DETROIT — Like the early Halloween revelers who filtered from the bars around Comerica Park and into the stands Saturday night, the San Francisco Giants have undergone a dramatic autumn costume change, from wide-eyed underdogs to ruthless front-runners.
Earlier this month, they fell to a two-games-to-none deficit before winning the National League division series and a three-games-to-one deficit before emerging from the championship series. But now, after navigating expertly to a 2-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers, they carry an authoritative three-games-to-none advantage in the World Series.
"I think with where we were at in the N.L.D.S. and obviously the C.S., it just gave us the momentum and the drive that we needed to know that we can do anything if our backs are against the wall," said Tim Lincecum, who has made a personal transformation, from Cy Young-winning starter to bullpen stopper. "When we're in the driver's seat, and we're up three-nothing, we're looking to make a statement there, and that's what we're looking for tomorrow."
After teetering ingloriously through one elimination game after another, the Giants have now won six straight games in the postseason and have not trailed a single inning during one of those games. They will seek to clinch their second championship in three years on Sunday, sending Matt Cain to face Max Sherzer of the Tigers at Comerica Park.
The Tigers have experienced a stark turnaround of their own. They never trailed during any game of their American League Championship Series sweep over the Yankees, but have since fallen limp at the plate. A defeat at home this week would echo their debacle during the 2006 World Series, when they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in just five games.
"You don't really have to tell them anything," Tigers Manager Jim Leyland said of his players. "They know. They can count. We're down three games to zero."
The Tigers were stymied this time by Ryan Vogelsong, the Giants' right-handed starter, who represented a potential respite for the Tigers batters, even as he arrived with uniform success this October. The Tigers struggled against a pair of left-handed starters during the first two games of the Series, managing just 10 hits and 3 runs through those games. During the regular season, the Tigers batted .275 against right-handers and .253 against left-handers.
But Vogelsong did not oblige. He pitched five and two-thirds innings, giving up five hits and four walks, while striking out three. Again and again, he worked out of troublesome spots, inflating the hopes of the crowd before puncturing them once more.
"You know, it's my first World Series," said Vogelsong, who improved to 3-0 this postseason. "I've been waiting for this since I was 5 years old, and I wasn't going to go down without a fight."
The Tigers' recent disappearing act was encapsulated Saturday by Miguel Cabrera, who before the game received a humongous gold crown to commemorate his statistical triple crown during the regular season. He was also honored with the Hank Aaron award, given yearly to the players considered the "most outstanding offensive performers" in each league. He stumbled over his words and admitted to being nervous after Aaron himself showered him with praise during the ceremony.
But Cabrera seemed in his element in the fifth, strolling to the plate with his chest puffed, the low, ominous bass line of the Kanye West song "Mercy" thumping through the public address system. The bases were loaded, there were two outs, and the announced crowd of 42,262 bubbled with expectancy. But after slicing a ball tantalizingly on the wrong side of the right-field foul line, Cabrera could only float a ball into the air above shortstop, deflating the crowd again.
"We're not going to talk about one at-bat taking away from how great Miguel Cabrera is," Leyland said.
Leyland said the loss was a collective problem, and it was. Prince Fielder — who had a 1.017 on-base-plus-slugging percentage against right-handers, compared to an .808 O.P.S. against left-handers, during the regular season — grounded into a double play with two on and one out in the first inning. And Quintin Berry rolled into a double play with the same circumstances in the third.
"I thought we had Ryan on the ropes a couple of times tonight," Leyland said. "We couldn't get the killer hit, the killer blow."
Instead, it was the Giants who delivered the early, killer blow. Leading off the top of the second, Hunter Pence drew only his second walk of the postseason, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Gregor Blanco crushed a hanging slider against the faraway wall in right-center field for triple. The Giants added a run when Brandon Crawford, batting ninth, plopped a single into center.
Those two runs were the only sign of rust for Anibal Sanchez, who last started for the Tigers on Oct. 14. He pitched seven innings, gave up six hits and one walk to go with eight strikeouts.
But his efforts went unrewarded with the sudden incompetence of the Tigers' hitters and the stinginess of the Giants' bullpen. Lincecum relieved Vogelsong and delivered two and a third hitless innings, striking out three. Lincecum has struck out 8 of the 16 batters he has faced this series.
"He's going to be in the rotation next year," Bochy said of Lincecum, "but it's nice to have that weapon helping us in the bullpen now."
Sergio Romo, the third player to hold the closer role for the Giants this season, pitched a perfect ninth to earn the save, and the Giants were then strutting off the field, fully in control, unrecognizable from earlier this month.
. .
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 28, 2012
An earlier version of this article misidentified the pitching matchup for Game 4. The scheduled matchup for that game is the San Francisco Giants' Matt Cain and the Detroit Tigers' Max Scherzer.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Game 3: Giants 2, Tigers 0: World Series: Giants Take 3-0 Lead Over Tigers
Dengan url
https://dunialuasekali.blogspot.com/2012/10/game-3-giants-2-tigers-0-world-series.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Game 3: Giants 2, Tigers 0: World Series: Giants Take 3-0 Lead Over Tigers
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Game 3: Giants 2, Tigers 0: World Series: Giants Take 3-0 Lead Over Tigers
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar