Giants vs. Cruds

Hey Cardinals you are no longer playing the LA Dodgers!

Welcome to the real world.

Eff.  The.  Cardinals.

Yeah really. What actually is a "Cardinal" anyway??

Cards do it again in late innings with homers in the 7th, 8th and 9th.  How do they do it so consistently? 

Giants win with Bochy doing the unfathomable. Bunting.

 

You gotta love it

....and a LIGHTNING BOLT from Travis Ishikawa sends the lame ass Cardinals HOME for the season! Bye ST. Louis!!!! In 5!!

 

The post season of the ex-Brewer continues!!!!

Boy, no sh*t...

The last time a National League pennant was won with a walk off homer? Yup – 1951. Bobby Thomson.

 

 

I am still stunned.

 

No real power hitters, patchwork rotation. Whatever it is, I'll take it. 

 

I still relish the fact the Maxi-Pads couldn't wait to dump Bochy after they lost to the Yankers in the WS. SF gladly picked him up to repair the debacle that was the Bonds/Dusty Baker era and it paid off .

 

Win or lose the WS, I believe this post season seals Bochy's status as one of the greatest managers in the last 30 years.

 

Great story for Ish...started his career as a Giant, likely will end it as a Giant. Hope it's with another WS ring.

Great to see the Cards go down in a ball of flames with a walk off HR. Nighty night St. Lou.

Hey Boris,
Do I see a middle finger in the lightning bolt?
WooHoo, haha, I'm so happy I could spit in Potters eye ....

Hey Cardinals and the Cardinals organization ...
FUUUUUUU !!!!!!!!!!!!

Bochy managed circles around Matt Williams in the NLDS and now Matheny in the NLCS.

 

Awesome job by the Giants!

2, one game WC winners, now playing for the title.

Speaking of Bochy....I never question that guys moves, however, when he brought in Casilla for a third day in a row, I didn't like that move with the game tied. Hindsight tells us I was correct & Bochy was wrong. Probably the only time that will occur.....ever.

Bochy manages great in the playoffs. One of the best I've ever seen.

Which team is the team of destiny? I think it's going to be a great series. Hope it goes 7

Casilla may not have had it yesterday, but Bochy gets a ton of credit for actually going out there and pulling his closer for a better match-up with Affeldt. How many other managers do that? I know what RR would have done in that situation...leave K-Rod to pitch b/c "he's my 9th inning guy."

 

I think Matheny made a mistake for pinch hitting with Tavares there...he was basically giving Bochy an opportunity to get Casilla out of the game, and Casilla wasn't looking good. I think St. Louis was better off with a righty vs. a wild Casilla than a lefty vs. a lights-out Affeldt.

 

The bottom of the 9th inning was yet another example of awful managing. Great work saving Rosenthal Matheny. This doctrine that you can't pitch your closer on the road in a tie game is so dumb. Also, what value are left hand relievers if you don't use them in high leverage situations against left hand starters.

 

The Ishikawa HR was awesome, but let's not forget that Morse HR an inning earlier. Wow...he roped that off a damn hard pitcher in Neshek.

Oh I question Bochy all the time...but the guy does know how to make chicken salad out of chicken $hit. Sabean has spent his GM career either swinging and missing on big names (Sidney Ponson, AJ Pierzynski, Carlos Beltran, Barry Zito who had ONE good year out of 5 in 2012) or cobbling together scrap heap guys...Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, Aubty Huff, Tim Hudson, Jake Peavy, etc. And Bochy finds a way to make it work.

 

Bochy would drive many Packer fans nuts...he is pretty much cut from the same cloth as MM and TT...there is zero panic in the guy.

 

KC will be tough...if the Giants hope to win, they need to have a lead before the 7th inning or they can kiss it goodbye...that pen is filthy. That said, the Giants were said to have little shot vs the 2010 Rangers and 2012 Tigers who had the top staffs in baseball..and the Giants won 4-1 and 4-0.

I had my doubts the Giants would get past the Nats...once they did, I knew they had a shot at the WS...but I am not as optimistic about beating the Royals. But I dare anyone to write them off. Sabean said it best...these guys are cockroaches...they are hard to kill.

Way to big of a break between games! MLB had the momentum but I bet the ratings (that would have been bad) will be worse.

 

By the way, what an interesting series. A team that has been noted to be behind the curve on all that Moneyball/Analytics stuff (Giants) versus a run/bunt/defense 'small ball' team. New era already?