c/o baseballprospectus.com

Giants/Marlins

 

It's a beautiful game because it surprises you.

 

While acknowledging the surface similarities between 1997 and 2003, I didn't think the Marlins could win this series. The Giants looked to have the superior team, with more than enough pitching to shut down a heavily right-handed Marlins' offense. Moreover, I don't think anyone gave this series much chance of being interesting. Certainly the networks didn't; the four games were all played in the afternoon, and none came close to over-the-air television. This was the fourth of four series, by acclamation.

 

Thirteen innings into it, everything was normal. The Giants won the first game and took a 4-1 lead in the second. At that point, I figure you could have gotten any odds you wanted on the Marlins' winning the series; it wasn't going to happen.

 

From that point forward, the Giants morphed into a semi-pro team, and not a particularly good one. They played sloppy, thoughtless, losing baseball, while the Marlins turned into the 2002 Angels, complete with automatic first-to-thirds on singles and a bullpen that wouldn't quit.

 

It's a beautiful game because of the images it burns into your brain.

 

If the shot of Ugueth Urbina tackling Ivan Rodriguez as Rodriguez holds up a baseball in triumph isn't on the front page of Sports Illustrated and every other sports publication next week, just fire all the editors. That was one of the single greatest pictures I've ever seen in sports, an amazing display of joy.

 

Just remembering that whole sequence gives me chills as I sit here and write about it 12 hours later...the arc of the baseball looping into left field, as J.T. Snow tries to find second gear...Jeff Conine getting rid of the ball quickly...Rich Aurilia desperately waving Snow to the inside of home plate...the collision...Rodriguez tumbling back, gripping the baseball...Snow dropping his head to the plate in disappointment...Urbina diving onto his teammate...

 

I'm not sure Rodriguez still isn't holding that baseball. He may show up with it in his hand on Tuesday. Heck, he may show up with it at his Hall of Fame induction.

 

It's a beautiful game because kids can be heroes.

 

Dontrelle Willis, 21 years old and with the smile of someone half his age, went three-for-three with a triple in his first three postseason at-bats. He pitched a little, too, and while his final line was poor, for five innings he was unhittable.

 

Miguel Cabrera is even younger than Willis at 20 years and six months, and he looks for all the world like he's going to a World Series: the one in Wiliamsport. He had four hits yesterday.

 

The two Marlins started the season in Double-A. Six months later, they were two of the biggest reasons why a franchise given up for dead is now the biggest story in baseball.

 

The biggest reason, however, is Ivan Rodriguez. It's possible that no player has ever put his stamp on a playoff series in as many ways as Rodriguez did this week. When you think about dominant postseason performances, you think of Rickey Henderson in 1989, or Orel Hershiser in 1988, but even those players didn't do everything the way Pudge did over the past few days.

 

Forget what he did with the bat, even though that's a pretty hard thing to do. Think about him gunning down Marquis Grissom at third base, as if Grissom hadn't gotten the memo about who was catching. Think about him picking off Snow at first base, rescuing the Fish from a Giants' rally and giving his team back some momentum after a disastrous inning. Think about him knocking a baseball from the hands of Yorvit Torrealba to score the winning run.

 

Think about him standing in front of home plate, protecting his team's win, saying, "You're not taking this one back." That was history, folks; playoff series don't end with an out at the plate. In that scene, the runner always scores.

 

Not yesterday. Not on Pudge's watch.

 

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this series was the way in which two veteran managers with no postseason experience handled their first trip. Jack McKeon adapted to his environment, from his refusal to allow Barry Bonds opportunities to beat him to his use of only his best pitchers. Three members of McKeon's rotation came out of the bullpen in this series, and while Carl Pavano was actually designated a reliever, McKeon's use of Willis and Brad Penny showed that he "gets it" in the postseason: the rules are different, and all that matters is winning today's game.

 

Felipe Alou did very little right, and his persistent failures were a contributing factor to the Giants' collapse. The decision to start Sidney Ponson and Kirk Rueter in that order, rather than the reverse, turned out to be minor concern when weighed against his decision to carry 12 pitchers for five games. Not only do you not need that many arms in a Division Series, you don't want that many. You don't want the 11th- and 12th- best pitchers in your organization anywhere near a mound in these games.

 

Alou carried two very long relievers with no tactical value in Jim Brower and Dustin Hermanson. He carried two situational lefties in Scott Eyre and Jason Christiansen, even though the Marlins have no one worth using a specialist against.

 

What Alou didn't carry was Eric Young, a decision that should have come back to haunt him in Game Three, when he was out of position players with the pitcher leading off the 12th inning. Jose Cruz Jr. and Tim Worrell made that a non-issue in the 11th. Yesterday, however, not having someone to pinch-run for Snow was a devastating blow. Snow had an inadequate secondary lead and got a terrible jump on a ball he should have scored on. Watch the replay: When that ball goes over his head, he should be more than halfway to third base; he's not.

 

Even when Alou did something right, he didn't follow through. Alou changed his mind Saturday morning and elected to start Jerome Williams rather than Jason Schmidt. This was a great call; Williams has been very good this year, and the Giants needed two wins, not one. Holding back Schmidt for Game Five maximized their chances of winning both games.

 

Alou panicked, however, when Williams struggled in the third, removing him for Brower. The Giants were down just 3-1 at the time and Williams hadn't been pitching particularly poorly. I would argue that if you?re going to use Jim Brower and Dustin Hermanson in an elimination game, you don't completely understand what wins in the postseason.

 

My bigger problem with this move is that it creates an impossible situation later in the game. With just five bench players, Alou can't start needing to hit for his pitchers early. By the end of the ninth, he again had no hitters left on his bench, which would have become a major problem had the Giants reached the 10th. Again, however, his players spared him that conundrum.

 

Alou got outmanaged by McKeon, and his charges were outplayed. The Giants made egregious mistakes on the bases, and Rodriguez took advantage. They played poor defense, particularly in Game Three, that allowed the Marlins extra outs and runs. They blew countless opportunities to score, and they hit no home runs in the four games.

 

One of the certainties going into the series what that if Bonds was even a little off, the Giants might have trouble scoring. Bonds drew eight walks, but was 2-for-9 with a double in his other plate appearances. As a team, the Giants hit .235/.338/.301, and even that line is deceptively good. Bonds walked a lot, and Edgardo Alfonzo hit a bunch of singles and doubles. Everyone else was awful, and that killed the Giants.

 

Sometimes, it's a beautiful game because it makes you happy about being wrong.

It says about the same thing as every other article written since the SF series. Every newspaper in the whole country is basically saying the same thing.

nice article, truly an unforgettable play it was at the plate....hopefully the braves win tonight.

i'll never forget that

game 4 dvd is on ebay for 22$

It says about the same thing as every other article written since the SF series. Every newspaper in the whole country is basically saying the same thing.

 

Let us not forget our local paper, the agenda-driven Miami Herald, gleefully picked the Giants in four. There must be alot of frustrated hacks in the newsroom today.

i'll never forget that

game 4 dvd is on ebay for 22$

I want a DVD of games 3 and 4.

 

How unforgetable.

I got on ebay for 12 bucks earlier in the season a VHS of dontrelle pitching at Encinal High.

 

It's pretty cool although it's a 2hr video and he's only in it for about 45 min.