Hats off to Bumgarner and the Giants. Heartbreaking loss for the Royals, but they should be proud of what they accomplished.
One thing that really pusses me off: the official scorer is a hack for aarding the win to Bumgarner in clear violation of the rules. Jeremy Affeldt entered the game when it was tied, got out of the jam, pitched 2 and 1/3 scoreless innings, and was the pitcher of record when the Giants took the lead that they never would relinquish. Had the starting pitcher (Hudson) departed with a lead prior to completing five innings, and had the lead never been relinquished, then the official scorer has full discretion to award the win to whichever reliever he deemed was most effective. But for the scorer not to award Affeldt with the win, he had to invoke an exception to the general rule that applies solely when the scorer rules that the reliever who normally would have been awarded with the W did not deserve it *because he pitched briefly and ineffectively*. How the heck can the official scorer say with a straight face that Jeremy Affeldt pitched “briefly and ineffectively” when he threw 2 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball and didn’t even allow any inherited runners to score or leave any runners on base? Ludicrous. The scorer should have acted like a professional and given Affeldt the win and Bumgarner the save.
Agreed - complete BS.
Well stated H20. I can’t remember the last time I saw the ‘least or more effective’ deal come into play in MLB. It was common long ago, as I’ll bet you know, for fans and players to have to wait, (on occasion,) a bit following a game’s ending for the OS to make a decision on the Winning pitcher.
Well, that didn’t last long. The official scorer came to his senses and changed the winning pitcher to Affeldt, and awarded the (5-inning) save to Bumgarner. Good for him to admit his mistake.