Last night was the match-up that worried me. If Colby Lewis gets the outside strike over and called, he's kind of ridiculous. Sanchez had a good run in September, and he was magic in the NLDS, but he's a rung below Ramon Ramirez on the list of pitchers I just don't want to watch right now. From Righetti, via Baggs:
And what about discussing Game 7 alternatives?"Damn right, absolutely," Righetti said. "One way or another, I’m sure it’ll come up. You’re not talking about 1 or 2 mph. He’s pitching at 88. But again, there’s the thing. He can do that, honestly."
I hate the mornings following a playoff loss. So much doubt and hand-wringing. If the Giants were to lose tonight, the series would shift to a best-of-three format with the Giants having home field advantage. That wouldn't be the worst consolation prize, but it would come with our stomachs turning into pulsing orbs of bile. If they win, they'll be back to the stress of the last Padres series. Just one more win, and how hard can that be?
In a game of word association, I'd probably come up with Jason Simontacchi for Tommy Hunter. If the abacus-twiddling wing of the New York Times is going to dismiss Cain and Bumgarner as league-average innings eaters with below-average strikeout rates, what would they call a pitcher who only has a K/9 of 5.9...in his minor-league career?
I know what I'd call him: a pitcher. And that very specific subset of baseball players seems to give the Giants fits at times. He scares me like Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.
I don't think I've ever been more nervous for a game. I mean, football in London? That's nuts. What will the Brits think? Are we representing the sport well? Is the international outreach going to be effective? Man. And then to top it off, there's one of those World Series things on tonight. Busy day.