BASTA: Resurgent Giants Come From Behind, Take 3-1 Series Lead

((HT: BASTA/Ben Leonard))

Early on, nothing was going the Giants’ way. Ryan Vogelsong was rocked early, giving up four runs in three shaky innings, possibly his last as a Giant. Vogelsong simply could not get ahead of hitters, leaving the Cardinals’ hitters in advantageous counts. While Vogelsong struggled, the Giants’ offense hit starter Shelby Miller hard early, but only got nothing to show for it, with balls hit right at the Cardinals’ defenders. None of that would matter in the end, with the Giants taking a 3-1 series lead with a 6-4 win at AT&T Park.

Vogelsong’s adversity started immdeiatly, when Matt Carpenter led off the game with a hard double that kicked off of Joe Panik’s glove, slowing it down enough for Carpenter to take second. Matt Adams drove him in on a single, giving the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead. Jhonny Peralta bailed out Vogelsong, grounding into a hard double play to third to end the inning. Peralta had another double play in the third, but that one drove in a run, extending the Cardinals’ lead to 3-1. Peralta accounted for four of the nine outs Ryan Vogelsong got, and saved him from disater. After his double play in the third, Kolten Wong launched another home run on a full count, giving St. Louis the 4-1 lead, a shot that would have chased Vogelsong from the game had his spot at the plate not been due up the next inning. Bochy did not want to have Yusmeiro Petit come in for one out and then have to hit or be pinch-hit for. Bochy should have taken him out after the second; usually, if a pitcher has not found his release point by the second, he never will.

Vogelsong left the Giants in a 4-1 hole heading into the bottom of the third. The Giants’ only run up to that point came on a sacrifice fly in the first off Buster Posey’s bat, the star of the game. Despite the three run deficit, there was a feeling in the air that a comeback was inevitable. The Giants’ offense finally got some real results off of the hard-throwing righty, Miller, in the third. Joaquin Arias pinch-hit for Vogelsong, coming through with a single, and eventually was moved to third after a groundout and a flyout. Buster Posey came up, and calmly knocked in Arias, cutting the lead to 4-2. After Pablo Sandoval walked, Hunter Pence also came up clutch with an RBI single to center, scoring Posey and cutting St. Louis’ lead to one run.

Petit’s performance left many observers questioning why Vogelsong ever got the nod in the first place. He kept the ball down, leaving Cardinals’ hitters no chance, as they could only muster one hit in three innings. Petit should get the nod in a potential World Series start (but we’re not there yet) in Vogelsong’s spot. He kept the Giants in the game and gave the club momentum, taking the life out of the Cardinals’ dugout. Petit has not allowed a run in nine innings in the postseason this year.

The star of this series, Buster Posey, and the Giants’ bats came to life in the sixth, taking the lead for good. Posey went two for three with a walk and three RBI’s, coming through when the Giants desperately needed him. Juan Perez came in as a defensive replacement for Travis Ishikawa, and drew a walk from the soft-tossing Marco Gonzales. Perez has really turned it around at the plate after going 0 for his first 9 in the postseason, becoming a key part of the Giants’ last two wins. Brandon Crawford then reached on a hard single to right, and Matt Duffy bunted Crawford and Arias over to second and third.
((HT: MLB.com))


Gregor Blanco stepped up to the plate with two on and no outs, and hit a grounder to the defensively-challenged Matt Adams, who thought he had a chance to get Perez at home, but was too late, and got no outs. Perez’s run tied the game, and demoralized the Cardinals’ bullpen. Joe Panik followed with another grounder to first, and Matt Adams committed another mental error with runners on first and third. He touched first, and tried to go to second, but the throw was wide and let Blanco reach at second. Crawford scored, but Adams had a very good chance to nail him at the plate. Adams seemed lost mentally and didn’t seem to know the situation; the error on the previous play clearly flustered him. Seth Maness relieved Gonzales, and didn’t do much better; he immediately gave up an RBI single to Posey on a meted 0-2 fastball. It was a magical moment at AT&T Park, with the crowd shouting “Posey, Posey,” willing the slugger to come through.

The Giants’ relievers threw six shutout innings, saving the game. Petit exited after the sixth, and a combination of Jeremy Affeldt, Jean Machi, Javier Lopez. Sergio Romo, and Santiago Casilla locked down the Cardinals’ offense, this time preventing the solo home runs that have killed San Francisco in this series.

With the Cardinals down 3-1 in the series, they will send Adam Wainwright to the hill, who struggled in his last outing against the Giants, going four innings of three-run ball. Ace Madison Bumgarner goes for the Giants, who went seven shutout innings in Game One, giving up only four hits. It does not look good for the Cardinals, who will have to face Madison Bumgarner with a shaky Wainwright and its bullpen in shambles.

BASTA: Offense Sputters Again As Giants Swept At Hands Of Padres

((HT: BASTA their own selves/Leonard))

The Giants came into Petco Park on Friday full of confidence and enthusiasm. They leave on Sunday demoralized and broken, swept by the hapless San Diego Padres, whose team wOBA starts with a two (.282). San Francisco made these Padres look like world-beaters, giving up eight runs on Sunday to the worst offensive team in the major leagues. They have scored fourteen runs in their last eight games, dropping six of eight in the process. With the loss, all hopes of winning the NL West are essentially lost; with the Dodgers’ win on Sunday, San Francisco fell 4.5 games back in the divisional race. They are now tied with Pittsburgh for the first wild card spot; Milwaukee sits 4.5 back, likely an unsurmountable deficit.

Despite the fact that the Giants are practically a lock to make the postseason (98.8% chance), they are no lock to advance far beyond the wild card play-in game (if that). The offense has been silent without Angel Pagan in the lineup, putting four runs across the board in the three-game series. They weren’t much better on Sunday, as their sole runs in an 8-2 loss came on rookie Chris Dominguez’s homer, the first hit of his career. Dominguez launched a 3-1 fastball from Ian Kennedy off of the Western Supply Company Building in left field, cutting the Padres’ lead to 5-2. He became the first Giant to have a homer for a first career hit since Adam Duvall in June.

Besides the homer, the offense was lifeless, failing to get their first hit until two outs in the forth on a Buster Posey infield single. (Yes, you read that right) Unlike San Francisco, the Padres looked very comfortable at the plate, tagging starter Ryan Vogelsong for four runs in five innings. Petco Park continued to haunt the righty, who had posted a 9.37 ERA at the park before Sunday. He was a 5.53 ERA on the season against NL West opponents. Yasmani Grandal had a big day at the dish, going one for two with three RBI’s. His sacrifice fly in the sixth contributed to a four-run outburst from San Diego, chasing Vogelsong from the game.

The Giants now head to Los Angeles full of uncertainty and despair. They will have to take two out of three from the Dodgers to avoid watching them celebrate a division clinch. Luckily, Dodger Stadium does not have a pool.
((HT: FOX Sports))


After being the hottest team in baseball for a stretch, the Giants find themselves facing a postseason possibly without Angel Pagan or an offense. This series against Los Angeles will define the Giants’ season. Can they be resilient? It will be certainly be a test, facing Haren, Greinke, and Kershaw. Haren (13-11, 4.14) will open the series on Monday against Jake Peavy (6-4, 2.16).

Greg Amsinger Is Dangerous

((HT: MLB.com))

It's that rare moment when you're doing live television, you hand off, and you look like a freaking genius...

Greg Amsinger did it again last night for the second time in two months or so...

Here's what happened last night for another round of perfect timing


Walk...Off...Wednesday...

Indeed...

BASTA: Giants Trounce Nationals 10-3

((HT: BASTA their own selves))

Wow. The Giants looked GOOD today. The offense was probably the best we've seen since the All Star Break. The top and middle of the lineup clicked for a few huge innings like the fourth and ninth of three and four runs respectively.

Buster Posey continued his hot streak from yesterday hitting his second home run in two days, his fifteenth of the season in the sixth inning. Posey also had an RBI double hard off the right field wall, bringing his numbers to 2-5 with two runs and two RBIs on the day. However, even this great performance overmatched by rookie second baseman Joe Panik. He went 4 for 5 today with some amazing at bats where he looked to be in complete control through his at bats. He hit his first home run of his career, a three run blast to center in the fourth to round out his great day. He finished with two runs scored and three RBIs. Backup first baseman Travis Ishikawa, who is currently filling in for the injured Brandon Belt, continued his hot streak today as well. He only had one hit in five at bats today, but that one hit was a two run double in the eighth that provided the Giants some insurance runs.

The Nationals had a ten game winning streak going on before this week, but the Giants who have been pretty hot too as of late broke that today. The Nats opened up the scoring on a Panik error in the first, one that he more than made up for with his hitting. However, the Giants came back with Panik's homer in the fourth which was followed by the Nats scoring another run in the bottom of the inning, bringing the score to 3-2. The Giants then scored seven runs straight in the sixth, eighth, and ninth, giving them the huge lead of 10-2. They allowed one run in the bottom of the inning, but held them to that one to put the final score at 10-3 Giants.

In addition to the stellar offense today, there was some great pitching too. Starter Tim Hudson had a short but strong outing of 5.1 innings giving up two runs, but only one earned, and he earned his ninth win of the season and his first since July 16. Javier Lopez, Jean Machi, and Sergio Romo together pitched a scoreless fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, recording four strikeouts over the innings while only giving up one hit collectively. Juan Gutierrez had a little trouble in the ninth, giving up a run, but he managed to limit the damage and close out the game safely.

Here's postgame where Duane and Mike caught up with Panik about his August
((HT: CSN Bay Area))


The Giants stay 3.5 games behind the Dodgers with this win, but they seem to be heating up, as they have won two series in a row, three games in a row, and have won six out of their last eight games. Hopefully they can take this great game and continue playing at this caliber to take this series and make a great run at the division title and the postseason. Let's hope for some good times ahead, halfway through the dog days of August, and a run deep into October for the Giants.

NOTES:
–Centerfielder Angel Pagan left the game with an upper calf injury and is currently day-to-day.

BASTA: Giants Split Doubleheader Against Cubs

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Read their stuff as they are, officially, our west coast voice

The theme of this series really has to be the rain. The Giants took two out of the three games in this surprisingly rainy series, and many think they should have swept.

The first game of the impromptu doubleheader ended with the same verdict as the five-inning version: a Giants' loss. The game was resumed from the bottom of the fifth and the Giants drew blood in the sixth. They had to dig there way out from a 2-0 deficit, and they began this process in the sixth when Joe Panik pinch-hit for Joaquin Arias and hit an RBI single to drive in rookie first baseman Adam Duvall. Afterward, both teams were held scoreless for the rest of the game. However, the Giants came very close to scoring in the ninth. Duvall led off the inning with a groundout followed by Panik and Crawford hitting back to back singles to put the tying run in scoring position with one out. After Blanco struck out looking, Pagan drove a ball hard up the middle, but unfortunately it deflected off of the pitcher Hector Rondon, and he was then able to pick up the ball and underhand it to first. Everybody thought Pagan had a hit, but unfortunately the Giants were not that lucky. After the game manager Bruce Bochy said, "We all thought when Pagan hit the ball it was going through."

On the other side of the ball, the pitching was superb for the Giants. Yusmeiro Petit "started" the game for the Giants today and pitched two perfect innings with five strikeouts. Jean Machi and Jeremy Affeldt then followed with hitless innings to close out the game.

With this game, the Giants were trying to become the first team to win a protested contest since the Pirates beat the Dodgers in 1948. Unfortunately they could not, and Anthony Rizzo's two run homer in the first inning on Tuesday was enough for the Cubs to squeak through. The Giants did look sharper in the second half of the game as they had more hits and were the only team to score. The pitching was also excellent throughout the game for both teams, especially the Giants who pitched today. Fortunately, the Giants' luck improved in the next game, allowing them to take the series.

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Giants came back and won 5-3. The Giants scored one in the first on a Posey RBI, but the bottom of the first haunted them with Bumgarner giving up three runs on two home runs. Fortunately these were the only runs Bumgarner gave up as he settled down for the rest of the game. He pitched 7 strong innings, scoreless after the first, and he recorded a whopping 12 strikeouts. The bullpen then closed the game out with two scoreless innings using Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo, and Santiago Casilla, who picked up the save, his eleventh of the season. Bumgarner also got his 14th win today.

In this game, the Giants spaced out there runs scoring one in each of these innings: the first, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh. Posey went 4-4 with a home run and two doubles, one RBI and two runs scored, providing a huge offensive boost to the Giants after his day off yesterday. Sandoval also went 3-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Morse had an RBI as well, and Bumgarner knocked in Arias in the fourth on a line drive single to left field.

Here's the look at Posey's night:
((HT: MLB.com))


Overall, this second game was great for the Giants with solid offense, although it did come very slowly over multiple innings. They also had the stellar pitching we have come to expect, with Bumgarner settling down after a poor first inning. The Giants take this series and stay 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. Hopefully they can continue the winning against the Nationals tomorrow at 4:05 PT, the beginning of a three game road series.

NOTES:
–Fittingly, there was another rain delay during the first game today that halted it for one hour, 57 minutes, bringing the total delay—including Tuesday's game-ending stoppage—to a whopping six hours and 32 minutes, or 48 hours depending on how you look at it. It also drizzled again in the second game, although it did not need to be stopped.

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Giants Battery Makers History At The Plate

((HT: MLB.com/CSNBA))

The San Francisco Giants set a piece of history today becoming the first team to have their pitcher and catcher hit grand slams in the same game...

So, that meant it was Buster Posey for one of them
And Madison Bumgarner for the other...


Bumgarner hit his second slam of the season- matching Tony Cloninger's total from one game in 1966