The Giants won with Defensive Indifference

You didn’t think it would be an easy win for the Giants did you?
OF COURSE the Giants had to blow the 9th inning, come back in the bottom of the 9th and have an extra inning marathon.

But the game also shows why “Defensive Indifference” is such a crock and should be eliminated.

I talked about it in a Sully Baseball video (linked below). In that video I came up with a hypothetical situation where “defensive indifference” would come back to haunt a team.

No need for hypothetical situations. It happened today at AT&T Park.

In the bottom of the 12th, Nate Schierholtz went from first to third on an error by Albert Pujols. He represented the winning run with two outs in the 12th. With Brian Tallet concentrating on the hitter Freddy Sanchez, Andres Torres went from first to second. There was no throw.

Clearly there shouldn’t have been a throw because a muffed throw would have ended the game. Torres was not credited with a stolen base. It was called “Defensive Indifference.”

But as Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper pointed out, Torres taking second base was NOT inconsequential. It eliminated the inning ending, game extending force at second base. And it made Tony LaRussa overmanage (SURPRISE!) They intentionally walked Freddy Sanchez to face the red hot Aaron Rowand.

Now the bases were loaded. A walk or a hit batsman would win the game for the Giants. That would NOT have been the scenario had Torres not taken second.

Rowand hit a deep fly off of the wall to drive home Schierholtz to win the game for the Giants.

So the Cardinals should NOT have been indifferent.

So Torres running from first to second that helped set up the game winning hit isn’t counted as a stolen base.

But the intentional walk that brought Rowand up still counts as a walk.

It makes no sense.

Never did.

Never will.

Torres should have been credited with a stolen base.

Period. End of sentence.

Enjoy the video.

Welcome to Aaron Rowand's house

I had all of the Sully Baseball posts written in my head last night.

A Giants win, a Rockies loss, the Cardinals winning the division on a night they didn't even play, another Brad Penny win...

How inconvenient facts can be!

Jeff Baker's 2 out 2 strike 2 run homer was just what the Giants DIDN'T need...

So I kept watching the game and lo and behold the Giants rallied.

2 on... 1 out... and up stepped my father's favorite whipping boy, Aaron Rowand.

2 strikes on him and I kept thinking "Aaron buddy... if you want my father to ever respect you... don't strike out!"

Not only DID he strike out, he swung at a pitch that was in the dirt.

I don't think the ball was thrown back to the pitcher and my e mail box had an angry Anti Rowand missive from my dad.

Just pack your bags now Aaron...

My dad might be coming after you with a pitchfork.

2 games... an insurmountable lead

I thought this season couldn't get more predictable for the Giants... and lo and behold we have THIS game.

Sanchez strikes out 9 batters in 6 innings, letting up 1 run.
The Giants pitching lets up 1 run over 11 innings... and of course that is one run too many.

How can a team like the Giants be expected to score TWO runs over 11 innings?

There are too many rallies to kill.

And of course nobody killed them like my dad's favorite whipping boy, Aaron Rowand.

The Giants have had their share of rally killing double plays... but leave it Rowand to raise the bar and hit into a TRIPLE play!

When I came back to my parents house this afternoon after lunch, I saw the game was still on. It was 1-1 in the 12th inning. But my dad wasn't watching the game.

He was outside playing with his grandkids, my kids.

I saw Prince Fielder hit a walk off... but I couldn't tell me dad. He was having too much fun.

Later we discussed the series. The Giants won the series even with today's loss and trail Colorado by only 2 games.

"They are done. The season is over" my dad declared.

There is NO WAY the Giants can make up 2 games in 4 weeks!

Man, could you imagine the Giants record if their hitting ever rose above the level of "Jaw Dropping Incompetence!"?

Come on Giants! A fan who witnessed the 1951 miracle at Coogan's Bluff thinks it is impossible to make up 1 game every other week!

Prove him wrong!

The Joy of Poppy

Poppy is the name my kids gave to my dad... and right now I have the unique perspective of watching the Giants clawing for a post season spot next to Poppy.

I'm up in the Bay Area for Labor Day and if the Giants are playing, rest assured Poppy is watching them.

The Giants have played a bunch of tense 1 run games recently... and they've all been superbly pitched games. Ergo the Giants are being true to form and scoring about 3 runs a week.

And with each pitch, Poppy watches the game with a pessimism that would make Eeyore say "CHEER UP!"

The other day against Milwaukee, Aaron Rowand came to the plate with two outs and a runner on second.

"Oh man here's Roward. This is an automatic out. The Brewers should just walk off the field now!" Poppy would say.

Then Rowand laced a game tying single which made Poppy's jaw literally drop.

Next at bat for Roward, Poppy would be grinding his teeth.

"Here's Roward... he's terrible."

I'd remind Poppy that he tied the game with a single, but Poppy literally shooed me away. And when Rowand grounded out weakly to end the inning, Poppy pointed to the screen as if to say "See!"

And of course when the 9th inning comes around, Poppy leaves. Oh, he will want to have pitch by pitch updates, but he can't be in the same room with the Giants with only a one run lead.

They have won the past two games and are lingering 1 game back of Colorado... and Poppy's mood fluctuates between euphoria and utter despair (sometimes in the same at bat.)

One thing you can say about Poppy is that he is the antidote to the Northeast bias in baseball. If it doesn't happen in the NL West, it doesn't even pass through his radar.

We were talking the other night about other teams in baseball... and whenever the American League would come up, he'd just wave his hand. "I don't know anyone in the American League."

I pressed him and went down team by team.

Sure he knew the big players (Jeter, A-Rod, Ichiro, Vlad, Halladay, Big Papi.)

And he also knew Joe Mauer of the Twins who he thinks should be in the argument for best hitter in the game (and it would be hard to argue with that.)

And he kind of knew the identities of some other players.

The Red Sox have an MVP named Melloya (aka Dustin Pedroia.)

They also got a good player for Manny named Moss (Jason Bay.)

And the Red Sox have that guy Becker (I am assuming Josh Beckett.)

The Rays have that third baseman (I am assuming Evan Longoria.)

They also have the guy stealing all of the bases. (Carl Crawford.)

And the Royals have that guy who is going to win the Cy Young. (Pretty safe to say that meant Zack Grienkie.)

But Miguel Cabrera, who is batting .339 with 28 homers and 84 RBIs for the first place Tigers elicited a "Who?" from Poppy.

Curtis Granderson, the Tigers spark plug, got a "Never heard of him."

Six time All Star and former batting champion Michael Young got a shrug.

And Poppy did not believe that someone named Justin Morneau actually won the American League MVP. "Stop!" he said, as if this were all an elaborate prank.

Yet he rattled off a bunch of players from the Rockies and Diamondbacks and Padres... and of course knows the Giants and Dodgers left and right.

All baseball that is played 

a) East of Denver

and

b) with a Designated Hitter

simply doesn't register.

And Poppy's reasoning for not knowing the American League just shows how entrenched he is in West Coast baseball.

"Well if the A's were better, maybe more people will know about the American League."

That's right. If the team with the worst stadium, TV deal and radio contract I have ever seen got their act together, the AL would be in the nation's spotlight.

Folks, Poppy has passion! Poppy loves his Giants and his NL West ball.

So come on, Giants! Start scoring some runs! Keep winning these games!

Poppy will be there until the end (not that he'll be WATCHING the end, but you know what I mean!)

Maybe my dad is right... Tim Lincecum might be the Cy Young Winner

This August, my dad and I were talking about what a great year Tim Lincecum was having.

My dad said "He's the Cy Young winner."
I countered "He'll get some votes, but Webb is winning it."

My dad just responded "He should win it" and continued eating his cereal.

Now it must be noted that my dad is the single most optimistic Giants fan you will ever meet.

Last year with the Giants dead in the water, he still mapped out ways the Giants could win the west.

And you will never meet a bigger defender of Barry Bonds.
OK, maybe Greg Anderson was a bigger defender of Bonds.
But for all the people who defended Bonds and DIDN'T go to jail, my dad is right up there.

So I took dad's take on Tim Lincecum as a bit of Giants fan bias.
Sure Lincecum was 14-3 with a 2.48 ERA for the Giants and he was having a great year.

But at that time Webb was 19-4 with a 2.74 ERA. He was not only going to be the first 20 game winner in the NL since Dontrelle Willis won 22 in 2005... but looked to be on pace to win 25 or more, which hasn't been done in the NL since Steve Carlton in 1972.

Plus he was the ace of the first place Diamondbacks (they would pull ahead to a 4 1/2 game lead in late August) and seemed poised to win his second Cy Young in three years.

Clearly Webb had it locked up.

Well since then, Webb lost two critical games to the Dodgers.
And they weren't pitchers duels.
On the last day of August with a chance to put LA away, the ace of the staff got crushed. The D'Backs were down 4 before they even came to bat and Webb couldn't get out of the 4th.

A week later, Webb got crushed by the Dodgers again. This time it cost the Diamondbacks the lead in the NL West... and by the looks of it, it looks like they fell from first place for good.

Ace pitchers don't take you OUT of the pennant race.

All the while Lincecum has brought his record up to 17-3.
He has the lowest ERA among NL Starters.
He has struck out the most batters.
He has the lowest batting average against among NL starters.
He has a better Walks and Hits per innings pitched ratio than Webb.
He has pitched the 4th most innings of any NL pitcher.

The only major category that Webb has him beat is wins... but Linecum has had no offense behind him. When Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand lead your team with 13 homers, you know you have moved on from the Bonds era.

And besides Brian Wilson (who has been up and down) the bullpen, consisting of the Jack Taschners, Tyler Walkers and Alex Hinshaws of the world don't exactly strike fear in the hearts of mortal men.

He has 5 no decisions this year where he pitched 7 innings or more. Throw 2 of those in his win collumn and he'd be talked about as a 20 game winner.

So maybe my dad was right.
Maybe Lincecum is being penalized for playing on a bad team while Webb, who pitched the D'Backs out of this race, has thrown 2 good games since the LA beating and will probably claim the prize.

But they should listen to my dad.

Also a note on my dad, who is as good a baseball fan as you will meet... he loves to call home runs before they are hit.

The pitcher goes into his wind up and he'll say "It's gone."
Most of the time the pitch is taken, fouled off, popped up... anything but a homer.

But every once in a while my dad will say "it's gone" and the batter hits it out.
My dad will turn to me and say "I called it."

And you can't deny that he did...