NLCS Giants Vs Cardinals Game Thread

Who do you want to win?

  • STL

    Votes: 8 6.6%
  • SF

    Votes: 79 65.3%
  • meteor

    Votes: 34 28.1%

  • Total voters
    121

Al Zarilla

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Dec 8, 2005
58,851
San Andreas Fault
That's two Giants that were about out of baseball (Vogelsong and Ishikawa) that got that last chance from the Giants and came up huge. Feel good stories, both.
 

soxhop411

news aggravator
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Dec 4, 2009
46,200
“@Buster_ESPN: Peavy's eyesight is terrible and when he ran out to greet Ishikawa, he didn't realize Ishikawa had hit a homer. Ishikawa tried to avoid him.”
 

gopats84

New Member
Jul 20, 2005
77
Maine
With the Pats playing tonight I didn't watch the game so could someone tell me if Fox interviewed Michael Wacha's family tonight?
 

Lowrielicious

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Apr 19, 2011
4,328
soxhop411 said:
“@Buster_ESPN: Peavy's eyesight is terrible and when he ran out to greet Ishikawa, he didn't realize Ishikawa had hit a homer. Ishikawa tried to avoid him.”
That's gonna cost him in kangaroo court.
 

nattysez

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Sep 30, 2010
8,411
Tangled Up In Red said:
Wacha totally hung out to dry by Matheny
 
It's amazing to watch the Cardinals mentally abuse another promising young starter in the playoffs.  This isn't quite Ankiel-level abuse, but it's in the vicinity.  Don't put the kid in a position to fail like that.
 

glasspusher

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Jul 20, 2005
9,973
Oakland California
gopats84 said:
With the Pats playing tonight I didn't watch the game so could someone tell me if Fox interviewed Michael Wacha's family tonight?
 
I'm sorry, I must have missed that too. I guess it was on when I was making dinner. How did that go?
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Dec 24, 2002
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I love baseball - its really the only sport where a guy like Ishikawa can do what he did.  I mean, the guy was in AAA as recently as late July and now he has a pennant winning walk-off.
 
Also, listening to local radio and Gregor Blanco told Miller, Kruk and Kuip that Joe Panik had been repeatedly watching a video of Mariano Rivera throwing a cutter that a batter hit for a HR as a way to prepare for facing Wainwright.   They just brought Panik on and asked him about the video and the batter was....
 
 
Bill Mueller.  Pretty awesome... 
 

dhellers

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Oct 31, 2005
4,185
Silver Spring, Maryland
nattysez said:
Wacha totally hung out to dry by Matheny
....
It's amazing to watch the Cardinals mentally abuse another promising young starter in the playoffs.  This isn't quite Ankiel-level abuse, but it's in the vicinity.  Don't put the kid in a position to fail like that.
 
But unlike Ned Yost, it was in the 9th inning (rather then the 6th inning  )
 

Hendu At The Wall

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Jul 31, 2005
108
Woodstock, NY
DeJesus Built My Hotrod said:
 
Also, listening to local radio and Gregor Blanco told Miller, Kruk and Kuip that Joe Panik had been repeatedly watching a video of Mariano Rivera throwing a cutter that a batter hit for a HR as a way to prepare for facing Wainwright.   They just brought Panik on and asked him about the video and the batter was....
 
 
Bill Mueller.  Pretty awesome... 
And Wade Boggs was his favorite player. That's why he wears #12.
 

soxhop411

news aggravator
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2009
46,200
and The last giant walk off
 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI7dVj90zs
 

CaptainLaddie

dj paul pfieffer
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Sep 6, 2004
36,628
where the darn libs live
Seriously, FUCK THE CARDINALS.  Fuck St. Louis and their moron Mayor.  Fuck everything about that city.
 
And, really, FUUUUUUUUUUCK Matheny.  He should be fired for basically Gradying this game.
 

SemperFidelisSox

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May 25, 2008
31,026
Boston, MA
I think if you go back to every great series comeback or deciding game, a common theme in many of them are heroic efforts by a closer. 20-30 pitch outings, multiple innings.

If Matheny thought he was going to win this game and comeback from a 3-1 series deficit by only using Rosenthal in save situations then he really is clueless.
 

Hee Sox Choi

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Mar 27, 2006
6,133
Rosenthal looked bad most of the series.  I wouldn't have wanted him out there if I was Matheny. 
 

patinorange

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Aug 27, 2006
30,634
6 miles from Angel Stadium
This WS tears me in few directions. I have grown fond of the Giants since attending several games at their wonderful baseball park among their really great fans. The SF fans on this site are some of the best. I love listening to their games on the MLB app. Miller is awesome.

On the other hand this KC team with their mentally challenged manager and long suffering fans is a great story. It will be a stress free series for me with either outcome just fine.

Let there be fantastic baseball.
 

Laser Show

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Nov 7, 2008
5,094
Maybe it's just because the alternative is Ernie Johnson, but between Papi's slam and Ishikawa's walk off, I've really enjpyed Joe Buck's calls the last couple years. It seems like he gets far more excited than he used to.
 

gaelgirl

The People's Champion
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Feb 25, 2004
4,759
Sonoma, California
I haven't read the thread yet (sorry, been busy celebrating the BEST TEAM IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE!!!), but I have some thoughts.
 
It seems impossible that the Giants are here. It seems like they've played five different seasons just in 2014. They started off as the best team in baseball. They could do no wrong. They hit, they fielded, they pitched. It was remarkable and amazing and there looked to be no reason why it couldn't continue for months. There were almost no weak spots, there were no easy outs. Brandon Hicks was getting big hits, Brandon Crawford was killing pitchers, Brandon Belt was hitting home runs in literally every park they visited. They were as good a team as anyone could see. Then there were some mistakes. Romo had a rough outing against Colorodo and blew a save... then another, then another. Brandon Belt got hit by a pitch and broke his thumb. Cain struggled, then had season-ending surgery. Hicks stopped hitting anything, and the brief return of Marco Scutaro lasted only long enough to accidentally give Belt a concussion that lasted for six weeks. Pagan was ailing, then gone entirely. Morse, too. Lincecum threw his second no-hitter, then devolved into disaster. The once-unbeatable Giants, the best team in baseball, went into a months-long free fall. They were as bad a team as anybody could see. Dan Uggla made it onto the roster, played four games, made two errors and didn't get a single hit before asking for his release. But somehow, improbably, they pulled it together. They got Peavy and Panik. But more than anything else, they play with heart. 
 
Here is what the Giants bring: each other. Immediately after the game, the Giants sideline reporter interviewed Jeremy Affeldt. She asked him his thoughts on the game, on his performance, on making those critical pitches that kept the game tied and let the Giants win in dramatic fashion just a few minutes later. And after a moment of stammering about how he can't even identify his thoughts, he said this: "That home run can't happen to a better individual, man. That ball right there, to be able to hit that after I know that he was kicking himself, to have that moment of redemption, he deserved that. ... That Ishikawa, man. That's a book. That's a movie." His first thoughts were about his happiness for another. Not that he got to go to the World Series again himself, but how happy he was that his teammate came through when it mattered most. 
 
Crawford, too, said much the same thing: "I don't want to sound like a proud dad, but, we're all just so proud of what he's done." The same Crawford who prepared for Affelt's nail-biting relief appearance by stealing Belt's glove like the were just playing around in practice. Biggest defensive moment? Eh, 

Belt, after describing how he "almost passed out about five times" during the game because of the intensity, said: "I'm just so happy for these guys, I'm just so happy for Ishikawa." It's almost as if he wasn't himself a critical member of this the team. He's not happy for "us," he's happy for "these guys." It just illustrates their mindset. 
 
Ryan Vogelsong said a few days back that he was pitching to get Tim Hudson into the World Series, and tonight he appeared to get choked up describing how he felt watching Ishikawa batting, hoping that he, of all people, could have this heroic moment. Hunter Pence, of course, has consistently preached playing for their teammates, not for themselves. Tim Hudson said he couldn't be happier for Madison Bumgarner. 
 
I love MadBum. He is incredible. He was spectacular in Game One and great tonight. But I personally think the true NLCS MVP was Travis Ishikawa. He had, what, eight RBI? Two of the biggest hits in the series? He made some great plays out there in left, despite today's miscue. As much as the Giants wouldn't have gotten to the World Series without Bumgarner, I don't think they make it without Ishikawa either. Incredible. 
 
By the way, Barry Bonds gave Morse some pre-game hitting instruction. He happened to see Morse in the hallway, told him to keep his foot down because he can't generate power if his foot isn't down early. Afterward, Morse worked on it in the batting cage. He said he got his foot down early when he hit the home run. If the Giants win the World Series--and this looks like it will be a difficult and hard-fought series--Barry Bonds will earn himself a ring. He is, after all, a Giants special instructor. 
 
Good night, everyone. Giants are National League Champions and I couldn't be happier. 
 

Average Reds

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Sep 24, 2007
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Southwestern CT
Hee Sox Choi said:
Rosenthal looked bad most of the series.  I wouldn't have wanted him out there if I was Matheny. 
 
I think that's a weak argument, but even if he didn't want Rosenthal out there, he had other options.
 
Wacha was the emergency reliever, which means his role was limited. In essence, he was their version of Curtis Leskanic in 2004.  Unfortunately, he was used like he was Mike Timlin and it cost the Cardinals.