in baseball, you can get individual awards even if you are on a last place team. linecum won his cy youngs when the giants were NOT in contention. arod won his MVP w/ texas when they were last place. barring injuries, linecum, if he continues on his projected curve, will be considered better than halladay. again, 2 cy youngs already at 26? most pitchers don't hit their stride till late 20s into 30s.
I think this is the key. The Giants need to win every game they can - worry about game 6 or 7 when that situation rolls around. Lopez is a lefty-specialist, so his job was just to get the two lefties - you don't want leave him in there for Werth and have him give up a HR when you had your best reliever available.
Choosing who is better between Roy and Timmy is like trying to choose between between Jessica Biel and Scarlett Johansson....you win either way just depends on your preference. Both are fantastic and dominant, I would choose Roy for the next few years but long term Timmy maybe the guy. Either way, I don't think there is a loser in the argument.
Wilson went out because he is DOMINANT strike out pitcher (he struck out all 4 batters he faced). It does not matter if they show Wilson early because even in the regular season it's not like the Phils could hit him. Sergio Romo the Giants best 8th inning reliever (in the reg season) has been booted from pitching in these playoffs because he cost the Giants Game 1 of the NLDS (AND almost GM 2). Javier Lopez is the lefty 8th inning setup pitcher but when you have a chance to win the game you go with your BEST reliever (aka Wilson). That is one of the reasons why they went with Brad Lidge in the 9th to protect the one run game (so they could win it in the bottom of the 9th). If the game is close you can bet both teams will go with their closers more often than not.
i think its more of the philosophy to use your best players regardless in the playoffs. kind of like not having a 5 man rotation for the playoffs, no need for it. in the case of the closer, its not about seeing him, wilson is really good and hes gonna say i'm throwing hard, you hit it. also, with the giants being on the road and a chance to take the first game, makes it even more important to get that first game if you can.
I missed the 1st inn but Roy's command hasn't been there in his last 2 starts. I hope he can make the necessary adjustments.
I wouldn't say that. Again, I missed the 1st inn but his command is nowhere near where it is when he's in vintage form. That 3-0 count against Posey could have ended worse and he had at least 2 pitches nearly get away from him in that 2nd inn alone. Having said that, we've seen Roy work through a lot of games where his command isn't quite there or one of his pitches isn't working for him. In that sense, we could see some vintage Roy. That, or he makes the right in-game adjustments and starts hitting his spots with all his pitches.
Also, when Roy is on top of his game, he's throwing tons of 1st pitch strikes which wasn't at all the case in that last inning. Lots of 1-0 counts so far even against the bottom of the order here.
A little better that inning but again, a couple of 1-0 counts against the weak part of the order. I understand that he's only given up the walk but I still think he's looked a little shaky. Let's see how he does in the next 2 innings.
Sanchez has pwned Werth twice w/ RISP. The Phillies were lucky to get that 1st run in - error and a blown call by the HP ump on Ball 4 to Rollins.
1st pitch strike to the 2-3-4 hitters and a 1-2-3 inning. I still wonder if he wasn't too rested before his last outing... might have affected his command a little.
He's still working on extra rest. I believe hes on 8 days right now, was on 10 for the Reds game. The Reds do have a much more potent offense, so that could play a role.
