Thursday, October 28, 2010
And That Happened
Posted by Craig CalcaterraGiants 11, Rangers 7: I'm trying to remember a sloppier World Series game, but I'm comin' up empty. At least if you don't count the earthquake.
The big story today is obviously Cliff Lee, who saw his postseason ERA climb from 1.26 to 1.96 in the space of a couple hours. Then there are the six errors (Pfun Pfact: none were on Juan Uribe or Edgar Renteria, who actually played some pretty spiffy defense out there, amazingly enough). And the fact that the Giants felt they had to bring in Brian Wilson with a seven run lead. And then there was Juan Uribe's bomb and Freddy Sanchez's doubles. All interesting in their own right. But the thing that still stuck in my mind as I went to bed last night was Vlad Guerrero in right field. It was ugly and it was sad and I hope we don't have to see it again. Give me Murphy, Ron Washington. Hell, even give me Francoeur. But if I have to see one of my favorite players embarrassing himself out in the field again, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to handle it.
As for the series, I know we live in the age of "Everything That Just Happened Is The Most Important Thing That Has Ever Happened," but it's one game. An encouraging one, no question, if you're the Giants. A punch to the nose, no question, if you're the Rangers. But it's a best of seven here. The Rangers were down 0-1 in the ALCS following a somewhat shocking loss. They didn't need two Cliff Lee victories in that series either. Still lots of baseball to be played.
Here's hoping it's played much, much better by both sides.
Craig writes the HardballTalk blog for NBC Sports.com
A rough night for us Rangers fans, no doubt, but not without encouragement. Down 8-2 with 2 outs in the 5th, with commentators preaching Lincecum’s invincibility with 4-plus-run support, the Rangers scratched out a couple of runs to chase Lincecum before he got another out. And down 11-4 going into the 9th, the Rangers scratched 3 more runs, chasing 2 relievers and forcing the Giants to bring in Brian Wilson. Maybe those runs weren’t credited to him, but the Rangers suggested that maybe Brian Wilson isn’t Mariano Rivera.
Now let’s talk about defense. Vlad deserves to be scolded for his showing in right field, and Renteria and Uribe deserve a bonus for their defense. But let’s not forget the Giants’ defensive miscues. The two biggest: Lincecum walking Young back to third base in the 1st and Ishikawa trying to throw the ball away on a routine 3-1 grounder in the 9th. I think these are two sound defensive teams that had an off-night. They’ll be back up to par in Game 2.
The Yankees are always such a dangerous team because they never give up. I have reason to hope that the Rangers have developed that resilience.