The Giants definitely got some help by the Braves, mainly 2nd basemen Brooks Conrad, as I'm sure everyone is aware of by now. However, what is getting overlooked, was the dominant, gritty performance turned in by Jonathan Sanchez, and the fact that the Giants refused to lose that game for him.
Now, I'm sure everyone has read plenty of recap on game 3 and I don't need to hash out detail for detail what went down, but I did want to point out a few specifics. First off, I love how Boch mixed things up by adding Mike Fontenot to the lineup, stronger defensively for sure, and it gave Pablo a full game to take in from the bench. Hopefully that will calm him down a bit and he can relax. At the time of typing this, the game 4 lineup has yet to be released, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Fontenot right back out there again tonight, although both he and Sandoval have had pretty good success lifetime vs. Lowe... Another thing, I don't know who was calling those pitches when Sergio Romo was facing Eric Hinske, but slider after slider? C'mon? What big league hitter isn't going to adjust to that, I don't care if it is your best pitch, mix things up a bit. That was huge after Sanchez had just pitched his heart out (7.1, 11 k's, 2 hits, 1 er, 1 bb). He looked every bit the Jonathan Sanchez that Giants fans where always hoping they'd get, and this is becoming quite common for the 27 year-old lefty. I think he's finally taken that next step, as he's absolutely been nails over his last 2 "big-game" starts.
Now, on to game 4, where we get another playoff rookie, and a 2010 rookie at that, Madison Bumgarner (who had a 1.91 road era in 2010), taking the ball for the Giants. So far, it's been all good for the other 3 Giants starters in their first career playoff starts, and MadBum has been dealing down the stretch. I'm very anxious to see how Madison handles this pressure, but I think he will take it very much like the first 3 have. Still though, the Braves will be fighting off elimination in their own ballpark, so they're going to be playing all out. The Giants failed to take advantage with RISP a couple of times in yesterday's game and it almost cost them big. They have to take advantage of those opportunities, as they won't get an error to get them off the hook every time. One guy who I'd really like to see step it up with RISP in particular is Freddy Sanchez. He's supposed to be one of the Giants money hitters, a batting champ and all-star, and I expect to see him turn in that 2-out RBI hit.
So here we go in game 4. Get ready for another edge of your seat type thriller, as all these Giants-Braves playoff games seem to be, cause you know it's probably going to be a low-scoring ballgame decided by a run or 2. If the Giants can hit a little better with RISP, and Madison gets into a good rythem early, then they should be able to end this thing tonight and get ready for Philadelphia. Also, if the Giants manage to get have a lead late in the game, I hope Boch lets Santiago Casilla set-up Brian Wilson, and not Sergio Romo, who the Braves are having no trouble seeing. If they're over-aggressive at the plate, grounding into double plays and don't give Bumgarner some support early, then this series will come back to San Francisco. I think it ends tonight though, 4-2 Giants!
Game 4 Lineups In: The Giants game 4 lineup looks exactly the same as their game 3 one did, still no Pablo, but the Braves are of course making a switch. They'll be moving Omar Infante over to 2nd base in place of Brooks Conrad, and move Troy Glaus (remember 2002, Giants fans?) in to 3rd base with Glaus hitting 7th.
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