Posted on 10/06/2016 5:08:31 PM PDT by Mariner
So Conor Gillaspie in 2016 is Marco Scutaro from 2012 or Travis Ishikawa from 2014 or Cody Ross from 2010, at least for one enormous Wild-Card game and that means it could go on and on again…
And Madison Bumgarner in 2016 is… Madison Bumgarner, the perpetual postseason legend.
That’s a two-paragraph summary of the Giants’ scintillating 3-0 Wild-Card victory over the Mets tonight, and yes, obviously, the patterns and connections from the previous three Giants postseason trips are impossible to ignore.
You know who probably understands this better than anybody? That’d be the Cubs, who now face the Giants in the NLDS, starting with Games 1 and 2 at Wrigley Field on Friday and Saturday.
And just having Bumgarner out there, throwing up 0’s, calms everybody on the Giants roster, and just knowing that he’s on the team sets them up in every postseason series.
I think the Giants weren’t as stressed as another team would be going up against somebody like Noah Syndergaard, because they knew their guy probably would match Syndergaard, and would stay on the mound longer than Syndergaard.
–Key point: I am not in New York and am not covering the Giants in this first week of the postseason and the best reporting and analysis, as always, will come from those who are.
But I covered most of those previous Giants World Series runs–in 2010, 2012 and 2014–and what we all know is that the Giants are very, very difficult to kill off in October, even when they’re matched up against a more talented (on paper) opponent.
The Cubs are more talented. The Cubs are the most talented team in baseball.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.mercurynews.com ...
The Giants need to renegotiate his contract against his will (yes, last contract signing he told them he wanted to be a Giant forever and he'd take whatever they had to spend) for 7 years at at least $25mil per year.
If he quit the game today he would be a first ballot HOF inductee in 5 years. NOBODY has come close to what this guy has done post season in the history of baseball.
His playoff ERA is 0.50 with no losses.
The crazy boys of October are back.
The headline writer evidently had a hard time making up his mind. I vote for "exactly."
23 straight scoreless innings in elimination games.
I’m picking the Giants to beat the Cubbies.
Only pitcher I ever saw in postseason this dominant was Bob Gibson. Three world series (1964, 1967, 1968), three starts each series, Eight straight complete games. No wildcard, division, or league playoff games back then, so a bit difficult to compare. But Bumgarner and Gibson would be my top two postseason pitchers.
Nerves of steel.
He fell asleep on the team bus while on the way to the park last night, Posey had to wake him up to get off.
Bumgarner is great but the Mets beat themselves by displaying an appalling lack of plate discipline, swinging at high fastballs and making 3 outs on 8 pitches in one inning, allowing the guy to pitch a complete game shutout with barely over 100 pitches.
Of course, the Mets closer Familia is rivaled only by Fernando Rodney in his ability to suck when it really counts.
No reason to bring that loser in unless the Mets had a lead.
Syndergaard actually outpitched Bumgarner through seven innings. He didn't give up a hit until the sixth, and struck out ten Giants through seven innings.
The Giants knew Syndergaard was going to come in with the intent of gunning them all down. So the Giants got every pitch out of him they could, every at bat so they could get into the bull pen.
At the same time, Posey and Bumgarner had a complementary game plan...keep Madison in the game as long as possible.
High fast balls, never missing over the middle of the plate...and breaking balls that start in the same tunnel and 25mph slower.
Posey deserves as much credit for that game as Bumgarner.
MadBum is sitting on the same couch with Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax for post-season dominance. That’s a small couch.
This will be a fun NLCS.
Giants can’t hit worth a damn and their bullpen is terrible. Cubs offense is wicked.....they drive up pitch counts like crazy. I think the Cubs will tee off on the Giants. Might not even be close.
Almost game time...Play Ball!
Anyone who doesn't think this is exciting doesn't have two brain cells to rub together.
I don't care who wins the AL, they are going to have a very, very tough time scoring a run on whoever wins the NL.
Ping to game commentary.
Cubbies better win tonight, because their going to have to face Bumgarner/Cueto two more games.
At some point somebody is going to have to score a run or we’ll never get to San Francisco.
Baez crushed it!
Damn wind almost blew it back into play!
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