And the ride (torture) continues!!!
One game summed up the entire Giants season this year and what us as fans have gone through for 162 games. It was fitting that it took all 162 to decide where the Giants would be headed.
It was Jonathan Sanchez on the mound. One of the formerly most torturous Giants pitchers, now one of the most consistent. He did exactly what the Giants needed him to do, put zeros on the board early in the game so the Giants' offense could get started. Only it was Sanchez who would get it started himself.
A blast to triples alley and Sanchy had his very first triple of his career, and he couldn't have picked a better time to unleash it. 2 batters later, and the other Sanchy, Freddy Sanchez delivered a single up the middle to score the first run. And Huff Daddy finished it off for the inning with a 1 run double.
With 20 years in the Majors between them, Freddy and Aubrey had just punched their first tickets to the playoffs in dramatic fashion.
And those 2 runs were all the Giants pitchers needed. A stat flashed on the screen after that small scoring barrage showing that the Giants pitchers led the league in shutdown innings (putting up a zero after going ahead). Sanchez did not disappoint, he kept the Padres honest and put up not one but two shutout innings, to get to the 6th.
After that, the bullpen went to work. Casilla was brilliant, getting a double play with 2 on and no outs, to get a groundball to Uribe for the final out in the 6th, he gave way to Ramon Ramirez in the 7th with 2 on 2 out, to Miguel Tejada. After a 9 pitch at bat Tejada finally struck out and the crowd exploded.
NL West Championship was in our sights. Lopez and Romo finished the 8th and who other than our Brian Wilson was there to close out the 162nd game of the season and shut the door on the Padres season.
GIANTS BASEBALL ... PLAYOFFS
Looking to the NLDS..
I will probably cover more of this the days leading to the NLDS but there are some very interesting developments that lead to the NLDS, first of which is cutting the club down to 25 guys again after expanding due to September callups. Most likely the Giants will operate with an 11 man pitching staff, and 14 positions players. Which means 4 starting pitchers, 7 relievers, 8 starting position players and 6 bench players. With the Giants ever expanding depth, it will be a tough task to have guys left off the postseason roster.
Here's who will definitely not be left off
Pitchers:
Tim Lincecum
Matt Cain
Jonathan Sanchez
Barry Zito
Brian Wilson
Sergio Romo
Santiago Casilla
Javier Lopez
Ramon Ramirez
Spots open: 2
Hitters:
Aubrey Huff
Freddy Sanchez
Juan Uribe
Pablo Sandoval
Andres Torres
Buster Posey
Pat Burrell
Jose Guillen
Spots Open: 6
2 spots for pitchers:
As good as Madison Bumgarner has been, it may be that he is left off the postseason roster because he doesn't really fit a role as a reliever. The strength he has is that he has done it before and he could potentially be a long reliever in case one of our starters comes out looking flat. Most likely the Giants will take Jeremy Affeldt as the 2nd lefty to Javier Lopez who has been brilliant as the Giants' lefty specialist. Mota has also been doing pretty well, and it would be tough to leave him off the roster after the season he's had. I think however, the temptation of having all 5 of your starting pitchers in the postseason roster is too much for Bochy and he brings Bumgarner along as a long reliever along with Jeremy Affeldt.
6 spots for the bench:
This poses a very difficult situation for Bochy. Who do you leave off the roster out of 10 guys? Right now the Bench includes: Whiteside, Renteria, Ishikawa, Schierholtz, Fontenot, Burriss, Velez, Ross, Rohlinger, Rowand and Ford. The easy choices would be to leave off the minor leaguer call ups. Burriss and Rohlinger are easy to lose, Velez also.
The indispensables appear to be Whitside, our only backup catcher, Fontenot who has been valuable as a utility infielder, and Ross who some say should start in right field instead of Jose Guillen.
That leaves 3 spots open for: Renteria, Ishikawa, Schierholtz, Rowand and Ford.
As much as I love Nate and Ford, I don't see Bochy demoting Rowand and Renteria. With 2 Right fielders already, Nate is the odd man out, and Ford's speed might be key in a close game, but Ishikawa has proven himself to be one of our best pinch hitters, and Renteria's patience at the plate is a pleasant change from the mostly free-swingers on our club.
So this is MY Giants Postseason Roster:
11 Pitchers:
Tim Lincecum
Matt Cain
Jonathan Sanchez
Barry Zito
Brian Wilson
Sergio Romo
Javier Lopez
Ramon Ramirez
Jeremy Affeldt
Santiago Casilla
Madison Bumgarner
14 Position Players:
Buster Posey
Aubrey Huff
Freddy Sanchez
Juan Uribe
Pablo Sandoval
Jose Guillen
Andres Torres
Pat Burrell
Eli Whiteside
Mike Fontenot
Cody Ross
Edgar Renteria
Travis Ishikawa
Aaron Rowand
Next up? Game 1, Thursday 6:30 PM @ AT&T Park
Tim Lincecum vs. Derek Lowe
October Baseball?... GAME ON
Laws of the Day
"Being out there with those fans ... it was everything I could do not to break down. That was walkin' on water, baby." - Aubrey Huff
One game summed up the entire Giants season this year and what us as fans have gone through for 162 games. It was fitting that it took all 162 to decide where the Giants would be headed.
It was Jonathan Sanchez on the mound. One of the formerly most torturous Giants pitchers, now one of the most consistent. He did exactly what the Giants needed him to do, put zeros on the board early in the game so the Giants' offense could get started. Only it was Sanchez who would get it started himself.
A blast to triples alley and Sanchy had his very first triple of his career, and he couldn't have picked a better time to unleash it. 2 batters later, and the other Sanchy, Freddy Sanchez delivered a single up the middle to score the first run. And Huff Daddy finished it off for the inning with a 1 run double.
With 20 years in the Majors between them, Freddy and Aubrey had just punched their first tickets to the playoffs in dramatic fashion.
And those 2 runs were all the Giants pitchers needed. A stat flashed on the screen after that small scoring barrage showing that the Giants pitchers led the league in shutdown innings (putting up a zero after going ahead). Sanchez did not disappoint, he kept the Padres honest and put up not one but two shutout innings, to get to the 6th.
After that, the bullpen went to work. Casilla was brilliant, getting a double play with 2 on and no outs, to get a groundball to Uribe for the final out in the 6th, he gave way to Ramon Ramirez in the 7th with 2 on 2 out, to Miguel Tejada. After a 9 pitch at bat Tejada finally struck out and the crowd exploded.
NL West Championship was in our sights. Lopez and Romo finished the 8th and who other than our Brian Wilson was there to close out the 162nd game of the season and shut the door on the Padres season.
GIANTS BASEBALL ... PLAYOFFS
Looking to the NLDS..
I will probably cover more of this the days leading to the NLDS but there are some very interesting developments that lead to the NLDS, first of which is cutting the club down to 25 guys again after expanding due to September callups. Most likely the Giants will operate with an 11 man pitching staff, and 14 positions players. Which means 4 starting pitchers, 7 relievers, 8 starting position players and 6 bench players. With the Giants ever expanding depth, it will be a tough task to have guys left off the postseason roster.
Here's who will definitely not be left off
Pitchers:
Tim Lincecum
Matt Cain
Jonathan Sanchez
Barry Zito
Brian Wilson
Sergio Romo
Santiago Casilla
Javier Lopez
Ramon Ramirez
Spots open: 2
Hitters:
Aubrey Huff
Freddy Sanchez
Juan Uribe
Pablo Sandoval
Andres Torres
Buster Posey
Pat Burrell
Jose Guillen
Spots Open: 6
2 spots for pitchers:
As good as Madison Bumgarner has been, it may be that he is left off the postseason roster because he doesn't really fit a role as a reliever. The strength he has is that he has done it before and he could potentially be a long reliever in case one of our starters comes out looking flat. Most likely the Giants will take Jeremy Affeldt as the 2nd lefty to Javier Lopez who has been brilliant as the Giants' lefty specialist. Mota has also been doing pretty well, and it would be tough to leave him off the roster after the season he's had. I think however, the temptation of having all 5 of your starting pitchers in the postseason roster is too much for Bochy and he brings Bumgarner along as a long reliever along with Jeremy Affeldt.
6 spots for the bench:
This poses a very difficult situation for Bochy. Who do you leave off the roster out of 10 guys? Right now the Bench includes: Whiteside, Renteria, Ishikawa, Schierholtz, Fontenot, Burriss, Velez, Ross, Rohlinger, Rowand and Ford. The easy choices would be to leave off the minor leaguer call ups. Burriss and Rohlinger are easy to lose, Velez also.
The indispensables appear to be Whitside, our only backup catcher, Fontenot who has been valuable as a utility infielder, and Ross who some say should start in right field instead of Jose Guillen.
That leaves 3 spots open for: Renteria, Ishikawa, Schierholtz, Rowand and Ford.
As much as I love Nate and Ford, I don't see Bochy demoting Rowand and Renteria. With 2 Right fielders already, Nate is the odd man out, and Ford's speed might be key in a close game, but Ishikawa has proven himself to be one of our best pinch hitters, and Renteria's patience at the plate is a pleasant change from the mostly free-swingers on our club.
So this is MY Giants Postseason Roster:
11 Pitchers:
Tim Lincecum
Matt Cain
Jonathan Sanchez
Barry Zito
Brian Wilson
Sergio Romo
Javier Lopez
Ramon Ramirez
Jeremy Affeldt
Santiago Casilla
Madison Bumgarner
14 Position Players:
Buster Posey
Aubrey Huff
Freddy Sanchez
Juan Uribe
Pablo Sandoval
Jose Guillen
Andres Torres
Pat Burrell
Eli Whiteside
Mike Fontenot
Cody Ross
Edgar Renteria
Travis Ishikawa
Aaron Rowand
Next up? Game 1, Thursday 6:30 PM @ AT&T Park
Tim Lincecum vs. Derek Lowe
October Baseball?... GAME ON
Laws of the Day
"Being out there with those fans ... it was everything I could do not to break down. That was walkin' on water, baby." - Aubrey Huff
Oh yeah, fear the beard!!! http://nocestories.blogspot.com/
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