Archive for the ‘Cincinnati Reds’ Category

The San Francisco Giants are the first team to clinch a spot in the next round of the playoffs after their 6-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. It’s quite likely that as recently as Tuesday, the Giants would’ve seemed the least likely to advance from their division series. However, baseball.

In what started as a pitching duel between starters Mat Latos of Cincinnati and Matt Cain of San Francisco turned into something of a shootout in the top of the fifth inning when the Giants put up a crooked six on the scoreboard, thanks mainly to a heroic triple from Brandon Crawford and a grand slam from Buster Posey. This was followed by the Reds getting two runs back in the bottom half of the inning with a Brandon Phillips double, and then another run off a solo home run from Ryan Ludwick in the bottom of the sixth. A run in the bottom of the ninth made things stressfully close, but it simply wasn’t enough.

Not wanting to make the same mistake that his counterpart did in leaving his starting pitcher in too long, San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy went to his bullpen and called on effective relief from George Kontos, Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez (somewhat) and Sergio Romo (although, nervously). They, along with stellar defensive efforts from Brandon Crawford and Angel Pagan held off the charge of the Reds with the tying run coming to the plate on four separate occasions after the fifth inning.

It was all a truly excellent game.

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And one game shall rule them all. The San Francisco and Cincinnati Reds need the fifth game of a best-of-five National League Division Series to decide whose season will continue and whose season will end. This is a surprising premise for several reasons:

• The Reds won the first two games of the series on the road;
• Through the majority of the series, the Giants have had little-to-absolutely-zero offense; and
• With their season on the line, San Francisco started left-handed meat-baller Barry Zito against one of the better offenses in the National League.

Despite all of this, we come to today, and the Giants get to start their team’s best pitcher with a well-rested bullpen against a Cincinnati lineup that includes a less than 100% Joey Votto. While Brandon Phillips looked good against Cain in Game One, and he certainly remains a threat, this has to bode well for hopeful Giants fans assembling around television sets this afternoon (and morning for those on the West Coast).

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After the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds in Game Two of their National League Division Series, the celebration was quickly subdued by the prospect of a Game Four in which Barry Zito would pitch against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Neither the opposition nor the location tend to favor the Giants, so even after winning a game in which they collected a total of three hits, the task ahead of the team only got marginally easier. They still had to win two straight games in Cincainnati.

Standing in their way was not only be one of the best lineups in the National League, but also Mike Leake, who joined the Cincinnati Reds after the team removed Johnny Cueto from its NLDS roster, following an injury suffered in the first game of the series. Leake is no Cueto. However, as has been established by the last several seasons of baseball, Zito isn’t exactly the most reliable of starting pitchers.

In other words, if you took the over for Wednesday’s game, you were in luck. If you were a San Francisco Giants fan who took the over, you were in even more luck.

The National League Division Series between the Giants and Reds is all tied up at two, after San Francisco beat Cincinnati 8-2 on the backs of an outstanding relief appearance from Tim Lincecum and a 2 for 3 (with two walks) day from center fielder Angel Pagan.

Here’s why the Giants and Reds will be going the distance in their NLDS tomorrow afternoon:

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