October 25, 2002
Going back to Anaheim, 3-2
The Giants pounded the Angels into submission, winning game 5 16-4.
Which means they take a 3-2 series lead back to Anaheim for game 6 on Saturday.
San Francisco hitters combined for 16 hits and 6 walks, including 3 doubles and 3 homers.
And 6 Giants had 2 or more hits, including 3 guys with 3 hits.
Jeff Kent finally decided to show up, hitting 2 homers and a double and driving in 4 runs.
Barry Bonds continued to be superhuman, going 3-4 with 2 doubles and a walk, putting his post-season hitting line at .350/.576/.975(!).
Giants' starter Jason Schmidt looked pretty good early, but started struggling in the 5th inning and fell apart so quickly that he wasn't even able to finish the 5th and become eligibile for the win.
San Francisco relievers stepped in and finished the job, going 4 1/3 innings and allowing only 1 run off of 3 hits.
Felix "Iron Man" Rodriguez pitched 1/3 of an inning, continuing his streak of playing in every World Series games so far.
3 different Anaheim pitchers, starter Jarrod Washburn and relievers Ben Weber and Scot Shields, gave up at least 5 runs.
Shields had not pitched in almost a month and needed 49 pitches to get 5 outs.
Definitely a real butt kicking by the Giants, who showed why the have the best offense in baseball (according to me at least).
The series now shifts to Anaheim and the Angels need to win 2 in a row.
Certainly doable.
Russ Ortiz goes for the Giants in game 6 and he did anything but inspire confidence in Giants fans with his horrible performance in game 2.
If the Angels can win game 6, they would be looking at either Livan Hernandez (who didn't look good in his first start either) or Kirk Rueter (who looked good, but who I still think is a bad bet to succeed against the Angels).
For the Angels, Kevin Appier will be on the mound for game 6 and will have to improve upon his performance from game 2 if they have any shot at winning.
If the series gets to game 7, Mike Scioscia might have a decision to make.
I read a report that scheduled game 7 starter Ramon Ortiz is having some problems with his right wrist and may not be able to make the start.
In which case I guess John Lackey would get the call on 3 days rest?
I am not really sure what the Angels would do in that situation.
If I were Scioscia and I was feeling especially daring, I might think about calling on Francisco Rodriguez to start the deciding game.
But the chances of that happening are probably just slightly better than me getting the start (I have a decent knuckleball and pinpoint control with all my pitches).
Did anyone see Dusty Baker's kid (I think his name is Darren) almost get killed at home plate?
He was picking up a bat while a couple of Giants were coming around to score runs and if it weren't for J.T. Snow scooping him up, he would have been a pancake.
I saw Dusty's reaction, which was basically him putting his head in his hands and probably thinking "oh boy, my wife is gonna be pissed at that."
Good thing he is going to Anaheim, maybe she will forget by the time he comes home.
In non-World Series news...
It looks like the Mets and Devil Rays have found new managers in Art Howe and Lou Piniella.
I really do not think either hiring is very good for the teams involved or the managers.
Art Howe is a decent manager, but that Mets team needs a lot of help and I don't think he is the guy to give it to them.
He is stepping into a pretty big mess; big contracts, old players, lots of declines and a pretty bad team in 2001.
I would be surprised if he lasts more than a couple of (non-playoff) seasons.
I haven't heard whether or not the Mets will have to give the A's some sort of compensation for Howe, but if they do, that's just a bonus for Billy Beane who is probably just as happy to have Howe gone and Ken Macha as the new skipper.
In Tampa, the lowly Devil Rays have decided to spend about $4 million a season on Lou Piniella.
This from a team that has always had one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.
It just seems strange that a team won't spend money on players, but will make their manager one of the highest paid in baseball.
Lou is stepping into an even bigger mess than Art Howe, as the D-Rays are probably the worst organization in baseball and have never been even remotely successful.
Sweet Lou doesn't strike me as a very patient man, which is exactly what he is going to have to be to not lose his mind watching the losses pile up in Tampa.
They have some very good, young prospects in the organization, but most of them are a minimum of 2-3 years from doing anything significant in the big leagues.
I read a report that Seattle is going to receive outfielder Randy Winn as compensation for Piniella, which would be a pretty good pickup for the Mariners.
Winn hit .298/.360/.461 in 607 ABs with Tampa Bay this, including 14 homers, 9 triples, 39 doubles and 27 steals.
He is also a good defensive player, capable of playing center field (as he did this year) or left field, which is his likely spot in Seattle.
Lou in Tampa might not be the greatest idea in the world, but it sure will be interesting.
I put the OVER/UNDER on "total bases pulled out of the ground and thrown by Piniella in 2003" at 5.5.