At left: Giants ace Tim Lincecum delivers a pitch during his complete game shutout against the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.Tim Lincecum threw a complete game shutout in leading the San Francisco Giants to a 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves tonight in San Francisco. Lincecum was dealing all night, allowing only two hits and one walk in going the distance. Lincecum also set a franchise playoff record with 14 strikeouts in his first ever postseason start. "The Franchise" was outstanding and seemed in control all night. I was happy to see that manager Bruce Bochy let him go all nine innings. The Giants lead the best-of-five series 1 game to none.
Man it was fun to watch tonight. It had been a long time since my favorite team was in the playoffs and to see the festive atmosphere at AT&T Park was just awesome. The fans love it and as a fan, so do I. The Giants got their only run in the 4th inning and benefited from a couple of breaks that went their way. Buster Posey appeared to be out in stealing second base in the inning but was ruled safe on a close play (Posey commented after the game that it's a good thing they don't use instant replay yet). After an intentional walk to Pablo Sandoval, Cody Ross hit a two out single to drive in Posey from second. The ball got under the glove of Braves third baseman Omar Infante and went into left field which allowed for the run to score. The Giants took advantage of the breaks and were able to win the game.
In games earlier in the day, the Texas Rangers hammered the Tampa Bay Rays 6-0 at Tropicana Field and the New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins 5-2. I only caught part of each of those games, but I caught the turning point of the Rangers-Rays game. In the fifth inning and the Rangers holding a 2-0 lead, Texas 3B Michael Young was at the plate against Rays pitcher Chad Qualls with two runners on and one out. On a 2-2 pitch, Young attempted to check his swing, but even in live action appeared to clearly go around on the swing. However, on the appeal to the first base umpire it was ruled that Young did not swing which made the count 3-2. The Rays bench was incensed immediately and became even more so when on the next pitch, Young crushed a 3 run home run to make the score 5-0. Rays manager Joe Maddon went out to argue and was ejected in short order. I don't blame Maddon as that missed call changed the entire complexion of the game. Yes I know the Rangers were already ahead, but there is a huge difference between a 2-0 and a 5-0 game. Who knows, there is a good chance the Rangers would have won anyway as the Rays have had a lot of trouble scoring, but there definitely was a lot more pressure on Tampa Bay after that.
There was a similar situation in the Twins-Yankees game as Lance Berkman was not rung up on a pitch that could have been called strike three and subsequently hit an RBI double. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected for arguing that one. The Yankees just disgust me on so many levels, but they do play some good baseball. I don't want to dwell too much more on them right now.
So looking back, all 3 games had tough calls. I would say the team with the biggest gripe was the Rays, with the Twins and Braves having lesser gripes. The calls against the Twins and Braves were at least reasonably close and could be construed as questionable (the umpire appeared to have a tough angle on Posey's steal of second, although replays clearly showed he was out) even if it appears that the calls were missed. The call against the Rays, though, in my book was blatantly missed and when you add to the fact that a 3 run home run was hit on the next pitch, well that's a tough one to swallow. But I'm sure the Rangers, Yankees and Giants are all taking them. I know I'm not putting an asterisk by the Giants win tonight. The fact is umpires are human and miss calls for better or worse and teams sometimes have to overcome them. However, some calls are so bad that there isn't an excuse for missing them and I feel the non-call on Young's checked swing was one of them. But the Rays can't dwell too much on that as they have to focus on their next game on Saturday. It's in the past now and the Rays certainly didn't take advantage of opportunities they had to win. Part of the game is playing the cards you are dealt even if it doesn't seem fair.
Here's the schedule for the playoffs tomorrow:
Game 2 -- Cincinnati Reds (Arroyo) at Philadelphia Phillies (Oswalt), 4 p.m. MT (TBS, Phillies lead series 1-0)
Game 2 -- Atlanta Braves (Hanson) at San Francisco Giants (Cain), 7:30 p.m. MT (TBS, Giants lead series 1-0)
One more thought on the action today: Don't get me wrong as I still believe the Rangers, Yankees and Giants all played well enough to win and their victories should not be viewed as tainted. I'm excited for Game 2 from AT&T Park tomorrow night. It should be another electric atmosphere and be a lot of fun to watch. Go Giants!
