Game Two

By Staff

Some thoughts concerning the Angel's 11-10 victory over the Giants:

• Placing the blame for the Giants' loss is fairly clear - when your starter gives up seven runs and can't make it out of the second inning, you have a good candidate for the goat. But the Angels' starter was nearly as bad, and in a one-run game any mistake is vital. With that in mind, the Angels played the game of baseball like a well-oiled machine, and the Giants had a few leaks in the dike. For example, Benito Santiago got suckered into throwing down to second in the first inning, allowing for the first steal of home in a generation's worth of World Series play. Barry Bonds got doubled off of first in the third, slamming the door on a possible rally. Kenny Loften allowed a ball to slip out of his glove, and Troy Glaus took an extra base and then scored an unearned run on a sac fly a batter later. Santiago's was a judgement call in the heat of the action, as was Bonds' (no doubt if Eckstein somehow mishandles the ball, Barry would be accused of slacking if he isn't barreling into second), and Lofton's misplay was a result of thinking he had the ball when he didn't, but all of these add up. Interesting that it is the proven vets, the guys who have seen countless games in the trenches, who made these mistakes.
  
  
• For all the hitting we saw, the game MVP rightly belongs to Francisco Rodriguez. He struck out four of the first six men he faced, and all of those strikeouts were on three pitches. Bonds' at bat was one pitch, which he scorched to Spiezio. An extended duel between K-Rod and Bonds will be something to watch. I wonder what we'll be saying about K-Rod three years from now? Will he be one of the dominant pitchers in the game as his skills seem to promise? Or will he flame out, leaving only memories of the 2002 Series? Perhaps the development of this fee-nom is a good indicator of the management skills of Mike Scioscia.
  
  
• And yet if the Giants had won the game a case for MVP could have been made for Zerbe. He stopped the bleeding that was gushing when Ortiz was in the game, and gave up only a single earned run while the Giants posted their comeback.
  
  
• Barry's table setters still aren't getting the job done. Lofton had a single on the way to a 1-5 night, Rich Aurilla doubled while placing his 1-5, and Jeff Kent was the best of the bunch with a homer, and another 1-5. In this Series the Giants first three men are 3-26. This makes facing Bonds that much easier. Usually he comes up with nobody on base, so if he hits a homer it is a solo shot (his two dingers have plated two runs), and if he is walked it is only a runner on first, not a complication in a rally.
  
  
• Well, sometimes walking Barry is a complication in a rally, like in the fifth inning. Thanks to Aurilla and Kent, Bonds strode to the plate with a man on second and one out. At this point the score was 7-5. Baseball wisdom states that you never walk the tieing run, because the next man up can take the lead with a homer. But the new wisdom came into play here - "with first base open and a man in scoring position, walk Barry." This came back to bite the Angels, as Santiago scratched out a hit to load the bases and J.T. Snow continued his heroics with a two-run single to right.
  
  
• On the night the Angels had a mixed record when it came to challenging Bonds. In the second, up by five runs, they went after him, losing him on a full count. Up by five runs you would challenge Babe Ruth, and you don't want to walk the leadoff hitter. In the third inning Bonds was walked on four pitches, and none were very close to the plate. In the fifth the Angels sent up the white flag and gave Bonds yet another IBB. K-Rod challenged Bonds in the sixth, and he made his only out with a bat on the night. Finally, in the ninth Percival went right after Barry, and Bonds launched his second pitch deep into the night sky. A shame that Fox never really showed us where the ball landed, it was by all accounts quite a clout.
  
  
• You can see these teams scrapped their way from the wild card to the Series. After losing Game One the Angels quickly put five runs on the board. The Giants didn't roll over, they answered with four, only to be countered with a pair. For a lot of the game it seemed like whichever team was behind had the momentum, not the team that was ahead. Game One had great pitching, and the tenseness of a closely-fought match; Game Two was a wild-west shootout. Hopefully Game Three can bring the same excitement as the opening pair.