SF Giants oust 96-win Nationals, head to NLCS

[yuiyoshida]

By Henry Schulman

The Giants were the 10th seed in this tournament, the little guys who backed their way in. Have some fun, get your participation medal, move out of the way and give the big boys room to fight.

What do you know? The Giant are going to the final four – again – after beating the Nationals 3-2 in Game 4 to win their Division Series three games to one and oust the team that entered the playoffs with a league-best 96 wins.

The Giants broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh on a bases-loaded wild pitch by reliever Aaron Barrett, which scored Joe Panik. Panik’s one-out single started the rally. Buster Posey also singled, and Hunter Pence walked to load the bases.

The Giants won their seventh consecutive postseason series advanced to their third NL Championship Series in five years. They will play the Cardinals in a rematch of their last NLCS in 2012.

http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2014/10/07/sf-giants-oust-96-win-nationals-head-to-nlcs/

[TDale313]

1. They're just a different team in October.

Love my Giants! And yes, it was an upset, but this club also won the World Series in 2010 and 2012, so perhaps not as surprising as it might seem.

[yuiyoshida]

2. hummmm baby!

[StevieM]

3. I will repeat here what I wrote in the other thread:

And....they screwed up again!! If you are pitching Zimmerman in Game 5, and Strasburg is available, then why not put him in for the 7th?

The Cardinals just won. They beat Kershaw and the Dodgers. And you can't really fault Mattingly for sticking with Kershaw in the 7th, given how well he was pitching. The Cards just went out and beat him. Twice.

But the Nationals beat themselves, at least in part. The Giants are a good team but the Nationals could have won this thing with a couple of common sense decisions.

So I hear Ron Gardenhire is available?

Seriously though....congratulations to your Giants on advancing to the NLCS. They are obviously a team that knows how to win in the post season.

My dad grew up as a die-hard Brooklyn Dodgers fan who hated the NY Giants. It's kind of cool that the rivalry extended to California.

[StevieM]

4. And another thing (continuing with my thoughts in the post just above this one)

When Harper knocked in Desmond in the 5th inning he landed on 2nd base with no outs. Why didn't they have Ramos bunt him over to third with one out? He would have scored on Cabrera's ground out to short on the next play.

[yuiyoshida]

5. I think the game ended the way it should have...

It worked out just fine. *GO GIANTS!*

[n2doc]

6. Giants Rule, Dodgers Drool!

Money can't buy you love, or wins.

Hoping for that even year magic to continue…..