Not to put too fine a point on it, the Phillies were rightly favored going into the series because (1) they won more games than the Giants and (2) there was reason to believe they were better than their regular-season record, which only reflected about a third of a season of Roy Oswalt as the #2 pitcher.
The Giants obviously won most of the actual games thus far, and good for them for doing so. But it wasn’t some kind of pro-Philadelphia Media Bias that led people to call them underdogs.
This.
Many of their hitters are performing below career norms. I am not sure whether single-season performance is predictive in the playoffs (is there an injury suppressing performance, or is it just random variance?), but given a blank slate you would expect the Philadelphia hitters to be much better than they have been this year.
This is coming from a Giants fan.
Runs Scores is the only offensive statistic that matters.
If you want to analyze why teams score as many runs as they do, you succeeded in leaving out the single most important one of all; on base percentage. Philadelphia beats SF by 11 points, a reasonably large gap.
The Phillies are, by a reasonably analysis, a better team. However, they’re not so much better that the Giants couldn’t beat them, and so it has been. (For that matter, the Yankees are undoubtedly a better team than Texas, but Texas has played better this week. Shit happens.) That’s the way baseball is. There are very, very few times that one team is so clearly a favourite that it’s really more than a 2-to-1 thing.
The fact is that ANY team in the major leagues could beat the Philles, if they had a good week. The Pirates could. I wouldn’t bet a lot on it but it could happen. In baseball we can assess favourites, but the differences are damned slim.
Looks like a good start for the Giants.
So far, so good 
You’re absolutely right, as it pertains to my argument. My point was that scoring more runs was not by itself enough, because you also need to not give up runs. But since I was supposed to be talking about offense there, that was a meaningless comment. And I tend to agree with you that in the end, “runs scored” is really the only offensive stat that matters.
But if you’re going to say that runs scored is the only important hitting stat, you need to also accept the reverse: that runs allowed is the only pitching stat that matters. And by that token the Giants pitching is demonstratively better than the Phillies.
I was born in San Francisco and am a lifelong Giants fan. I can’t get over the fact that they are now a team with good pitching and lousy hitting. It’s weird and I don’t know how to deal with it.
/pointless ramble
Good start, though!
Uhoh. Lincecum losing it right here?
You are kidding me. The 3rd basemen could not tag the bag in 2 attempts. what an idiot.
Ugh, the Giants have forgotten how to field. :smack:
And pitch.
Based on the pitch counts, I think this one is going to be decided by the bullpens.
Arrrgggghhhhhh.
eta: screw you, sdmb, for taking away my all-caps.
This is a really sloppy game all around.
It is raining. I think it’ll pass soon, though. It was raining here a little earlier, but it has passed. (I’m about 40 miles north of SF.)
Hey! A first baseman managed to make a clean play!
I’m getting sick and tired of the Fox guys talking about the “foul ball” that Halliday hit. If it had been called correctly, he likely would have lain down a sacrifice bunt on the next pitch, and the Phillies would have would up with men at 2nd and 3rd with one out. Which is exactly what happened. It was a bad call which in the end probably had no effect on the game whatsoever.
[rally cap on]
Ah well…
Your superstar pitcher pitched less badly than our superstar pitcher.
We’ll see you on Saturday.
Back to Philly. That’s a great way to put it, Plankton. “Less badly.” I guess not the pitcher’s duel we all expected. But, it’ll work for the Phillies. Man, Madson can be so awesome. I had flashbacks of the chair breaking when I realized he came in. When he is on. He is awesome.
This has been quite a championship series for both leagues. I hope we get to watch two game 7s.
Yeah, I can’t stand when Buck and McCarver harp on bad calls like that. I don’t mind them pointing out the ump’s mistakes. But, I hate when they play the “What could have happened” game. It’s irritating.