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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

And That Happened

Posted by Craig Calcaterra
Giants 2, Reds 1: No one would ever get rich betting on things like "Scott Rolen will make a critical error on a relatively easy bouncer to third," but that's what happened. It was set up by a passed ball, allowing the winning run to get to third. The Reds have still not won a home playoff game since 1995. Still, it's not like the Giants' offense is fixed -- and if Hunter Pence were a horse he would have been shot by now -- so you have to assume that Cincinnati stands a good chance of winning one of two.

Athletics 2, Tigers 0: Masterful pitching by the Brett Anderson and a bullpen that is not yet out of gas, it seems. And great defense helped matters. They face each other again tonight.



Craig writes the HardballTalk blog for NBC Sports.com

Comments

Dave S said...

I heard on a sports radio broadcast today, that Scott Rolen has 7 errors in his last 13 playoff games.  If that’s actually true, maybe it’s not so surprising?

Posted 10/10  at  08:01 AM
Dave S said...

Just went through the boxscores.  It’s true.  Its a ridiculously small sample size…  and spread over 6 years… but interesting.

Posted 10/10  at  08:25 AM
obsessivegiantscompulsive said...

You would assume, but that might not be the case that they stand a good chance of winning one of two. 

It is still hard for the Giants to win the series, but nothing like it was before game 3.  While we have Zito starting for Game 4, the Reds don’t even know who they will start:  either Leake, the worse starter in their rotation, or Latos, who would be starting on short rest for the first time in his career, and his ERA rises the less rest he gets, and Bochy has noted the poor results in the past of teams starting pitchers on short rest as why Cain is not pitching this game.  Either way, the Reds should expect an inferior pitched game in Game 4.

Meanwhile, Bochy has been managing even before clinching, when we were getting near, as if every game, every win, mattered, pulling players out whenever he saw the need.  You can bet that Zito will not get a chance to put the game out of reach, that he will be pulled the moment Bochy thinks he had lost it, and bring in the bullpen to shut things down.

I see people quoting how good the Reds bullpen is, and it is, but then they forget it is not about how good the bullpen is during the season, but how good is the set you bring with you to the playoffs.  Looking at the Giants seven relievers, their collective ERA is basically around what the Reds relievers did during the seasons, so the Giants bullpen is equal to their bullpen in terms of ERA.

About the offense, it was scoring over 5 runs per game on the road since around the second half of the season started.  It has hit a pothole here in these three games, but that’s small samples caused by good pitching, and if Leake does start, as expected, the offense should perk up in Game 4.  And while Latos has done well against the Giants in the past, he has given up runs to them before, and Cain has been pretty good in Cincy before himself.

I like the Giants chances right now, though obviously the Reds currently has the upper hand.  I wouldn’t feel this way if Cueto was starting, but that’s not the situation the Giants are facing.

Posted 10/10  at  09:03 AM
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