{"id":288,"date":"2010-11-09T20:54:40","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T01:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=288"},"modified":"2012-11-15T10:46:42","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T15:46:42","slug":"ws-pitcher-review-and-lees-horrendous-decision-in-game-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=288","title":{"rendered":"WS Pitcher Review and Lee’s horrendous Decision in Game 5"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Edgar Renteria buried the Rangers in Game 5. Photo: Stephen Dunn\/Getty Images.<\/p><\/div>\n

(this is a follow-up to a previous posting <\/a>about the Giant’s World Series victory).<\/p>\n

Despite the supposed massive superiority of the American League and its juggernaut payroll teams, a team from the National League (one that barely made the playoffs no less) was crowned WS champion after a rather tidy 4-1 series victory<\/a>.\u00a0 The Giants are certainly not a low-payroll team; they started the season with the league’s 9th highest payroll<\/a>, finished the regular season with the 5th best record and advanced through the playoffs with relative ease (they were 11-4 in the playoffs altogether, losing 2 Sanchez <\/strong>starts, a Lincecum <\/strong>and a Cain <\/strong>start (despite Cain continuing a 22 inning post season no earned-run streak).<\/p>\n

Not that it mattered in the end, but game 5 certainly turned on a questionable pitching strategy decision just before the decisive 3-run homer in the 7th.\u00a0 Cody Ross <\/strong>led off with a single (continuing his amazing post season and certainly buying him FA dollars in the off season).\u00a0 Cliff Lee <\/strong>made an 0-2 mistake to Uribe <\/strong>who smacked a single into center.\u00a0 After a fantastic career-first sacrifice\/drag bunt by Aubrey Huff<\/strong>, Cliff Lee had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out.\u00a0 Lee battled Burrell <\/strong>to 3-2 before striking him out on an outside cutter.\u00a0 This seemed at the time to be the game-changing strikeout that Lee needed but he quickly fell behind the next batter Edgar Renteria <\/strong>2-0, missing badly with two curveballs.\u00a0 Announcer Tim McCarver<\/strong>, often villified as being the master of the obvious, stated very clearly that the right decision upon falling behind 2-0 would be to walk Renteria, load the bases with 2 outs and start afresh with the on-deck hitter Aaron Rowand <\/strong>(a sub in the series and not nearly the threat of Renteria).\u00a0 Before McCarver could finish his thought, Lee grooved a 2-0 fastball, belt high, down the middle of the plate and the aging, soon-to-be-retired Renteria didn’t miss.\u00a0 He crushed a 3-run homer and the game was essentially over.\u00a0 Lincecum pitched 8 complete (giving up a meaningless homer to Nelson Cruz<\/strong>) before oddball closer Brian Wilson <\/strong>blew through the heart of the Rangers lineup (Hamilton<\/strong>, Guerrero <\/strong>and Cruz again) to get the save and finish out the series.<\/p>\n

Why does Lee not walk Renteria there?\u00a0 Why does the pitching coach see the obvious situation, run out to the mound and say, “hey, lets just throw two fastballs a foot outside and start over on Rowand?”\u00a0 This is the reason MLB teams have bench coaches; to help the manager manage the game.\u00a0 It was the latest in a series of curious pitching moves (or non-moves) from the Rangers coaching staff.\u00a0 In reality Lee is a competitor and probably thinks he can get anyone out, at any time, let alone an over-the-hill bounce-around-the league veteran like Renteria.\u00a0 But, no matter what the quality of the hitter mistakes in Major League Baseball quickly turn into gopher balls.<\/p>\n

Overview of all 15 games the Giants played this offseason:<\/p>\n\n\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Series\/Game #<\/td>\nGiants SP<\/td>\nOpponent SP<\/td>\nGame Result<\/td>\nWP<\/td>\nLP<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLDS-1<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nLowe<\/td>\nGiants W 1-0<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nLowe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLDS-2<\/td>\nCain<\/td>\nHansen<\/td>\nBraves W 5-4<\/td>\nFarnsworth<\/td>\nRamirez<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLDS-3<\/td>\nSanchez<\/td>\nHudson<\/td>\nGiants W 3-2<\/td>\nRomo<\/td>\nKimbrel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLDS-4<\/td>\nBumgarner<\/td>\nLowe<\/td>\nGiants W 3-2<\/td>\nBumgarner<\/td>\nLowe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLCS-1<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nHalladay<\/td>\nGiants W 4-3<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nHalladay<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLCS-2<\/td>\nSanchez<\/td>\nOswalt<\/td>\nPhillies 6-1<\/td>\nOswalt<\/td>\nSanchez<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLCS-3<\/td>\nCain<\/td>\nHamels<\/td>\nGiants W 3-0<\/td>\nCain<\/td>\nHamels<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLCS-4<\/td>\nBumgarner<\/td>\nBlanton<\/td>\nGiants W 6-5<\/td>\nWilson<\/td>\nOswalt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLCS-5<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nHalladay<\/td>\nPhillies 4-2<\/td>\nHalladay<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NLCS-6<\/td>\nSanchez<\/td>\nOswalt<\/td>\nGiants W 3-2<\/td>\nLopez<\/td>\nMadson<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WS-1<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nLee<\/td>\nGiants W 11-7<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nLee<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WS-2<\/td>\nCain<\/td>\nWilson<\/td>\nGiants W 9-0<\/td>\nCain<\/td>\nWilson<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WS-3<\/td>\nSanchez<\/td>\nLewis<\/td>\nRangers W 4-2<\/td>\nLewis<\/td>\nSanchez<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WS-4<\/td>\nBumgarner<\/td>\nHunter<\/td>\nGiants W 4-0<\/td>\nBumgarner<\/td>\nHunter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WS-5<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nLee<\/td>\nGiants W 3-1<\/td>\nLincecum<\/td>\nLee<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

SF Starting Pitching Stats in the playoffs (all three series combined)<\/p>\n\n\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Pitcher<\/td>\nStarts<\/td>\nw\/l<\/td>\nTeam w\/L<\/td>\nip<\/td>\nk\/bb<\/td>\nera<\/td>\nwhip<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lincecum<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n4-1<\/td>\n4-1<\/td>\n37<\/td>\n43\/9<\/td>\n2.43<\/td>\n0.92<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cain<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n2-0<\/td>\n2-1<\/td>\n21.33<\/td>\n13\/7<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.94<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sanchez<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n0-1<\/td>\n2-2<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n22\/9<\/td>\n4.05<\/td>\n1.25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bumgarner<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n2-0<\/td>\n3-0<\/td>\n20.66<\/td>\n18\/5<\/td>\n2.12<\/td>\n1.11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The cliche for post season baseball has always been, “good pitching beats good hitting” and we certainly saw this in the 2010 post season.\u00a0 The Giants featured 2 clear “Aces” in Lincecum and Cain, while witnessing a 21-yr old rookie Madison Bumgarner <\/strong>dominate on the sport’s biggest stage.\u00a0 Only #3 starter Sanchez struggled in this post season (if you can call a 4.05 era against the best teams in baseball truly “struggling”).\u00a0\u00a0 The world series featured the league’s best hitting team in Texas, but they were shut down by the Giant’s pitching staff, hitting .190<\/a> for the series.<\/p>\n

Ironically; what the Giants just finished doing to the Rangers is what most of the baseball world thought the Phillies and their vaunted rotation would be doing.\u00a0 Yes; the AL has the Red Sox and Yankees and Rays (by most opinions 3 of the best 5 teams in baseball) but the NL has the rotational depth to shutdown $150M rosters.\u00a0 If the Yankees want to compete next year, look no further than replacing Vazquez <\/strong>with Cliff Lee, turning the ineffective Burnett <\/strong>into a 5th starter (ala what SF did with Barry Zito<\/strong>) and finding themselves a solid #1a Ace behind Sabathia. <\/strong><\/p>\n

How does this tie back to the Nats?\u00a0 The answer is clear; if you can put together a top notch starting rotation, you can go incredibly far.\u00a0 Imagine in 2012 this rotation: a healthy Strasburg<\/strong>, a strong and improving Jordan Zimmerman<\/strong>, an impressive young starter in Sammy Solis<\/strong>, a top notch free agent acquisition along the likes of Greinke<\/strong> or a healthy Brandon Webb<\/strong>, and a take your pick from our stable of #5 starters like Lannan<\/strong>, Detwiler<\/strong> or Maya<\/strong>.\u00a0 These guys can end losing streaks, keep your team in games, throw up quality starts 80% of the time, and turn a league average offense into a post season team.<\/p>\n

That’s the “plan” anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(this is a follow-up to a previous posting about the Giant’s World Series victory). Despite the supposed massive superiority of the American League and its juggernaut payroll teams, a team from the National League (one that barely made the playoffs no less) was crowned WS champion after a rather tidy 4-1 series victory.\u00a0 The Giants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1043,700,1049,209,353,1053,47,246,500,609,341,39,320,43,238,1048,894,317,358,1051,51,19,38,316,1223,1224,883,254],"class_list":["post-288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonnatsbaseball","tag-aaron-rowand","tag-aj-burnett","tag-aubrey-huff","tag-barry-zito","tag-brandon-webb","tag-brian-wilson","tag-cc-sabathia","tag-cliff-lee","tag-cody-ross","tag-edgar-renteria","tag-javier-vazquez","tag-john-lannan","tag-jonathan-sanchez","tag-jordan-zimmermann","tag-josh-hamilton","tag-juan-uribe","tag-madison-bumgarner","tag-matt-cain","tag-nelson-cruz","tag-pat-burrell","tag-ross-detwiler","tag-sammy-solis","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-tim-lincecum","tag-tim-mccarver","tag-vladimir-guerrero","tag-yunesky-maya","tag-zack-greinke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}