MSR’s Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Giants Advance to NLDS

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Paulo C in Baseball, MLB // 1 Comment

Giants SP Madison Bumgarner pitched a postseason gem, en route to an 8-0 Wild Card win for San Francisco.

Here it is: another installment of “Looking Back, Looking Ahead.”

This time, I touch on a team that is looking to make another World Series run in an even-numbered year:

San Francisco Giants dominate Pirates in Wild Card Opener: October 1, 2014

LOOKING BACK

It’s safe to say that, before the end of the regular season, the San Francisco Giants were heading into the postseason as one of the biggest question marks in the league.

Despite their recent playoff success, this obviously wasn’t the same team that won World Series titles in 2010 and 2012 – former ace Matt Cain had season-ending elbow surgery in early August; CF Angel Pagan, considered the glue of the Giants’ offense, had season-ending back surgery more than a month later; and postseason heroes Tim Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong have struggled on the mound all season.

So, when they had to play for their 2014 season in a winner-take-all game at the hostile confines of PNC Park in Pittsburgh against the Pirates – a team that got hot in September with a 17-9 record to end the season – not many thought that even battle-tested ace Madison Bumgarner could get them past the Wild Card round.

Yet, that’s exactly what happened: The 25-year-old left-hander once again showed his postseason mettle with a masterful complete-game outing on Wednesday night, leading to a surprising 8-0 victory for San Francisco.

Perhaps the Giants’ best hurler in the rotation turned in a complete-game outing, allowing only four hits, while striking out 10 against a formidable lineup featuring 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutcheon. Bumgarner had complete control of his pitches the entire game, and finished off the Pirates having thrown 109 pitches – 79 for strikes. Save for a couple scoring threats through the course of the game, Bumgarner was virtually untouchable.

For reference, only two other pitchers in MLB history have thrown a 10-K shutout in a postseason elimination game, and you’ve probably heard of them: current Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander (2012 ALDS vs. Oakland), and Hall of Fame Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax (1965 World Series vs. Minnesota).

Meanwhile, the Giants bats woke up against Pirates starter Edinson Volquez – particularly, in the fourth inning, and in historic fashion. With the bases loaded for San Francisco with nobody out in the fourth inning, Brandon Crawford faced off with a pitcher he had historically struggled against (.150 BA in 20 plate appearances, 7 strikeouts). Yet, when Volquez hung a pitch high in Crawford’s sweet spot, the shortstop took advantage, skying it 362 feet for a grand slam – the first-ever grand slam by a shortstop in postseason history.

Giants SS Brandon Crawford put himself in the history books, as the first shortstop in postseason play to hit a grand slam.

While the Giants tacked on four more runs in the late innings, it was all Bumgarner needed to finish off Pittsburgh’s potent lineup, and end “Buc-tober” before it even started.

This was nothing new for the resilient Giants in the postseason. After all, they made their mark in the 2012 postseason thriving on the threat of elimination – and that resilience, led by mainstays in Hunter Pence (1-for-4, 2 R), Buster Posey (2-for-5, 2 H, RBI) and Pablo Sandoval (2-for-4), carried over into this postseason, surviving their seventh straight elimination game.

LOOKING AHEAD

With the shine of another winner-take-all victory for the San Francisco Giants in the rearview mirror, the Giants must now set their sights on the NLDS.

And, no matter how you slice it, this will not be easy, as they draw the top-seeded Washington Nationals – a team with the best record in the National League (96-66), and boasts perhaps the most talented rotation in all of baseball. Wunderkind Stephen Strasburg is possibly the team’s most dangerous starter, while Jordan Zimmerman – who threw a no-hitter less than a week ago – boasts the team’s best record (14-5). In fact, their pitching staff ranks first in ERA (3.03) and WHIP (1.16), and no one in their starting rotation has less than 14 wins and more than a 3.14 ERA. Washington will start Strasburg in Game 1 on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Giants don’t have much to counter with – at least, on paper. Ranked 12th in runs (665) and 10th in batting average (.255), they are armed with merely a better-than-average offense, going against a seemingly stellar rotation in DC. This was probably indicative of their 2-5 record against Washington in the regular season.

If they stand a chance, they will have to rely on the one thing that had been their backbone in both of their World Series runs – stellar pitching of their own. For their impressive record, the Nationals don’t rank much higher on offense, compared to San Francisco (9th in runs scored, 12th in batting average).

The postseason schedule shows that the Giants will start Jake Peavy in Game 1 and Tim Hudson in Game 2, saving Bumgarner for a home start in Game 3 (to possibly save San Francisco’s season once again). In all likelihood, Peavy will have to be the one to match his Washington counterpart – in this case, the talented Strasburg – pitch-for-pitch and out-for-out to give the Giants a fighting chance to take a game at Nationals Park.

Despite all that’s going against them, the Giants have one undeniable advantage against the Nationals: playoff experience. Again, they still boast a core of players that have won two World Series over the last five years, and have been battle-tested. The Nationals, on the other hand, even with the league’s best record, have not gotten past the Division Series in their short history.

But don’t take it from me – Hudson had something to say about his battle-tested squad up against a Goliath of a Nationals team:

Obviously they have a talented group over there, there’s no question. They have some great pitching. But come playoff time, talent can take you a long ways, but what do you have between your legs? That’s going to take you real far. And I think we’ve got a group in here that really has some of that.

No matter what happens moving forward for the Giants, they have already shown that they won’t go down without a fight. And after last night’s impressive blowout win in Pittsburgh, these Giants look like they have a lot of fight left in them.