Thursday, September 3, 2015

Game Wrap 9/2/2015: Giants 2 Dodgers 1

The Giants played a veritable carbon copy of the previous game with a performance from their starter good enough that it should have been a win, a dominating performance by the opposing pitcher, an early Dodger lead, the Giants catching up to tie it, then a backbreaking HR by a slumping Dodger.  The game even featured Bruce Bochy getting thrown out for the second game in a row by the same umpire, this time for arguing a strike out on a check swing appeal play.  What it all added up to is a sweep at the hands of the first place Dodgers by a total of 3 runs, but it still left the Giants with very long odds of making the playoffs this season.  Key Lines:

Mike Leake- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 10/3.  ERA= 3.49.  Leake pitched well.  He even allowed 1 fewer baserunner than Kershaw which is remarkable given Kershaw's dominance with the strikeout.

Clayton Kershaw- 9 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 15 K's.  ERA= 2.18.  Kershaw became just the 7'th pitcher in history to strike out 15 or more Giants in a game.  The other 6 names include pitchers like Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, JR Richard and Doc Gooden.  Given his dominance with the strikeout, it is remarkable that the Giants managed to scratch out 1 run and actually had the game tied as late as the 6'th inning.  So, I will give the Giants credit for hanging tough and scrappiness and all that, but with Pence, Crawford and Panik out with injuries the Giants were simply outgunned this series.

The Loss dropped the Giants to 6.5 games behind in the NL West with just 27 games to play.  Nothing is impossible until you are mathematically eliminated, but that is a lot of ground to make up in that short a time frame.

The Giants now move on to Colorado for a 4 game series against the Rockies in Coors Field with Ryan Vogelsong facing left Chris Rusin in game 1 tonight.

9 comments:

  1. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the next published playoff odds that come out will have the Giants at about a 20--1 shot (if not worse) to make the playoffs now.

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    1. The Giants odds are still "ok" because they are basically the only NL team not in a playoff position with any chance (slim that it is) at all to catch the Wild Card and their division leaders.

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  2. Maybe the giants should bring up a Clayton Blackburn and give him 2 starts before heading to Arizona Fall league. I would rather see him then Vogey or Huddy at this point.

    LG

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  3. In 1951 the Giants finished the year going 37-7, catching the Dodgers and winning the pennant. Reverse the last 2 digits and it is 15 as in 2015. Time to catch some lightning in the bottle and go on a 19-6 run or better and do it again. Hopefully if we can get to 2 or 3 games back, those last 4 games against the Dodgers mean something.

    Trying to be as optimistic as possible for the next few weeks. Who knows? Maybe the Cubs tank.

    Did you guys know that the Cubs World Series win in Back to the Future II takes place in 2015? I just watched it the other day with my daughter and I got this eerie feeling. Weird. They finally have a decent team and it correlates with that movie.

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    1. Welllll, the Cubbies beat Miami in the movie 2015 WS.

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  4. "What it all added up to is a sweep at the hands of the first place Dodgers by a total of 3 runs, but it still left the Giants with very long odds of making the playoffs this season."

    Ugh, this is a heartbreaking statement.

    "The Giants now move on to Colorado for a 4 game series against the Rockies in Coors Field with Ryan Vogelsong facing left Chris Rusin in game 1 tonight."

    So we're expecting a lot more runs in this series than in LA.

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  5. I hate the Bums for hitting Crawford and Aoki.

    I hate the Bums for getting two HRs from two nobody Bums

    I hate the Bums for three 1-run losses

    I hate the Bums for bullpen for actually pitching in game one

    I hate the Bums for in spite of Mattingly's douche moves they still won

    I hate the umps and the TV umps for giving the Bums every key call and then some

    I hate the Bums for being able to spend $300M and resign Grienke for $200M+

    I HATE the Bums!

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book. Lol.

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    2. The Dodgers are a despicable bunch, that's for sure.

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