Morning Roundup: Brian Stow Says Play Ball as Giants Rout Royals

((ht: mlb.com))

With all the college football action Saturday, you may have missed game 4 of the World Series.

And if you did, you missed another great game in a series that may not be highly rated on TV, but has been genuinely fun to watch.

The San Francisco Giants rallied from an early 4-1 deficit, to come back and beat the Kansas City Royals 11-4.

The game featured the Giants hammering the seemingly invulnerable Royals bullpen for 8 runs without hitting a home run the entire game.

Hunter Pence had 3 hits and 3 RBI's and Pablo Sandoval and Joe Panik drove in 2 runs apiece.

But perhaps the biggest highlight of the night came before the game started. Brian Stow, a Giants fan seriously injured and nearly killed a couple of years ago after being attacked by a couple of Los Angeles Dodger fans in L.A, surprised Giants fans by rolling out in a wheelchair and telling everyone it was time to "Play Ball"



Game 5 is Sunday night in the city by the Bay. It looks like this may very well be a 7 game series.

Here are Saturday nights highlights---or at least some of them starting with the 5 runs they got off Royals rookie reliever Brandon Finnegan:

B.A.S.T.A World Series Game 1 Breakdown: Giants Feast on Royals Pitching

By: Apurv Baichwal

Today’s game marked the beginning of a World Series that should be a close one, filled with long, gruesome, nail-biters. This series is supposed to be a battle between the two best teams in baseball, and for this reason the games should be tight to the very end. This year, the World Series should be even more legendary, because both of the teams came into the postseason from the Wild Card position; the only other time that this has ever happened was in 1989 during the Bay Bridge Series when the Giants lost to the A’s. These teams had to fight from the lowest spots in the postseason, playing without any home field advantage, to make the World Series. So, one would expect these feats to be a testament to both the Royals’ and the Giants’ strength. Therefore, this series—on paper—should be close; every game should go down to the wire.

However, today’s game looked like a regular season game. The Royals could not pitch for their lives, as they gave up seven runs through the game. Even more surprisingly, the Royals’ starting pitcher and their supposed ace, James Shields, was atrocious today, as he was chased after three innings. As we predicted, “Big Game” James Shields really isn’t all that good in the postseason. In fact, he is actually pretty bad, as coming into the World Series he had a 5.63 ERA this postseason, and after this game, it rose even higher. Today he went 3+ innings, allowing a whopping five earned runs and seven hits, along with a walk. Another part of our prediction from yesterday was that Ned Yost is a pretty pathetic excuse for a baseball manager. Ned Yost definitely lived up to that prediction today, as he was obstinate in not pulling out his starting pitcher, even after he allowed three runs in the first. He only finally pulled his pitcher out in the fourth, after he allowed a run and left runners on first and second.

From the Giants’ perspective, the first, fourth, and seventh innings were their best. In the first, the top of the lineup produced, and the whole lineup clicked together to produce three beautiful runs. Gregor Blanco, who struggled earlier in the postseason, opened up the game with a single to shallow right centerfield. Rookie second baseman Joe Panik then advanced him to second with a deep flyout to left centerfield. Blanco exhibited some stellar base running here, realizing that the ball was going to be caught, then deciding to tag up at first, then sprinting over to second before the throw could get there. Buster Posey, showing off his great bat control, then slapped a single to left advancing Blanco to third. With runners at the corner, power-hitting third baseman Pablo Sandoval hit a ball hard down the right field line, a shot that bounced off the right field wall. Blanco easily scored on this one-out double, but Posey was easily called out at home after trying to stretch his way home. Third base coach Tim Flannery made a rare mistake here, as he is usually really good at deciding whether runners should go home, but after the ball took a funny bounce off the wall, Flannery expected the Royals’ left fielder to have a harder time tracking it down. Fortunately, even though Posey caused the second out, usually a no-no when you could instead be at third with one out, Hunter Pence was ready to hit when he came to bat. Hunter Pence absolutely destroyed a fastball to center, as somehow Shields thought it would be a good idea to throw fastballs to a fastball hitter. Pence barely missed one fastball, fouling it straight back, then Shields immediately threw him another one right down the middle that he smashed 421 feet directly into centerfield for a two-run home run.

In case their 3-0 lead wasn’t enough, the Giants heart of the lineup tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning. Hunter Pence led off with a low, hard line drive right near the left field line that barely slid under the Royals’ third baseman’s glove for a double. During first baseman Brandon Belt’s at bat, Hunter Pence advanced to third on a wild changeup that took a bad bounce in the dirt. Belt then walked after five pitches, putting runners on the corner and highlighting the fact that James Shields had no control all game, missing his targets by multiple feet many times and leaving pitches out over the middle of the plate. Michael Morse then came to the plate and singled to right, scoring Pence and advancing Belt to second. Manager Ned Yost, finally pulled out his starter here, but the Giants were not fazed as they added another run in the inning.

Bruce Bochy showed some real managerial skill, contrarily to the Royals’ manager, pinch hitting the speedy Juan Perez for NLCS hero Travis Ishikawa, who won the final game of the series. Although fans may not have appreciated the decision, it was effective, as Perez laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt down the third base line, advancing Belt to third and Morse to second. Brandon Crawford then walked, after a hard-fought at bat, bringing the top of the lineup, and Gregor Blanco to the plate. Now, the Giants’ scored their fifth run with a walk, a laughable play that pretty much summed up the game: the Giants dominated the Royals. In summary, Blanco walked, advancing each runner one base and scoring Brandon Belt, and giving himself a quite ironic RBI.

The Giants still did not stop; however, as they added a final two runs in the seventh. Here, Gregor Blanco led off the inning with another walk, followed by a huge triple to deep right field by Joe Panik. This ball bounced over the Royals’ sliding right fielder and rolled to the wall. By the time the center fielder picked the ball up and relayed it in, Panik had a standup triple and Blanco had scored without difficulty. Pablo Sandoval then scored Panik with a single to short left, giving the Giants seven runs, and more than enough to win the game.

With their huge first inning, the Giants went up 3-0 before the Royals could even come to bat. Although it was only the first inning, the game looked to be almost done, as the Royals and their fans were extremely dejected, and morale was really low. The fact that Bumgarner was stellar through seven innings, overpowering the Royals lineup, definitely did not help this low morale. Bumgarner, who has been the Giants’ ace in the rotation, and the star of their postseason threw his fifth seven plus inning start of this postseason. For comparison, no other pitcher has thrown more than two seven plus inning starts. The point is: Bumgarner has been really, really good this postseason, and he continued his great pitching today.

Bumgarner went seven strong innings, and he shutout the Royals through the first six. He only allowed three hits and one walk, but he gave up one earned run on a seventh inning home run. He threw 106 pitches today, and he threw 71 of them, or 69% of his total pitches, for strikes, recording five strikeouts through his win. This win also marked his third World Series win, in his third World Series start, as he has always been stellar in the Fall Classic. This Giants’ win also caused the Royals to suffer their first loss of the postseason, as they had won eight games in a row, and it truly brought them back to Earth and grounded them, showing that the Giants have come to play and win.  The always trusty Javier Lopez then pitched a scoreless eighth, only allowing one hit, and then the hard-throwing Hunter Strickland managed to close out the game without a blemish, not allowing a baserunner as he recorded two strikeouts.

Back to our prediction of this World Series from yesterday, much of it came true this game.

1. Ned Yost really proved himself to be an awful manager by not pulling his starting pitcher out early enough when the Royals still may have had a chance to win.

2. “Big Game” did not live up to his billing as he allowed five earned runs over three plus innings.

3. The Royals did regress, as was inevitable, as they had almost no offensive production combined with terrible pitching, forcing their first loss of the postseason.

4. The Giants held runners as the Royals did not manage a single stolen base all game. Bumgarner looked sharp holding runners on, with looks and quick throws, and his being a lefty gave him a definite advantage as he was facing first base before every pitch.

5. The San Francisco Giants possessed their “it” factor today, as balls fell in marvelous ways for them, including great bounces and some great plays on their end. The Giants always seem to have the baseball gods on their side in the postseason, as they looked like they were destined to win the game.

Overall, the Giants completely annihilated the Royals with a 7-1 win, and they put themselves ahead in the World Series, with a 1-0 lead. Even if they lose tomorrow, they will have still achieved their goal, as all they needed to do was split the first two games in Kansas. Tomorrow’s game will probably be much harder than today, with control specialist Jake Peavy squaring off against the Royals fire-throwing, 23 year old Yordano Ventura at 5:07 PDT. Hopefully the Giants can continue the hitting prowess they displayed today, as with today’s offensive production they could sweep the Series. Unfortunately, the Giants probably will not get this much production tomorrow, but they could still manage a win if Peavy is able to bear down and use his control to force the Royals’ hitters to chase as they are prone to do. Today’s Giants’ win was stellar, and hopefully tomorrow’s game can be great as well.

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com

Hunter Pence Signs: The Rap Video (no, really)

((ht: gameovergreggy))

Yeah, this really happened.

For those not aware, San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence has been the target of some really funny, sort of Chuck Norris like signs during this baseball season.

Some of them have been really, really funny. And Pence, ever the character has played along and had some fun with it.

Check out what happens when two um, musicians, team up with Pence to sing about it.

The hilarity ensues...

Here's your video from Kinda Funny which aptly describes the video:

BASTA: Giants, With The Help Of Some Magic, Sweep D’backs

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

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday. It has just not been Arizona’s year in 2014, even when it comes to luck. The Giants, the hottest team in baseball, winning 12 of 15, took advantage of the hapless D’backs, who rolled out a Triple-A-esque lineup on Thursday. Looking on the bright side for Arizona, they did score their first runs since Tuesday, putting up two, one on a Jake Lamb solo homer in the ninth. Those runs didn’t matter for San Francisco, who won their ninth straight home game, matching a streak of the same length from May of 2011. During the streak, the Giants have outscored their opponents 58-14, including Thursday’s 6-2 victory.

The baseball gods were working for the Giants on Thursday, giving the club the early momentum shift in the first inning that killed Arizona’s morale. Angel Pagan led off the frame with a double that just barely stayed fair down the first baseline, similar to Blanco’s double on Wednesday. Buster Posey worked starter Randall Delgado for eight pitches after falling behind 0-2, and got an infield single on a swing with absolutely no lower body, poking it to the third baseman Jake Lamb. The ball caromed off of his glove on his diving attempt to stop it, bouncing hard right past shortstop Cliff Pennington. With runners on first and third and two outs, Hunter Pence had an RBI single up the middle on a swing in which he wasn’t even holding the bat. He threw the bat at the ball, and hit it somewhat sharply up the middle, where it kicked up high off the bag and out of reach of the second baseman Chris Owings, plating Pagan to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.

Here's the Pence hit up the middle
((HT: MLB.com))


The particles were in the air Thursday afternoon. It felt like a playoff atmosphere at the yard, likely a preview of the Giants’ October. Jake Peavy, an integral part of the Giants’ playoff push, pitched admirably Thursday, going 5 and 2/3 strong innings, giving up only one run and striking out eight. Over his last six starts, Peavy has gone 5-1 with a minuscule 1.12 ERA while getting ample run support, something that killed his confidence when he was with Boston. He received 38 runs of support while with the Sox, but has received 34 in 70 and 2/3 less innings in San Francisco.

The Giants controlled the game all day long, and extended their lead with a three-run sixth inning. Juan Perez had an RBI double, Buster Posey had an RBI single, and Hunter Pence walked with the bases loaded against reliever Matt Stites. The Arizona bullpen was absolutely atrocious throughout the series, posting a 5.54 ERA despite throwing six innings with no earned runs (2 R) on Tuesday. San Francisco sits two back of the Dodgers in the NL West heading into a pivotal three-game set starting Friday.

Notes: Michael Morse (Oblique) will likely miss the series against the Dodgers, manager Bruce Bochy said Thursday. Bud Selig toured the park Thursday on his farewell tour, and visited Kruk and Kuip in the CSN Bay Area booth. Morse has missed the last nine games with the ailment. Madison Bumgarner (17-9, 3.02), who is one strikeout short of 200 on the season, will face Hyun-Jin Ryu (14-6, 3.16) in the opener of the most important series of the season.

Hunter Pence's Baseball Camp is Comedy Gold

((ht: extramustard.si.com))

Love this.

Any of you baseball fans out there wonder how San Francisco outfielder Hunter Pence developed his unorthodox swing? His slightly awkward running style? Or his strange lunging motion when he attempts to throw the ball?

Well, now your kids can learn from the man himself.

Or at least that is the joking premise of this video produced by SI.com for their always fun Extra Mustard page.

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