Madison Bumgarner gives up a lead-off single in the top of the second, then strikes out the next three batters to leave Salvador Perez stuck at first. Bumgarner allowed two hits so far, but struck out four of the eight batters he faced. There is no score as the Giants come to bat in the second against James Shields and the Royals.
Game five of the World Series offers a rematch of game one as James Shields and the Royals challenge Madison Bumgarner and the Giants. The best of seven series is tied at two games apiece.
Shields has now made ten starts in the post-season for his career, and the results are disappointing. His regular season ERA stands at 3.72, his post-season ERA two runs higher at 5.74. His three-true outcomes in the post-season are a little worse, but not terribly worse. The big change is that he allows 8.8 hits per nine during the regular season, 11.5 during the post-season.
Hits allowed tend to be a combination of pitching and defense. Shields always played for good defensive teams. It’s possible that Shields is the type of pitcher who can dominate weak opponents, but teams of strong hitters, like you might see in the post-season, can square up his pitches.
Bumgarner, on the other hand, excels in the post-season. His 3.06 regular season ERA drops to 2.54 in 12 post-season appearances, 11 of them starts. He has not been consistent, pitching great in 2010 and 2014, but poorly in 2012. Overall, however, he’s a great post-season pitcher.
Bumgarner’s three true outcomes are close to his regular season numbers. He allows home runs at the same low rate, gives up fewer walks, which is balanced by fewer strikeouts as well. His hits per nine, however, drops from 8.0 hits per nine innings in the regular season to 6.9 per nine innings in the post-season.
I expect to see the Royals bullpen early in this game.
Enjoy!
The decision by Ned Yost to bring out Brandon Finnegan for the start of the seventh inning surprised me in game four. At that point, the Royals were down 7-4, and Finnegan pitched a poor sixth inning. I expected to see Kelvin Herrera to hold the fort, given that the Royals had engineered a number of comebacks this season. Finnegan started the inning, we never saw Herrera, and any chance of a comeback disappeared as the Giants scored four more runs.
It looks to me like Yost was accomplishing two things with that strategy:
If Herrera comes in, then Yost would likely not have him for Sunday night. With Madison Bumgarner facing KC, Royals runs should be scarce. With James Shields having a poor post-season, Yost’s plan should be to try to get five innings out of his starter, then go to his big three with the day off looming. I suspect it might be four outs for Herrera, five for Davis (the former starter), and then Holland to finish the Giants off if the Royals can get a lead.
By winning game three, Yost had this option. The Royals are going home for the last two games of the series, and plenty of teams have won the last two games at home for the championship. He has a day off before game six, so he can stretch his big three relievers. Game four was losing the battle to try to win the war.
The Giants take game four 11-4 over the Royals. This will not be a short series. Tied at two games apiece, there will be a game six back in Kansas City.
After a bad sixth inning, Brandon Finnegan comes out for the seventh and gives up a single and a walk. The Royals go to the bullpen to try to stay close in the bottom of the seventh.
Update: An error on a bunt brings in another run, and the Giants lead 8-4. Still two on and no one out.
Update: Joe Panik doubles to left-center, clearing the bases. The Giants are running away with the game 10-4.
Update: Hunter Pence doubles with one out to drive in Panik, and the Giants lead 11-4.
Update: The Royals get out of the inning with no more damage, but they have a huge hill to climb in two innings.
Brandon Belt turns the 3-6-3 double play in the top of the sixth inning. He tried to start one earlier, but a high throw prevented the second out. A nice play by the Giants defense to erase Jarrod Dyson, who led off the inning with a single.
The Royals and Giants go to the bottom of the sixth tied at four.
Update: The first two Giants hitters single in the bottom of the sixth. Gregor Blanco failed to get a bunt down before getting two strikes, but he singles the other way to put runners on first and second.
Update: Joe Panik bunts the runners over to second and third for Buster Posey.
Update: The Royals intentionally walk Posey to face Hunter Pence, who drove in two runs in the game so far.
Update: Pence hits the ball to the drawn in shortstop, who throws home to get the lead runner. Two down.
Update: Pablo Sandoval lines the first pitch into shallow right-center for a two-run single, and the Giants lead 6-4.
Update: Brandon Belt grounds a single up the middle to drive in a run, and the Giants lead 7-4. Brandon Finnegan wasn’t quite as ready for prime time tonight as he was in his previous post season appearances.
Update: Juan Perez grounds out to end the inning. It’s only taken three hours to play six innings, but at this rate, the Giants won’t need to play the bottom of the ninth. We’ll see if the Royals have a comeback in them.
Joe Panik doubles leading off the fifth for the Giants. That chases Jason Vargas with the Royals leading the Giants 4-2.
Update: Panik comes around to score on a Hunter Pence single, Pence’s second RBI of the game. The Royals lead is down to 4-3.
Update: Danny Duffy relieves Jason Frasor and gives up a single to Pablo Sandoval. The Giants have the tying run at third with one out.
Update: Duffy walks Brandon Belt to load the bases.
Update: Juan Perez hits a dying quail to center. Jarrod Dyson runs in and makes a great diving catch. The run scores from third, but that might drop in front of a lot of centerfielders, making the situation worse. The Royals and Giants are tied at four.
Update: Brandon Crawford strikes out looking to end the inning. It’s been a long game, but an exciting one.
Yusmeiro Petit retires the Royals in order in the top of the fourth, then singles in the bottom of the fourth to put the tying run on base and keep the inning alive. Gregor Blanco is up with men on first and second and two out, they Royals leading the Giants 4-2.
Update: Jason Vargas induces a pop up to get out of a jam again. The Royals take their 4-2 lead to the fifth.
Matt Duffy pinch hits for the pitcher to lead-off the Giants half of the third, and he singles for the Giants first hit of the game. The Royals lead 4-1.
Update: With Duffy at second with two out, Buster Posey singles to drive in the run and cut the Royals lead to 4-2.
Update: Hunter Pence lines a single to left to put runners on first and second with two out for Pablo Sandoval. Jason Vargas may not get out of the third either.
Update: Sandoval strikes out swinging on a pitch down and outside to end the inning. The Giants inch back, cutting the Royals lead to 4-2 at the end of three innings.
With two out in the top of the third, the Royals score on a poor fielding play by the Giants, the second of the inning. With one out and a man on first, Brandon Belt tries to start a 3-6-1 double play, but throws the ball high and the Giants only get the out at second. Alex Gordon then steals second, goes to third on an infield hit by Lornezo Cain, then scores on an infield single by Eric Hosmer. Ryan Vogelsong tried to field the grounder, so he did not get to the bag in time to cover when Belt tried to make the play. Good speed and less than stellar defense hurt in that inning, and the Royals tie the game at one.
Mike Moustakas walks to load the bases with two out.
Update: Omar Infante grounds a single up the middle, driving in two runs, and the Royals lead 3-1.
Update: Salvador Perez hits a shallow fly ball single to center, and the Royals score another run. Vogelsong leaves the game trailing 4-1.
Update: Jean Machi comes in and walks Jarrod Dyson to load the bases.
Update: Jason Vargas lost track of the count and thought he walked on ball three. He then struck out to end the inning, making the first and last out in the top of the third. He takes the mound working on a no-hitter with a 4-1 lead.
The Royals get a two-out single in the top of the first, but that’s it as Ryan Vogelsong throws 11 of 13 pitches for strikes. The Giants come to bat for the first time in a scoreless game four of the World Series.
Update: The Giants get a threat established in the first as Gregor Blanco walks, then moves to second on a pitch that gets away from Salvador Perez. Joe Panik pops out, however, for the first out.
Update: With one out, Blanco steals third to try to set up a sacrifice fly or better for Buster Posey.
Update: Surprisingly, the Royals bring the infield in.
Update: After getting ahead of Posey 1-2, Jason Vargas issues his second walk of the inning. His low walk rate is his strength, so he might be in trouble early here.
Update: Hunter Pence grounds to third, but the Royals can’t turn the double play. They get the out at second, but Blanco scores for a 1-0 San Francisco lead. The score without a hit.
Update: Pablo Sandoval strikes out to end the inning. Watching the double play ball again, Pence really got down the line quickly. Instead of an RBI, he should get an RRI, Run Run In.
The Royals and Giants hope V is for victory as they send Jason Vargas and Ryan Vogelsong to the mound respectively. Vargas posted the lowest single season ERA of his career in 2014. His 3.71 ERA stood half a run lower than his career average. Vargas’s strength was his low walk total, 41 BB in 187 innings. The start he made against the Giants was a mixed bag. He allowed nine hits in five innings, but only two runs as he did not walk a batter. He has been wilder than usual in his first post-season, walking four in 11 1/3 innings. That hasn’t hurt him much, as he only allowed three runs.
Vogelsong bounced back from a poor 2013 to log a season as a decent fourth starter. His FIP was slightly lower than his ERA, but not as much as I expected. What he did poorly in 2014 was start an inning. Batters reached base at a .364 clip with none on and none out, hitting eight home runs to boot. He was pitching out of the stretch a lot. His 2014 season is a mixed bag, with a good start against Wasington and a poor one against the Cardinals.
Enjoy!
By the way, I noticed during the broadcast that teams that win game three to go up 2-1 win the series about 67% of the time. Assuming that the teams are evenly matched, the binomial distribution puts the probability at 68.8%. Nice to see real life match predictions.
John Perricone, late of Only Baseball Matters, wrote to me on Bruce Bochy‘s use of his relievers in the playoffs:
However, watching these postseason games, and especially, the last two losses by the Giants, I am struck by how Bochy has given away run after run in the sixth inning of the playoffs this season. Coming into the WS, every baseball analyst was going on and on about the edge the Giants have with Bochy. That sentiment ignores reality. He’s repeatedly failed to protect leads, ties, or even one run deficits by allowing obviously mediocre pitchers to take on high leverage situations, throughout the postseason. Even when the Giants have won, it’s been obvious that they’ve gotten lucky.
Please take a look back at just the sixth innings of every playoff game they’ve been in, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Not using the best possible pitcher for the given situation, over and over. He just gave away two games. Ask yourself this, why the hell is Petit on the roster of not for the sixth inning tonight?
You can see how Giants pitchers performed inning by inning in the 2014 post-season here. The problem is not just the sixth inning, but the seventh as well. In the sixth, the Giants allow the highest OBP of any inning, but in the seventh, they get creamed for home runs.
It should be noted that Ned Yost has a sixth inning problem as well. Royals pitchers allowed a .360/.439/.440 slash line in the sixth, really their only consistently bad inning of the game. Because they give up singles and walks instead of power, they are better able to contain the damage.
The sixth is a tough inning for a manager, especially if your starter has pitched well up to that point. The starter is into the third time through the lineup, and his pitch count may be rising. The best think might be to start with a fresh pitcher in the inning, rather than waiting for trouble. If the starter is doing well, however, it’s tough to pull him. Most would like to hold off going to their big three until the seventh. So the starter gets in trouble, and instead of bringing in a great pitcher, they go to the back of the bullpen, because that’s always the plan. To Yost’s credit, he’s been going to his big three earlier.
The Royals go in order in the top of the ninth. Greg Holland comes on to face the heart of the Giants order, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, and Hunter Pence with the Royals leading 3-2.
Update: Posey hits the second pitch, and flies out to left. One down.
Update: Sandoval hits the second pitch, and ground out. Two down.
Update: Pence falls behind 0-2. He hits a 1-2 pitch back to Holland, and the Royals win 3-2. The worst that can happen to them now is they return to KC for a game six.
Wade Davis pitches a perfect eighth for the Royals, striking out two to maintain the 3-2 lead over the Giants. Davis has not struck out 14 in 11 1/3 innings this post season.
Jarrod Dyson singles with two out in the top of the seventh, and Ned Yost does not pinch hit for his reliever Kelvin Herrera. In a one run game, that seems like a poor move.
Update: Kelvin Herrera strikes out.
Update: Hunter Pence starts the bottom of the seventh with a walk against Herrera.
Update: Brandon Belt works the count to 3-2, but strikes out swinging. One down.
Update: With two left-handed batters due up, the Royals go to the pen for the lefty, Brandon Finnegan.
Update: Finnegan gets both batters, and the teams go to the eighth with the Royals leading 3-2.
Brandon Crawford singles to start the bottom of the sxith inning, then Mike Morse pinch hits and grounds a double down the third base line for the Giants first run of the game. That cuts the Royals lead to 3-1, but it also brings on the Kansas City bullpen. Jeremy Guthrie Did not walk nor strike out a batter, as 18 balls were put in play, four resulting in hits.
Update: Kelvin Herrera comes on and walks Gregor Blanco. The Giants have the tying runs on first and second. Blanco is the first Giant not to put the ball in play.
Update: Joe Panik moves the runners up a base with a Baltimore chop, and the Royals are pitching to Buster Posey.
Update: Posey drives a run home with a ground out to second. The Royals lead the Giants 3-2.
Update: Pablo Sandoval grounds out to first to end the sixth. The Royals bend but don’t break as they are two-third of the way through the game with a 3-2 lead.
With one out in the sixth, the Royals put two hits together to score their second run. Alcides Escobar hits a line drive single up the middle, and Alex Gordon follows with a double to deep center. Escobar easily scores from first, and the Royals lead 2-0 as they try to regain home field advantage in the series.
Hudson’t pitch count is in the mid 70s.
Update: Tim Hudson gets a grounder for the second out, but Bruce Bochy comes out to remove Tim from the game with a man on second and two out. Hudson walked one, struck out two, and allowed four hits. Two of them were doubles, and they both hurt.
Update: Javier Lopez comes in, and Eric Hosmer has an 11 pitch at bat that seemed to last as long as the first five innings. He finally gets a hold of a pitch and lines it to center for an RBI single, and the Royals lead 3-0. For the second game in a row, the Giants bullpen does not get the job done.
Update: Mike Moustakas strikes out to end the inning, but it looks like the Royals bullpen will be passed a decent lead to defend.
The Royals lead the Giants at the end of three innings of game three of the World Series. Both pitchers are using their fielders. Tim Hudson of the Giants faced 11 batters, walking one and striking out one. Jeremy Guthrie faced ten hitters and all of them put the ball in play. Both pitchers allowed just two hits, but Hudson gave off a lead-off double in the first that led to a run. Both teams saw a runner erased, one on a double play, one on a caught stealing.
Update: Hunter Pence shows some range, catching a low fly ball that was fading toward the rightfield line. We’ve seen a number of good outfield catches so far in the game, one reason the pitchers can afford to let the ball be put in play.
Alcides Escobar pounds the first pitch of the game off the wall in the leftfield corner for a double. Alex Gordon grounds the next pitch to first to move the runner, and the Royals have a chance to score in the top of the first off Giants starter Tim Hudson.
Update: Lorenzo Cain grounds to short. The Giants take the out, and the Royals lead 1-0. There were two iffy strike calls during that plate appearance, one on a check swing, and one on a low pitch.
Update: Joe Panik gets a low pitch called a strike in the bottom of the first. Looks like this should be a good umpire for two pitchers who get their share of grounders.
The Royals lead the Giants 1-0 at the end of one.
Jeremy Guthrie takes the hill for the Royals as the World Series shifts to San Francisco. The Giants send Tim Hudson to the mound.
The Royals had a choice between starting Guthrie or Jason Vargas in game three. They are very similar pitchers, good but not great strikeout and walk rates, and they tend to give up a few too many long balls. The Giants, however, hit a bit better against left-handed pitchers. Since the game three starter will be in line to start a potential game seven, it makes sense to start Guthrie.
Guthrie pitched great in three starts against NL team this season. In 24 2/3 innings, he only struck out 11, but gave up just 18 this and five runs for a 1.82 ERA. He walked a single batter.
Hudson makes the first World Series start of his career in his first season making it past the LDS. He is coming off an excellent start against St. Louis in which he allowed just one run and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. He has yet to walk a batter in 13 2/3 innings. Hudson did get knocked around by American League teams this season, 1-4 with a 6.21 ERA in 29 innings. Five of the 15 home runs he allowed came in those innings.
Given that both pitchers like to see the ball put into play, there’s a chance of a quicker game tonight.
Enjoy!
Don Wakamatsu creates stunning lineup cards:
Wakamatsu uses ornate, capitalized first letters, with a blend of American calligraphy and Asian font overtones. There’s also some medieval and Gothic characteristics.
“I don’t think it’s any one style,” he said. “I don’t have my own font.”
Wakamatsu has no formal training, and figures his interest rubbed off from his family.
“My grandfather had tremendous handwriting. He was an artist, the way he wrote,” he said. “I think I got the art gene from him.”
It does take him half an hour to create the cards. I didn’t realize MLB coaches had so much down time, but I do like the information he conveys in colors.
Greg Holland pitches the ninth, striking out three and allowing a single, and the Royals win 7-2. The Royals played Royals longball, with four doubles and a home run among their ten hits. The Royals bullpen did their job, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out six in 3 2/3 innings. The Giants pen gave up three runs, and allowed two of Peavy’s runners to score. In a battle of the bullpens tonight, it was the Royals who came out victorious.
There will be three games in San Francisco this weekend as the series is tied at one game apiece.
Despite using few pitches through five innings, Jake Peavy allows a single and a walk to start the sixth inning, and Bruce Bochy removes his starter from the game. The Royals have an excellent chance to take the lead this inning, currently tied with the Giants at two.
Update: Jean Machi comes on to face Billy Butler.
Update: Butler delivers his second RBI single of the night, with an assist from Lorenzo Cain‘s speed. Butler hit the ball so hard, I thought they would hold Cain at third, but I guess Travis Ishikawa has a poor arm. The Royals lead 3-2.
Update: Javier Lopez comes on to face Alex Gordon, who flies out to left.
Update: Hunter Strickland comes in and gives up another long hit. Salvador Perez doubles to left-center, driving in two runs, and the Royals lead 5-2.
Update: Omar Infante takes Strickland deep, Strickland’s fifth home run allowed in 5 1/3 post-season innings this year. Strickland and Perez got into an argument, but no punches were thrown. The Royals lead the Giants 7-2. This post-season is an epic fail for Strickland.
Looking at the replay, I assume Strickland thought signs were stolen by Perez at second.
Update: It may be that Strickland was yelling at himself, and Perez thought it was directed at him.
The Royals get another hit, but a double play ends the inning. The Royals take a big 7-2 lead into the final third of the game.
Yordano Ventura leaves with one out in the sixth inning, as two singles put Giants at first and second. Ned Yost has already gone to his better defensive outfield, and now the power arms in the bullpen will try to keep the ball from being put in play.
Ventura through 87 pitches, 55 for strikes, as the Giants worked counts. Ventura walked none, but struck out just two.
The Giants and Royals are still tied at two.
Update: Kelvin Herrera comes in to face Brandon Belt.
Update: Herrera induces a fly and a grounder to get out of the inning with no damage.
Pablo Sandoval leads off the fourth inning with a double over the head of Lorenzo Cain. Cain played well this post-season in center, but he turned the wrong way on a ball directly over his head that was hit to the wall.
With one out, the Baby Giraffe, Brandon Belt, doubles home Sandoval and the Giants tie the Royals at two.
Update: Belt makes an indecisive running play on a fly out to right, and he is thrown out on base trying to advance to third, then retreat to second. The fake to third drew a poorly handled throw, but the ball did not get away far enough for Belt to do anything but hold second.
In the middle of the fourth inning, the Giants and Royals are tied at two.
In the bottom of the second, Omar Infante hits a one-out double to the alley in left, then Alcides Escobar hits a two-out double down the line in right. The Royals take their first lead of the series, 2-1 over the Giants.
Update: That’s it for the Royals in the second. Unlike his previous starts, Jake Peavy is allowing hits with runners in scoring position tonight.
Gregor Blanco leads off game two with a solo home run off Yordano Ventura. Ventura allowed a .358 slugging percentage during the regular season, but that’s the third home run he allowed in the post season.
Update: Ventura limits the damage by getting the next three batters, but once again Kansas City comes to bat for the first time trailing.
The Giants and Royals meet in game two of the 2014 World Series Wednesday evening with Jake Peavy facing Yordano Ventura. The Giants lead the series 1-0 to none, so a win by the Royals tonight means they only have to take one game in San Francisco to regain home field advantage. It is rare for a team to lose the first two games at home and comeback to win a seven-game series. Peavy owns a 1.86 ERA so far this post season, despite not pitching well. In 9 2/3 innings of work, he allowed just two runs, but walked six batter, striking out just five. Opponents are just 1 for seven against him with runners in scoring position, and are hitting just .182 against him overall. A couple of well timed hits could have raised his ERA much higher. He has not gone deep in games, but the Giants bullpen is well rested.
Ventura’s poor performance in relief makes his post-season numbers look worse than they should be. In his two starts, Ventura recorded a 3.55 ERA with four walks and eight strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings. He’s capable of better K numbers.
Enjoy!
The Giants win game one of the 2014 World Series 7-1, dominating on the mound, in the field, and at the plate. They out-hit the Royals 10-4, they drew six walks to the Royals one, and San Francisco pitchers struck out seven against a team that puts the ball in play. The two most important K’s came with Royals on second and third in the third inning. Madison Bumgarner struck out the 1-2 hitters in the Royals lineup, and cruised the rest of his time in the game for his third win of this post season.
The Giants gain home field advantage with the win.