NLCS: Wake Up the Sleeping Giants
Hopefully when the Giants came back home they brought back with them their bats.
Photo credit to Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images, and photoshop credit to Grant Brisbee/McCovey Chronicles
Through five games with the Cardinals, the Giants are winners of two of five, but are going to need to win both of these last two games if they want their season to continue. The Giants are no stranger to comebacks with their 0-2 deficit being overcome in Cincinnati, and St. Louis is no stranger to being up 3-2 in an NLCS as they were last year against Milwaukee before they doubled them up 12-6 away from home. In my opinion, the Giants will get quality starts (by the definition) out of Vogelsong, and then out of Cain, but from there, they will need the bats to contribute. With two games to know, it’s good to know who’s been supplying the offense, and who needs to be woken from their slumber.
Finding the gaps and getting on base:
#2 hitter Marco Scutaro (NLCS: .429/.429/.524. Postseason: .293/.326/.366)
#3 hitter Pablo Sandoval (NLCS: .286/.318/.571. Postseason: .310/.318/.571)
#1 hitter Angel Pagan (NLCS: .261/.292/.478. Postseason: .209/.255/.419)
Please wake up soon. Like 4:37PM PST today soon:
#5 hitter Hunter Pence (NLCS: .105/.150/.263. Postseason: .154/.175/.231)
#7 hitter Gregor Blanco (NLCS: .133/.316/.267. Postseason: .207/.343/.414)
#4 hitter Buster Posey (NLCS: .167/.286/.167. Postseason: .189/.302/.351)
#6 hitter Brandon Belt (NLCS: .214/.313/.286. Postseason: .148/.258/.185)
Probably doing what’s expected:
#8 hitter Brandon Crawford (NLCS: .235/.278/.294. Postseason: .214/.313/.321)
To have four of your hitters — especially some of your most powerful — being extremely sub-par and still have two wins is a gift from the baseball gods themselves. Marco Scutaro has been a dreamboat while Pablo has been hitting enough to super-avoid the fat narrative, but his jersey did bail on him on that pulled HR in the last game so nevermind. If the top third of the lineup continues to set it up for the middle of the order, they’re going to at least get those rare hits when the top three are on base to support Ryan and Matt, otherwise the Giants are going to be left looking at a box score like Game 3′s 11 left on base and 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
