2012 NLCS - Giants vs Cardinals, Game 7: THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!!

digicat

Old 2012 SF Giants discussion: NL West Champs.

Cain threw a perfect game, Posey returned with a vengeance, Tim Lincecum withered away, and Scutaro defied expectations. Giants won the West.

Next up, the NLDS vs Dusty Baker's Reds.

Giants dropped their season series to the Reds 3-4 (1-2 in Cin in April, 2-2 in SF in June), but that means nothing at this point.


Boch has named Cain and Bumgarner as the starters of Games 1 and 2 in SF. Both pitchers dominate at home. Bum threw a 1 hit shutout vs the Reds earlier this year, but Cain gave up 8 runs in 13 innings (2 games) against them.

So... we'll see.

digicat

This was pretty easy to predict. Mota and Hensley were both competing for the position of "crappy relief pitcher", and apparently Mota got the nod this time around. Hensley's among a contingent of inactive Giants who are going to stick with the team during the NLDS.

25 man NLDS roster (via my rookie card collection) (bolded name = part of the 2010 post-season roster)

Starting Pitchers: Cain (Game 1, Loss), Bumgarner (Game 2, Loss), Vogelsong (Game 3), Zito (Game 4, if necessary)


The Infield: Posey (C), Belt (1b), Scutaro (2b), Crawford (SS), Sandoval (3b)


The Outfield: Blanco (LF), Pagan (CF), Pence (RF)


The Bullpen: Affeldt (L), Casilla (R), Kontos (R), Lincecum (!!!!), Lopez (L), Mijares (L), Mota (R), Romo (R)



The Bench: Theriot (2b), Arias (IF), Sanchez (C), Huff (1b), Nady (OF)




Inactive, but staying with team:
Peguero (OF), Whiteside (C), Hensley (RHP), Machi (RHP), Wilson (DL), Sanchez (DL)



So there you go. These guys need to

digicat

A big problem with the series vs the Reds is this: The Giants eat lefty starters for lunch. Reds feature no lefty starters, a few in the pen, and a lefty closer, but he throws 100 mph and we don't want to see him.

I love the Giants, but my optimism isn't really high.

The Giants pitching is good on paper, but Lincecum and Bumgarner are not pitching well, Zito's Zito, Voggy was struggling bad until recently.

Giants have the 8th best pitching in MLB. The Reds have the 2nd best. (runs allowed)
Giants have the 12th best hitting in MLB. The Reds have the 21st best. (runs scored)

grote15

Digicat,

You ought to apply for a personnel position with the Giants. I bet few if any fans follow a team with as much zeal and tenacity as you do.

WTCG

Not feeling too good about tonight's game. My prediction is Reds win 4-1.

Cain will be pretty good but I doubt the Giants will get anything going against Cueto.

WTCG

Reds up 2-0 after a homer. Today it's a Bay Area doubleheader suckfest in the making.

Now Latos is in. Giants probably won't be scoring any runs tonight.

By the way things are going I see both the Giants and A's going on vacation by early next week.

WTCG

Matt Cain has officially turned into Tim Lincecrap. He looked like he was throwing batting practice. So when Bumgarner starts tomorrow, how many homers will he give up? Three? Four?

Pack it up. Reds about to sweep. This series is over.

WTCG

Everything about the Giants tonight sucked. Cain sucked, Casilla sucked, the batting sucked. Everything that went wrong did.

Giants best pitcher got lit up. What chance does Bumgarner have? How about Lincecrap? What's the record number of homeruns ever given up by a single pitcher in a single inning?

My prediction for Game 2: Giants lose 9-1, Reds head back to Cincinnati knowing they're going to the NLCS.

digicat

The Giants offense was quite offensive tonight. I'll also say it again: Casilla should never pitch in the 9th inning. Glad I didn't buy tickets.

I did spend $5 to buy the streaming TBS broadcast though so I could actually watch the game (I don't have cable).

Looks like I could have used that $5 for something more useful.

digicat

Broxton and Chapman looked vunerable, the Giants just failed to capitalize. Panda's at-bat vs Chapman was horrid. Swinging at 3 pitches above the strike zone. Hack, hack, hack.

WTCG

<< <i>The Giants offense was quite offensive tonight. I'll also say it again: Casilla should never pitch in the 9th inning. Glad I didn't buy tickets.

I did spend $5 to buy the streaming TBS broadcast though so I could actually watch the game (I don't have cable).

Looks like I could have used that $5 for something more useful. >>



Next time save the cash and watch from your local bar/ lounge/ restaurant. I was at Fleet Week in SF today and scurried home to catch the entire game. Now I wished I hung out in the city for the evening. If I did I would've saved some hairs and a week off my life.

digicat

<< <i>Matt Cain has officially turned into Tim Lincecrap. He looked like he was throwing batting practice. >>



I put nothing on Cain. 3 runs isn't a beat-down. Cain got Cain'd. A couple of mistakes, zero run support. Boch apparently saw the writing on the wall and pulled him after 5 because he wants him to start game 4 (if there is one). Kontos came in and pitched 2 perfect innings to give the Giants a chance to figure out Latos, who was hanging crap all day long. Sadly, the Giants offense apparently used their Cueto scouting report and tried to use it on Latos. Reds players red the Giants scouting reports. Seemed like the Giants were hitting the ball hard directly at fielders all night long.




<< <i>Next time save the cash and watch from your local bar/ lounge/ restaurant. >>



Last time I was content to listen to the games on the radio. I might try to find a place to camp out some other year. This year I was camped out on my couch with my 2 week old baby in my arms. I think she sensed my irritation with what I was watching because she fussed most of the time.


The live stream you can subscribe to is not the TBS broadcast, though they play the audio from the broadcast. It's a live feed of all the cameras in the park, and you can choose which ones you watch. I picked 4 camera angles and left them on.

During the 9th when they were talking about Casilla's blister issue, one of the cameras zoomed in on Casilla's hand, which was in front of his crotch. They seemed to like zooming in on batter's crotches quite a bit too. I don't know what that was all about. Perhaps I'm just not part of the viewing demographic that would appreciate that sort of thing.

digicat

Well, Game 2's on Sunday. We'll see what happens.

Last year, 3 of the 4 teams that dropped their LDS opener ended up winning the series.

However, since the LDS was started, the team that wins the opener advances 44 out of 64 times.

WTCG

<< <i>

<< <i>Matt Cain has officially turned into Tim Lincecrap. He looked like he was throwing batting practice.

I put nothing on Cain. 3 runs isn't a beat-down. Cain got Cain'd. A couple of mistakes, zero run support. Boch apparently saw the writing on the wall and pulled him after 5 because he wants him to start game 4 (if there is one). Kontos came in and pitched 2 perfect innings to give the Giants a chance to figure out Latos, who was hanging crap all day long. Sadly, the Giants offense apparently used their Cueto scouting report and tried to use it on Latos. Reds players red the Giants scouting reports. Seemed like the Giants were hitting the ball hard directly at fielders all night long. >>



Cain's stats for the game weren't bad but a lot of the balls hit off him were well hit and hit hard that happened to find the fielders. A bunch of fly balls were hit deep that would've left the yard if the game was played in Cincinnati. He gave up two homers (one over the wall in Triples Alley that is normally considered exclusively Barry Bonds territory) on a night balls had no weather assistance. I could've been a lot worse.

The lineup would've done better if Cueto pitched. Matt Latos has owned the Giants throughout his career and tonight was no exception.

It looks like Vogelsong has been penciled in as the starter for Game 3. If things don't turn around tomorrow that game will be the last game of this season.

57loaded

<< <i>Digicat,

You ought to apply for a personnel position with the Giants. I bet few if any fans follow a team with as much zeal and tenacity as you do. >>



I used to think he was already employed...as Mike Murphy.

Posey looked good, just needed to not to be lead-off for most of his at bats.
Small ball disappeared as the "fun attitude" and the Red's defense is and was very good last night.
Red's are a better team.

Good points as always digicat and others.

digicat

Before any more damage, here were the teams I was pulling for:

NL WC = Braves
AL WC = Rangers

Now that I went 0-2 in the WC, my revised LDS teams:

NLDS1 = Giants (down 0-2)
NLDS2 = Cardinals (down 0-1)
ALDS1 = A's (down 0-2)
ALDS2 = Orioles (down 0-1)

Updated... All of "my" teams are 0-8 so far. Amazing.

digicat

Looks like the Giants left their best baseball in the regular season. Spent it all winning the Division.

Arroyo's got a perfect game going, Bum's spotted them a 4-0 lead.

WTCG

With the exception of the 2010 fluke, Bay Area baseball teams just aren't winners. Bay Area has two baseball teams in the postseason and both teams will end their run without winning a single game between them. Of the five competitions Bay Area sports teams played in this weekend, the teams will cumulatively go 1-4 (Raiders would've lost if they played today). Absolutely pathetic

Turn off the lights. This season is over. The Giants can go join the Dodgers on vacation. They'll end the season winning the same number of postseason games.

We can start calling the Giants the San Jose Sharks of Major League Baseball: a good regular season team but champions of early playoff exits.

WTCG

<< <i>My prediction for Game 2: Giants lose 9-1, Reds head back to Cincinnati knowing they're going to the NLCS. >>



I got the 9 runs from the Reds part down but the craptacular, embarassing, excrutiating to watch Giants lineup couldn't even score one effing run. This'll be great...the Giants are about to end their season two days from now by winning the same number of postseason games the Dodgers won this year...Zero, nada, zilch.

MadBomb sucked, the bullpen sucked, all nine in the batting order sucked. Surprisingly the only thing that didn't suck tonight was Lincecum pitching in relief.

My prediction for game 3...Reds win 8-0. Bye bye SJ Sharks of the MLB.

digicat

2012 NLDS Giants (0) vs Reds (2): Listless Giants on the brink.

The whole lineup has gone ice-cold in these two games. Pagan and Scutaro are a combined 1-17.

Not a whole lot to say. No momentum from September has carried over. The Giants are getting beat down like cellar dwelling last-place team. All those stats the Giants have? BA, ERA, WHIP, throw it all out the window. All the stats that the Reds have? Throw those out the window too. Bronson Arroyo pitching a crisp 1 hit shutout through 7? Dude had a 3.74 era during the season. Reds averaged 3 runs per game during September.


SJ Sharks of baseball? Please. Giants don't make the playoffs every year like the Sharks do.

2010 was as legit a championship as any other. Don't start pissing on the past just because the present sucks.

And WTCG, nice prediction. Now stop using your powers for evil!

digicat

Well, one good thing today that basically got me my $5 bucks back....

I ordered a Round Table Pizza (my all-time favorite pizza joint) online and paid. Showed up 20 min later and it turned out they messed the order up. So, I hung out for around 10 min with my 4 year old daughter, telling her about football (the Saints and Chargers were playing on the tv). The guy came out and gave us the pizza I had originally ordered AND the wrong pizza they made by mistake. 2 pizza's for the price of one. We ate about 2/3 of one of the pizzas, so we've got tons of leftovers.

SanctionII

To all SF Bay Area sports fans out there in forum land, there is hope on the horizon that will lift your spirits.

The Golden State Warriors beat the LA Lakers 110-93 in their preseason opener.

As of right now the Warriors are 1-0, undefeated and sporting the best record of any of the Bay Area professional sports teams

What is happening to the Giants is major drag, losing two home games to start the playoffs, including yesterday's pukefest. Highly unlikely that the Giant will win 3 straight to advance.

As for the A's, well they at least get to play game #3 at home.

The 49rs looked very good yesterday, racking up over 600 yards in total offense.

The Raiders, well maybe they will pull it together a little bit with their bye week (or not).

firstbase23

It is looking rather bleak for the Giants, but it is not over til it's over. It was kind of nice to see Lincecum pitch 2 shutout innings. Maybe he should have started a game.

Matt

digicat

I'm very much hoping to write the the following in the days to come:

Game 3: Giants offense awakens at Great American Ballpark to back Vogeslong, stave off elimination.
Game 4: Yes we CAIN! Cain's arm and bat power Giants to tie up NLDS!
Game 5: No FREAKing way!!! Dominant Lincecum pitches Giants into the NLCS!

firstbase23

That would be sweet!!
Matt

WTCG

<< <i>I'm very much hoping to write the the following in the days to come:

Game 3: Giants offense awakens at Great American Ballpark to back Vogeslong, stave off elimination.
Game 4: Yes we CAIN! Cain's arm and bat power Giants to tie up NLDS!
Game 5: No FREAKing way!!! Dominant Lincecum pitches Giants into the NLCS! >>



That would be great but the headline tomorrow will probably read something like this: GIANTS SWEPT AWAY LIKE A TRAILER PARK IN A REDS TSUNAMI

Tomorrow Vogelsong will probably pitch an okay game, giving up a few runs. He'll be Cain'd as the Giants lineup score him nothing. Then they'll bring in Mota or Miljares and in one inning the Reds will blow the game wide open. Scenario sound familiar? It'll happen tomorrow.

Granted the Giants don't make the playoffs every year like the Sharks do but they have one trait in common: regardless of how well they do in the regular season you can count on them to not win it all. Remember the 2002 choke and the 2003 wire to wire season? This season reminds me of the 2003 season.

True 2010 was a legitimate win and it was a great memory but I truly wish Giants fans and the Giants organization would stop dwelling on 2010. The team won it all but the past is the past. This is a new year, a new season, no longer the 2010 offseason. The coming 2013 season is a new season and it's time to win another World Series and stop acting like we're content with only one championship every 58 years. Yankees fans are not satisfied unless their team wins the World Series every year. Giants fans should be the same way.

WTCG

<< <i>To all SF Bay Area sports fans out there in forum land, there is hope on the horizon that will lift your spirits.

The Golden State Warriors beat the LA Lakers 110-93 in their preseason opener.

As of right now the Warriors are 1-0, undefeated and sporting the best record of any of the Bay Area professional sports teams

What is happening to the Giants is major drag, losing two home games to start the playoffs, including yesterday's pukefest. Highly unlikely that the Giant will win 3 straight to advance.

As for the A's, well they at least get to play game #3 at home.

The 49rs looked very good yesterday, racking up over 600 yards in total offense.

The Raiders, well maybe they will pull it together a little bit with their bye week (or not). >>



Oh whoopee...the Warriors won a preseason game. Hell, the 2008 0-16 Detroit Lions won all four of their preseason games. Considering the mismanagement of the new ownership, trading away their best player for injured spare parts and drafting/ signing players not based on basketball ability but on their potential likelihood of attracting fans in far away foreign countries, the Warriors deserve to lose every game. You're better off cheering for the Washington Generals than you are for the Warriors.

Thanks to the Niners for being the only Bay Area team that didn't suck this weekend. When the Niners had to resort to a 19-yard field goal in the 1st quarter and gave up a punt return TD (which got called back by a holding penalty) I got a bit uneasy but good thing the hapless Bills defense came through and saved the day.

Raiders fans should be thrilled they had their bye week this weekend. If they played they would've lost. Other than a crappy defense and an equally crappy offense, everything is going fine for the Silver and Black.

mygotta

I'm in there for the Reds. As a team they are great, but I dont recall Votto having great post season games. But they do have a strong pitching staff.

SanctionII

My comment about the Warriors was strictly tongue in cheek.

digicat

2012 NLDS Giants (0) vs Reds (2): Game 3, Giants turn to Vogelsong to save season.

Boch announced that if there's a Game 4, Zito will start it.

First things first. I heard a guy say on the radio, to win 3 in a row, you need to start off by winning the first game.

Voggy gets into his own head, which is one of the reasons why he hit a 7 game skid this season, but I've got to wonder how much noise is in his head right now. This is as tense of a pressure situation as you can get. Win or go home. That's it.

We'll see.

WTCG

Team lives on to die another day. Vogelsong held up, relief pitching was solid but the lineup forgot that you can't win games if you don't score runs. Giants were gifted this game.

SanctionII

Go giants

digicat

2012 NLDS Giants (1) vs Reds (2): Game 3, Agent Broxton activated to back Vogeslong, stave off elimination.

Jonathan Broxton has the wild misfortune for being the man on the mound when the Giants do game winning things offensively, like he was today.

Vogelsong brought it. Dude left SF in a trade, sucked bad, went overseas, sucked there, came back, sucked in the minors in 2010, then signed with the Giants and became Tom Glavine. (here's a fun fact, if Vogelsong is still a Giant in 2013 (he's under contract, so he should be), he'll meet the criteria for getting a plaque on the Wall of Fame. The minimum criteria are 9 years with the Giants, or 5 years with at least 1 All Star selection. Voggy was a Giant in 2000 and 2001, then again in 2011 and 2012)

Anyways, the offense is still struggling, but it seems that the Reds offense caught the same disease and couldn't do anything past the 1st inning against Voggy or the rest of the pen (1 hit in the 9 innings from the 2nd through the 10th).


Apparently Cueto is hurt, so they're DLing him and activating Mike Leake. Leake has been a Giant killer over his past 4 games against them:
June 29, 2012 @ SF: 9 ip, 1 run
July 30, 2011 in CIN: 6.2 ip, 2 runs
June 11, 2011 @ SF: 8 ip, 0 runs


This season, Leake has had a tough time pitching at home. He's got a 3.65 era on the road, but a 5.54 era at home. Maybe the Giants can use that to their advantage? Zito's pretty much the same home and on the road, which isn't saying much. He's got a 4.00 era at home, and a 4.34 era on the road.

Dboneesq

<< <i>I'm very much hoping to write the following in the days to come:
Game 3: Giants offense awakens at Great American Ballpark to back Vogeslong, stave off elimination! >>


Well ... that headline was a BIT off (LOL) but your Giants did win the game. CONGRATS. Looking forward to watching all four games today.

digicat

The pitching lines up differently than I had predicted too. The revised "dream headlines" would be:

Game 4: Zito continues to make up for bad Giants career, pitches Giants into Game 5.
Game 5: Yes we CAIN! Cain's arm and bat complete improbable comeback, propel Giants into NLCS!

digicat

"Get in here, everyone get in here..look into each other eyes..now! look into each others eyes, I want one more day with you, it's the most fun, the best team I have ever been on and no matter what happens we must not give in, we owe it to each other, play for each other, I need one more day with you guys, I need to see what Theriot will wear tomorrow, I want to play defense behind Vogelsong because he's never been to the playoffs..play for each other not yourself, win each moment, win each inning, it's all we have left!" - Hunter Pence, before Game 3.

digicat

2012 NLDS Giants (1) vs Reds (2): Game 4, Boch puts season in Zito's hands.

Looks like the bats are starting to wake up... 2 homers for the Giants already after 2 innings.

Some how Zito inspires the offense, even if he is walking in runs.

digicat

Zito yanked in the 3rd after giving up a homer and walking his 4th guy of the game. 76 pitches to get 8 outs.

I'm thinking that we'll see Lincecum today.

WTCG

I admit I was wrong. I was pretty sure they were coming home tonight. I thought Zito would pitch better than he did. This was probably the team's best game since before the Dodgers series.

I think the rare afternoon Bay Area thunder woke up the Giants offense. They finally scored a few "real" runs on their own merit. Timmy was vintage Timmy. Bad news was Zito was vintage Zito. It seemed like he walked about every other batter he faced. If they can keep it up they have a great chance of pulling it off but the lineup has to produce. Can't win games without scoring runs.

digicat

2012 NLDS Giants (2) vs Reds (2): Game 4, Giants ride long ball, Long-Relief Lincecum's arm to force Game 5

Boch was feeling confident about today's game, saying that he had an ace up his sleeve with Lincecum being ready to go on moments notice. Turns out that Boch has a time-machine and got the 2010 Postseason Lincecum to come in and pitch 4.1 innings of long-relief, where he dominated. He didn't even seem to break a sweat. When he got the final out of the 8th, his hair was dry and fluffy, not soaked and matted down like it gets sometimes. Giants bats woke up too, jacking 3 homers (Pagan, Blanco, Panda).

Giants have momentum. Before Game 3, some pics of the Giants practice showed the players all looking pretty moody. Bumgarner said that guys were pretty quiet in the clubhouse, as if some impending doom was hovering over them.

Then, right before game 3, Pence got the other Giants in a huddle and delivered a rousing pep talk. Giants still didn't get anything going, but slipped out with a win. Today they beat the Reds hard.

Game 5... Matt Cain vs Mat Latos. Latos hates the Giants, and likes to be hated by the Giants fans. Giants beat him to propel themselves into the post-season in 2010. They'll need to beat him again to get to the NLCS. Cain needs to step up and take charge like we all know he can. I'm sure Bumgarner will be available out of the pen if he's needed, but hopefully he won't be.

WTCG

On an OT and hypothetical tangent I was thinking of in the later part of the game, by next year if the Giants don't address their closer situation and Wilson isn't back to form, would it be feasible to turn Lincecum into the next John Smoltz and convert him into a closer? He seems to pitch well out of the bullpen and can dominate an inning or two without a problem. Could that be a good career move if he continues to struggle as a starter?

digicat

When Timmy was first drafted, some scouts and analysts projected Tim to be the most major-league-ready player of the 2006 draft. Right after getting drafted, Lincecum put up video game numbers vs the minor league hitters he faced in Salem-Keizer and San Jose. With a closer problem brewing in SF (Armando Benítez was the "closer"), some thought they'd call up Lincecum to take his place. Fortunately, the team decided that his stuff was too good for the pen, and let him season a bit more in the minors. Giants tapped Brad Hennessey (1st round pick, 2001) to be the new closer, and by the end of the 2007, Brian Wilson took over.

Lincecum as a closer would have to be something that gets looked at in the spring. If he's returning to form of a solid major league starer, you don't want to waste him in the pen. Sergio Romo seems to be a more likely heir to Brian Wilson. In fact, I'd venture to say that Lincecum is making a case for being returned to the rotation if the Giants make it to the NLCS.

I'm not really sure what they're going to do with Wilson. He's in his last year of arbitration, so the Giants can either make him an offer, go to Arb with him, or non-tender him. He's a huge marketing gimmick, so he's not a drain on the payroll.

grote15

Per WTCG, I thought this series was over last weekend...

digicat

2012 NLDS Giants (2) vs Reds (2), Game 5: Cain vs Latos, the final battle.

Here we are, game 5.

Dboneesq

Congrats Digicat ... what a comeback.

digicat

2012 Giants defeat Reds in NLDS!!!! Cain's arm, MVPosey slam propel Giants into NLCS!


EPIC COMEBACK. Faced with elimination, down 2 games to none, travel to Cincinati and take over Great American Ballpark and sweep Reds to advance to the NLCS.

WOW.

My head hurts.

WTCG

Giants just can't win a postseason series without making it interesting in the last inning, can't they? Romo really is the heir to Brian Wilson.

On to the NLCS. If the Nats advance it'll be different from the regular season as they've looked vulnerable against the Cards.

SanctionII

Go Giants.

Maybe later today we will see the A's win and advance to the ALCS.

Still think it would be fun to see the Giants and A's play in the WS.

digicat

I could watch this all day. Another reason for Latos to hate SF!


So, did the ball bounce back onto the field, or did a fan throw it back?



Edit to add...

Here's the "Must C" video with all 3 calls.

WTCG

<< <i>I could watch this all day. Another reason for Latos to hate SF!


So, did the ball bounce back onto the field, or did a fan throw it back? >>



It hit off the between deck scoreboard.

Throughout his career Latos completely owns the Giants except in the two games that mattered most.

cincyredlegs

Congrats to the Giants. You guys have a good team and deserved to win. I knew we were in trouble after Game 3. Just had that queezy feeling in my stomach.

As a Reds fan, this REALLY, REALLY hurts. OMG I am pissed. Dusty will be gone after the season. He did a good job of building the team but he can't win the big one. To much history that backs that up.....SF, Cubs and now Reds. It would be scary to see what Sweet Lou or Rose could have done with this team. Dangit.

Now I am praying the Nats beat the Cards. Can't stand them dirtybirds.

Mark