Gamethread: 2012 NLCS Game 5

Due to the coronavirus outbreak suspending the 2020 MLB season, we’re rewatching the three San Francisco Giants postseason runs, game-by-game, on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights at 6 p.m. PT, with a gamethread for each.

The San Francisco Giants once again find themselves in a precarious position. After dropping Game 4 of the 2012 NLCS by a score of 8-3, the Giants now have their backs against the wall, trailing the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1.

If there’s any consolation, it’s that they’ve done it before.

In the NLDS, the Giants fell behind the Cincinnati Reds 2-0 in the best of five series. They needed to win three straight games to stay alive. And they did.

Now they need to do it again. They need to rattle off three straight wins against the Cardinals — one in St. Louis, and then two in San Francisco.

It starts with Game 5, and for this must-win contest, the Giants are sending out Barry Zito. The left-hander finished the year with a 15-8 record, a 4.15 ERA, a 4.49 FIP, and 114 strikeouts in 184.1 innings.

The Cardinals are sending out right-hander Lance Lynn, who finished the season with an 18-7 record, a 3.78 ERA, a 3.49 FIP, 180 strikeouts in 176 innings, and a spot on the NL All-Star team.

We’re starting this rewatch at the same time as all of the rewatches: 6 p.m. PT. The video isn’t embeddable, but you can find it by clicking here, then you can watch or cast from your browser. Or you can find it on YouTube by searching “Giants 2012 NLCS Game 4” and clicking the first link.

There’s a little more than 9 minutes of pregame coverage, so if you want to skip that, you can come back at 6:09 p.m. and use this link.

Here’s Mike Matheny’s lineup, as the Cardinals look to make it back-to-back years winning the NL pennant:

1. Jon Jay — CF
2. Carlos Beltran — RF
3. Matt Holliday — LF
4. Allen Craig — 1B
5. Yadier Molina — C
6. David Freese — 3B
7. Daniel Descalso — 2B
8. Pete Kozma — SS
9. Lance Lynn — P

And Bruce Bochy’s lineup, as they try and live to see another game:

1. Angel Pagan — CF
2. Marco Scutaro — 2B
3. Pablo Sandoval — 3B
4. Buster Posey — C
5. Hunter Pence — RF
6. Brandon Belt — 1B
7. Gregor Blanco — LF
8. Brandon Crawford — SS
9. Barry Zito — P