Kuzul

So far in the 2010 NLDS we have seen one dominating sweep from a team seeking their third straight World Series appearance and another series go back and forth with three thrilling games so far.

The Phillies have already clinched their spot in the NLCS with an easy three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, including a no-hitter from Roy Halladay.

In the other series we have seen some dominating pitching along with some late inning heroics throughout the first three games. Right now the Giants lead the series 2-1 but honestly it could have gone in any number of directions.

So what have we learned from these two drastically different series? 

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The San Francisco Giants battled back from what would’ve been a catastrophic loss at the hands of the Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon and now head into Game 4 of the National League Division Series with a two-games-to-one advantage.

Clutch at-bats from Travis Ishikawa, Freddy Sanchez, Aubrey Huff, Buster Posey, and a major assist from Atlanta second baseman Brooks Conrad made up for another rough trip to the bump for Sergio Romo.

The increasingly suspect big-spot, late-inning option gave up a sickening home run to journeyman pinch-hitter Eric Hinske in the bottom of the eighth inning and almost blew a Giant starter’s gem for the second consecutive NLDS game.

Thankfully, Conrad got the last crack at the postseason-goat pinata and broke that sucker wide open with his fourth “erruh” (to quote Dick Stockton) in three games. Yet another E-4 accounted for San Francisco’s winning margin, which makes it 2-for-2 in the five-gamer thus far.

Consequently, you won’t find this comeback on the list of greatest playoff moments in franchise history. The rebound from Hinske’s crushing blow was another magical moment in 2010, but the fact that it required help keeps it off this illustrious list.

As I think you will agree…

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As so dubbed by fans and critics across the country, the 2010 Major League Baseball season has been the Year of the Pitcher. This title is well deserved, as perfect games were thrown by Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay and no-hitters were twirled by Ubaldo Jimenez, Edwin Jackson, and Matt Garza. And no one will forget the rather infamous 28-out perfect game that Armando Galaraga gave us.

With all the masterful performances given to us by the mound masters throughout the season, it is safe to assume that one of the most important components of this October will be the pitching, and so far, it has been. Therefore, a list ranking the top 20 pitchers of this postseason would be an valuable tool. Oh look, I happen to have a list of the top 20 right here!

Granted, due to the fact that there have been games played, this list has changed from its preliminary form. No pitcher has gained or lost more than three spots, but there has been several minor shakeups. So, enough talk, lets take a look at the list.

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Game Two between the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves is set to begin in less than an hour. The Giants are coming off of a big win last night in Game One, led by a dominant Tim Lincecum. The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 14 Braves hitters to give the Giants a 1-0 victory. Tonight, the Giants send Matt Cain to the mound. He’ll face another great young pitcher, Tommy Hanson. In case you haven’t seen it, here are the starting lineups for tonight:

If you’d like to do some reading prior to or during the game, check out this piece I wrote earlier today. I take a look at the possibility of the Giants trading for Milwaukee Brewer first baseman Prince Fielder this winter. 

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They say things come in threes right?

Well, things certainly came in threes on Thursday. We saw three divisional round games with three bad umpire calls that lead to three victories.

We had the Michael Young check swing incident in the Texas Rangers–Tampa Bay Rays game. We then had the missed third strike call in Lance Berkman‘s at-bat in the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins game. Then for the hat trick, we had another blown call that led to the game’s only run in the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves game.

In the bottom of the fourth, with Buster Posey on first and Pat Burrell at the plate, Posey attempted to steal second. Burrell swung and missed and Braves’ catcher Brian McCann came up firing.

It appeared that Posey was out by at least a half a step, but second base umpire Paul Emmel called him safe. Naturally in the same inning, Cody Ross singled to left on a ball that Omar Infante should have had and Posey scored.

It turned out it was the only run of the game and the Giants defeated the Braves 1-0 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five NLDS. While the blown call was pivotal in this game, the story of this game was Giants ace Tim Lincecum.

After allowing a lead-off double to Infante, Lincecum settled down and pitched one of the all time great playoff games. He allowed only one more hit the rest of the game as he went distance and struck out 14.

While his fastball was very good last night, I thought it was his slider that was off the charts. He threw 20 of them and threw 16 of them for strikes. The slider to strike out McCann in the top of the first was unhittable.

I give credit to Bruce Bochy for leaving Lincecum in the game in the ninth. Many managers in that situation would have immediately gone to their closer and played it safe. The feel of the game called for Lincecum going out to take the mound in the ninth.

Of course, I am almost certain that if Lincecum allowed a runner on base, Bochy would have turned to Brian Wilson, who was warming up in the pen to end close things out.

As for the Braves, Lincecum’s dominance really exposed them offensively. Where is the offense going to come from in this series?

Bobby Cox had Alex Gonzalez batting fifth? Let me repeat that. Alex Gonzalez was batting fifth in a playoff game! He might be a nice guy, but the reality is that he hit .240 with a .291 OBP with the Braves.

If McCann or Jason Heyward don’t do damage, who is in this lineup? I have a hard time answering that question right now.

The Braves will try to get even tonight with Tommy Hanson. Game 2 is scheduled to start at 9:37 PM est.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Last night was the most dominating playoff performance by a Giants starting pitcher possibly ever.

Complete game, two hits, 14 strikeouts.

It was only Lincecum’s second complete game of the season. He also matched a career high in strikeouts. He struggled a bit in the first inning but figured it out after that.

Lincecum seemed to be overly excited and gave up a leadoff double to the Braves’ Omar Infante. The double seemed to settle him down and Timmy was able to pitch his game.

He was in complete control.

The question now remains, how will Matt Cain follow this performance?

If there is a pitcher on the Giants’ staff that has always seemed born for playoff baseball, it is Cain. He has been San Francisco’s most consistent pitcher all season but had his worst outing of the year last Saturday against San Diego.

Cain has a 2-2 career record with a 4.03 ERA against the Braves.

He is usually as stoic as can be on the mound. It doesn’t ever seem like anything bothers him. Tonight will be the night to find out for sure.

The mystique of the playoffs has worn off for the lineup and for at least one pitcher. If Cain commands the strike zone, as he usually does, then it should not be much problem for him.

Seeing Lincecum pitch as he did may ease Cain for his start. But if he begins to struggle and become predictable in his pitch selection, it could be a long night for Cain.

One thing Cain is used to dealing with, playoffs or not, is lack of run support. The Giants had opportunities last night to score runs and were only able to capitalize once.

The case could be made that Infante should have made that play. If he had, they may still be playing right now.

The Giants have an opportunity to take a stranglehold on the series before taking the flight to Atlanta for Games Three and Four (if necessary). Atlanta does not play well on the road but is the best home team in the National League.

Cain is the key. Pitching is the key.

Cain was built for the playoffs. Now, it’s time to prove it.

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The 2010 MLB Playoffs are only just underway—each NLDS series is only one game old—and we’ve got both drama and storylines. Rarely has the first six games of a baseball playoff season been so eventful.

As we head into this weekend’s games, here’s a look at the storylines that have begun to develop. Some teams are doing the opposite of what we expected, while Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees are doing exactly what we expected.

Let’s have a look.

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Game 1 of the NLDS between the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants set up to be a tight one. We headed into this series thinking that pitching would reign supreme and offense would be something of a luxury for either team. Needless to say, Game 1 certainly met expectations.

Derek Lowe pitched arguably his best game of the year only to be outdone by his paper-thin counterpart in Tim Lincecum. Lincecum had, as they say, “Roy Halladay stuff” on Thursday night and he was almost as unhittable. 

Timmy went the distance, striking out 14 and allowing just three runners to reach base. Lincecum’s dominance comes as no surprise given the level at which he has been pitching lately. Combine that with a slumping Braves lineup and you get nine innings of near perfection.

The lone run came as a result of a blown call on a steal at second base on what turned out to be a busted hit-and-run attempt as Pat Burrell swung and missed on a 3-2 pitch. Posey later scored on a two-out base hit by recently acquired Cody Ross. 

The first game went off without much surprise, but Game 2 sets up to be an interesting one. The Giants will be starting their other young ace Matt Cain. Cain nearly sent the Giants into a one game playoff with the San Diego Padres for the division after a poor outing on the second to last day of the season.

He will match up against Atlanta’s young right-hander Tommy Hanson, who is making his postseason debut—but then again who isn’t in this series?

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With a gem of a shutout by Tim Lincecum, it’s hard to look at game one of the NLDS through anything but rose colored glasses for Giants fans.

The Incredible Hulk (Lincecum) pitched a two hitter, struck out 14, broke a Giants postseason record for Ks in a game, and tied a major league record for most Ks in a postseason debut.

But as great as Lincecum was, Lady Luck was even greater because Atlanta Braves starter Derek Lowe was also dealing.

Buster Posey led off the 4th inning with a single.Then, Pat Burrell swung and missed for strike three on a hit and run.

Posey slid into second base and tried to dodge the tag of 2B Brooks Conrad. Posey joked after the game, “I’m glad we don’t have instant replay.”

It was his first stolen base at the Major League level. And probably his last.

After Uribe struck out, Braves Manager Bobby Cox intentionally walked Pablo Sandoval so Derek Lowe could square off against Cody Ross.

Lowe would try to dance around Ross with Lincecum on deck and an open base.

But Lowe made a mistake and threw a 2-0 pitch too close to the plate.Ross smashed it to the left of third baseman Omar Infante.

Lady luck took over as Infante misplayed the ball.

Even though it was scored a single, anyone watching the game could see it was a misplay and should have been ruled an error.

So the Giants tripled up on luck in the inning to score the only run of the game: Posey’s stolen base, Lowe’s mistake, Infante’s error and Cox’s gamble in not intentionally walking Ross.

You may recall the reverse happened to the Giants earlier in the year versus Colorado when Bochy let Lincecum nibble at Clint Barmes.

Barmes got a hit and Colorado won the game, so maybe the Giants were owed one.

In any event, this game was decided in the tiniest details.

Most of the Giants postseason games probably will be.

Which makes the other managerial blunder so hard to take.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Posey led off with a double and got to third on a fielding error.

After Burrell struck out, Juan Uribe walked to give the Giants runners on first and third with one out.

This was the nail in the coffin moment. If the Giants put another run or two on the board, that was it.

Cox knew it, so decided to turn Pablo Sandoval around by making a pitching change to lefty Jonny Venters.

It was Bochy’s turn to return serve.

He could have pinch hit Aaron Rowand or Edgar Renteria, and in case Cox fired back he had lefties Fontenot, Ishikawa, and Schierholtz ready as well.

But with several options, he just let Cox’s serve go right by him.

Giants fans all knew what the most probable outcome was: Pablo Sandoval would ground into a double play. It would probably be a first pitch swing, and out of the strike zone.

It doesn’t take any statistical analysis or a PhD in probability theory to know it was a terrible, terrible move by Bochy.

It was like torturous slow motion as the exact thought in the back of every Giants fan manifested itself on the field.

So on a night that might inspire cautious optimism, it’s important to remember reality.

Thank Lady Luck and hope the Braves keep playing bad defense.

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In order to succeed in the MLB playoffs, teams need great pitching.

If teams have good pitching staffs, they always have a chance to win baseball games. History shows that ball clubs with good pitching win World Series rings. Hard-throwing pitchers always contribute, whether starting or coming out of the bullpen.

Here are the top 10 fastballs of the postseason.

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