Here are two great young pitchers:
Clayton Kershaw (born March 19, 1988 in Dallas): Regular season: 98-49, ERA of 2.48. Post-season: 1-5, ERA of 5.12. No appearances in the World Series.
Madison Bumgarner (born August 1, 1989 in Hickory, N. C.): Regular season: 67-49, ERA of 3.06. Post-season: 6-3, ERA of 2.54. World Series: 3-0, ERA of 0.41.
The story of Kershaw and Bumgarner is a big part of why the Dodgers have lost in the playoffs each of the last two years, while the Giants are working on their third World Championship in the last five years.
Bumgarner (who was the MVP of the 2014 NLCS) dominated the Royals in Game One of this series, allowing only three hits and one run in seven innings on his way to an easy 7-1 win. Today, in the last game of the year in San Francisco, the Giants are counting on him to be great again.
The Royals are countering with 32-year-old James Shields. Shield was a solid pitcher for many years with Tampa Bay, and he was Kansas City's best starter this year: a record of 14-8 in 34 starts, with an ERA of 3.21. But he has struggled in the post-season this year, giving up 15 runs in only 19 innings. On the other hand, all he has to do is get the Royals to the seventh inning with a lead, and the Kansas City bullpen will probably do the rest.
Here are tonight's lineups, with old-school 1970's style stats:
KANSAS CITY ROYALS:
1. Alcides Escobar, SS (.285, 3 HR, 50 RBI, 31 SB)
2. Alex Gordon, LF (.266, 19 HR, 74 RBI)
3. Lorenzo Cain, RF (.301, 5 HR, 53 RBI, 28 SB)
4. Eric Hosmer, 1B (.270, 9 HR, 58 RBI)
5. Salvador Perez, C (.260, 17 HR, 70 RBI)
6. Mike Moustakas, 3B (.212, 15 HR, 54 RBI)
7. Omar Infante, 2B (.252, 6 HR, 66 RBI)
8. Jarrod Dyson, CF (.269, 1 HR, 24 RBI, 36 SB)
9. James Shields, P (14-8, ERA of 3.21)
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS:
1. Gregor Blanco, CF (.260, 5 HR, 38 RBI)
2. Joe Panik, 2B (.305, 1 HR, 18 RBI in only 73 games)
3. Buster Posey, C (.311, 22 HR, 89 RBI)
4. Pablo Sandoval, 3B (.279, 16 HR, 73 RBI)
5. Hunter Pence, RF (.277, 20 HR, 74 RBI)
6. Brandon Belt, 1B (.243, 12 HR, 27 RBI in only 61 games)
7. Travis Ishikawa, LF (.274, 2 HR, 15 RBI in only 47 games)
8. Brandon Crawford, SS (.246, 10 HR, 69 RBI)
9. Madison Bumgarner, P (18-10, ERA of 2.98) (Note: Bumgarner did hit 4 HR this year)
Notice that while Buster Posey is the only player on either team with impressive individual hitting numbers, both teams are remarkably consistent from top to bottom, meaning that they can get to you at any time.
Further observations will go in the comments.
I'm following this game through the play-by-play announcers for the two teams -- listening to the Royals' announcers when Kansas City is at bat, and to the Giants' broadcast when it's San Francisco's turn.
ReplyDeleteDenny Matthews has been doing Royals baseball since the franchise began in 1969, and was honored at the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. I have almost never listened to him before this post-season, in large part because the Royals have been so bad. But he is just as good as you would expect from a Hall of Famer -- he has a solid, Midwestern demeanor with just a hint of pessimism and calls a nice, clean game.
The Giants' broadcast team is led by Jon Miller, who is, in my opinion, the best baseball announcer I have ever heard. I have listened to him for years, as he was ESPN's voice of the World Series on 13 different occasions. He was honored by the Hall of Fame in 2010.
Not much happened in the first one and one-half innings, but in the bottom of the second the Giants have put together a rally.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Hunter Pence lined a single.
Then, when Kansas City put on the shift to stop the left handed Brandon Belt, Belt LAID DOWN A BUNT TOWARD THIRD. Because of the shift, he beat it out easily. WHY DON'T PEOPLE DO THIS ALL THE TIME?
A deep fly from Travis Ishikawa advanced the runners to second and third.
So Brandon Crawford is up with one out and two men in scoring position.
Crawford works a full count. With the Giants crowd going nuts, Crawford grounds out to second, scoring Pence. Belt advances to third.
ReplyDeleteSo the Giants have a run with a hit, a bunt, a fly out, and a ground out. That's wonderful post-season baseball.
Bumgarner grounds out to end the inning. San Francisco leads 1-0 after 2.
ReplyDeleteFangraphs now gives San Francisco a 62.7 percent chance of victory.
ReplyDeleteThe flagship station for the Kansas City Royals is KCSP, which you can find at 610 on your AM dial. The Giants' flagship is KNBR -- 680 AM.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, next year you can hear the Nats on WJFK -- 106.7 on your FM dial. The Nats' radio team of Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler is extremely good, although Charlie in particular tends to make me nervous.
DeleteThe Royals go down 1-2-3 in the third. Bumgarner already has five strikeouts.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants go down 1-2-3 in the third. San Francisco leads 1-0 and the Giants have a 64.0 percent chance of victory.
ReplyDeleteAnother 1-2-3 inning for Bumgarner in the fourth -- he has now retired nine Royals in a row.
ReplyDeleteSandoval, who has been great in this post-season, leads off the bottom of the 4th with a hard single to left.
ReplyDeleteBig strikeout from Shields, who strikes out Pence on a 2-2 breaking ball.
ReplyDeleteBrandon Belt comes up, and this time the Royals have their third baseman closer to his usual position to prevent another bunt hit. Shields doesn't need his defenders, however, as he strikes out Belt.
ReplyDeleteWith two outs, Ishikawa hits a seeing-eye grounder that goes right under Escobar's glove at short, and the GIants have runners on first and second.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants are always hitting balls up the middle of the field, and Crawford does it again, sending a soft fly the drops just in front of Jarrod Dyson. Sandoval, who is not very fast, looked like he was going to stop at third -- but Dyson bobbles the ball, and Sandoval scoots home. That was not scored as an error, but it was a huge defensive mistake.
ReplyDeleteBumgarner strikes out to end the inning, but the Giants lead 2-0. Fangraphs now gives them a 77.7 percent chance of victory.
With one out in the top of the 5th, Omar Infante hits what appears to be a single to left, but Ishikawa makes an awkward ball that allows the ball to go past him for a double. On KCSP, the Royals' announcers are very critical of Ishikawa's defense.
ReplyDeleteBumgarner is not affected by Infante's double, as he simply strikes out Dyson and Shields to end the inning. That's 7 strikeouts (and no walks) in five innings.
ReplyDeleteWith one out in the bottom of the 5th, the Giants get another one of those singles up the middle -- this time from Joe Panik -- and San Francisco has a man on base with their two best hitters (Posey and Sandoval) coming up.
ReplyDeleteAnd with Posey at the plate, Panik advances to second on a wild pitch. The Giants are always doing stuff like this.
Posey walks on four pitches, bringing Sandoval (who is batting .350 in the World Series so far) to the plate.
ReplyDeleteBut Sandoval strikes out on a pitch that was way too high to be considered a strike. Two outs, runners on first and second, and it's up to Pence.
ReplyDeleteFor once, the Giants don't hit a liner up the middle. Pence crushes a ball to the right-center field gap. It seems like a sure double or triple, but Lorenzo Cain makes a SPECTACULAR RUNNING CATCH to end the inning.
ReplyDeleteAfter 5: San Francisco leads 2-0. They have an 80.5 percent chance of victory.
The Kansas City radio broadcast allows us to hear the PA announcer in San Francisco telling us which batter is up next. I've never heard that on another radio broadcast -- I wonder if they do it all the time.
ReplyDeleteSince this is the last game of the year in Pac Bell Park, let me say that this is, in my opinion, the best sports facility built in the United States in my lifetime. You've got McCovey Cove, you've got that weird gap in deep right center (where Cain just made an amazing catch), you've got the huge glove and Coca-Cola bottle out behind left field, you've got a crowd that's right on top of the action -- it is a glorious place for a baseball game.
ReplyDeleteCain's catch gave the Royals a sense of momentum, but Bumgarner quickly takes it away -- retiring the top of the Royals order 1-2-3. He has been amazing tonight.
ReplyDeleteAfter Pence's long fly, the Giants are back to hitting the ball on the ground -- Ishikawa grounds a single to left with one out in the bottom of the 6th. He is then removed for Juan Perez, who will pinch run and then take Ishikawa's place in left.
ReplyDeleteShields, who has been very good tonight, renders Ishikawa's single moot as he easily retires Crawford and Bumgarner to retire the Giants in the sixth.
ReplyDeleteAfter 6, San Francisco leads 2-0. The Giants have an 84.0 percent chance of victory.
With the Royals down to their last nine outs, Eric Hosmer leads off the 7th with a single to right.
ReplyDeletePerez hits a deep shot to left field, but Perez hauls it in for the first out of the inning.
ReplyDeleteThat's Salvador Perez (the Royals' catcher) doing the hitting, and Juan Perez (the Giants' left fielder) doing the catching.
DeleteBumgarner induces Moustakas to fly out, and then Infante grounds out to third to end the inning. It's time for God Bless America.
ReplyDeleteCelebrity watch: Billy Crystal, Rob Lowe, and Joe Montana (with wife) are all at tonight's game.
ReplyDeleteSeeking to prevent the Giants from adding to their lead, the Royals send out ace reliever Kelvin Herrera to pitch the bottom of the 7th. This is part of a double switch -- Herrera will bat seventh (replacing Infante, who made the last out in the top of the inning), and Jayson Nix will bat 9th and play second base.
ReplyDeleteHerrera retires Blanco to lead off the inning -- Blanco has led off four innings, and has made out every time. But Panik reaches on a walk, bringing up Posey and some drama.
ReplyDeletePosey hits another one of those hard low balls that the Giants like so much, but this one goes straight to Nix after one bounce, and the Royals second baseman turns it into an inning-ending double play.
ReplyDeleteAfter 7: Giants 2, Royals 0. Giants have an 88 percent chance of victory.
We've had some pretty decent work from the second-chair radio announcers in San Francisco and Kansas City, but with the game going into the 8th inning our two Hall of Famers are back in charge.
ReplyDeleteOn the field, the Royals lead off the 8th with Billy Butler pinch hitting for Dyson, but the implacable Bumgarner strikes him out on a beautiful slow curve. On television, you can see Butler's look of anguish.
Bumgarner gets fly balls from Nix and Escobar to end the 8th.
ReplyDeleteIt's the bottom of the 8th, and so the Giants are playing "Lights" by Journey over the P.A. system. Apparently this is a thing they do. The Giants fans are singing happily.
In the bottom of the 8th, Nori Aoki comes in to play right field for the Royals. Cain shifts to center field.
ReplyDeleteHerrera is still pitching, and Sandoval greets him by whacking another one of those Giants singles up the middle. And then Pence grounds a single through the left side of the infield. The Giants now have 10 hits, and I think they are all singles.
That's all for Herrera, as the Royals cannot afford to allow the Giants any more runs. So the Royals bring in Wade Davis, the second part of their three-headed bullpen monster. He will face Brandon Belt, who clubbed a home run a few weeks ago to lead San Francisco to an 18-inning victory in Game Two of the NLDS that pretty much killed Washington's season.
ReplyDeleteDavis immediately makes his presence felt, striking out Brandon Belt. One out.
ReplyDeleteThis brings up Juan Perez, who was inserted as a defensive replacement. In 100 at-bats this season, he batted .170 with only 1 HR and 3 RBI. But he now CRUSHES A BALL OFF THE CENTER FIELD WALL for a double. TWO MORE RUNS SCORE.
ReplyDeleteThen Crawford has a more typical Giants at bat, blooping a hit into left. Perez zips home, and the Giants lead 5-0. Significantly, they have scored three runs off of Herrera and Davis, who have been almost unhittable in this post-season.
Bumgarner and Blanco are retired, and the inning is over, but damage has been done.
ReplyDeleteAfter 8, the GIants lead 5-0. Fangraphs now gives them a 99.5 percent chance of victory.
Bumgarner is going for the complete game shutout. He starts the 9th by getting Gordon to fly out to right. The fans in San Francisco are chanting M-V-P on Bumgarner's behalf.
ReplyDeleteCain grounds out to short. Two outs.
ReplyDeleteJon Miller reports that no one has pitched a complete game shutout in the World Series since Josh Beckett beat the Yankees in Game Six of the 2003 World Series to win that series for the Marlins.
Hosmer grounds out to third and the GAME IS OVER! Bumgarner pitches a COMPLETE GAME SHUTOUT. In World Series play, he is now 4-0 with an ERA of 0.29. Great, great stuff.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading this. Bumgarner is like a giant, aggressive pelican on the mound with his whole body expanding wildly as he comes through his windup and releases the pitch. It must be quite a sight to see that guy flying at you toward home plate. He's also quite a hitter.
DeleteBut it's not over yet. In 2011, the Cardinals were down 3-2, but won the last two games at home to take the series. Anaheim did the same in 2002, and so did Arizona in 2001. For that matter, Kansas City did it in 1985. Now they'll have to do it again to take the title.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy for the Royal fans (oddly) that they got to experience this seven-run second inning back in Kansas City.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it finally dawned on me who Billy Butler reminds me of: STEVE BALBONI!