The first 4½ innings were very stressful.
A snippet from the post-game press conferences last night…Madison Bumgarner was answering questions from reporters, and had this deeply insightful exchange:
Reporter: “You were very successful against this team in Game 1; could you share if possible some of the things that you learned from that game that may help you now in this next outing?”
Bumgarner: “No.”
And there, in a nutshell, is exemplified the pointlessness of the post-game press conference or interview, at least from the point of view of actual information.
You can ask pointless questions and get silly cliches in response, or you can ask about actual tactics and strategy, and get an honest answer. Either way, no-one learns anything they didn’t already know.
Weird little factoid from the Giants blog, McCovey Chronicles:
Or: Vogelsong is an empirically better pitcher than Kershaw.
Or: Baseball is just a weird, weird game.
Non World Series, but baseball related news: Oscar Taveras, perhaps the Cardinals best young prospect, died in a car crash in the Dominican Republic. He was 22.
His girlfriend died as well.
Unbelievable. I have no words.
Awesome.
True. but I did love the honesty of the answer. Kudos to Baumgarner
Or (the answer to most factoids): small sample size.
Totally stunned.
Even I was getting a bit nauseated by the Bumgarner-worship. If I was a KC fan I’d probably have thrown a remote through the TV.
But as a lifelong Giants fan, the idea that the most dominant World Series pitcher of all time is not Bob Gibson, Whitey Ford, Sandy Koufax or Lefty Grove – but a guy on my team, in my lifetime…is mind-blowing.
Yes it’s amazing. The Giants, in my lifetime, have two championships in three years and are on the verge, possibly, of a third in five years - amazing. It is fun to be a Giants fan these days, and for those of us who waited so long, we’re grateful to see them as winners and champions.
I am SOOO hoping they win one game in KC. Just. One. Game.
GO GIANTS!!!
Well, last night was probably the last game I’ll be able to watch this year (unless there are like five consecutive rain-outs).
I’ll be pulling for the Royals, but congrats to whoever takes it in the next two games.
For the Royals to come back, they’ll have to beat Peavy and Hudson back-to-back, something that hasn’t happened since…Games #2 and #3.
Just so nobody thinks we’re planning any parades yet.
I expect that Bochy will have the entire bullpen in ‘Game 7 mode’…in both games 2 and 3 he left his starter in one inning too long; I don’t expect that will happen tomorrow.
If the Giants’ offense can plate a couple across against Ventura, I think they can take it home in 6.
Here’s the Giants postseason checklist:
Get into the NLDS as the wild card - check.
Win the NLDS - check.
Win the pennant, at home - check
Start the World Series on the road against the AL wild card team - check
Have a 3-2 series lead - check
Have a 5-run lead after six innings in game 6, only to give up three in the seventh and three in the eighth, lose 6-5, and then lose game 7 - wait, what?
My mistake - that was the 2002 checklist. Here’s the 2014 one:
Get into the NLDS as the wild card - check.
Win the NLDS - check.
Win the pennant, at home - check
Start the World Series on the road against the AL wild card team - check
Have a 3-2 series lead - check
Er…
Shut up.
Shutupshutupshutupshutup…
[fingers in ears]lalalalalalalala…
I’m not sure what you’re talking about here…I’m pretty sure the 2002 World Series was cancelled. There was some sort of alien invasion, or a volcano, or locusts…something like that, right?
You mis-remember. Russ Ortiz pitched a masterful complete game 6. There was thought of pulling him after consecutive singles in the 7th, but Dusty left him in and he settled right down. I think he was given the game ball after the game was over.
To quote jsc1953, “[fingers in ears]lalalalalalalala…”
I blame Joe Buck and Fox, which is always a good idea. In the 6th inning, they started with “The Giants are 9 outs away from their first WS since 1954!” and showing clips of the 1954 victory parade. I screamed.
Whomever wins, they will be the first team to ever beat four opponents in one postseason, and win twelve games in one postseason. A little bit of history.
I remember somebody on the team - one of the players, I think - going back to the locker room for some reason, seeing somebody from MLB setting up for the victory celebration, and likewise freaking out as he was convinced the series had just been handed to the Angels.
Oh, and a slight modification to the checklist:
Win the pennant, at home, with a walk-off hit in Game 5. (IIRC, both in 2002 and 2014, the Giants radio announcer sounded like he was taking great pains not to use the phrase, “The Giants win the pennant!”.)