10/24/12
Tonight was a world of surprise. The surprise for the
Tigers: Who would have thought Justin Verlander would have a lackluster
performance in the World Series? The last time he looked this bad was in the
all-star game to give the NL home field advantage in the World Series. Tonight, Verlander’s box score was 4 innings pitched, 6 hits allowed, 5 runs (all
earned runs), 2 homeruns allowed, 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts. This is not a typical
box score we are use to seeing in Verlander.
His velocity was there in his pitches, but his location and command were
lost in Detroit. The excuse that will be thrown out there is that he had a long
layoff and could not get into a rhythm that he’s accustomed to.
The Tigers bullpen made matters worse when Verlander was
pulled from the game. Al Albuquerque
pitched stellar even though he allowed 1 homerun which I will talk about later
in this piece. Jose Valverde was absolutely horrendous. He only pitched 1 out
of an inning and gave up 4 hits and 2 runs and his only strikeout came against
the pitcher.
The positive out of all of this for the Tigers going into
Game 2 is what they did in the 9th inning when they tried to rally from
an 8-1 deficit. Jhonny Peralta hit a
lucky 2-run homerun that glanced off Angel Pagan’s glove to make the score and
ultimately the final 8-3. Maybe this could fuel the momentum in the Tigers
favor if they build off on something that could bring them confidence in
finding ways to win. Their pitching needs to step up as well with their
hitting.
The surprise for the Giants was: Did anyone expect Pablo
Sandoval to hit 3 homeruns in the World Series? Also, did anyone expect Barry
Zito to pitch a stellar game? Pablo Sandoval, a notorious free swinger, has
been in the zone this postseason with a .370 batting average with 6 homeruns
and 13 RBI’s. This performance from Sandoval is coming from a guy who rode the
bench in the 2010 playoffs due to his free swinging ways. 2 of Pablo’s homeruns
were against Verlander who is arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball. His
last homerun was against Albuquerque. The last time any player hit 3 homeruns
in a game was in 2011 by Albert Pujols against the Texas Rangers.
10 of the Giants 11 hits came from the first 4 hitters in
the Giants lineup in Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro, Pablo Sandoval, and Buster
Posey. The rest of the Giants lineup was dormant. The rest of the Giants lineup
are aggressive free swingers. If they want to keep winning, they need contributions
from the bottom of the lineup to not put too much pressure on the guys hitting
at the top of the lineup.
The Giants pitching has been fantastic. Barry Zito has been
on a hot streak and has not lost in his last 14 games counting the postseason.
Tim Lincecum was a big surprise coming out of the bullpen pitching 2 1/3
scoreless innings with no hits allowed and 5 strikeouts. The only blip from the
bullpen was George Kontos pitching 1 out of an inning and allowed the Jhonny
Peralta lucky 2-run homerun and allowed 2 hits and 1 walk. Otherwise, Jose
Mijares and Jeremy Affeldt pitched well from the bullpen although I felt Bruce Bochy did not need to use 3 pitchers in the 9th
inning of a game that was already determined.
That reminded me of what Tony LaRussa would do with his pitchers.
Game 2’s starting pitching matchup will be Doug Fister (yes
laugh at the last name) against Madison Bumgarner. Madison has not had a good
postseason this year and had to be skipped in the rotation during the NLCS
against the St. Louis Cardinals due to a bad performance in Game 1. Doug Fister
has had a great postseason and the Tigers are looking for him to continue his
postseason success in a must win in San Francisco.
Do you agree or disagree with my thoughts? Sound off and
stay tuned for my reCAP of Game 2.
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