I did not find this a terribly compelling World Series. Most of the games were lopsided, and even the close games held little drama. That may be the result of having two low win teams in the World Series. Each team exploited the flaws of the other, and neither had the depth to cover their weaknesses when they reared their ugly heads.
Madison Bumgarner won the MVP. He went 2-0 with a save pitched 21 innings, allowed nine hits, one run, one walk, and struck out 17. He did not have his full velocity Wednesday night, but he was able to get the Royals to chase high fastballs, and they could not handle them.
It strikes me that Bumgarner did not really pitch under duress in the series. The Royals only had nine PA against him with runners in scoring position, and the best they could do was a walk. In game seven, it almost seemed like Bumgarner was in their heads, and if he threw the ball 75 MPH down the middle of the plate, the Royals would not have hit it.
I also wonder how many pitchers can come back on two days rest. Maybe teams could go to three man rotations, with starters going just five innings. This is a check mark in that direction. We will see if his October workload has any long-term effects on Madison.
As for game seven, I see that Jeremy Affeldt got the win. For some unknown reason, Fox announced that the official scorer said that Madison Bumgarner would get the win. While he certainly deserved it, there wasn’t a choice. Hudson did not leave the game with the lead, so whoever was on the mound when the Giants took the lead would get the win. Bumgarner did get a save, and that’s pretty cool I don’t believe there have been very many five inning saves in the history of baseball. I count 11 in the regular season since the save rule went into effect in 1969, the last on 9/3/2002.
I must admit that when the ball rolled pasted Gregor Blanco and Juan Perez slipped trying to pick it up at the fence, I thought Gordon was going to score.
The ball got by the defensive specialist anyway and rolled all the way to the wall. As left fielder Juan Perez bobbled it at the track, Gordon raced to third, where coach Mike Jirschele put up a stop sign that he might live to regret. Gordon had a chance to score and tie the game.
Kauffman Stadium is one of the best parks for legging out long extra base hits, or in this case a botched ball. It would have been a much more dramatic end to the World Series if Gordon is out at the plate. The teams had been aggressive on the base paths all night, and they picked the wrong time to be conservative. The early hit by pitch Salvador Perez took proved costly, as he could not use his legs to drive the ball after that, and he did his best Carl Yastrzemski impression to pop out to end the game.
As for the Giants dynasty, I’d be more impressed if they had been a better team overall during the last five years. They certainly don’t compare to the 1996-2000 Yankees, who not only won four World Series, but dominated the regular season as well. Still very few teams have won three championships in a five year period. The Giants play well enough to make the playoffs, and then they exploit the weaknesses of their opponents. That may be a bit of luck, but Bruce Bochy seems to be good at executing that strategy.
I agree with your take on Gordon. I really thought they’d send him. Making the Giants make the perfect relay to the plate to tag him out would have been better odds than trying to get another hit of Bumgarner. He owned the Royals in a way few pitchers have ever owned a team in the post-season. Make the Giants make the play.
I need to look at the rule on wins. I thought the official scorer would have the discretion in last night’s game to determine to whom to give the win. I thought Bumgarner deserved it.
I like the way Bochy managed and how he didn’t give into the trendy feeling that a closer has to be allowed to close a game regardless of how well the pitcher has been doing that he replaces.
According to rule 10.17(c) Bumgarner only gets the W if Affeldt is ineffective. I guess 2.1 innings of no runs isn’t ineffective. But still, even the morning paper gave Madison the W.
rbj » BIS gave him the win, too.
SF won the Ws by 1 run – Sandoval got nicked in the elbow – making no effort to avoid it – he later scores……Aoki could’ve gotten hit in his 1st Ab vs Bumgarner, resulting in runners on 1st & 2nd – nobody out (likely run scored with sac bunt and fly or groundout). But Aoki got out of the way of that pitch…Result?…SF wins WS due to a nick of the elbow.
Tom Tango has been complaining about Wins again. Probably the definition should be changed so that the Win is awarded to the pitcher who has pitched the plurality of the innings on the winning team, provided that the team has taken the lead when the pitcher leaves the game and doesn’t subsequently lose the lead. In most situations the guy who pitches five innings of a nine inning game starts the game, but if he comes in towards the end then he should get the win. Come to think of it, its hard to think of why bringing in two or three pitchers to pitch one or two innings at the start of the game, then a pitcher at the top of the fifth to pitch the rest of the game, isn’t a worse way of doing things than the present practice.