A Giant Sweep

Since the epic rain storm in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the NLCS, momentum was on the Giants’ side. They hadn’t lost. They hadn’t even trailed in a game. They won Game 1 of the 2012 World Series by a score of 8-3, and Games 2 and 3 were both 2-0 victories. Zito, Bumgarner, and Vogelsong had all done their job by getting the W. Now, as the Giants were on the brink of their second World Championship in three years, the ball was given to their horse, Matt Cain.

2012 was Matt Cain’s year. Not only would he throw a perfect game in June, but the Giants won 9 straight Cain starts in the first half and by the All Star Break he was 11-6 with a 2.62 ERA and was chosen to be the NL starter in Kansas City. He got the win in that game too as the NL jumped all over Verlander for a 5 run 1st. More than enough for Cain who would pitch 2 innings giving up 1 hit and striking out Jose Bautista. Also, you may recall that Pablo Sandoval had a huge 3 run triple in that first inning. Cain would then start every clinching game in the postseason (Reds G5, Cards G7) for the Giants and was now starting a possible clincher in Detroit. Let us unravel Game 4 of the 2012 World Series.

The Most Important Inning – Defensively

Let’s fast forward all the way to the bottom of the 8th. Matt Cain’s night is done and Jeremy Affeldt is in to face the thump: Garcia, Cabrera, Fielder, and Young. The game is tied at 3 and if the Tigers score here, they’ll only be 3 outs away from sending this series to Game 5. Garcia came in to pinch hit for the righty lefty match up and had a hell of an at bat to start the inning. Despite a frigid night in Detroit, Affeldt had his stuff working but ultimately walked Garcia on 8 pitches. That put the go ahead run on 1st and brought the first Triple Crown winner since 1967 to the plate: Miguel Cabrera. Scary.

He digs in the box as Tigers fans start to get loud and wave their white surrender towels. Affeldt leans in, necklace hanging down off his neck and gets Posey’s sign. First pitch is a big old curveball at 78 mph taken for a strike. The fans now start to chant “MVP! MVP! MVP!” Affeldt’s next pitch is a fastball fouled away, strike two. That shuts the fans up quickly as their big guy is down 0-2. Affeldt is working quickly, almost paying no attention to Garcia on first. The third pitch to Cabrera is a slider on the inside swung on and missed and he’s gone on three pitches! Cabrera was way out in front of that one and looked way overmatched.

With one away, here’s the big lefty Prince Fielder who takes the first pitch for a ball up and in. Fielder was shut down entirely by the Giants in this series as he started this at bat 1-13 with 4 strike outs and no RBI. Affeldt’s second pitch to him is a 92 mph fastball on the inside corner for a strike, 1-1. The next pitch is a big curveball that makes Prince flinch and it easily drops in the zone for strike 2. Affeldt’s really got it working now. Lifetime, Prince has 2 homers off Affeldt but October is a different beast. The 1-2 pitch to Fielder is swung on and missed! Affeldt just reared back and blew 92 right by him and there’s 2 away! The Tigers’ 2 biggest guys looked completely lost up there. But Affeldt was not out of the woods yet as Delmon Young, who homered already in this game, steps in the box.

Affeldt starts him with a ball, then Young fouls away the second pitch and it’s 1-1 with Garcia still on first. Fighting the cold and trying to help their team, Tigers’ fans try to get loud here and get some momentum going. Affeldt misses with a ball and it’s 2-1. The fourth pitch is fouled away and Young breaks his bat. After grabbing new lumber he digs back in the box. A lot of time goes by here. Now Affeldt checks on Garcia at first and is quickly booed by Tiger fans. Young never leaves the box, anxious to find a gap here. Affeldt, back on the mound, deals. The 2-2 to Young is a slider that’s swung on and missed strike three! Three strike outs with three swings and misses after the leadoff walk. Huge! Jeremy Affeldt is clutch and he gets the Giants into the 9th with the game still tied. That was important because if he gave up a run right there, the Giants were NOT going to touch Phil Coke as he struck out the side in the 9th. But Affeldt was brilliant in the 8th.

The Most Important Inning – Offensively

Game 4 of the 2012 World Series was the first extra inning World Series game the Giants had played since Game 1 in 1954, when they beat Cleveland 5-2 in 10 innings. Now here they were in Detroit in the 10th inning (it was all different guys) of a 3-3 ballgame. Jeremy Affeldt and Santiago Casilla just combined to get the Giants through the 9th and push this game into extras. Forever Giant and DH Ryan Theriot lead off this inning against Phil Coke who just struck out 3 Giants on 14 pitches in the top of the 9th. Theriot was 0-3 in this game so far and was looking to get things going. Coke’s first pitch was way outside ball one. The second pitch is a fastball on the outside and Theriot swings, hitting the ball off the end of the bat for a little flare into shallow right field that falls for a leadoff single! Huge for Theriot to poke a hole in Coke’s armor. Now we’ll see how Coke does out of the stretch for the first time. Here’s Crawford who’s 1-3 in this game and it’s lefty vs. lefty. Coke comes set and holds it, holds it, holds it, and finally steps off, perhaps trying to see if Craw would tip his bat and giveaway the possible bunt. But Craw never flinched and he steps out of the box to reset. Theriot takes a lead as Coke comes set. He quickly pitches to Crawford this time and Craw gets the bunt down and it’s a beauty! Coke fields it about halfway between the mound and first base and flips it to Fielder without even looking at 2nd. So Craw gets the job done on the first pitch and keeps the momentum alive. He only had 2 sacrifices in the regular season and here gets it done in the World Series. Way to be, Craw!

In comes Angel Pagan with thoughts of driving in the winning run of the World Series. He’s 0-4 and due for a big hit. He checks his swing on the first pitch but goes too far and it’s called a strike. A lot of time between pitches now with the go ahead run on 2nd that could end the Tigers’ season. The 0-1 is a breaking ball in the dirt, nice play by catcher Gerald Laird to scoop it and keep Theriot where he was. Cokes third pitch is chopped foul off the glove of Cabrera at 3rd, 1-2. Coke gets a new ball and paces around the mound rubbing it up. As he comes set for the next pitch, Pagan calls time and steps out, making Coke think about it a little longer. Fans start to get loud again. The next pitch is swung at and missed by Pagan and his backswing hits Laird in the helmet. Laird’s a tough guy and would be ok, but Pagan apologizes and heads back to the dugout. 2 outs now, World Series winning run still standing on 2nd base and here comes Marco Scutaro who’s probably still wet from NLCS Game 7.

Scutaro is 1-3 tonight and 3-15 in the series as the Tigers, or the weather in Detroit, have cooled him off from the Cardinals series. Scutaro looks at a fastball right down the middle for strike one, taking all the way. Coke is at 22 pitches now since he came in in the 9th. Next pitch is 93 way outside, ball one. You don’t have to pitch to him here but if you walk him, you’ve got to face Sandoval who is red hot. Theriot leads off 2nd and the 1-1 is low for ball two. The fourth pitch is just a tad high for ball 3 and Coke doesn’t like it and he snaps the ball back from Laird, wiping his forehead. Scutaro’s in a good count now and can look for a fastball. Coke comes set. The 3-1 is a fastball at 93 and Marco puts his trademark flat swing on it and lines one into center field! Every Giants fan watching the flight of this ball is now shouting “Drop! Drop! Drop!” as Austin Jackson comes charging in on it and it does drop! He plays it on a hop and comes up firing to home but the throw is wide and late, Theriot scores, and the Giants have a 4-3 lead in the 10th! Theriot slides feet first and starts celebrating with clenched fists, about 10 feet away from Coke who was backing up home on the play.

Theriot disappears into a mob of teammates slapping his helmet and high fiving him. A moment Theriot, Scutaro, and Phil Coke will never forget. Scutaro ends up taking 2nd base on the throw home and was now in scoring position himself. However, Sandoval grounded out on the first pitch, ending the inning. Can’t that guy ever just hit a home run? Sheesh. But the damage was done. Now the Giants just needed to get 3 outs.

The Bottom Of The 10th

Sergio Romo was solid in the postseason, appearing 7 times and throwing 10.2 innings giving up only 1 run while striking out 9. Now he was on the mound to close it all out but he would have to face the top of the Tigers’ order: Jackson, Kelly, and Miggy. Romo’s first pitch is a slider (duh) strike one. Two sliders later it’s 1-2 on Jackson. Breaking balls all day to these righties. The 1-2 is swung a missed badly by Jackson, a perfect 1-2 slider and there’s one away.

The very dangerous Don Kelly now comes to the plate, pinch hitting for Avisail Garcia. The first at bat in the postseason for him and it’s against Romo in the 10th, trying to save their season! A tough spot for a guy who only played 75 games and batted .186 in 2012. He swings and misses at the first pitch and it’s 0-1. Kelly will actually see five pitches from Romo but will swing and miss 3 times for the second strikeout of the inning. One more out to go for Romo but now he has to deal with the most feared hitter in all of baseball with just a 1 run lead.

If you’re a Tigers fan, THIS is the guy you want at the plate. But Romo doesn’t have to give him anything good to hit here and you have a struggling Prince Fielder on deck. But you want Romo to pitch to righties because of his no-dot slider. So here we go. Cabrera digs in, there will be no intentional walk. Romo’s first pitch is a slider right there at the knees, strike one. Going right after him. Cabrera gauges it and digs back in, bat waving back and forth as Romo gets the sign from Buster. Romo deals and it’s a slider way outside, ball 1. Two pitches, two sliders. Cabrera backs out, tapping his cleats with his bat and adjusting his batting gloves thinking that those balls don’t look like sliders. On deck, Prince Fielder’s hoping for a chance to hit again this season. Romo looks in and shakes Buster twice before throwing a third slider that bends just off the plate and Cabrera swings and misses, trying to put that one in the right field seats. Romo slaps his glove, pumped up by that pitch. Cabrera, tapping his cleats again, looks bewildered. No idea what he’s going to get from Romo. Sergio tucks her jersey in the front of his pants and blows into his fist. The fourth pitch is another slider but it dips way below the zone and Cabrera takes for ball 2. Four pitches, four sliders. Miggy’s got a good look at them by now. The next pitch is fouled sharply away towards the Giants dugout. Another slider. This one didn’t bend as much and Romo might have gotten away with one. It’s 2-2. Romo walks up the mound, adjusting his hat, taking his time. Fox cameras show frightened Tiger fans, hands clasped together, praying for Cabrera to keep this game and their season alive. Romo, hat down low, shakes Buster again before coming set, glove high up, away from his body.

Buster sets up on the outside corner. Romo exhales and deals. The sixth pitch of the at bat was unlike the previous five, as this one was straight, and it was straight down the middle. Buster frames it just above the knees as Cabrera checks his swing, expecting the slider. Home plate umpire Brian O’Nora punches him out as Buster jumps out of the crouch, Romo shouting skyward does his little Romo dance as Posey rushes the mound.

Brandon Belt is the next one to join them and then it’s a sea of black jackets dancing on the mound as the dugout empties. Series MVP Sandoval was the first out of the dugout to meet Arias behind the mound who took over for him at 3rd, a common occurrence in the late innings. Brandon Belt threw his glove up so high that it might still be up there above Detroit. The Giants had won their second World Series in three years and this party was just getting started.

A Great At Bat

Marco Scutaro’s at bat in the 10th inning is easily tonight’s winner. We have already discussed this at bat so you know it’s significance. He got himself in a great hitter’s count by being patient and didn’t miss his pitch. A true veteran AB. It was really important for the Giants to win that game because Game 5 would have been against Verlander in Detroit where he only lost twice all year. It could have been a much different series but Scutaro’s RBI in the 10th prevented any kind of comeback the Tigers would try to cookup.

Odd Stats

The 2012 Tigers were only shutout in the regular season twice and only once at home. The Giants shut them out twice in consecutive games in the World Series and held them to 6 runs over the 4 games. Giants pitching shut them out for 20 consecutive innings.

Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown this year for the first time since 1967. However, he batted .231 in the WS going 3-13 with only 1 HR. On the other hand, Series MVP Pablo Sandoval batted .500 (8-16) with 3 HR.

Buster Posey’s HR in this game was only his second HR in a WS game. His first was 2010 Game 4.

Phil Coke only blew 2 saves in the regular season. Then he did it in Game 4 of the World Series.

This was the 57th extra inning World Series game ever. Ever!

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