Congratulations to your SF Giants. It is unfortunate that their success comes as a result of poor defensive pitching decisions by the Rangers. I always want a 7-game Series.
Congratulations to your SF Giants. It is unfortunate that their success comes as a result of poor defensive pitching decisions by the Rangers. I always want a 7-game Series.They weren't exactly "my" Giants---I wasn't normally a Giant fan over all those years, even if I might have admired certain Giants players going back to Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal.
But it's likewise unfortunate that some people, such as disheartened fans hoping for a seven game Series (would I have loved a seven-game Series? Hey, ask me a tough one . . . ) forget what good pitching does to good or at least capable hitting. How good? The Giants' staff had the majors' best ERA on the season; their rotation, the second-best rotation ERA in the majors; their bullpen, the second-best bullpen ERA in the majors.
Ron Washington was thoroughgoingly outmanaged by Bruce Bochy; he'll be pondering just why he let even Cliff Lee pitch to Edgar Renteria with two on, one out, first base open, and a guy who loves the big moment coming into his hands, when the Giants had been chipping away at Lee all night---even their outs were hard hit outs for the most part. Why let Lee pitch to Renteria instead of putting him on and pitching instead to an on-deck castoff hitting a measly .230?
But it still came down to whether the Rangers could find any kinks in the Giants' pitching.
Washington could have made all the right pitching moves and the Giants would still have outpitched his staff. That's what this Series came down to. The best possible illustration was how the Series ended---with the absolute heart of the Rangers' order going down one, two, three in the bottom of the ninth, on two strikeouts sandwiching a meek grounder to shortstop.