6 Back 5 Weeks to go

I was looking through the archives from August of last year and for some reason I was feeling much more optimistic than I am now. I can't explain it because the team was in a pretty similar situation with their world class pitching staff struggling majorly.

This year it is the offense that is dragging the team down but it is possible that they could get hot and go on a run similar to what the pitchers did last season (well it wouldn't be historical I am sure but maybe they could average 5 runs a game).

Here is something that I wrote last season on August 24th:

Time is running out on the playoff run, it is still possible to follow the old Dusty Baker rule of making up a game a week to get back into it the division lead but the margin of error has shrunk to zero.

Well things are looking a little more dire and the Giants cannot follow the Dusty Rule because it will leave them a game short but with 6 games against the team in front of them things are not impossible.

Here is another inspiring note:

If the Padres Diamondbacks blow it wouldn't even break into a top 10 list of late season collapses. That is not to say it is likely or easy but it is not time to count them out. The chance of a division title is still alive in the 10-15% 20% range.

And finally a cliche filled rant that would fit well into any Disney movie:

The team has gone into a little bit of a funk and it is getting to the point where there backs are up against the wall, it just takes a couple of the leaders to step up and this ship will be righted. The baseball season is 162 games; it is a marathon and not a sprint. One game doesn't send a team to the World Series and the Giants just need to take it one game at a time. The veteran presence won't let this team get too down, they keep the clubhouse chemistry loose and fun, and it is one of the intangibles in a veteran team. They just know how to win and given the time the will perform. This team has fought too hard and has too much mental toughness to just roll over and die. If they give it 110 percent and buy into what Bruce Bochy is selling and play as a team this team can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get back into the race.

Go get em guys.

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Teams You Don't Want to Face in the Playoffs

Jonah Keri has a new article on Grantland today talking about the teams that you wouldn't want to face in the playoffs and it got me thinking.

He bases his teams on the work done for Baseball Prospectus by Nate Silver and Dayn Perry (which Obsessive Giants Compulsive is always reminding us about when we need to calm down about the lousy offense) that says that playoff success is based primarily on three things:

1. A pitching staff with a high strikeout rate
2. A dominant closer
3. Great team defense

Keri explicitly leaves off the Giants because he is looking for upsets and as the defending champs, they don't fit the mold as a team that would be an underdog. I don't blame him for this at all, but it still leaves us with the opportunity to see how the Giants measure up.

1. A pitching staff with a high strikeout rate:

The Giants rank number one in the majors with a K/9 of 8.25 for the entire pitching staff. They are number one with a K/9 of 8.11 for their starting pitchers and number three with a K/9 of 8.54 for their relief pitchers.

I think that it is pretty safe to say the Giants have a pitching staff with a very high strikeout rate.

2. A dominant closer:

Brian Wilson hasn't been nearly as good this season but he still ranks as an above average relief pitcher and if you look at him since 2009, to try to control some of the variation in year-to-year numbers, he is one of the top ten relief pitchers in all of baseball with a FIP of 2.61 and a strikeout rate above ten.

In addition, the Giants have shutdown setup guys that make for an embarrassment of riches. Jaiver Lopez is death to left handed batters (but really shouldn't face too many righties) and Sergio Romo has been arguably the best reliever in baseball this season with a ridiculous stat line of 1.20 FIP with a K/9 of 12.66.

This may not be as slam dunk as the high strikeout rate category, but I think the Giants meet the criteria pretty well.

3. Great team defense

This is probably the weakest part on the Giants resume.

The team plays a bunch of below average, older veterans in the field but makes up for it with some splendid defenders in others. When everything is taken into account, they are an okay team but maybe only slightly better than average.

The team UZR for this season is 7.3 runs saved which ranks eighth in all of baseball. When we look at UZR/150, they come in at 1.4 runs saved per 150 defensive games played, which is good enough for ninth place.

The Giants have the ability to play a better defensive team but they often sacrifice defense to try to scare up some more offense. The ratings say that they are above average but at times they don't look it with guys like Jeff Keppinger and Orlando Cabrera moving awfully slow up the middle.

UPDATE: Julian from Giants Nirvana poinst out the Baseball Prospectus defensive efficiency has them ranked as the sixth best team, which is in line with UZR. Maybe they are actually a team that is pretty good defensively or at least better than what I expected.

Thoughts:

When you look at everything the Giants have, they are well suited again to make a run at the playoffs. The trouble for them will be getting there.

As of this morning, Baseball Prospectus still has them as the favorites in the NL West with a 75% chance to win the division, but with their poor play as of late, they have lost a lot of ground. Getting back on solid footing with a .500 road trip would be a big step forward for this team and could take them a long way in getting into the playoffs where they have the "secret sauce" to make a nice run at another World Series title.

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10 Best Giants Moments of 2010

It is the end of the year so it sees fitting to look back on the best moments of 2010. First a few honorable mentions because narrowing it down to just 10 is simply too hard after such a magical season.

Honorable Mention:

Barry Zito's April, it seems like it was forever ago but Zito had a simply dominate stretch to start the season going 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA. It was nice to see Zito pitch at his best and too bad it didn't last all season.

Freddy Sanchez's reaction to Aubrey Huff's game 4 home run, the face and reaction was priceless. Huff hit a moonshot and Sanchez reacted like every one else, just watching in pure amazement.

Madison Bumgarner's World Series Game 4, another moment from game 4. Bumgarner was pitching on the biggest stage as a 21 year old rookie and handled it like a veteran who had done this numerous times. I still remember him breaking down the swing of Vlad Guererro over and over to the tune of 3 Ks.

Cody Ross turns into early 00's Barry Bonds for the Playoffs, in the playoffs he hit .294/ .390/ .686 and was a pitchers worst nightmare.

The Rally Thong, Aubrey Huff sported a red thong that proved to be magical as it propelled the Giants into first place and then to the city's first ever World Series championship.

The World Series Parade, an absolutely fabulous day. A perfect November day in San Francisco, throngs of people crowding the parade route and City Center plaza to catch a glimpse of the hero's of the city.

The Top 10 Moments:


10. The San Diego Invasion of Giants fans: The scene, September 9-12 an important 4 game road series in San Diego against the division leading Padres. The Giants fans prove why they are the best in baseball and travel down in droves to support the team. They outnumber and overpower the Padres fans in the stadium and help propel the team to taking 3 out of 4 and demoralizing the Padres.

9. The Giants pitchers historic September: The Giants were a pitching dominated team and showed that they had a historic caliber staff. In September the team went 18 straight games of allowing 3 runs or less and 23 games giving up 4 or less runs. In 26 September games the pitchers gave up just 50 runs or 1.92 runs per game as the Giants went 18 and 8 and pitched themselves into the playoffs.

8. Matt Cain's 0.00 ERA in the playoffs: Cain often in his career has had to play second fiddle to Tim Lincecum but in this years playoffs he let the baseball world know that he too is a top tier pitcher. Cain pitched 21and a third innings of scoreless baseball earning 2 wins and getting robbed of a third.

7. Buster Posey's 21 game hitting streak: Posey the rookie of the year put together an impressive July which included a 21 game hitting streak, the longest ever for a Giants rookie. In that month he also was the best hitter in all of baseball, not just the best rookie but the best hitter period. In 27 games he reached base in 26 of those games, hitting .417/ .466/ .699 with 7 home runs.

6. Pat Burrell's homer to beat the Dodgers: July 31st, bottom of the 8th inning the Dodgers leading 1-0, 2 outs, a runner on base, a full count and the Dodger's All-Star closer in the game. The tension and excitement in the stadium was palpable. The pitch came in a hard fastball, Burrell took a good rip, he got solid wood on it, a line drive toward straight away left, did it have enough to get over the fence? the left fielder turns and watches, everyone is on their feet annnnnd it is out of here.

The crowd erupted with euphoria. The loudest BEAT LA chants I have ever heard rained down and the Giants pulled out a shocking 2-1 win.

5. Juan Uribe's clutch hits against the Phillies: Uribe with 2 swings of his bat won 2 games for the Giants in the NLCS against the heavily favored Phillies. The first came in game 4 where he hit an improbable sac fly against Roy Oswalt to drive in the winning run for the Giants. The second came in the deciding game 6 where he hit an opposite field home run to break a 2-2 tie. The homerun was amazing because it was the first time this season that Uribe hit a home run to the opposite field.

4. Brain Wilson's slider to end the NLCS: Wilson has a habit of making things a little more exciting then most of us would like and getting the final 3 outs of the NLCS was no exception. Wilson walked 2 batters to put the tying run in scoring position and up stepped Ryan Howard. Howard worked the count full and then Wilson threw what is arguably the best pitch of his career, a sharp slider/cutter that froze Howard as the umpire raised his fist to signal the Giants had won the pennant.

3. Tim Lincecum's 2 hit 14 strikeout shutout of the Braves: If it had not been for Roy Halladay's no hitter this would have been the most dominate start of the playoffs and even with that it might still have been. Tim went all nine innings striking out 14, walking one and giving up 2 doubles. He got an incredible 28 swings and misses and made the Braves hitters look foolish all night. On top of everything he did this while having no margin for error, the offense managed just 1 run and even that was with a gift in the form of a missed call and a bleeder that made it through the 5.5 whole.

This was one of the most amazing pitching outings I have had the pleasure to watch.

2. Buster Posey's 3 hit, 3 RBI debut: The first impression of what would turn into a magical season. Posey came up with the highest of expectations after tearing up AAA and immediately lived up to them. Posey followed up the next day with another 3 hits and this time 2 of those went for doubles. It may not have been a home run in his first at bat like Will Clark but it is still a game that will go down in Giants lore.

1. Edgar Renteria's game winning 3-run homer: There is no other moment that could possibly be number 1, Renteria's home run to give the Giants a 3-0 lead that they would never look back from was the feather in the cap of a magical season. Renteria had been a bust in the eyes of fans after 2 injury plagued years and a big money contract but all was forgiven with this one swing of the bat against the not so invincible Cliff Le.

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Digging into Madison Bumgarner’s Game 4 Gem

Madison Bumgarner was on last night and when a pitcher is on it is a beautiful thing to watch.

For all the talk about how young Bumgarner is and how he is a rookie, last night he was simply a great pitcher on the mound getting outs against a very tough lineup.

He had the icy stare of a vet and the fearlessness of a man who was born to pitch in these situations and the numbers look just as good as he did last night.

Pitch Statistics
Pitch Type	Avg Speed	Max Speed	Avg H-Break	Avg V-Break	Count	Strikes / %	Linear Weights
FF (FourSeam Fastball)	90.91	94.4	6.01	9.17	44	30 / 68.18%	-1.4700
CH (Changeup)	83.61	85.2	9.09	5.53	21	16 / 76.19%	-1.6735
SL (Slider)	84.63	87	-1.25	4.11	25	18 / 72.00%	-1.1357
CU (Curveball)	75.60	76.9	-6.14	-3.35	5	1 / 20.00%	0.0144
FT (TwoSeam Fastball)	89.55	92.3	8.87	8.37	11	4 / 36.36%	-0.0186
Information from brooksbaseball.net/.

Of all the things that can be said the most impressive was the way that he attacked the Texas hitters and mixed up his speed and location to keep the ball off the barrel of the bat and keep the Rangers hitters off balance.

Bumgarner has thrown the best game of this World Series, doing better then Cy Young winners Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum, better than All-Star Matt Cain, and better then C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis and Jonathan Sanchez who have had praise heaped upon them this week.

His line was excellent, 8 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 strike outs, 0 runs, only 1 runner reaching second base.
Even that first walk was a questionable one when you look at the pitch locations. It certainly looked like he might have been squeezed in that first inning.

There is a great piece by from fangraph's Jack Moore putting how good Bumgarner was into historical perspective that is well worth the read.

Here is a snippet:

"The games started by Tommy Hunter and Madison Bumgarner represent the 1,231 and 1,232 pitching starts in World Series history. Only 137 of them have seen a pitcher throw at least eight innings and allow zero earned runs. The number drops to 27 when we restrict ourselves to the modern era (1969-present) and only 13 in the Wild Card era (1993-present). Bumgarner's game score of 80 ranks tied for 84th all-time. Only 19 pitchers have bested that game score since 1969, and only seven (Roger Clemens, Cliff Lee, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Chris Carpenter, Josh Beckett, and Randy Johnson) have done it since 1993."

A tip of the hat to Mad Bum who has put the Giants in the drivers seat the rest of the way winning a pivotal game and doing so in an impressive fashion.

The Giants need just one more win

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I am still in a bit of shock.

The Giants are 1 win away from becoming World Series Champions.

They have 3 games to get one last win. According to my projections on the odds of each game they have a 85.3% chance of winning it all.

To add to this is that they have really out played the Rangers all series. This hasn't been a smoke and mirror type series where they scrape by getting just enough. The margin of victory has been 4, 9 and 4.

Those are all pretty comfortable victories that don't make you pace around your living room.

Just one more win.

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Lee says to Washington, "No I Will Not Start On Short Rest"

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A CRAZY CRABBERS EXCLUSIVE:

Ron Washington said at his press conference that the Texas Rangers would not ask Cliff Lee to pitch on short rest in this world series is a lie, they already did and he said he would not.

A source inside AT&T Park said that the Rangers manager did in fact approach his star pitcher about pitching on short rest only to be turned down. It all happened in the tunnel on the way to the club house after a Rangers gut wrenching loss to the the Giants on Thursday night.

From what the source told me the conversation was pretty heated and the Rangers "rent a player/Postseason ace" told his coach that he will not pitch on short rest. He was very adamant about it.

Cliff Lee has never pitched on short rest in his career. After his very human like performance maybe pitching on short rest would be a blessing in disguise for the Giants having smacked him around a little bit. It is likely that he would not pitch that bad again if he saw the Giants in the post season once or twice more.

But if he indeed does not pitch on short rest, I will take the rest of the Ranger rotation any day of the week; except Tuesdays because as everyone knows that is the worst day of the week.

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The NL rules aren't fair, Ranger fan comments from the Dallas Morning News

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I have already written about my disdain for the DH rule used by the American League, well it looks like there are fans in Texas who have the same problem with not using it and have taken to crying about it.

Here is a comment from yesterday after the Game 1 loss:

And WHY are the Rangers having "Vlad" problems?...because of the STUPID RULES that  favor the NL! Stop and think about it. The Rangers have to change up EVERYTHING they did in the regular season to play by a different set of rules than they normally do. The Giant's actually BENEFIT from the DH in the AL park!!! You name another sport that decides it's championship by TWO DIFFERENT sets of rules! You can't. And I don't care what ANYONE says...playing NL rules for an AL team is a HUGE disadvantage....NL teams playing with the DH is a BONUS!!! Idiot owners....

Well Rangers fans you now have your wish, the game is headed to Texas where there will be a DH. I fully antcipate that the Rangers will come back strong in the next 2 and most likely 3 games. I just couldn't help myself for taking this cheap shot.

Here is a message board bashing the lack of DH for your enjoyment.

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A tale of two Managers

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One of the story lines that has been lost in the Giants offensive explosion is the two vastly different ways that Bruce Bochy and Ron Washington have handled their two bullpens.

Bochy has not been gun shy to use his biggest arms, even if it isn't the typical situation that you would see them during the regular season. He has managed the game with aggression going for the jugular making sure to keep Texas from coming back to life like so many horror movie villains.

Washington has done the opposite. In the bottom of the 8th inning of game 1 with his team down 4 runs he turned to the bottom of the bullpen guy Mark Lowe, he of the 5.40 ERA this season who responded by giving up 3 runs in the 5 batters that he faced. The insurance runs were huge.
This decision isn't without justification but it pretty much signaled that Texas was giving up on this game. With their offense a 4 run deficit shouldn't be a fold situation, not in the World Series were every game is huge.

The timid managing continued in last nights game. Again in the bottom of the 8th down by 2 runs which with a team that boasts having a good offense isn't a massive deficit the Rangers manager was timid in bringing in his best reliever to stop the bleeding.

Darren O'Day who did a decent job got the first 2 guys of the inning out and then gave up a single to demi-god Buster Posey. There is no shame in that and he was lifted for a left hander to gain the platoon advantage against Nate Schierholtz, another justifiable move. The only issue was that Derek Holland had no control that lead to 3 straight walks.

The next guy Washington called for? Again Mark Lowe. Why wouldn't you go to your bullpen ace in this situation? There are 2 outs, you are down 3-0 with the bases loaded. If you give up a hit here the game starts to get out of hand, if you can manage the damage you still have a shot.

Instead Washington went with this arguable 7th best reliever to get a very critical out when the bullpen ace sat on the bench not even throwing in the pen.

I do not understand the call to not bring in Neftali Feliz here. You have to believe that in the best case Perez can get 4 outs and at worst case he gets one out and has a travel day to rest. It isn't the typical spot to play your closer but this isn't a typical regular season game.

In a similar situation in game 1 Bruce Bochy did not hesitate to bring in his big gun to stop a late rally that his mop guys created. In the World Series you play to win in the regular season you save arms, Bochy played the situation correctly Washington didn't.

That is the difference here. Bochy used his bullpen aggressively like there is no tomorrow and each game is the most important of the season, while Washington saved his best reliever for a game that may never come.

Bochy continues to out manage his counterparts, I would have never thought it.

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My World Series Sob Story

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So tonight by the cruelest of coincidences I have a class tonight from 6:30 to 10. What makes it even worse is that skipping it isn't even an option as tonight is the date of the midterm in my graduate International Economic Development class.

So at 6:15 I will have to turn off KNBR and head into class and take a test while doing my best to keep focused on the task at hand and not wondering what the hell is going on in the game.

The baseball god must be punishing me for something, I wish I knew what it was.

Plus, this is not the first time I have had to deal with the torture of being cut off from the rest of the world during a playoff game. My last class coincided with game 4 of the NLCS. The game that many have described as the most exciting playoff game ever played by the Giants.

That one worked out a little better because it was during a regular class and I could follow along on game cast but low and behold the baseball gods again decided to plot against me with my battery dieing with runners on 1st and 3rd, 1 out in the bottom of the 9th with Juan Uribe coming to bat. That was my last update and then kaput.

I had no idea if the final run came in or if the game was still going and of course there seemed to be no one else in the room who was a Giants fan or cared to deviate from the discussion on the world bank to announce that Juan Uribe had won the game the Giants.

It was the worst hour and a half of my life, I was more nervous waiting then during any part of the playoffs to date.

To sum it all up, baseball gods, Giants hitters, Giants pitchers, there is nothing wrong with jumping out to a 10-0 lead and making the game a laugher. It will make taking my test infinitely more enjoyable.

That is all I ask.

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Is Ron Washington Already Losing the Managerial Battle of Wits to Bruce Bochy?

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Ron Washington moves makes one think, and not in a good way sometimes.

Dave Cameron at Fangraphs raises an interesting question about the pitching rotation that Washington has set for the World Series.

In game 2, he’s decided to hand the ball to C.J. Wilson, and then turn to Tommy Hunter in Game 4. I’m not sure I would have made the same call in either case.

The main difference between starting Game 2 and Game 3 is the ballpark in which you pitch. Washington chose to throw Wilson in San Francisco and Colby Lewis in Texas, but based on their styles of pitching and the respective ways the parks play, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Let’s just start with the obvious: 44.5 percent of Colby Lewis’ balls in play this year were flyballs, compared to just 33.5 percent for C.J. Wilson. Wilson has the highest groundball rate of any pitcher on the Rangers’ roster, in fact, while Lewis has the lowest groundball rate of any of their starters. They are complete opposites on what kinds of balls in play they allow.

It is a very interesting question but if you look at their splits it is less interesting. For their careers Lewis has done better at home, while Wilson has been roughly equal wherever he starts.

Colby Lewis career at home: 5.02 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 4.45 xFIP

Colby Lewis career away: 5.50 ERA, 4.70 FIP, 4.54 xFIP

C.J. Wilson career at home: 3.96 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 4.06 xFIP

C.J. Wilson career away: 3.81 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 4.00 xFIP

This decision is at least somewhat defensible, although the argument that Lewis pitching style matches up with AT&T park we make me consider having him go in game 2.

This however isn't the end of Dave's argument against Washington's rotation, he also questions why Tommy Hunter is starting over David Holland.

The other curious decision is to give Tommy Hunter another start in Game 4. Derek Holland is simply a better pitcher than Hunter, and he’s been excellent in relief in the postseason. The decision was reportedly based on the Giants having a right-handed heavy line-up, but they actually hit RHP better than LHP this year, and as we discussed yesterday, their options for a DH against LHP are not good. By starting a righty, the Giants will be able to use a better alignment of players in Game 4.

This is a real head scratcher. I don't understand the logic of this one either but it benefits the Giants so I will gladly take it. Tommy Hunter has been a lucky pitcher this season, he is not as good as his 13-4 record would indicate. He doesn't strike people out, he gives up a lot of home runs

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Eeny, meeny, miny, moe; Who DHs for the Giants?

Stupid American League baseball and the DH, if there is one thing that gets on my nerves more then anything about American League baseball it is the DH rule. It should be 9 men in the field and the same 9 men in the lineup but no the American League has to different.

It is a bad rule that needs to go away but seeing that is not going to happen in the next 3 days the Giants must come up with a plan for who will fill the position for them when they head to Texas.

Here are the options for the additional batting spot:

Mike Fontenot .282/ .329/ .310

Jose Guillen .266/ .317/ .375

Travis Ishikawa .266 /.320 /.392

Edgar Renteria .276/ .332/ .374

Aaron Rowand .230/ .281/ .378

Pablo Sandoval .268/.323/ .409

Nate Schierholtz .242/ .311/ .366

Eli Whiteside .238/ .299/ .397

The most likely scenarios include Pat Burrell moving to DH to get a better defensively with Rowand or Schierholtz, having Pablo DH and having a right-side of the infield of Renteria and Uribe, or having Huff do the DHing and bring in Travis Ishikawa to play first base.

Some other possibilities that are a little longer shots would be to put Ishikawa at first, send Huff to left field where he is a slight upgrade to Burrell defensively and have Burrell DH. Also there is the possibility of adding Guillen to the roster to DH which I really don't want to see.

Of the most likely options that one that seems to work the best would be to have Pablo DH, the only issue is that this season he has been atrocious hitting on the road and from the right side where he is likely to for at least 2 games in Texas.

There is a whole lot of not to like going on here against the lefties that Texas will throw at the Giants. I really doubt there is one answer to this question or even a right answer, I say hope that who ever gets put there gets Cody Ross hot and then it really doesn't matter.

How is that for reasoning?

The Odds of the Giants Going to the World Series

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Warning Math ahead.

I was a little nervous that the series is heading back to Philadelphia. One of the things that calms me down is to look at the numbers, and in this case the numbers look decent. Not as good as before the last game but much better then I would have first thought.

The Giants chance of winning one of the next 2 games is 65.7%. That is pretty dang good. It would be very nice to get those odds in Vegas on any table game.

The Giants chances of winning tonight are not great, only about 39.4%. They figure to surrender on average about 4.45 runs per game and only score 4 runs.

If it goes to tomorrow things look a little bit better. The Giants would figure to win about 43.4% of the time. They would give up 4.3 runs and score again 4 runs a game.

Even with these relatively low odds in each game the chance that they lose both is much smaller. To figure this out you multiply the expected loss percentage together and then subtract that number from 1. That gives you 0.6057 x 0.5653 which comes out to 0.3424 (the odds of losing both games) and if you take that number and subtract it from 1 you get 0.6573 or that the Giants still have a 65.7% chance of making the World Series.

Don't fall into irrational pessimism yet. There is time for that tomorrow. Go Giants!

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Small Sample Size Fun: Giants Playoff Edition

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Let's keep this light hearted after last nights game. This addition of Small Sample Size Fun™ we look at the Giants home playoff record when they hand out "Rally Towels" vs. "Rally Pom Poms."

With the Rally Towels: 3-0

Game 1 of NLDS, Games 3 and 4 of NLCS

With the Rally Pom Poms: 0-2

Game 2 of NLDS, and Game 5 of the NLCS

Revisiting the Battle of the Big 3’s

The Phillies and the Giants both have a claim to having the best top 3 starters in Major League Baseball and now that they have squared up each other head to head it is time to revisit the two staffs.

Before the NLCS began I said that the Giants may not have the same love in the national media or have the cool nick name like H2O but in the postseason they have been just as impressive.

Well the Giants pitchers have not disappointed in the NLCS and have stood toe to toe with the defending champs and have put themselves in a great spot up 3-1.

All the talk about it was an illusion of facing the Braves and they would shrink when they faced "real" hitting has been proved false.

The Giants have shut down the potent Phillies offense and quited the haters at the same time.

Here are the updated numbers for each "Big 3":

	Giants	Phillies
ERA	1.26	2.42
WHIP	0.79	0.76
K/9	10.70	9.28
BB/9	2.73	1.21

The Giants have more then held there own and have excelled in keeping the Phillies off the scoreboard while racking up the strikeouts.

The Phillies have an edge in the walk rate but the WHIP is nearly identical due to the Giants giving up fewer hits.

You may miss this if you only listen to the national media but the Giants pitchers have matched everything the Phillies pitchers have done and have actually performed better then them in nearly every category.

Round two of the marquee matchups begins tonight with Tim Lincecum against Roy Hallady and the Giants just need to keep doing what they have done for the last 2 months.

Halladay vs. Lincecum! Part Duex

The first pitching match up of the century wasn't exactly everything that the hype made it out to be, luckily we have another chance to see two of the top pitchers duke it out with huge implications.

Pitching		IP		H	ER	BB	SO	HR		ERA		BF	Pit		Str	GB	FB	LD	GSc	WPA
Tim Lincecum		7		6	3	3	8	2		1.69		29	113		71	7	11	3	58	0.133
Roy Halladay		7		8	4	0	7	2		2.25		29	105		73	10	12	2	52	-0.113

Neither pitcher could be described as awesome and that sure left me disappointed after the 5 days of constant build up and hype.

This time around the perpetual hype machine hasn't been building things up in our minds, the emotions of last nights game could carry over and the desperation of an elimination game all ad to the already large playoff atmosphere.

Both pitchers are rested and ready to square off and I am excited.

Sequels are almost never as good as the original but I have a feeling that this one could be even better. The huge stage and a real ball park should make up for the "dud" that was game one.

Set your DVRs for this one. It could be an instant classic.

Giants Win a Laugher against the Phillies

Normally a 3-0 win is nothing special but for the Giants scoring 3 runs is an offensive outburst and in this ball park that is a huge deficit that could not be overcome.

Matt Cain did everything in his power to shut down the Phillies. The Phillies had some chances putting Cain in some tight spots but the Giants were able to wiggle out of them. The big difference in this game is that the Giants got the timely hitting and the Phillies did not.

This has been the Giants formula all freaking season. Great pitching and some timely hitting, score a few runs and then hold on.

The Giants played their brand of baseball and were able to beat the Phillies and now the pressure is squarely on the Phillies shoulders, down 2-1 with 2 more games in San Francisco where there are no cheap homeruns like you saw in the first couple of games.

The Giants need 2 wins in the next 4 games to go to the World Series.

Yes that is right 2 wins away from the promised land.

A tip of the hat to Cody Ross you continues his magic, Edgar Renteria who had good at bats in the lead off spot and started the rally that put them ahead. Aaron Rowand who hit a double and played good defense and Matt Cain who showed veteran savvy at 26 to shut down the Phillies for 7 innings.

Go Giants lets take a couple more here in San Francisco!

Phillies Screwed by Umps, Giants Screwed by Umps; Everybody Yearning for Robo Umps

Tweet

The calling of balls and strikes has left a lot to be desired. It is so bad that both teams have at times been equally upset over pitches that cross that plate but are called balls and by phantom strikes 5 inches off the plate.

I understand the difficulty of calling balls and strikes, the pressure of making decisions on a ball that is traveling at 90 plus mph where you have less then half a second to see the path of the ball and determine where it crossed the plate but this is a pivotal part of the game.

If you look at the plot above there is a whole lot of green inside the box and if you look at the outside corner it seems to have grown by 3 inches on both sides (but only sometimes). What makes things worse is that if you look at the plot from Saturday's game you get a completely different picture as well.

So in the course of two games there have been two different interpretations of the same strike zone and each has been implemented inconsistently. This is getting a little crazy and there has to be something that can be done about it.

Major League Baseball needs to reel in these umpires that have their own idea about what is a ball and what is a strike and go by what is written in the rule book, what if foul balls were judged the same way? With some umpires giving you a couple inches here and there if would get them fired but with balls and strikes it is no problem.

To address at least the different interpretations that can be seen in a series let's start with the same guy behind the plate for each game. No more figuring out the umpire and guessing game.

Then in the off season MLB needs to get tough in making sure that umpires are calling the rule book zone. We have the ability now to see every pitch and track what was called a strike or ball, this needs to be reviewed and graded. If an umpire isn't calling the zone like it is supposed to he needs to be sent packing.

I look forward to the day when we have robo umpire acting as a impartial arbiter of the rule book strike zone.

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Time for a Return of the Panda

Enough of the Mike Fontenot experiment at 3B, it is time to return Pablo Sandoval from the doghouse.

I don't want to seem like a reactionary just berceuse Fontenot missed a couple of plays last night but the Giants need to come to the realization that talent wise Pablo is a better player and right now Fontenot isn't exactly shooting line drives and magic out his behind like Cody Ross.

At this point the Giants need to go with their most talented players and that means they need to play Pablo Sandoval (who had a nice at bat last night where he drew a walk) even with all of his struggles this season.

The Giants play a brand of baseball where there is a slim margin of error and when you play like that you need your best talent in the field.

Here is a quick comparison of the two:

Sandoval:

	PA	HR	BB%	K%	ISO	BABIP	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+
2010	616	13	7.6%	14.4%	.140	.291	.268	.323	.409	.314	95
Career	1403	41	7.3%	13.9%	.179	.325	.305	.356	.484	.356	121

Fontenot:

	PA	HR	BB%	K%	ISO	BABIP	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+
2010	261	1	5.7%	17.1%	.092	.335	.283	.331	.375	.307	87
Career	1229	22	8.8%	19.9%	.141	.316	.270	.337	.411	.327	95

Even in what can only be considered a down season and a disappointment Pablo has hit much better then Fontenot. He has walked more, struck out less, and hit for more power. On top of that the defensive metrics say that the two are roughly even.

With the series coming back to AT&T park where Sandoval has hit well it is time to give him his shot because even at his worst he is the Giants best option and if he comes close to his best he is force to be reckoned with.