Black (and orange) Friday Radio Replay

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when all things business start early.  Well, the Giants' flagship station, KNBR, decided to have their own Black (and orange) Friday.  Starting at 6am, they played all four Giants clinching games in their entirety - including celebrations, interviews and post game shows - in consecutive order.  The game 162 clincher against the San Diego Padres, the game 4 clincher against the Atlanta Braves, the game 6 clincher against the Philadelphia Phillies and the game 5 clincher against the Texas Rangers.  It all ended at about 11:30pm.

What a day of baseball on the radio.  All the best games for all the best reasons.  I managed to tape half of the NLCS clincher and all of the WS clincher.  These should be great for rainy days.

Tim Lincecum and the List of Giant Victims

This post-season, Tim Lincecum emerged as the dominant pitcher in baseball.  Or did he?  He was 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA, walked 9 and struck out 43.  He went head-to-head with and beat three pitchers who were supposed to beat him a total of four times.  Derek Lowe in the NLDS, Roy Halladay (the "best" pitcher in baseball the last three years) and Cliff Lee twice (the unbeatable post-season pitcher).  If you could have any pitcher on the mound to clinch the World Series, who would it be?  Well, I certainly wouldn't pick Lowe, Halladay or Lee.  Lincecum won game 1 of each post-season series, plus the clincher in the World Series.  What more could you ask for?

But before I brush this off, I want to look at the rest of the Giants staff.  Matt Cain started three games, went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 21.1 innings, putting him in the category with all-time elites.  Madison Bumgarner went 2-0 in three starts and a relief appearance with a 2.18 ERA.  He pitched the NLDS clincher and a key shutout of the Rangers in the WS.  And although Johnathan Sanchez went 0-2 in the post-season, he had a 4.05 ERA.  He tossed a shutout in the Giants' game 162 clincher over the Padres, and started the game 6 NLCS clincher against the Phils.   Javier Lopez was an unsung hero out of the pen, and Brian Wilson was on the mound in all four Giants clinchers, game 162 vs. the Padres, game 4 clincher vs. the Braves, game 6 clincher vs. the Phillies and the game 5 World Series clincher against the Rangers.

Overall, the list of Giants victims is amazingly impressive.  Mat Latos (the ace of the best pitching staff for most of the year), Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe again, Roy Halladay, Cole Hammels, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, CJ Wilson, Tommy Hunter and Cliff Lee again.  Now that's domination.

Post-Season Records and Trends

Here are the post season records of the eight 2010 playoff teams:

0-3  Minnesota Twins
0-3  Cincinnati Reds
1-3  Atlanta Braves
2-3  Tampa Bay Rays
5-4  New York Yankees
5-4  Philadelphia Phillies
8-8  Texas Rangers
11-4  San Francisco Giants

A playoff trend being set by the Philadelphia Phillies:

2008 - Won the World Series
2009 - Lost the World Series
2010 - Lost the NLCS

A post-season trend set by the San Francisco Giants:

27 years - between the 1962 and 1989 pennants
13 years - between the 1989 and 2002 pennants
8 years - between the 2002 and 2010 pennants
9 days - between the 2010 pennant and 2010 World Championship

The Reason The Giants Out-Hit Their Post Season Opponents

The Giants came into the post-season with arguably the weakest lineup.  Yet, they out-hit their opponents on the way to a World Championship.  This surprised many experts, as well as many Giants fans.  But there's a very simple reason they out hit their opponents.  It's one of those things in life that is so blatantly obvious that everybody completely misses it.  I missed it.  Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

They out-hit their opponents because they're the one lineup that never had to face the Giants pitching staff.

Road Warriors

Guess which teams had the two best home records in baseball this year, and in which order?  Well, if you don't know, you could figure it out easily by looking at the title of this post.  Yup, you guessed it.  The Atlanta Braves were #1, followed by the Philadelphia Phillies at #2.  And the Giants beat each team on the road in that same order to win the pennant.  Games 3 and 4 in Atlanta in the NLDS and games 1 and 6 in Philly in the NLCS.  A 4-1 road record vs. awesome home teams.

No Respect

Well, the Giants aren't getting much respect nationally.  Just tonight, MLB Network was doing highlights of the Rangers beating the Yankees to win the AL pennant, and the talking heads started yakking about how the Rangers matched up against the Phillies.  Harold Reynolds interrupted the party and inserted, even if a bit hesitantly, "The Giants...may...MAY...win this thing."  I know you need to earn your respect, but really.

SHOCKING!

"Schocking!"  That's how MLB network described the Giants' 3-1 NLCS lead over the Phillies.  Shocking?  To whom is it shocking?  Oh, everybody who thought the Phils would roll, that's who.

"Phils in five."
"Uh, I don't know about that.  We should give the Giants more credit than that.  Phils in six."

Yes, that's the way most of the people "in the know" talked about the series before it began.  Neither scenario is possible now.  And of course, game 1, where Tim Lincecum outpitched Roy Halladay, was the Giants lone half-expected win.

I simply haven't had time to blog about these games so far, I've been so busy late at night watching highlights from the games I haven't been able to see on TV.  Anything can happen on any day in baseball.  Anything can happen in October, including the Phils rebounding to win.  But the Giants winning the pennant can also happen.  And that can happen tonight.  GO GIANTS!

And The Giants Win...Three Days and Two Nights in Philly

Well, the Giants did it.  They beat the Braves in four.  It was an intense series, with each game being the only one-run games in all the division series.  Now to move on to the NLCS.  But what exactly did they win?  Baseball has a formal division championship, a formal pennant and a formal world champion.  The winner of the division series has no flag, ring, etc.  They just get to move on.  So with that, the Giants win a three-day, two night trip for 25 to Philadelphia.  GO GIANTS!

The Torture Continues

Last month, the Giants announcers described the way the Giants play - and win - as torture.  And it has become the team slogan.  Torture.

Well, the torture continues.  Game 3 gave the fans a severe case of torture yesterday.  What amount of torture can you receive when your pitcher tosses a two-hit shutout?  Well, if you're leading 4-0 or 6-0 or 10-0, not much.  But when almost the entire game has a 1-0 score, it's torture.  That means that every single batter the pitcher faces during the whole game is either the potential tying run or the potential go-ahead run.  That's torture.

When two pitchers toss two-hit shutouts with 1-0 leads, that's double torture.  Lincecum did it in game 1.  Sanchez did it for most of game 3.  With 2 out and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 8th, and a runner on, the pinch hitter was the potential go-ahead run.  And he hit a home run.  Torture.  If the score had been 5-0 it would have not been a bit deal.  Then with 2 strikes and 2 outs in the 9th inning, the Giants one strike away from losing - torture - Freddie Sanchez gets a hit up the middle.  Huff drives him in.  The Braves make an error.  Giants take the lead...for a few minutes anyway.  Torture.  Then in the bottom of the 9th with a one run lead, Wilson gives up an infield hit to bring the winning run up to the plate.  Torture.  When Matt Cain pitches a gem, and the bullpen torches it in the 8th inning, that's torture.  When Buster Posey hits into a double play in extra innings with the bases loaded instead of driving in the winning run, that's torture.

You know what else is torture?  The only one-run games in the whole post-season so far have been every single Giants game.

Quality Post-Season Umpiring Needed

Calls for instant replay in baseball continue. Numerous instances of bad calls in the playoffs are highlighted with greater fervor and scrutinized with greater technology. I'm not going to address instant replay here, but rather focus on the quality of umpiring.

I'm not as concerned with bang-bang calls that could go either way. If it looked like he was safe, but the super slo-mo hi-def replay showed he was out by 1/4 inch, it's just not much to gripe about. What gets me is when two players are stuck at the same base, they both come off the base by five feet, the player with the ball tags both of them out while standing still, yet the umps screw up by not calling both of them out. Six umps are watching the same play, and not one of them can see the obvious? Why not have a conference then?

A great piece of ump teamwork was on the Rollins/Howard/Matsui double play. Rollins caught a bloop pop with his glove on the ground, then stepped on second and threw to Howard. The throw was wide, and Howard came off the bag with the batter/runner beating the throw. Matsui started walking off the field, and Howard tagged him. What to do? This play was logistically complicated. The replay showed that Rollins caught the bloop, but his stepping on second (just in case the ump blew the catch call) added confusion to the play. And even in the replay, Howard really did have his foot on the bag when he caught the throw. His heel came off first, but his toes were still on the bag when the ball hit his glove, even though he was in the process of coming off the bag. The TV announcers missed this. But he eventually tagged Matsui.

Here's how complicated this all was: Did Rollins catch the popup? How did this affect his stepping on second? How did this affect the play at first? Was his throw to get Matsui doubled up or the batter out? Did Howard need to tag Matsui? Did Howard get pulled off the bag? Did Matsui walk off the field because Rollins caught the ball in the air and doubled him off first or because he didn't but stepped on second base? Both Rollins and Howard made double efforts just in case the umps missed either call. Rollins touched second in case the umps missed his catch. Howard tagged Matsui in case the umps saw the catch because the umps might call him off the bag. But, all the umps were in on a conference and made the right call. Double play. Why didn't this happen for the two runners caught off third?

Getting the call right by using all umpires, if necessary, is where baseball needs to make its first improvement. It should be done at the slightest question of a call. If an ump blows a call and all the other umps see it, there should be no hesitation in reversing it. That's the way it works in my kid's soccer league, and there's no problem. When 50,000 fans, five umps, 50 players, a TV crew and two managers see things one way and a lone ump sees things another way, there should be no shame in admitting there might be a problem and help from others is welcome.

Priceless

World Series Ticket: $200
Airfare: $595
Hotel: $95
Seeing Manny take a mulligan off the first tee shot tomorrow morning: Priceless

Phillies Have To Win

If the Phillies don't win the NLCS, then it's either the Dodgers and Angels in the World Series, or the Dodgers and Yankees. How could I watch either of these matchups?

Frozen Division Series

With the other three series being sweeps, the already snow-delayed Phils/Rox series now has sole attention of everybody in baseball. If this thing goes five games with another delay or two, the other teams might just go into hibernation...

Go Phillies?

The Phillies are the only team in the playoffs that I don't have a problem with their winning the World Series. I hate, Hate, HATE the Dodgers. I hate the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels. I dislike the Cardinals and Rockies.

So, I'll root for the Phils. First, they're playing the Not-Giants in the NLDS.

[Update: In the comments section, shallowfrozenwater asks about the Twins. I noticed this after I posted it. Shows you where the Twinkies are in my thinking. They don't nearly exist. I don't like their stupid dome and their homer hanky World Series titles. So, they are the lesser of four evils in the American League. Phils/Twinks?]

Yet Another Post-Season Scheduling Absurdity

Okay, Major League Baseball has a bunch of idiots running the post-season scheduling. I've written about this before, here, here, here and here. And here and here.

What I never knew prior to this year is that the home field advantage team gets to choose which division series schedule to play in. They can make their decision up until one hour after the regular season is completed. So the Yankees got to choose, but with one problem. The regular season didn't end until the Twins/Tigers tie-breaker was completed - on Tuesday, due to a Vikings game on Monday Night Football. So the Yankees could screw the Red Sox by making them play the next day with a warning only hours before the game. The tie-breaker game went 12 innings. Instead, they chose to screw the winner of the tie-breaker by forcing them to take a red-eye to Yankee Stadium where they would play the next day on sleep they could get only on the plane.

Baseball desperately needs to get rid of the guess work and pre-schedule which divisions play which and who hosts which games. They also need to ditch the network time slot pecking order. I'd hate to be a team's traveling secretary in the month of October.

If The Season Ended Today

If the regular season ended today, here would be the playoff teams:

AL East: New York Yankees
AL Central: Detroit
AL West: LA Angels of Anaheim
AL Wildcard: Boston

NL East: Philadelphia
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Wildcard: San Francisco

The first round of playoffs would be: Anaheim vs. Boston, New York Yankees vs. Detroit, Philadelphia vs. San Francisco and Los Angeles vs. St. Louis.

League championship series could very well be the two greatest rivalries in baseball history: Yankees/Red Sox and Dodgers/Giants.

Now, that's what I'm thinking about. How about Giants over Yankees in the Series?

Clinching Games

I've been to three games that were the deciding games of the World Series. Game 5 in 1988, Game 4 in 1989 and game 4 in 1990. In each game, the winning team celebrated. I've also been to three games that decided a pennant. Game 5 of the 1989 NLCS, game 4 of the 1990 ALCS and game 5 of the 2002 NLCS (walk-off win). I've also been to game 3 of the 1981 ALDS western division (strike forced) series.

I've also seen Giants division clinches in 1997 and 2000. I'm not sure about others, as I may have seen an A's division clinch in the '88-'92 period.

Not only have I never been to a game 7, I've never been to a game 6. Maybe someday...

Manny, Big Papi No Shows For Sox Series Bid

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were no-shows in the Red Sox attempt to make it back to the World Series. That might have made all the difference in the world. When Manny was traded to the Dodgers, the first thing speculated was whether they would face each other in the World Series. Now, neither of them are there. As good as Jason Bay was in many ways, I'm wondering if the Ramirez trade didn't doom the Sox to a Hi-Def World Series. They lost game 7 by only 2 runs.

As much as Ramirez helped the Bums, they had their share of problems down the stretch. And even though he hit a thousand homers and batted a million against the Phils, their 3 games to one loss showed how the rest of the Dodger team didn't perform.

It will be an interesting series with the Phils traveling to Tampa. I can't start to predict this one as I don't have a clue where to start. Usually I can pick a team in the Series for one reason or another, but this series is a question. I'm pulling for the Phils.

Go Phillies?

I'm cheering for the Phillies to win it all. Philly over LA, Tampa over Boston, Philly over Tampa. The reason? First, as a Giants fan, I HATE THE DODGERS! They must lose at any cost, even if they have to be beaten by the Yankees. Second, I hate the Red Sox. They're the new Yankees and the darling of ESPN and the east coast bias. But I don't hate them as much as the Dodgers. Now, the Rays are the obvious Cinderella story of the year and everybody seems to be pulling for them. But I want them to lose to Philly because they've never won a World Series and the Phillies have. The Rays would be yet another team to leapfrog over the Giants in World Series victories. Let them stew another several decades to pay their due. The Phillies are already there (1980). So, go Phillies!

Playoffs Should Have One Day Off Maximum

It would help greatly if baseball had a one day off maximum between each round of series. None of the division series went five games. Both National League division series were over by Sunday, and the AL series on Monday. The playoffs should have gone to the next round by Wednesday, instead of the scheduled Thursday and Friday. Dead time takes people's interest away, even if for an extra day. Moving the post season up one day won't hurt anything. It's bad enough that extra days off were added both to the middle of series and between them, but adding any more because of short series is over the top.