Wednesday October 10th, 2012
Kyle Holland (Guest Writer): In 2012, the San Francisco Giants had one of their best year hitting in recent memory. Melky Cabrera, before his suspension, was hitting .346/.390/.516 with 11 home runs and 60 RBIs. Buster Posey, NL batting champ, hit .336/.408/.549 with 24 home runs and 103 RBIs in route to his MVP hopeful season.
In the postseason though, the bats have yet to come alive. Through the first 3 games in the NLDS, the Giants have just 12 hits, including just 3 in game 3, 2 of which came in the 10th inning. They had only 2 hits in game 2. Add to the fact that in both games 2 and 3, they were getting no-hit through at least 5.2 innings.
Game 2 on Sunday, the Giants couldn’t seem to buy a hit. Bronson Arroyo pitched a gem, throwing 7.0 shutout innings while only allowing one hit and one. His average against was .045 and he earned his first career postseason win.
“That’s the way baseball is. I have eight ABs and at least three or four hard-hit balls that are all outs. When things aren’t going your way, that’s the way it is,” said Scutaro after game 2.
Game 3, the Giants seemed doomed since the first inning. Catching a break though, Brandon Phillips tried to take an extra base on a past ball, but Buster Posey wasn’t having it and threw out Phillips at third. The Giants escaped after one run, but it could have been a lot worse if Phillips wasn’t caught.
The Giants got lucky in the third. After a hit batter and a walk to Brandon Crawford, Ryan Vogelsong bunted them over to second and third. Pagan got up and hit a sac fly to right field and just like that, the Giants tied the game up without recording a hit.
Came the 10th inning, still tied 1-1, Posey led off with a single to right and Pence followed with a single to right. On a passed ball, now with 2 outs, Posey and Pence both advanced. Joaquin Arias then reached on an error by Scott Rolen and Posey scored, taking their first lead of the series 2-1. In the bottom of the 10th, Sergio Romo mowed the Red’s hitters down 1,2,3 to put the Giants back into the series.
While it seemed like a good game from the Giants, they are really going to have to step it up if they want a chance at coming back. If they can win game 4 with Zito pitching, anything can happen in a game 5 with Matt Cain on the hill. But these Reds were the best team in the NL this year for a reason. One more poor offensive showing and today could be the Giants last game of this year’s postseason.
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