House Money
The Giants are making it rain on me. Seriously, how much more house money could we be playing with? We showed up in the NLCS series with very little expectation and a wheel barrel full of house money. I asked the baseball Gods for but a single win out of these first two games. We won Game 1. Boom. More house money.
I would like to take all of this house money and slide it *under the table* to MadBum to thank him for his epic pitching skills. He’s simply become the best, most reliable playoff pitcher in the history of the franchise. Overstatement? Prove me wrong.
Today is a very busy day but I will sit down at 5:07pm ready and focused. See you guys then.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Pablo should not have been swinging until he had a called strike. That pitcher was on the way to walking in the lead run, it appeared, but Pablo fouled off ball 3….
Agree Paul. Rosenthal couldn’t find the strike zone. Still count me in the camp that ONLY gives Pablo the contract he deserves (not the going delusional rate other teams will undoubtedly give him).
Cards were folding like a poker hand and we should have taken better advantage of the situation. Sigh.
Romo no mo.
Sergi-OH fuck.
Just got thru tellin Edd that I’m not digging romo here because of him at risk of giving up the dinger…
Great. The CommieCast feed went kerplunk and I have no idea what is going on. Pfffftttt . . .
He hung a frisbee.
Thanks . . . Figured as much after Wilco Joe, Mac, and snarkk comments.
The bench played well tonight, overall. I have to give them credit. It was the bullpen that laid an egg tonight.
Oh well, 1-1 in St. Louis in the first two games is still a great start to the series.
And the biggest thing out of tonight’s game may turn out to be Molina’s injury.
Great game. Get ’em at home.
Tesms that dont home run in the regular season are hitting home runs in the postseason incredible
I thought we learned in Game 1 against the Nats that Strickland just cant be trusted to throw against a power-hitting lefty…has that message finally been received? We were lucky to get back into the game and thought that was a sign of our karma being untouchable, but Romo threw one where Posey did not want it…this is going to be a long series…
Same with Machi…they showed Posey tapping his glove on the ground. The forkball or whatever is supposed to be btw knees and the ground where it’s unhittable. 3 bombs by LH off 3 different pen guys.
Romo has to be on either side of plate (and off it to LHs at the back foot), not in middle of it.
And way too many missed ops with RISP by everyone.
Brutal night for Giants fans.
Looks like a dot game at 1:07 Tuesday for you West coast guys…
tough loss, but got to watch it with primo flapper snarkk. we live too close not to do another one soon. I just worry about one thing: now that snarkk and eddacker have high-fived during a Giants game does that mean I will have to start writing thoughtful, insightful posts full of baseball wisdom?
Go Giants!
Crappy loss. Got lucky a few times with balls not caught, scoring on wild pitch. Gonna be a long series unless we actually get some hits with runners on. Cant remeber the last one? Posey not getting it done. Panda and Pense either as far a big hit..
That pretty much sums it up. Posey especially has to get it going or they’re in deep trouble.
The guy is so damn streaky.
Strickland needs to be short leashed to only RHBs. If Timmy gave up 4 dingers in about 4 appearances, he’d be drawn and quartered in the media and by fans. This kid seems to have teflon. He’s not ready for prime time with LHBs. Bochy needs to get this kid in situations to succeed…
Looks like reports are in that Molina is done for this series.
If true, that is a major major plus for the Giants. That would even out to some extent the loss of Pagan…
Can Susac play OF?
I wish there were a way to get that kid 4 ABs a game.
It’s a darn shame we can’t get him in there somehow other than the odd PH appearance…
Pence had about the only hard-hit ball all night on his single. WAAAAAAAAY too many guys LOB.
And Machi’s pitch was flat plain fucking flat. Posey was tapping the ground, and he floated that pitch in the fuck-me zone. 4 solo shots for StL. and WE shoulda won.
Still and all, I feel food about this. Still think this goes 5. Huddy’s found his groove. We take game 3. We’ll start actually hitting the ball.
I feel “FOOD” about this?? ha ha
If I never see Strickland EVER again it will not dissapoint me
I don’t either Chuck. Cards are just as offensively challenged as Giants are. None of those bombs last night would have left ATT. Giants have played better D and Cards pen guys other than Neshek are vulnerable too. Giants have also knocked out their 2 best SPs early.
Even with Ishi and Perez in there, STL doesn’t look like better team.
Good food is a good thing.
Strickland is what he is. He tried to waste one up. He didn’t. Machi was supposed to throw it down in the dirt. He didn’t. And we all know about Romo’s frisbee slider. Lopez? Shit, he hasn’t given up a dinger in quite a while.
Thing about the Cards is they will hit mistakes. They did.
Not worried at this point.
What happened to Molina? Looked like a back thing. Oblique? Where IS your oblique? Or mine?
According to Dr. Wiki, there is an external and an internal oblique. No idea which one Molina pulled, but he and Morse can converse on their respective oblique issues. Dr. Wiki says Molina’s likely done for the year if it’s a good oblique pull: “The oblique muscles are located on the sides of your abdomen, between your hip and your chest. They are responsible for helping your body twist and bend, and they also assist in breathing. Pulled or strained oblique muscles can be both painful and disruptive to your ability to function regularly. Because full recovery from a pulled oblique muscle usually takes around six weeks, and because these muscles are so heavily used in the day-to-day functions of the body, it’s important to begin treating a pulled oblique muscle as soon as possible.” I read this morning where Molina didn’t fly to SF with the team. No timetable for his return. Translation: He’s done…
I think Boch has been fascinated by Strickland’s heat. After the slop of Machi and Romo and just about everybody in the Pen except Casilla, the heat is inviting. I was captivated by it. 100 mph heater? Why not? Thing is, this guy is right off the AA train. I mean, just picked up from the station. He barely knows where the bathrooms are, yet he’s throwing 7th innings in the NLCS. I don’t think even Boch knows how to use him, but he’s finding out fast. Lefties wait for that fastball and they see it well, righties don’t…
That was a tough one but the Giants still pulled a W out of the first 2. I don’t really worry about Romo bouncing back. Molina is a big loss for Stl. Hate to see that but injuries happen (looks around for Matt Cain and Pagan only to find a Morse).
I know Stl is a big baseball town and has some of the most knowledgeable fans but I thought the curtain calls after bombs last night was a bit much. The game winner? Sure, I get that but otherwise it seemed sort of bush league. Or is it Busch?
Thought the same thing Dirt. It was bush league.
Edd and I were wondering what the hell all the curtain calls were about for a solo HR? Because the Cards fans didn’t see many of ’em during the reg season? If that’s the case, there should be a curtain call at ATT for the Giants when they hit the rare HR, too. Did Bum get a curtain call at ATT when he hit his grand salamis this season? I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure…
Yeah, that was odd at best. Carpenter had barely gotten into the dugout when he popped out for his curtain call. I knew they shoulda pitched around him!
Lets just say the Giants let this one get away.
Can’t win ’em all. Gmen now 5-2 in post season, 4 for 5 on the road. That’s pretty darned good…
Before I forget, I salute Twin’s analysis regarding Bochy featured in the POTD. That said (notice how our Cardinals blogger friend enjoys that phrase? maybe it’s some sort of tell), last night it just didn’t work out in the end. Early in the game, yes, but ultimately no. I was not crushed by the loss. It almost felt inevitable. I don’t know where things go from here, but I am just riding the wave. I think. Strickland? Man, I don’t care for this on-the-job training shit. Homer or strikeout is not good on the resume.
Tough loss, but I doubt it will affect this team.Getting the split and coming back and fighting hard in game 2 shows their true grit.
BTW props to Matt Duffy on that “Balls to the walls” dash from 2nd to tie it up with 2 outs, he was motoring hard the whole way!
wow, I misunderstood from the radio; in Jon Miller’s excitement I figured he scored from third! wow
It was pretty impressive. I was watching with the sound off and he was going for it all the way. Didn’t even appeared to look at Flannery. Not that he necessarily had too. It was all in front of him.
He was running on the 3-2 pitch with 2 down, so he had a head of steam already going as the pitch doinked past the catcher…
next game is big, maybe pivotal; aw, they all are now, really; just would love to see us win out in SF but that will be very hard
I think it happens, Pawlie. Giants in 5 . . .
The bullpen wore the goat horns last night, but slight goat horns go to Panik for not getting the runner in from third with one out, and to Pablo for swinging at the 2-0 pitch that was clearly high and outside. It would have been ball 3 and who knows what happens next. It just seemed the Cardinals were teetering at that moment. But then again, if Pablo connects on it and hits a grandslam, we’re going bezerk with joy. I’m just second-guessing. Man, it’s hard not to second-guess in baseball. The sport just seems to be set up well for second-guessing.
Hard to rip Panda for swinging there, when he hit the clutch double in DC to tie up game #2 in the 9th. Still, though hard, I’ll go ahead and say he’s got to be more patient there and swing at only a strike. He had to know the Cards pitcher was seriously sweating bullets, and a walk is an RBI and possibly a game winner. That is the dichotomy of Pablo — you have to take the whole package of good hitter with fan-frustrating judgment at the plate in key situations…
I have no idea how many grandslams Pablo has hit in his career, but I doubt that it’s many, or ever will be many. He just gets so keyed up when the bases are loaded, that he ends up swinging at the pitcher’s pitch a lot of times.
I wonder if Bochy has a “take” sign, I would think he does.
And, whether he’s ever used it on Panda, and if so, what the thinking was there in that situation for using/not using it…
Pablo has one career grand slam out of 106 career homers.
I know he’s had injuries and was a WS MVP, but he’s never really come close to fulfilling the promise he showed back in 2009.
Agreed. He’s a perfectly frustrating player. At the plate, continued flashes of brilliance mixed with flashes of inexplicable doofusery. Never attained that high level of consistency in hitting you just thought he might attain. Yet, near gold glove level defense, and easily the best FA 3rd sacker this offseason, and near the top FA overall. Is he worth 5 years and $100M to somebody? We’ll see soon enough…
Snarrk,
The only take Pablo takes is “Take Out”
He’s put the LBs back on, as usual. His brother/chef/dietician must be ordering in from Papa Murphy’s and baking them at home. If he can keep hitting doubles in the post-season, I’ll order some for him…
Well it’s easy to guess Jean Machi never misses an invite on Papa Murphy night as well,from the brother/chef/dietcian as well..
I like the garlic white sauce veggie Papa Murphy’s.
Put some Canadian Bacon on top, and I can argue I’m eating low cal pizza…
I saw an updated report that said Molina DID fly out with the Cards, contrary to earlier reports. He’s still going to remain on the active roster, for what that’s worth. Probably hedging bets if they make it through to the WS, because if they de-activate him now and replace him, he’s ineligible for the WS…
Maybe he’s flying in just to use Pagan’s MRI machine…
Nice batflip from Fatt Adams. He can do better, though, and we’re all hoping he gets another shot at Strickland.
You’ve got a phone call:
http://tinyurl.com/bm6ypzg
Thoughtful of Bochy to use Strickland in close games.
Phlab, your simple minded takes shine through no matter what handle you use.
That loss didn’t bother me at all; really enjoyed just watching a tense, good back and forth playoff game. Not as confident as others here that the Giants win out and don’t have to fly back to St. Louis, I think this one will go down to the wire. Pretty evenly matched warriors in this battle, with pitching the key. Lackey is tough, Hudson is going to have to bring his best. One thing I love about these playoff games is that the smallest mistake becomes huge. Continue to play stout ‘D’, continue the stellar pitching, the ‘pen shakes off game 2, and the big hitters start, you know, hitting… and all will be well. Pablo: the thing that bothered me in game 2 wasn’t that he swung at ball 3, he does that all the time; it’s that he swung at ball 3 with the bases loaded. Sheesh, in Little League, we learned in those situations you’re not swinging the bat until you’ve got a called strike on you. I’m a big Pablo fan, hope he comes back, but that was, in my mind, the key at bat of that game.
He was hungry, and needed to get to the post-game spread.
How those Dodgers doin’?
I’d imagine it’s tough out there on the practice range and putting greens…
I kept hearing how the Giants couldn’t get here and these days I hear how they shouldn’t be here, but son-of-a-beach, they are. I know I’m one of those Brain Dead type fans who think they’ll win it all every year, and yeah I guess the statistics show the Giants shouldn’t be here. The statistics also said that the Pirates, the hottest team in baseball, was a better team. The Nationals had the best record in the NL so they were a better team. Maybe they were better teams but on the days they played team Giants, they were not. I’ve been told that the Cardinals are a better team on paper, but as we’ve seen, the game is played on grass not paper. As a team, I truly believe these guys can beat anyone (delusional much?), I also believe the NLCS is not the final destination (Halloween Machine, baby).
Hey, it’s October baseball in San Francisco today, the series is tied and the Giants are in the House. Together as one, brain dead or not, we are Giants.