49: Bumgarner pitches a strong 8th and though just over a hundred pitches, is likely to start the 9th.  Sandoval begins the bottom of the 8th by hitting the unhittable Hererra.  Then so does Pence. Hererra is gone.

8:04: Dominant Davis comes in.  Belt takes him to 3-2 before taking strike three.  Then light hitting Juan Perez also takes him 3-2, then launches one into center for a triple.  Two runs score.  Crawford comes up and singles Perez in for his third RBI on the game.  It's 5-0.  Cassia was warming up but now Bumgarner is batting, and he'll pitch the ninth.  After 8 innings it's Giants 5 Royals 0.

11 by 11: Giants Even the Series with Come From Behind Win

Dark clouds turned into a rainbow: Coming back from a 4-1 deficit, the SF Giants lit up their home ballpark with an 11-4 victory to even the World Series at two wins apiece.

Bruce Jenkins of the SF Chronicle placed it in context: "This was the one, the performance for the Giants’ time capsule. If any future historian wants to know exactly why this team kept showing up in the postseason, and winning, bust out the four-hour spectacular from Saturday night. Who knows if the Giants will even win this World Series? It was only Game 4, with a trip back to Kansas City now guaranteed. But this 11-4 win over the Royals was about the restoration of faith and reputations. So much was on the line. And about 19 guys came to the rescue."

Down 4-1, the kids threw some 11s: 11 runs on hits by 11 different batters--a World Series record. Buster Posey got his 16th single of the postseason and drove in a run, tying him with Barry Bonds for the club WS RBI record.  Pablo Sandoval had key hits, including driving in the winning run, unusual only that he was hitting from his far weaker right side.  Joe Panik had two doubles, scoring and driving in two runs.  Hunter Pence had 3 hits, 3 RBIs and at least one fielding gem.

  Ryan Vogelsong started but it was Petit who was the pitching hero, shutting down the Royals and even getting a hit.  He has yet to give up a run in the postseason.

Yesterday was Royals Friday but this was Giants Saturday.  They won the key pitching battles, they got the breaks.  Their baserunning was daring again, but this time it worked.  They had a bad inning that included a mental error, but they overcame it.  Yost's moves failed, Bochy's moves succeeded.

The Giants eventually got to the Royals' starter but even more to their middle relievers.  That was absolutely the key to this game.  So the Giants learned one good lesson (the middle relievers are vulnerable) but they won't see this starter again.  It's back to the top three in both teams' rotation.  The Royal's Shields hasn't had a good outing in awhile, but Bumgarner has the most trouble this year at home.  The Giants know they need to get ahead in those first six innings.  Fifth game winners usually win the Series, but for the Giants this last game at home is almost essential.  (For what it's worth, Curt Schilling has the Giants in seven.)

It was a great game for the San Francisco fans, who rallied along with the team.

Jenkins also comments: The Giants’ organization has become known for staging the classiest pregame ceremonies in baseball, and this one stood out: Henry Aaron, the Little League champions from Chicago, 13-year-old Mo’ne Davis throwing out the first pitch (beautifully), Carlos Santana performing the national anthem, and Bryan Stow — flanked by his magnificent benefactor, Tim Flannery — shouting “Play ball!” from a wheelchair.  Stow is the Giants fan crippled by a Dodgers fan outside the stadium in LA.  Davis was the first girl to pitch a shutout in the Little League World Series.

Royals Up a Game with 3-2 Win

The Kansas City Royals won the third game of the World Series 3-2.  Tim Hudson pitched a fine game for the Giants.  Javier Lopez gave up what turned out to be the winning run but it was more a case of an excellent 11 pitch at-bat than anything he did wrong.  The Giants were in position to tie a few times but the KC relievers are pitching extremely well.

The Giants have to take advantage of any scoring opportunities against the starter of the next game, scheduled for Saturday but with rain in the forecast for San Francisco.  The more times they see the relievers, the better they should see them.  But they've got nothing to hang their heads about.  The Royals outplayed them and got the breaks.  It could be the other way tomorrow.  And then comes Bumgarner.

Whatever happens, the fifth game is going to be a great one for the folks lucky enough to be there at the park in San Francisco--the last home game of this strange season.  From second Wild Card to National League champs in itself is worth celebrating, and I'm sure that's what they'll do Sunday, no matter what happens.

Because if things continue like this, they won't be bringing home a world championship.  But that's the great thing about baseball.  Things don't always continue the way they are.  A couple of feet from foul to fair, a liner that falls instead of staying up, and they could have won this game.

Speaking of Giants and Lakers

The morning after, the SF Giants were putting the best face on their 7-2 loss that they could.  The 5 runs charged to five different pitchers in the 6th was freakish.  Without it, a different game.  And their loss was not even as bad as the unexpected margin of the first game, which they won 7-1.

While it's true that inning was unique, disastrous late innings weren't unprecedented or for awhile even rare for the Giants this season.  Their bullpen imploded to begin their midseason plunge from comfortably in first place to struggling for the second of two wild card spots.

But this game was worrisome for a couple of other reasons: Hunter Strickland and (speaking of freak) Tim Lincecum.  Strickland let the game get away, and given Lincecum's solid innings that followed, we'd probably not see the young fireballer again in the World Series, at least in a pressure situation.  But Lincecum left the game with a back injury, and Giants fans await the word on whether he can pitch again.  All of this calls the Giants bullpen into question.  Bochy will have to do some fancy managing to cope with it.  Friday pregame update: Lincecum not seriously injured, stays on the roster.

Doubts are also being raised about Jake Peavy, but while not commanding, his start was decent: two runs through five full innings.  He might have pitched out of serious danger again in the 6th, though Bochy's decision to lift him made sense at the time.  If I were Bochy, I'd have no qualms about handing him the ball.  Strickland is something else.  He's shown himself susceptible to pressure, and that's not going to lessen.  If Bochy has an alternative, he may well have thrown his last pitch in this World Series.

The Royals are going to come into San Francisco confident and fired up.  They won the game they pretty much had to win.  Now the Giants have to counter.  The third game is a big one for them.  I've got a good feeling about Tim Hudson's start.

Meanwhile in the NBA, the Lakers' bad luck (or some would say comeuppance) continues.  After a controversial ESPN piece saying that the reason the Lakers couldn't score a big name free agent was that nobody wants to play with Kobe Bryant, it's announced that Steve Nash is hurt and will not play this season, again.

Meanwhile the Lakers can't win in preseason, which isn't surprising, with pretty much a brand new team.  I don't buy the Kobe story, at least not completely.  After Dwight Howard got burned by baby Buss' bungling in hiring a coach, and with Kobe coming back from injury at 36, the Lakers lost their luster--no free agent in his right mind who had a choice would have gambled on them, not if they want to be on a team that looks like it could contend. The Lakers will have to prove that this year.  I expect Kobe to come back strong, but that's yet to come.

If the Lakers were seriously counting on Nash to be their starting point guard this year, they remained delusional.  Nash is a formerly great player, but his competitors are bigger, stronger and faster now.  He's pretty much admitted that he's sticking around for the money, and the Lakers are paying him big time.  He could probably contribute as an assistant coach.  But his days as an impact player were over.

Kansas City Surge

The Kansas City Royals broke loose in the 6th inning and their bullpen as advertised shut the door to take the second game of the World Series 7-2.

It was a pretty evenly matched game until the Giants lost control in the 6th.  Essentially the Kansas City game plan worked, as the Giants' plan did in the first game.  Now it's definitely a series.

Off day to build the KC buzz before the Series resumes with three in San Francisco.

6:05 pt: After two innings, it's Royals 2 Giants 1.  The Giants are getting pretty good at bats but Ventura is holding his own, and two excellent fielding plays kept the Giants off the board in the third.  Peavy however has given up 5 hits already.  The bottom of the third is likely to be an important test.

6:23: Peavy has a one-two-three third.  Top of the 4th, Sandoval doubles, Belt doubles him home--a goofy play limits the damage for the Royals.  It's tied 2-2.

Two general observations: The Cardinals were supposed to be a good fielding team.  In their series, they weren't.  The Royals are supposed to be a good fielding team.  So far they are.  They're also supposed to excel in baserunning and steals.  But the caught stealing in the first inning that ended a rally is all they have to show so far.

6:40: Peavy cruised through another inning in the fourth, the Giants again threatened but did not score in the fifth.  Ventura has thrown a lot of pitches so he may have no more than another inning.  2-2.

6:47: Peavy retires the Royals on 7 pitches to end the fifth.  The Giants probably have just the next inning to get to Ventura for runs. 2-2.

6:55: Giants get two on with one out in the 6th, and Ventura is taken out.  Now the Giants see the first of KC's vaunted relief trio, Herrera.  He's effective.

Man, I can't let these guys alone even to eat dinner.  The Royals score 5 in the 6th, and even the series with an impressive 7-2 win.

Giants Got First

6:22 pt: I miss these guys.  ESPN radio is on my usual Giants station, and is all I can find.  Can't believe the team broadcasters aren't working the game somewhere.

Giants game plan is to get to the Royals starter early.  Mission accomplished in the first inning: Sandoval double, Pence two run homer.  Though Royals pitcher Shields has settled down some, the Giants are still hitting the ball hard.  Bumgarner also having his early-mid innings troubles, in a jam in the third but strikes out two and gets a grounder from the Royals best hitters.  After three, it's 3-0.

Hunter Pence. Photo SF Chron

6:32: Giants knock out starter Shields in the fourth with a run and two runners on, nobody out.  Duffy the reliever isn't sharp, walked in a run but the Giants didn't get the killer hit.  Middle of the fourth: Giants 5 Royals 0.

7:35: Bumgarner continues his record-setting postseason shutout innings on the road through six.  With his pitch count at 93, now the question is how much further does he go.  It's an American League park, so the DH means there's no pinch-hitting for the pitcher move.  Meanwhile Duffy has settled down but may be tiring in the seventh.

7:44:  Yup, he was.  Opened the 7th walking Blanco, then Joe Panik tripled.  Giants 6-0.  New pitcher is Collins.  Panik on third, no outs.  Posey scorches one, but right at the first baseman for the first out.  Sandoval singles in Panik: 7-0.  A wild pitch sends Sandoval to second.  Pence walks.  Belt strikes out.  Morris flies out to end the inning.  So it's Giants 7-0, with Bumgarner apparently coming out to pitch the bottom of the 7th.

8:03: Bumgarner's scoreless innings end with a homer by Salvador Perez, both the consecutive scoreless on the road, and his streak of scoreless innings in the World Series.  The 7th ends Giants 7 Royals 1.  Doubtless Bumgarner's last inning this game.

8:17: Javier Lopez comes on in the 8th.  The ESPN announcers were clearly emphasizing the Kansas City story at the beginning of the game, but now they're talking up the Giants.  A double play ends the inning.  Still Giants 7-1.

8:35: Here's a novel sight: Giants rookie fireballer Hunter Strickland is pitching the last of the ninth. Give him the experience, the thrill, and don't show the Royals the regular late innings relievers. Strickland gets the first out with a three pitch strikeout.  A roller to second for the second out.  A strikeout ends the game.  The Giants win the first game of the World Series 7-1.

This puts the stats on the Giants' side.  Teams that won the first won the Series 10 out of the last 11.  A first win on the road rattles the home field advantage.  Roughing up the Royals' ace, who's had postseason problems, seeds some doubt for another start, probably the fifth game.  The pressure is on KC to win tomorrow, just to make it a series.

The Giants hitters were on it, but the fielding was excellent also--consistent for first games (apart from one error.)  Bumgarner didn't get to hit but he fielded, robbing the Royals of at least two hits.

Pence finally came alive at the plate, very good sign.  Sandoval has had a quiet record breaker, hitting in consecutive postseason games.  But his RBIs are what's vital.  His first today was the impetus.

Announcers note that the Royals are a young streaky team, that this is their first postseason loss, and the question is how they will respond tomorrow.  Jake Peavy against Ventura.  Most observers give the advantage to Ventura, a young fireballer. I would have agreed, but tonight I don't think so.  If Ventura isn't right from the start he could get rattled, but Peavy--though an excitable guy--can weather a storm.  Peavy's been here, and judging by the first game, that may be important.  I'm saying advantage Peavy, but ultimately every game is nothing more than itself.

Still, the Royals apparently believe that if they have a lead or the game is close after five or six innings, their bullpen will shut the Giants down.  The Giants thrive on getting an early lead like today, but they've shown in the postseason that they can come back.  They eventually hit the Cards best relievers.  So whether the Royals really have a bullpen advantage has yet to be seen.

Since I'm apparently stuck with ESPN radio, I'll note that on their website, 4 of their 6 "experts" picked the Royals to win the Series.  One of them said in four games, so he's wrong already.

A nice perspective on the game and the Series from John Heyman.

Giants Win National League Pennant

After dinking and walking and bunting their way to three victories, the San Francisco Giants got all of their runs from their first homers of the series, including a tying blast by pinch-hitting power hitter Michael Morse in the eighth, and the improbable three-run walk-off homer by Travis Ishikawa in the bottom of the ninth.  It was the first pennant won by a homer in Giants history since Bobby Thompson's most fabled blast in 1951.  The final score was 6-3.

But it wasn't exactly all power baseball.  Madison Bumgarner had rough patches early, including giving up back to back solo homers in the fourth, but settled down to shut the door through seven innings.  He was later named the series MVP.

There were several excellent fielding plays, including one by substitute center fielder Blanco.  The most crucial was in the top of the 9th, when Pablo Sandoval--who used to get taken out for defense in the late innings--got a glove on a sure extra base hit, deflected it to Brandon Crawford and got an out.  Casia was ineffective that inning and so it was up to Jeremy Affelt to get the final out and keep the Cards off the scoreboard.

Morse had already touched up a great reliever that the Giants hadn't gotten a hit from in earlier games.  Then Cards manager Metheny went to Wacha, the nemesis of the Pirates in last year's series, and he gave up a single to Sandoval, a walk to Belt, was behind 2-0 to the normally light-hitting substitute left fielder Travis Ishikawa, who was sitting on a low fastball, saw it and got all of it, into the right field stands.

The Giants won the series by winning the first game in St. Louis and all three games at home--a real treat for the tremendous Bay Area fans.  Not only did the Giants win the pennant with this game, they showed part of their game that had been missing for awhile.  So now they look a whole lot better against the Kansas City Royals, a team that has not lost a game in the playoffs. They both got next, in the World Series.

Noted: This SF Chronicle article says that Morse, who because of injuries had only 11 at bats since August, got the batting cage pitcher to simulate the sidearm delivery he would see at the plate, and he also got a useful tip before the game from Barry Bonds.

[Notes in Progress]

Top of the fourth: the announcers are talking about the strong wind to right--after Adams ties the game for St. Louis with his homer.  2-2.  Then Cruz hits a long homer to left and the Cards are ahead 3-2.  Bumgarner has thrown 60 pitches in the first four innings. [But this would be his last shaky inning.  He got every batter he faced until he left the game after seven.  Pinch-hitting for him in the eighth was Michael Morse.  His home run tied the game at 3-3.]

Bottom of the third: It's a Panik! With two outs, Gregor Blanco gets his second straight hit (that's right, Blanco) and Joe Panik homers to right--the first Giants homer this series.  It's 2-1 Giants.

After a couple of innings both starters, Bumgarner and more to the point Wainright seem strong.  Third inning: the Cards have scored.  Bumgarner issuing uncharacteristic walks, and a misplayed fly ball, but it could have been much worse.  Wainright can be more aggressive with a lead, though it's only one run going into the bottom of the third. [Wainright got even stronger through the middle innings, but threw a lot of pitches and was lifted in the seventh.]