Quote:
Originally Posted by bjbstewart
It's just an academic exercise in KC at this point, call it done. I suppose it can't be "official" until they play the game, but there really isn't any need. 3 WS in 5 years, not bad. Now, how do we get the 9ers back on track? :-)
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Guess you didn't read the part of my prior post quoting an article that said in part:
"Seven of the last 11 teams to win a game five in a tied Series eventually lost: the 1982 Brewers, the 1986 Red Sox, the 1987 Cardinals, the 1991 Braves, the 2001 Yankees, the 2002 Giants and the 2011 Rangers."
. . .
"The Giants have been tied at two games apiece in seven previous World Series and won the title only one time — ."
As noted, the last time that happened to the Giants was vs the Angels in 2002. There are no guarantees. The Royals have already proven that they can hit and score A LOT OF RUNS when the pitching is vulnerable, which they've done several times already during this series.
So, the quality of the pitching in Game 6 will be critical. Peavy is no Bumgarner. He's still got generally good stuff but he's definitely vulnerable after the he's gone thru the lineup twice. Also, since we're back in KC, Butler will be the DH again and Aoki will return to RF, which improves the quality of KC's hitting. So, Bochy needs to have Peavy on a short leash and, if he gets in trouble, Bochy needs to bring Petit in as soon as he can (just as he did to save Volgelsong from himself in Game 4).
That switch made it possible for Petit to shut the Royals down so that they couldn't score anymore runs for 3 innings and allow the Giants to work their way back into the game. Don't forget that the Giants were losing 4-1 when Vogelsong left that game w/2 outs in the top of the 3rd and we didn't tie the game until the bottom of the 5th with Petit holding down the fort.
Bochy HAD to use Machi to try to get the last out in the 3rd (because he never brings in Petit with men on base) and that move almost blew up on him when Machi walked the bases loaded and then allowed the count on the PITCHER (Vargas) to go to 3-2 before he got a called 3rd strike.
BTW, that called 3rd strike was questioned by some commentators as being a BAD call. If it had been called a ball, like some people thing it should have, Machi would have walked in another run and who knows that Bochy would have done with the score 5-1.
The other side of the equation is that the Giants have to be able to hit and score on Ventura. Ventura wasn't all that sharp in Game 2 but that doesn't mean he won't be sharp in Game 6. Ventura has a killer fastball and can also throw a curve, cutter and change up. Word is that Ventura is not all that confident in his off-speed stuff and that Perez (the catcher) is trying to get him to make better use of his other pitches to make his fastball more effective. Ventura shook Perez off numerous times in Game 2 in order to go back to his fastball BUT, even so, the Giants were only able to score 2 runs off of him before he was taken out of the game.
Just ask Strickland what happens when all you do is throw heat without mixing it up. Strickland MUST have learned something because, when Bochy put him in in the 9th inning of Game 4 (with a 7 run lead, thank goodness!!!) to close out the game, he was actually trying to mix up his fastball up w/off speed stuff and was throwing with specific locations in mind. However, that fly ball that Cain hit to right field that Pence barely caught was a fast ball thrown up in the zone. So, although he was able to get 3 up and 3 down, control is still an issue for Stickland and, after the 5 HRs he's given up, I cringe at the thought of him coming into any other game for us.
Heaven help us if Bochy has to call on Machi or Stickland again!
In any event, if Ventura is vulnerable and the Giants are able to take a lead into the 7th, it won't matter what pitcher Yost brings in as long as we can maintain the lead. That responsibility would fall to Affeldt, Lopez, Romo and Casilla, which (with the exception of the HR that Romo gave up to Wong to lose Game 2 of the NLCS) they have done w/o giving up any runs so far.
But, if we don't have the lead going into the 7th, look for the "3 headed monster" of Herrera, Davis and Holland to come in and do what they do. However, I do think that Herrera is a bit tired (as evidenced by the walks he's thrown) because he's been used much more than normal, but he still throws 100+ fastballs that very few people can get the bat on. Davis doesn't throw 100+ but, despite Perez's double off the wall, NO ONE has hit a HR all season (or during the off-season) off of Davis. The pitch that Perez hit off of him for the double off the wall was a fastball up in the zone. In other words it was a MISTAKE but Davis doesn't make many of those.
Now that the Giants have seen Herrera and Davis 3 times during the series, they have been able to make some adjustments to get some hits off them, but just because they were able to get a few hits & runs off them yesterday, doesn't mean we'll be able to do it again Tuesday. Better to NOT have to face them again at all.
So, bottom line, the Giants pitching needs to hold the Royals to no or just a few runs and the Giants hitters have to get to Ventura early so that they can take a lead into the 7th which the core of our bullpen -- Affeldt, Lopez, Romo and Casilla -- can hold until the end.
If that happens, the Giants should win. If not, hopefully the Giants can do it in Game 7. If it comes to that, maybe Bumgarner will be able to pitch in Game 7 because he (and Pettit, if he's available) is apparently the only pitcher the Giants have who (with the exception of the HR he gave up to Salvador Perez in Game 1) can keep the Royals from scoring.
We'll see . . .
