The San Francisco Giants eliminate the Washington Nationals in four games

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Washington Nationals in four games to advance to the NLCS again.  They won the World Series in 2010 and 2012 so if that streak continues they will win it again in 2014.  They are in the NLCS to face the only other team that has represented the NL in the World Series since 2009.  It is amazing how dominant the Giants and Cardinals have been.  The Giants continued to rely on their pitching especially ace Madison Bumgarner.  They were close games, the Giants never have the best hitting but they have enough of it to win. 

There was a marathon 18 inning game that the Giants were able to win.  The Giants have a winning pedigree and have been in this position so much that they don't get rattled and they know how to win.  The Giants have a winning pedigree.  They have to continue to rely on their pitching in the next series.  Bumgarner, Peavy, Tim Hudson and their bullpen.  They do have Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey to carry the offense.  Brandon Belt has provided some good offensive moments and Brandon Crawford had some postseason success as well.  It should be a very good series with the Cardinals as they have a similar winning pedigree and anything can happen in October.  It is pretty much two evenly matched teams and it should be a lot of fun in the NLDS.   

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games to advance to NLCS

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games to advance to their fourth straight NLCS.  It is the first time a team has appeared in four straight LCS since the 1998-2001 New York Yankees.  The St. Louis Cardinals don't seem to have the best team but they are always there.  The Cardinals have a great business model though.  They have a lot of young guys that are inexpensive that they work in mainly through their own system.  The Cardinals of course sign some free agents like Matt Holliday but he even comparably isn't that bad of a contract. 

The Cardinals won this series though mainly for one reason.  I give them credit and lots of it for never panicking, for coming back in the late innings.  Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers though blew two games.  He is the best pitcher in baseball, he had an incredible year but he had a 6-1 lead in game one of the series and blew that in a horrendous seventh inning and then in game four he had a 2-0 lead and was cruising along and blew that in the seventh inning.  The worst part is that he gave up the game winning three run homer to Matt Adams.  He hasn't given up a homerun to a left handed batter in two years and never off of his curveball.  Adams also wasn't hitting that great this season but he had his big moment in game four. 

The Dodgers also had no one to trust out of the bullpen other than their closer.  Jansen though the closer only got into one game.  It was a contrast of styles as the Dodgers are a free spending big time organization and then there are the Cardinals who don't spend that much money but keep on turning up in the NLCS.  It is amazing that the biggest spenders this year didn't make it out of the first round if they made it to the postseason at all.  The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox both missed the playoffs.  The Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Dodgers were all bounced in the first round.  What does this teach us?  The Cardinals are a team to be modeled after and the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles who will meet in the ALCS are more teams like the Cardinals then the biggest spending teams.  It will be interesting going forward if more and more teams act like the Cardinals.  It will be really interesting to see if the big spenders act more like them or if they keep doing what they know which is to spend more money and hope for a different outcome next season.  The Cardinals will meet up with the San Francisco Giants who have won the World Series twice in the last four years.  This would be their third time in five years if they end up winning it all this year. 

The San Francisco Giants take care of business in Pittsburgh with a blowout win

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.  The game took place at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the final score was 8-0.  The Giants are no strangers to the postseason as they won it all in 2010 and 2012.  If they continue the streak they would win it all again this season.  Madison Bumgarner showed that he is one of the best young pitchers and Edinson Volquez was not that good.  Brandon Crawford hit a grand slam to lead the Giants offense. 

Bumgarner pitched a complete game shutout.  He gave up four hits and a walk with ten strikeouts. 

Volquez took the loss pitching five innings and giving up five hits and five runs.  He walked three and struck out three.  Justin Wilson pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout, Jared Hughes pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout and Bobby LaFromboise pitched 2/3 of an inning.  John Holdzkom pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout and Mark Melancon pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. 

Gregor Blanco drew a walk, Panik had three hits and Buster Posey had two hits and an RBI.  Pablo Sandoval had two hits and drew a walk, Hunter Pence had a hit and drew a walk and Brandon Belt had two hits, three RBI and drew two walks.  Crawford had a hit and four RBI, Ishikawa drew a walk and Crawford hit a homerun.  The Giants were 4-11 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.  Crawford and Arias each committed an error. 

Josh Harrison had two hits, Andrew McCutchen drew a walk and Russell Martin had a hit.  Starling Marte had a hit and the Pirates were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. 

In the fourth Crawford hit a grand slam to give the Giants a 4-0 lead.  In the sixth Belt hit an RBI single to increase the lead to 5-0.  In the seventh Belt hit a two run single and it was 7-0 and then the Giants added another run in the eighth on a Posey RBI single to make it 8-0 and that was the final score.  The Giants will move on to play the Washington Nationals in the NLDS.   

The Kansas City Royals win a wild Wild Card game

The Kansas City Royals defeated the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.  The game took place at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri and the final score was 9-8 in 12 innings.  It was the American League wild card game with the winner advancing to take on the Anaheim Angels in the American League Division Series.  James Shields started for the Royals against Jon Lester for the Athletics and at the end neither was a factor.  The offenses played well with the Athletics using power and the Royals using their speed. 

Shields pitched five innings giving up five hits and four runs with two walks and six strikeouts.  Yordano Ventura pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs, Kelvin Herrera pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with three strikeouts and Wade Davis pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.  Greg Holland pitched an inning with three walks and a strikeout, Brandon Finnegan pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a walk and three strikeouts and Jason Frasor pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one. 

Lester pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and six runs with two walks and five strikeouts.  Luke Gregerson pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts, Sean Doolittle pitched two innings giving up two hits and a run and he blew the save.  Dan Otero took the loss pitching 1 1/3 innings giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout, Fernando Abad pitched to one batter and retired him and Jason Hammel gave up a hit without retiring a batter. 

Alcides Escobar had two hits, Nori Aoki had an RBI and Lorenzo Cain had two hits and two RBI.  Eric Hosmer had three hits, an RBI and drew two walks, Billy Butler had two hits and two RBI and Colon had a hit and an RBI.  Alex Gordon drew a walk, Salvador Perez had a hit and an RBI and Omar Infante had two hits.  Mike Moustakas had a hit, Josh Willingham had a hit and Cain hit a double.  Hosmer hit a triple and the Royals were 7-15 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.  Aoki, Escobar, Cain, Gore, Gordon, Dyson and Colon each had a stolen base.  Hosmer was caught stealing and Perez had a passed ball. 

Coco Crisp had two hits and an RBI, Sam Fuld had two hits and drew a walk and Josh Donaldson had two hits and drew a walk.  Brandon Moss had two hits, five RBI and drew a walk, Josh Reddick had two hits and drew two walks and Stephen Vogt drew a walk.  Alberto Callaspo had a hit and an RBI, Derek Norris had a hit and an RBI and Eric Sogard had a hit.  Moss hit two homeruns and the Athletics were 4-9 with runners in scoring position and left ten men on base. 

Moss hit a two run homerun in the first to give the Athletics a 2-0 lead.  Butler hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first to make it a 2-1 game.  In the third Cain hit an RBI double and Hosmer hit an RBI single giving the Royals a 3-2 lead.  In the sixth Moss hit a three run homerun, Norris hit an RBI single, Crisp hit an RBI single to give the Athletics a 7-3 lead.  In the eighth Cain hit an RBI single, Butler hit an RBI single and a wild pitch scored another run to make it 7-6.  In the ninth Aoki hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at seven.  In the 12th Callaspo hit an RBI single to give the A's a 8-7 lead and then Colon hit an RBI single in the 12th to tie the game and Perez hit an RBI walk-off single to give the Royals a 9-8 win.  The Royals advance to the ALDS to play the Anaheim Angels in Anaheim beginning on Thursday night. 

 

The New York Mets close out their season with a win

The New York Mets defeated the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon.  The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York and the final score was 8-3.  Bartolo Colon started for the Mets and pitched pretty well and the bullpen was good.  Matt den Dekker, Lucas Duda, Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada each had two hits. 

Colon won his 15th game of the season pitching six innings and giving up eight hits and three runs.  He walked two and struck out four.  Carlos Torres pitched a perfect inning, Jeurys Familia pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Jennry Mejia pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. 

Nick Tropeano pitched five innings giving up six hits and four runs.  He walked three and struck out one and lost his third game of the season.  Michael Foltynewicz pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up three hits and three runs and Jorge De Leon pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run. 

den Dekker had two hits and an RBI, Bobby Abreu had a hit and drew a walk and Daniel Murphy had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk.  Duda had two hits and four RBI, Flores had two hits and Tejada had two hits and two RBI.  Centeno drew a walk, den Dekker, Duda, Murphy and Flores each hit a double.  Duda and Tejada each hit a homerun and the Mets were 4-8 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.  den Dekker had a stolen base and Tejada was caught stealing. 

Robbie Grossman had a hit, Jose Altuve had two hits and an RBI and Jon Singleton had a hit.  Jake Marisnick had a hit, Max Stassi had two hits and two RBI and Gregorio Petit had a hit.  Jonathan Villar drew a walk, Tropeano drew a walk and Singleton, Stassi, Altuve, Petit and Marisnick each hit a double.  The Astros were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. 

Murphy hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.  Stassi hit an RBI double in the second to tie the game at one.  In the third den Dekker hit an RBI single and in the fifth Altuve hit an RBI single.  The two teams were tied at 2-2.  In the fifth Duda hit a two run double and it was 4-2 Mets.  Stassi hit an RBI single in the sixth to make it a 4-3 game.  Duda hit a two run homerun and Tejada hit a two run homerun in the eighth and it was 8-3 Mets.  8-3 was the final score and the season ended for both teams.  The Mets won two out of three in the series and ended the season at 79-83.  The Astros finished 70-92.