Overdue Thoughts on Game 7
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| Mickey Lolich never gets enough love |
Madinson Bumgarner’s World
Series performance was legendary. Five innings of 2-hit relief
work on two days rest after
a complete game shutout? Amazing. I may not see a performance like
that in the WS again in my life. His overall WS performance is Top 10
ALL time for a pitcher, maybe even top 5, but to call it the
Best WS Pitching performance is absurd. I’m not going to list them
all, but was Bumgarner’s WS better than Christy Mathewson
(3 complete game shutouts in 6 days in
1905), or Bob Gibson
(3 complete games & a home run in game 7 in
1967), or
Mickey Lolich (3 complete games, including a game 7 victory over
Gibson in 1968, you know the year he had a 1.12 ERA), I
don’t think so. Yes,
I know the game has changed (lower mound, not competing against the
best players, etc), but it doesn’t distract from what those
pitchers of the past were able to do. If throwing three complete
games in the WS was easy, why wasn’t every dead ball pitcher doing
it?
I’m
not saying that he had it easy against the Royals, but in Game 7
they were definitely assisting him. Down only 3-2, the majority of
the Royals hitters were chasing pitches up out of the strike zone
with the intent to tie the game with one swing. Why were
they doing this? This goes against everything
they did to get to Game 7, play small ball and run run run.
They hit the fewest home runs in the majors this season, but were
looking for the long ball against a pitcher who’s been lights out
against them all series? Not very smart.
It
was the 7th inning that really sunk the Royals. Had
they made Bumgarner work in that inning he may not have come out for
the 8th, but again they made it too easy for
him that inning, he was up 0-2 on every hitter and only needed 9
pitches to get out of the inning. This is the definition of
cruising.
The decision NOT to send Alex Gordon in the 9th. This is a no-brainer. The answer is NO.
I
know people are arguing that IF Gordon had hoofed it right out of the
box he would have made it, maybe if it was Lorenzo Cain
orJarrod Dyson there would have been no hesitation on
trying to score. Heck Dyson would have already been back in the
dugout had he hit that ball. As it was, Gordon was at third when the
ball got back to the cut off man, Brandon Crawford. Even if he had
busted it out of the box, Crawford has a cannon for an arm and Gordon
would have been out by 15-20 feet. Another thing people talk
about is that you have to force the defense make that play. I can see
that in a rec league softball game, but not in the 9th inning
of the deciding World Series game.
Had Gordon been thrown out at home to end Game 7, the similarities with the Ruth blunder would have been eerie:Also home plate is the last place you want to make the last out of any game, especially a Game 7. Had he tried and failed, he would have been remember in the same sentence as Babe Ruth for WS base running snafus. [Ruth was thrown out stealing second to end the 1926 World Series, not a game in the WS, but a Game 7.]
Both games were at home (for the losing team) and the game would have ended with a runner getting thrown out. (A walk-off thrown-out? Is that a thing?)
The opposing pitcher on the mound was a starter who was already 2-0 in the series and had entered the game in relief. In Ruth’s case is was HOFer Grover Cleveland Alexander. He came in the game in the 7th and threw 2.1 innings for the save, the day AFTER he had thrown a complete game. Legend has it that Alexander liked to ‘celebrate’ after he pitched in games and was sleeping off a hangover in the bullpen when he was called into the game.
The final score was 3-2.
Yes, the fault would have rightfully fallen on the third base coach IF he had sent Gordon, but no one would remember his name. They would remember the person who was thrown out, not the man that sent him. I don’t think that coach would have had a job next season, but that’s besides the point.
Finally, if
the Royals had tied the game, the Giants had to like their chances if
it went into extra innings. Ned Yost had already used his three best
relievers (most likely Greg Holland would have come back out for the
10th) and the next best option in his pen was Brandon
Finnegan, a rookie. The only starter he would have confidence in
would be Yordano Ventura, but he had just pitched the day before, so
he was the ONLY one who wasn’t going to be available for this game.
The Giants on the other hand still had their best two relievers. Sergio Romo and closer Santiago Casilla available, plus Tim Lincecum and Yusmeiro Petit as well. Advantage Giants.
If
that ball gets by Joe Panik, it’s 1st and 3rd with
no outs and Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt doesn’t make it out of
the 3rd inning and Bruce Bochy would have to dig into
his bullpen earlier than he would have liked. Would he have
brought Bumgarner in then? Doubt it, Bochy would be scrambling to
bring in a reliever, someone who could get ready in a hurry. As
a starter, not sure if Madison could have been ready in time to stop
the bleeding.
If Panik just stops it and doesn’t make the perfect flip to Crawford, or needs to transfer to his barehand, Cain beats the ball to second and Hosmer is safe as well.
Worst case, its two on, none out for Billy Butler and the odds for an inning where the Royals put a crooked number on the scoreboard go up. Instead Butler was up there is no one on and two outs.
If the Royals had any kind of lead after 4 innings, Yost does what he ended up doing anyway. Kelvin Herrera for two innings, Wade Davis for two, Holland for one. This time it ends with a parade two days later.
That double play allowed Bochy to stretch Affeldt out and allow Bumgarner to start the 5th inning, which was most likely the plan anyway. I doubt 5 innings were in the plan, it was probably closer to 2, maybe 3, when the game began and then hand it over to the bullpen.
I’m
not saying that he had it easy against the Royals, but in Game 7
they were definitely assisting him. Down only 3-2, the majority of
the Royals hitters were chasing pitches up out of the strike zone
with the intent to tie the game with one swing. Why were
they doing this? This goes against everything
they did to get to Game 7, play small ball and run run run.
They hit the fewest home runs in the majors this season, but were
looking for the long ball against a pitcher who’s been lights out
against them all series? Not very smart.
Also, why weren’t they taking more pitches?
This would have been the most effective way to get Madison out of
the game. A couple of 20+ pitch innings and he doesn’t come out
for the 8th inning. The Royals were all up
there hacking at the first pitch looking to be the hero instead of
trying to tire out a pitcher coming back on 2 days rest (something
he’s never done in the majors as a starter).
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The Royals aggressiveness cost them. It
allowed Bumgarner (and Posey) to cruise and fall into a groove. He
was getting stronger as his innings stacked up, you could see it.
The innings were ‘easy’ for him, he never went to a
three ball count on any one hitter and didn’t throw more than 7
pitches to any one batter. It looked like Posey and him were
playing catch.
It
was the 7th inning that really sunk the Royals. Had
they made Bumgarner work in that inning he may not have come out for
the 8th, but again they made it too easy for
him that inning, he was up 0-2 on every hitter and only needed 9
pitches to get out of the inning. This is the definition of
cruising.
I
believe Bumgarner was also in their heads. They
knew how hard it was to string together hits against him, so they
were going with the all-or-nothing mentality.
.
|
The last time I saw a pitcher mindfuck an
entire team like this was Mike Scott against the 86 Mets in the
NLCS. Had there been a Game 7 in that series I don’t think the
Mets would have made it to the World Series that year. In the two
games Scott pitched v the Mets in the 86 NLCS he was 2-0 0.50 ERA, 2
complete games 1 shutout, 8 hits allowed, 1 walk & 19
strikeouts.
The decision NOT to send Alex Gordon in the 9th. This is a no-brainer. The answer is NO.
I
know people are arguing that IF Gordon had hoofed it right out of the
box he would have made it, maybe if it was Lorenzo Cain
orJarrod Dyson there would have been no hesitation on
trying to score. Heck Dyson would have already been back in the
dugout had he hit that ball. As it was, Gordon was at third when the
ball got back to the cut off man, Brandon Crawford. Even if he had
busted it out of the box, Crawford has a cannon for an arm and Gordon
would have been out by 15-20 feet. Another thing people talk
about is that you have to force the defense make that play. I can see
that in a rec league softball game, but not in the 9th inning
of the deciding World Series game.Had Gordon been thrown out at home to end Game 7, the similarities with the Ruth blunder would have been eerie:Also home plate is the last place you want to make the last out of any game, especially a Game 7. Had he tried and failed, he would have been remember in the same sentence as Babe Ruth for WS base running snafus. [Ruth was thrown out stealing second to end the 1926 World Series, not a game in the WS, but a Game 7.]
Both games were at home (for the losing team) and the game would have ended with a runner getting thrown out. (A walk-off thrown-out? Is that a thing?)
The opposing pitcher on the mound was a starter who was already 2-0 in the series and had entered the game in relief. In Ruth’s case is was HOFer Grover Cleveland Alexander. He came in the game in the 7th and threw 2.1 innings for the save, the day AFTER he had thrown a complete game. Legend has it that Alexander liked to ‘celebrate’ after he pitched in games and was sleeping off a hangover in the bullpen when he was called into the game.
The final score was 3-2.
Yes, the fault would have rightfully fallen on the third base coach IF he had sent Gordon, but no one would remember his name. They would remember the person who was thrown out, not the man that sent him. I don’t think that coach would have had a job next season, but that’s besides the point.
The Giants on the other hand still had their best two relievers. Sergio Romo and closer Santiago Casilla available, plus Tim Lincecum and Yusmeiro Petit as well. Advantage Giants.
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The
Double Play that Turned the Game Around
|
If Panik just stops it and doesn’t make the perfect flip to Crawford, or needs to transfer to his barehand, Cain beats the ball to second and Hosmer is safe as well.
Worst case, its two on, none out for Billy Butler and the odds for an inning where the Royals put a crooked number on the scoreboard go up. Instead Butler was up there is no one on and two outs.
If the Royals had any kind of lead after 4 innings, Yost does what he ended up doing anyway. Kelvin Herrera for two innings, Wade Davis for two, Holland for one. This time it ends with a parade two days later.
That double play allowed Bochy to stretch Affeldt out and allow Bumgarner to start the 5th inning, which was most likely the plan anyway. I doubt 5 innings were in the plan, it was probably closer to 2, maybe 3, when the game began and then hand it over to the bullpen.
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