2010 NLCS: THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!!

digicat

2010 Giants regular season thread

Giants clinched the NL West in the 162nd game of the year and advanced to the "Elite Eight", so to speak.

Next up... the Atlanta Braves. The Braves won the season series against the Giansts 4 games to 3.

Braves had a rough April when the Giants took 2 of 3 from them. Giants had a rough August when the Braves took 3 of 4.

Giants had a better September than the Braves did, with otherworldly pitching leading the way, but with 3 days off until Game 1, everyone will be happy and rested (or totally out of sync due to the time off) by Thursday.


My wife's cousin's husband is a Georga transplant to California, and a die-hard Braves fan. This should make for some fun banter between the two of us.

Mickey71

The Giants ace is pitching well at just the right time.====His 1st post season to add to what could be a HOF resume in the making.

Hallco

Solid starting pitching(Lincecum,Sanchez,Cain....Hudson,Lowe,Hanson) on both sides, excellent bullpens, streaky hitters...I think it is a pretty good matchup.

digicat

ESPN has the following matchups:

Lincecum vs Lowe
Cain vs Hanson
Sanchez vs Hudson

If the series goes to Game 4, I wonder if they'll pitch Lincecum on 4 days rest, or go with Bumgarner or Zito?

larryallen73

Looks like the Giant's have the edge against the Brave's but hopefully it will be an exciting series.

SanctionII

My suggestion of a new Giants' playoff thread was adopted

Nothing can be better for a fan of MLB than games in October.

Go Giants.

P.S. I suspect that if the Giants make it to the World Series the post count to this thread will exceed the post count for digicat's regular season Giants thread [with at least half of the post to this thread being from digicat himself].

digicat

<< <i>P.S. I suspect that if the Giants make it to the World Series the post count to this thread will exceed the post count for digicat's regular season Giants thread [with at least half of the post to this thread being from digicat himself]. >>



If the Giants make it to the World Series, I might make a new post just for that!

Connecticoin

<< <i>ESPN has the following matchups:

Lincecum vs Lowe
Cain vs Hanson
Sanchez vs Hudson

If the series goes to Game 4, I wonder if they'll pitch Lincecum on 4 days rest, or go with Bumgarner or Zito? >>



Lincecum, no question, then Zito if Lincecum gets in trouble.

TheVon

If Bochy starts Zito in Game 4 I will switch my allegiance and start rooting for the Braves. Zito was great to start this season but he's been terrible for a long time now and starting him is akin to waving the white flag. I don't care if he's been in the league and that he was once great - that doesn't mean he should get the ball. He stinks now.

I think Bumgarner should start game 4 (if necessary). He's got better stuff than Zito, he's been hot lately (1.13 ERA in September) and he's been great on the road this year. His 1.91 road ERA is 2.69 points lower than his home ERA.

digicat

Boch made some comments on the radio this morning where he didn't flat out say that MadBum would be picked over Zito, but he acknolwedged that MadBum was pitching better than Zito was.

MadBum's a 21 year old, easly excitable rookie. My biggest concern about MadBum would be the pressure of Game 4. Game 4 will either be with the Giants in position to clinch, or fighting off elimination.

Hopefully the Giants don't let it get to Game 4 for us to find out.

Connecticoin

I did not know Bum was picthing that well -- scratch Zito then, execpt for middle relief in an emergency.

digicat

<< <i>I did not know Bum was picthing that well -- scratch Zito then, execpt for middle relief in an emergency. >>



I'd scratch Zito from the whole DS!

Zito's a starter, so he needs a while to get warmed up. He can't just throw 10 pitches and go get em like the rest of the Pen can do. Ramirez, Casilla, and Mota have proven themselves to be good to go for up to 2 innings each.

Plus, in the 2nd half, the Giants went 5-10 with Zito on the hill. He's the only Giants pitcher that the team had a loosing record behind in the 2nd half.

fuj

<< <i>Boch made some comments on the radio this morning where he didn't flat out say that MadBum would be picked over Zito, but he acknolwedged that MadBum was pitching better than Zito was.

MadBum's a 21 year old, easly excitable rookie. My biggest concern about MadBum would be the pressure of Game 4. Game 4 will either be with the Giants in position to clinch, or fighting off elimination.

Hopefully the Giants don't let it get to Game 4 for us to find out. >>



I heard that interview too this morning and got the impression that Zito was probably not going to be in the mix at all. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part but when he said that game 4 would likely be Bumgarner or The Freak, I thought he may have let that out by mistake without realizing what that meant for Zito's status.

digicat

According to post season roster rules, there are 30 guys for Bochey to pick from to build his Division Series roster.

Bochy said that he's going with 11 pitchers.

Starters
1 - Lincecum SP
2 - Cain SP
3 - Sanchez SP

Bullpen
4 - Wilson
5 - Romo
6 - Casilla
7 - Ramirez
8 - Mota
9 - Lopez (l)
10 - Affeldt (l)
11 - ???

Other pitchers: Ray, Runzler, Zito, Bumgarner

Ray's a redundant righty and will probably get dropped; Runzler's an underperforming lefty reliever and will probably get dropped with Lopez and Affeldt in the lineup, so the last spot goes to either Zito or Bumgarner, both lefty starters. I'd pick MadBum.

That leaves 14 spots for the other guys
1 - Posey C
2 - Huff 1B
3 - F Sanchez 2B
4 - Uribe SS
5 - Sandoval 3B
6 - Burrell LF
7 - Torres CF

The guys left over are:

8 - Whiteside C (backup catcher)
9 - Ishikawa 1B (good lefty pinchhitter)
10 - Fontenot 2B/SS/3B
11 - Ross OF
12 - Schierholtz RF (awesome defender, knows AT&T Park's RF very well)
13 - ???
14 - ???

Renteria SS
Rowand OF
Guillen OF

and, using the 60 day DL rule.. either Ford (OF, pinch runner) or Velez (OF/IF)

I doubt they'll take Ford or Velez, and likely carry Guillen and Rowand into the post season, especially since Bochy's commented about how well Rowand has hit Lowe in his career.. though Rowand is a shadow of the player he was when he compiled the bulk of his career stats. But obviously Boch buys into the thing that Kruk loves to say "Ownage is ownage."


The bad thing is that Freddy Sanchez and Edger Renteria are both hurt. Freddy Sanchez is playing through the pain of a strained rotator cuff, while Renteria's been battling injuries all season, and has spent a lot of time on the DL. Renteria's even mentioned that he's seriously considering retirement after this season's over due to his body falling apart this year.

CollectorAtWork

I'd take Bumgarner, Guillen and Ford. If you absolutely need to steal a base in the ninth to get a run, Ford would probably be the best option. On 680 Sports Talk radio this morning, they mentioned that with no speed left on the bench, JT Snow ran into the last out in the 2003 playoffs.

digicat

<< <i>I'd take Bumgarner, Guillen and Ford. If you absolutely need to steal a base in the ninth to get a run, Ford would probably be the best option. On 680 Sports Talk radio this morning, they mentioned that with no speed left on the bench, JT Snow ran into the last out in the 2003 playoffs. >>



I wouldn't disagree with tapping Ford instead of Rowand. That's what the Red Sox had Dave Roberts for in 2004. Worked out pretty well there.

The big question is... does the Giants management have the guts to bench the 3 highest paid players on the team (Zito - $18.5m, Rowand - $12m, Renteria - $9m) for the NLDS?

digicat

This last weekend I turned on the radio and muted the sound on the TV (network broadcast, not the local guys), and discovered to my horror that there was a 30 second delay between radio (real time) and TV.

When did this happen? I remember doing this combo often in the 90s without any delay like that.

fuj

<< <i>The big question is... does the Giants management have the guts to bench the 3 highest paid players on the team (Zito - $18.5m, Rowand - $12m, Renteria - $9m) for the NLDS? >>



If you asked this question yesterday, I would have bet that Zito was going to be on the playoff roster and Rowand would be the most likely to be left off. After hearing Bochy this morning, I say at least 2 of the 3 get left off the playoff roster. I'm pretty confident Zito for sure won't be included and I still think Rowand gets left off too.

When Bochy was talking up Bumgarner and praising him for being mentally tough and then 5 mins later saying how Zito fell apart after walking the first run in, I thought it was a strong indication that they felt the kid could handle the pressure and Zito could not.

bman90278

Rich, Did you catch the short video of Tim Lincecum dropping the F-bomb when he was saying was ready for the playoffs?

Video

Brian

digicat

<< <i>Rich, Did you catch the short video of Tim Lincecum dropping the F-bomb when he was saying was ready for the playoffs? >>



Heh, yeah. Still kinda tame compared compared to Will Clark's classic celebration after winning the 1987 NL West.

SanctionII

It's 10:11 a.m. PDT on the day of the opening game of the Giants-Braves divisional series, with the start of the game just hours away.

Suprisingly no post to this thread yet today by digicat.

He must be too nervous to hits the keys on his keyboard

Good luck to the Giants today.

digicat

Heh, had to drop by Frys Electronics on the way in to work this morning to pick up something for the office. My trips to Frys typically end up lasting a lot longer than it takes for me to walk in and get what I need.


Anyways, the final roster has been decided.

As I suspected, Zito, Runzler, and Ray were left off the roster.

The 4th guy dropped was Jose Guillen. They didn't invoke the 60-day-dl rule to make Ford or Velez elegable.

Guillen's a good drop, the guy's been really gimpy since he got here. He has a bulging disk in his neck that's making him useless with the bat, on the bases, and in the outfield. A few weeks ago, he got an epidural (injection into his spine!) injection and he exploded for 6 RBI in one game, but then returned to his usual level of suckage.

digicat

The starting 9...

CF Torres
2B Sanchez
1B Huff
C Posey
LF Burrell
SS Uribe
3B Sandoval
RF Ross
P Lincecum

Nail biting time!

fuj

GO GIANTS!!

digicat

BEAT ATLANTA!!

fuj

<< <i>BEAT ATLANTA!! >>



Very creative there.

Edited to add: I like it!

bman90278

<< <i>BEAT ATLANTA!! >>



Nice Rich!

Hallco

Lowe pitched well....but Lincecum was tremendous! Congrats on winning game 1!

digicat

Is Tim Lincecum ready for the spotlight of the playoffs?

9 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk 14 strikeouts!! Giants take the opener 1-0.

Awesome.

Pigs

Tim was locked in tonight, seemed to get stronger at the end. Great win for him and the Giants.

vladguerrero

<< <i>Is Tim Lincecum ready for the spotlight of the playoffs?

9 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk 14 strikeouts!! Giants take the opener 1-0.

Awesome. >>



wow what a line, pitching performances are dominating the first round so far...

digicat

<< <i>wow what a line, pitching performances are dominating the first round so far... >>



6 games so far, and 3 were shutouts. Crazy!

bman90278

That's the Lincecum I would expect in a big game.

It will be interesting to see how he does against the Phillies and their bats if they advance to the NLCS. Nothing against the Giants win, but both teams are seriously lacking bats. Either way, awesome pitching performance and win for the SF Giants.

brian

digicat

Cain's on the hill tonight. A dependable starter. Unfortunatly, Cain's been the victim of bad Giants teams in his career... enough so that the phrase "Cain'd" is tossed around by Giants fans to describe a pitcher who gets no run support.

Giants bats were weak last night. In the 8th, Posey got to 3rd with no outs, and no one scored. That needs to change.

Hallco

<< <i>Cain's on the hill tonight. A dependable starter. Unfortunatly, Cain's been the victim of bad Giants teams in his career... enough so that the phrase "Cain'd" is tossed around by Giants fans to describe a pitcher who gets no run support. >>



Hanson is very much the same way. Check out these similarities of these 2 in the 2010 regular season.

Matt Cain 2010 Stats:
W-L ERA SO BB
13-11 3.14 177 61

Tommy Hanson
W-L ERA SO BB
10-11 3.33 173 56

digicat

One more thing on last nights game, I thought it was kinda interesting that after the Giants made the 3rd out in the bottom of the 8th, the stadium PA system started playing "Enter Sandman" right up until Lincecum took the mound and got ready to throw the first pitch. "Enter Sandman" is Braves closer Billy Wagner's (among others) intro music. No one on the Giants uses that music.

Hallco

I would have expected "Smoke on the water"!

digicat

Once Romo and Wilson combined to blow a 4-1 lead, I had a gut feeling that the Giants were gonna throw up an L. They did.

Giants loaded the bases with 1 out in the 10th, and ROY hopeful Buster Posey killed the ralley with an offical 2010 San Francisco Giants GDP.

Giants suck when it comes to situational hitting. They totally suck.


Giants now head to Atlanta so the Braves can celebrate winning the series at Turner Field on Monday.

grote15

Giants now head to Atlanta so the Braves can celebrate winning the series at Turner Field on Monday.

Nothing like having faith in your club, LOL!

digicat

<< <i>Nothing like having faith in your club, LOL! >>



You should see my season-long Giants thread.

If Sanchez wins on Sunday, I'll be singing a totally different tune.

Until then, I get images of tombstones, bones, and flames when I think of the Giants.

CollectorAtWork

They wouldn't be the 2010 San Francisco Giants if they didn't torture their fans. Nothing comes easy for this team. I still think the series will go to the full five, but the question will be whether they'll have to use Timmy in Game 4. I think if Sanchez loses, they'll have to use Lincecum in Game 4 and Cain in Game 5, with Tim on short rest, and Cain on full rest. If Sanchez wins, they'll use Bumgarner in Game 4, and Lincecum in the closeout game.

TheVon

I agreed with you Digicat. When the Braves tied up the game I knew they would eventually be the Giants because the Giants had already used up their quota of runs for the day. Since Cain was pitching, I was amazed they scored at all so maybe we should look at Game 2 as a moral victory?

digicat

<< <i>maybe we should look at Game 2 as a moral victory? >>



Rick Ankiel hit a game winning homer and Kyle Farnsworth pitched 2 innings and slammed the door.

digicat

Anyways, best of 3 now.

Timmy never pitched on only 3 days of rest in his career, so who knows what he'll have when he shows up.

"Dirty" Sanchez needs to show up. That's all there is too it. That way, MadBum can start on Monday, and if he can't do it, 6-day-rest Timmy takes the mound at AT&T Park on Wednesday.

grote15

The Braves are bound to have a bit of a letdown after that dramatic Game 2 win...Game 3 is key, indeed.

digicat

Bochy: "You ain't got no problem, Digicat. I'm on the m*f*er. Go back in there, chill them Giants fans out and wait for 'Dirty who should be coming directly."

digicat

Sanchez brought it. 7.1 ip, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts.

Sergio Romo, the once ultra dependable 8th inning reliever choked again and gave up a lead changing 2 run homer to Eric Hinske... but the Braves bullpen couldn't hold the lead and coughed up 2 runs of their own on 2 out rally in the top of the 9th.

Giants lead the series 2-1.

How bad is Braves 2nd baseman Brooks Conrad? 2 of his 3 errors resulted in runs scoring on the play.

Hallco

<< <i>How bad is Braves 2nd baseman Brooks Conrad? 2 of his 3 errors resulted in runs scoring on the play. >>




This is what happens when your everyday 2nd baseman(Martin Prado) goes down with an injury! Conrad is worse at 3rd! He is definitely a cancer on defense! Sanchez was awesome. Congrats. Good luck against the Phillies!

digicat

<< <i>Sanchez was awesome. Congrats. Good luck against the Phillies! >>



It's not over yet.

GDM67

Yeah, it is. It may go the full five but you can't let a game like that get away in a best of five and expect to win two straight.

digicat

Rookie pitcher Madison Bumgarner is on the mound tomorrow. The kid's established himself as a worthy member of the Giants starting rotation, and beat out veteran Barry Zito for the playoff spot on the roster.

I'm pretty sure the pen is going to be ready at moments notice. We need to win this thing tomorrow.