Scutaro coming up big for NL West-champion Giants - Yahoo! Sports

Scutaro coming up big for NL West-champion Giants - Yahoo! Sports:

"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Marco Scutaro is no castoff or misfit. Not even close.

It just so happens he is having a major impact as part of San Francisco's run into the playoffs - the 2012 version of Cody Ross, if you will. Scutaro does it all: reliable defense, timely hitting, mentoring of younger teammates.

The Giants plucked Ross off waivers in August two years ago and watched him capture MVP honors in the NL championship series and help lead them to that long-awaited first World Series title since moving West in 1958. He was one of those ''castoffs and misfits'' as manager Bruce Bochy referred to them."

'via Blog this'

Sabean on Pence move: “Right now, we needed all the help we could get.” | Giants Extra

I like the deal, I like Hunter Pence a lot. Always have from back when he was with the Astros.
However, it still smacks of 'the dog chasing his tail' of mistakes. If we don't let Cody Ross walk away, we don't have to give up two additional prospects for Pence.

The prospects were (over?) payment for the prior mistake as well as compensation to get the more premium player in the Pence vs. Schierholz tale of the tape.

Pence will add some heart, some soul, some flavor that's been lost since Ross left and Huff hit the couch. Sorely needed, as it seems as if the Giants were becoming a tad corporate lately. Time will tell.

from mercurynews.com:
Sabean on Pence move: “Right now, we needed all the help we could get.” | Giants Extra:

"The Giants had their eye on Pence a year ago but weren’t able to pull the trigger. As the Phillies fell out of the race, a deal came into place. Schierholtz was said to be “a required piece” and the Phillies were high on catcher Tommy Joseph. Sabean feels that Seth Rosin, the third player in the deal, has a chance to pitch in the big leagues at some point and the Phillies agreed.

“It was talent we had prepared ourselves to be able to move for various reasons,” he said. “And that’s what it took.”"

'via Blog this'

The End of The Cody Ross Experience: Ross Reacts: 'It's Sad'

If the Giants are to repeat, it will be with a team that is markedly different in terms of character and characters than the 2010 squad. No Pat Burrell. No Cody Ross. No Uribe. No Renteria. We'll miss Cody Ross as a gamer, a fighter and a battler somewhere down the line.

And then there were 10:

9 — Players from the Giants' 2010 World Series roster who are no longer with the team. Among the players on the list are Andres Torres, Juan Uribe, Edgar Renteria, Travis Ishikawa, Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell.

They are breaking up that old gang of ours.

It is sad. Perhaps not Pujols leaving St. Louis sad, but still sad to Giants fans and fans who root for the little guy to succeed and get his just reward.

The Giants showed no loyalty on this one and THAT could bite them in the ass down the road. And maybe it should.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2011/12/07/gm-brian-sabean-says-giants-are-tapped-out-and-done-dealing-cody-ross-says-its-sad-the-club-never-offer-a-contract-beltran-talks-never-got-deep-decision-on-fontenotkeppinger-whiteside-had-s/

“Being brutally honest, we pretty much got to the top of the budget,” said Sabean, after a relatively inactive Wednesday at the winter meetings. “It’s down to Keppinger or Fontenot as the extra man.”

There is no room under the $130 million payroll to bring back Beltran or Ross, neither of whom were offered a contract. It was a bitterly disappointing outcome for Ross, the 2010 NLCS Most Valuable Player, who might get the two-year contract he seeks from the Reds, Red Sox, Rockies or Braves.

“The Giants were definitely my No.1 choice,” said Ross, who had a long phone conversation with Manager Bruce Bochy earlier Wednesday. “I was looking at any possible scenario, any way, anyhow. Give them a hometown discount, whatever to help their payroll. But they would not commit to more than a year.

“It’s sad because I really wanted to come back. They never made me an offer.”

Sabean said the Giants and Ross “could never get on the same page. And Beltran, we knew it was going to be a stretch.”

More Words of Wisdom from the trenches

NIGHTLINE - The Talent Factories

Innate or in-born talent versus good coaching, practice and good old-fashioned hard work. Talent is not born, it is made. Practice, practice, practice is the key, just as the old joke about "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice makes perfect, but not just any practice, deep practice. Developing myelin in the brain, the old concept of reinforcement. Muscle memory, yes. But remembering the fundamentally correct mechanics to perform. So not as much 'practice makes perfect' but instead 'perfect practice' that leads to talent development and therefore, success.

Great coaching. Who the teacher is, is very important. A knowledgable, patient teacher that demands the correct fundamentals repeated in the proper sequence leads to success. A watchful eye, making small but important corrections under deep practice conditions.

Total concentration. Finding and fixing small technical mistakes. Making corrections leads to better skill development. Getting in the proverbial "zone" in practice. Resilience and perseverance lead to Talent.




THE TALENT CODE - Daniel Coyle

A trailer for Daniel Coyle's book, The Talent Code, which explains how talent grows in the brain, and how you can grow more of it. Included are a discussion of tiny, wildly successful talent hotbeds in sports, art, music, and academics; their distinctive patterns of practice, motivation, and coaching; and a bit of neurology (after all, every skill is located in the brain). The clip also includes the author's performance of a Tiger Woods golf trick--a trick with an extremely unplanned ending.

How parents and kids can develop Olympic-style mental toughness - from Jim Murphy

Olympic athletes and parents can use the same tools to train themselves and their kids. Jim Murphy, author of the new book by McGraw-Hill, Inner Excellence: Achieve Extraordinary Business Success Through Mental Toughness, explains how to use the mental skills of Olympic champions.

1. Focus on values. If you want your kid to have more confidence in their sport, encourage them when they show compassion, teamwork, and discipline. When you focus on values, you give them the freedom to fail, which allows them to win more often. [Top Olympians lead with their heart and connect with what they value most.]

2. Detach from the outcome. If you're like most parents, you're happy when your kid succeeds in sports, and disappointed when they don't. It's natural. But it also connects your love to their success. Don't get too excited about the outcome (win or lose); it sends a subconscious message that ties their performance to your love for them. Go to their games, cheer for them, and love them for who they're becoming, not how they performed. [Top Olympians focus on how they want to feel and let the outcome take care of itself.]

3. Write 3-5 goals everyday as if they were already true. For example, if your kid wants to be the starting shortstop on the baseball team, you may have him write: I love playing baseball and being the starting shortstop. Have some school ones too. For example: I am focused and confident every day at school as I achieve a B average. [Top Olympians affirm their goals every day as if they were already true.]

4. Remember the great moments. Spend five minutes every day with your kid visualizing great performances from the past. Remind him or her of a great performance and ask about that moment and how it felt. Then tell your child to "re-live" that moment and get the feeling again. This can be a powerful time you spend with your kids every day. [Top Olympians are continually re-visiting great memories of past performances].

5. Weed out the negative thoughts. Every day you and your kids will have negative thoughts. This is perhaps the biggest obstacle either of you will ever face. Here's four ways to deal with them:

a. Wear a rubber band and snap it each time you have a negative thought.
b. Replace the negative thought with the complete opposite. (I'm going to fail becomes I'm going to succeed.)
c. Yell "stop!" in your mind and picture an oversize STOP sign.
d. Tell yourself, "It's only a negative thought" and go back to what you're doing.

Negative thoughts only have power over you by what you give them, and you give them power when you let them linger in your mind.

[Top Olympians develop keen self-awareness of their thoughts and feelings and continually direct them towards their goals and dreams.]

The essence of "The Cody Ross Experience". Explained by Cody Ross

"Every time I went to the plate, I knew I was going to do something, do some damage. When you feel like that, you've got to ride it as long as you can, because you rarely feel like that."
—Cody Ross, a month after the World Series, looking back at his fabulous postseason.

Ex scientia pecuniae libertas. - "Out of knowledge of money comes freedom."

Top 2010 Sports Stories (PLUS ONE)

There's a month to go on the sports calendar, but here's my list so far. Your results may vary.

Many of the stories had as much or more importance and meaning off the field as they did on the field. That's why we love sports.

1 Giants win the World Series
2 The Perfect Game Grace of Armando Gallaraga
3 Michael Vick's Redemption
4 Tim Tebow drafted in the 1st Round
5 Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup
6 The Buster Posey Era Begins
7 Landon Donovan's Miracle World Cup Goal
8 The Cody Ross Experience
9 Edgar Renteria's Redemption as World Series MVP
10 Grant Desme leaves A's for priesthood
11 The Vuvuzela
12 Tiger Woods Apology
13 The Tea Party

I Love a Parade...

Tim Lincecum after bringing it home to San Fran

Brian Sabean gets to rightfully bask in the glow of victory.

The Giants President Larry Baer's quote about sums it up. A dream fulfilled.

from espn.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2010/news/story?id=5760521

Giants president Larry Baer captured the fans' long anticipation for a victory after decades of game attendance at Candlestick Park and at the new home stadium, AT&T Park. "The triumph of this team allows us to flash back and connect to our past, to experience the beauty of our memories and shared experiences with unbridled joy," Baer said.

"This day is a blessed reminder of a dream fulfilled for all of us," he said.

Buster Posey has quite the fan club

Even the police horses are stoked

Willie Mays - The Greatest Player Ever

Edgar Renteria - World Series MVP

Matt Cain - Future Ace

Posey with the Trophy

Cable Car - A San Francisco Treat

The Cody Ross Experience continues

Wilson, Lincecum and Cain

Future Giants fans - destined to never have to suffer than same fate as their older brethren in Gigante Nation

Game 4: Giants - Rangers or "A Night with a Tortured Giants Fan"

Today, I'll just write my thoughts as the game progresses. That should be entertaining. I'll try to filter the language for the young people. But hey, NO GUARANTEES.

Fox Pre-Game nonsense:

We can't even get to the first pitch before I'm ready to turn the sound off on these guys.

First, in pre-game Eric Karros makes me reach for something to throw at him by saying, 'Whoever wins this game, is going to win the series'. Maybe Mr. Karros doesn't read my blog, but it's Game Five that becomes the pivotal game and that's IF the Rangers win Game Four. Sheesh, and this guy played in the bigs, he should understand momentum.

Then Buck and McCarver do the pre-game happy talk and Buck says that Bochy doesn't want to go to Game Five versus Cliff Lee even up at two games apiece. Certainly not the preference, but correct me if I'm wrong here Bucky-beaver:
a) the Giants beat Cliff Lee and
b) the Giants will have Tim Lincecum on the mound, a guy who does a lot to inspire confidence in a manager.

My wife says they are just trying to build drama and interest for the casual fan, who if we believe the initial rating returns (second lowest rated WS game), are not watching anyway. But by doing that, they lose credibility in the eyes of the knowledgeable, hard-core baseball fans who certainly are viewing these early games. A delicate balancing act, I suppose.

I put the remote outside of my immediate reach, since I won't be flipping tonight, and these guys are under my skin already.

Burrell and Sandoval are on the pine, replaced by Nate Schierholz and Travis Ishakawa. Right now, the right thing to do. Burrell has been a windmill for most of the playoffs. Sandoval has been one for most of the season. All about the approach. Both are hot / cold, 'all or nothing' type hitters as a result. Burrell is more patient at times, so his recent demise is more surprising. Plus he has been in the World Series before. Kudos to Bochy for utilizing the bench when he needs it.

1st inning: I don't know what Posey is looking for up there, he seems to be taking some hittable pitches lately and putting himself into bad counts.

Both pitchers searching for the whereabouts of the strike zone. Can't say that either pitcher is at fault. Blue seems to be a little tight today. Maybe they're getting paid by the hour tonight.

2nd inning: Giants catch a break on the Ishakawa DP, not called on the 1B side. Out by a quarter stride, that call has to be made at this level.

Hamilton makes a great catch to save a run in CF. Both pitchers are struggling with the umpires tight strike zone so neither one may go more than six innings. Hopefully, that favors the good guys innings 7-9. Keep it close guys and steal it in the end.

Umpire opens it up (a little) in the second, he must be hearing it from both sides. He's not calling pitches on 'the black' or on the border of Foxies Pitch Tracker service. Nobody will bitch if you call that one. And you don't get graded as a miss, within the margin of error.

Bumgarner still pitching behind too much. That's going to come back to bite him. We'll see who gets an easy inning or two first. Top of the order in the third for the Gigantes, gotta make something happen.

3rd inning: Torres leads off with a double and I finally agree with the announcers, 'why is Sanchez bunting?' This isn't Lee - Lincecum dealing aces where one run is precious. Swing away, Boche!!

The Rangers scouting report on the Giants must be littered with 'sliders away'. And that would make it a decent report. Sanchez battling. Usually good things happen for hitters when you see > 5 pitches in an AB. Nope. He doesn't move the runner, pulls it to 3B and grounds out. Bad AB.

HUFF JOINS THE PARTY THE WAY WE LIKE!!! ALBEIT SANS THONG. CRUSH DADDY!!! GIANTS 2-0.

Posey looks at borderline strike three. Pitch Tracker confirms, outside by quite a bit. That's what happens when your approach is confused up there. You lose the benefit of the doubt. Not much doubt about that one though. I thought catchers usually get the benefit of the doubt. Maybe not in the bigs. Or maybe Buster's not smelling so nice back there today. ;) I wouldn't want to see Bumgarner and Posey get crossed up. Somebody could get hurt back there. Nah, stakes are too high to screw around here.

That's a Ball / Strike miss and a Bases miss so far. One in favor, one opposed. They even out long term, but short term - still BRUTAL.

Fox shows the classic Nolan Ryan - Robin Vetura bout which Ryan won by TKO. CLASSIC!! There are some things that never get old.

Bumgarner settling in. A breezy third inning.

4th Inning: Uribe just missed one. He didn't think so, he struck the pose before he left the batters box, but the wind may have knocked it down. Now Hudson breezing, a rocket grounder to the 2B, two quick outs. Rangers bullpen busy already. Can't take any chances tonight.

Renteria hits a long single, nice play by Cruz to hold him there. Had double written on it. Cruz got out his eraser. Could be a big play, that doesn't show up in the score book.

Schierholz down quick two strikes. Now 2-2, not bad, making him work. Lazy fly ball ends the Giants half.

Young busts the no-no, not by much, great effort. Another great effort by Sanchez to get one on the tag of Young. Hamilton hit a rocket that Bumgarner deflects to Sanchez. One on, one out.
Vladdie tries to tie it with one swing. Bumgarner makes him chase. Good pitch. The change-up is so very underrated.

POSEY THROWS A SEED TO SECOND TO NAIL HAMILTON TRYING TO STEAL!!! NICE CATCH / TAG BY SANCHEZ.

If he's not the Rookie of the Year, a crime has been committed. I know the ballots must have been cast before all this happens, but how dumb do you have to feel now if you didn't vote for this kid and you see what he's doing in this environment. He didn't get demonstrably better overnight, right?

5th Inning: Ogando the new pitcher for Texas. Giants looking for a tack on or two. Torres hits a lazy fly. Sanchez up. Hey how many times do you see a guy make a great play in the field and bat second in the next half of the inning? OH, SHUT UP SLAVIK!!! No, I won't!!! Mathematically and in real-life it happens about as expected: about 11.1% or 1/9th of the time. In other words, it's a relatively random occurrence when the guys leads off, we just attach more weight or notice it more when it does happen, giving the impression that it happens more frequently than it actually does.

While I was typing that Stat 101 / human behavior / mind tricks primer, Huff struck out meekly, making Ogando look like an All-Star. Weak half inning offensively. TORTURE RETURNS!!

Speaking of which, I'm a bit torn here. I hope that isn't the only hit Bumgarner gives up but I don't want to see him get hit any further. Ross screws me up further with a great defensive play to rob Ian Kinsler. Way to screw me up further Cody!!! I love 'The Cody Ross Experience' And I kind of hate Kinsler. Maybe it's the hair. Or his demeanor. I'd like him if he played for us though, so don't go pissy on me Ranger fans.

Bungarner finishes the fifth economically. That helps. If he give six, all good, Seven and I might go all Chris Matthews and get a tingle up my leg. I'm sorry, that's just not something a man should say about another man. Don't remind me about some of my Buster Posey posts or things I've said in the past about Phil Simms, that's different. Simms won a Super Bowl, dude. So it's all good.

6th Inning: Speaking of Posey, weak grounder to third. They have a good report on him so far. Or kryptonite. Ross goes for the downs, on a ball in the dirt. These guys are starting to piss me off. Slider ends Ross. Good advance scouts these Rangers must have. Uribe hacks. Ogando throws a slider to Odessa. So wild he strained an oblique. Dude, a run of the mill slider usually sits Uribe. Just don't hang the sucker. Ogando leaves with a tummy ache. Hockey players worldwide ROTFLAO!!!! Me too. I just consulted my copy of the Rangers advance scouting report on Uribe and it says "pick a slider, any slider, even the cement mixer spinner - anywhere close, he'll hack". Rangers advance scouts worldwide Rolling On The Floor Puking. Not sure if ROTFP is a universally recognized acronym for that, but I have some time to kill while the Rangers reliever relieves himself, or warms up or whatever.

McCarver has a spider over his head, which a) I hope is real and poisonous and b) poised to strike if he says anything stupid, which he is due for. Darren Oliver in relief. Bad stuff happening, we're not capitalizing as Uribe skies weakly to Molina. Baseball gods will not be happy, are poised to strike Giants. You can just feel it. Bumgarner the only thing standing in the way.

Mitch Moreland has another great AB for a single. The Giants should tape his AB's and make their hitters watch it until their eyes bleed. Never mind the 'Tom Emansky: Teaching the Fundamentals of the Major League Swing'. Parts I or II. Just dial into the Moreland approach and good things will follow. Are you listening Hensley?

Another DP, looks like he may have beat that out, though. LOVE THE DP. Umpires best friend. No replay, must not have been as close as it looked. Oh no, here we go. OOPS, BLUE ANOTHER ONE!!! Dude is having a tough night over at first. Maybe that angle is not working out for him.....But,........he's the major league umpire and I'm not. Not to go all teenage girl on you but, 'Life is so not fair'. I wonder how Jacklyn is doing?

7th Inning:
Ishakawa 打席に弱い ( phonetically: Daseki ni yowai ) weak at bat in Japanese. Giants offense is as boring as it is torturous, so I was using some advanced Google features....oh look, Renteria gets another hit. Next game, he bats all times in the order. Schierholtz looks over a slider away, for a backwards-K. What a surprise, that these guys would pound sliders away against the Giants. What are they thinking? Ewwwwweeeee, Torres shoots the gap, double to knock in Renteria. Giants 3-0. And Sanchez taps back to Oliver to end the inning.

Nice rendition of God Bless America for the seventh inning stretch. Texas does patriotism right, we're really going to miss them if things gets worse in this country and they exercise their rights to secede. But I digress. As I often do.

O'Day warming up. He's the kind of pitcher that you love to see coming in and then he shuts you down. Bumgarner K's Michael Young, He's dealing. He got a break on one that Young didn't like, but Bumgarner is getting the benefit of the doubt. Young still had a chance to hit and Bumgarner threw one past him.

Hamilton gets sawed off and Uribe is so distressed, he boots it. That freaking hurt from here. E-Uribe. Bumgarner has to get tough here. He has Guerrero down 1-2.

Tries to make him fish again. No bite. 2-2. Big AB. Misses 3-2. Still just one pitch away.

GOT HIM WITH THE CHANGE!!! HAT TRICK VLADDIE!!!

Don't let up here. Cruz can hurt you. Base hit. Nice piece of hitting by Cruz. Shot it right up the middle

Kinsler brings the tying run to the plate. Strike One. Good pitch. Kinsler not happy. Lazy liner to Cosy Ross ends it. Now, Kinsler has a good reason to be not happy.

BUMGARNER, TOUGH AS NAILS!!!

Casilla warming up in the bullpen. Bummgarner starts the inning for me, somebody has to get on first. Maybe score a run. They may never get to Bummer. We'll see how Bochy handles it.

Eight Inning:
Oliver still in for Texas, Huff grounds weakly to 1B.

The Darren O'Day - Buster Posey match up Part II. Gosh, I hope Buster reads my blog. If he did, he would know exactly what to do.

I outlined it here:
http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2010/10/moreland-explains-his-game-winning-hr.html

Buster Posey also had a disappointing key AB versus Darren O' Day. As soon as Washington brought him in I said I like the matchup, but it was clear O'day wanted to get him on the sidearm curve to the outside corner or darting off the black. Posey made no visible adjustment to his stance or position in the batters box to accommodate that pitch. The guy doesn't throw hard enough to break a pane of glass (easy for me to say, I know) so you crowd the plate more, dare him to fit one through a mail slot to hit the inside corner, at the same time Posey would be in better position to punish the outside corner. Not second guessing, I told my wife before the pitch, when Molina went out to talk, if he throws the curve to the outside corner, he'll get him, he's got to go the other way. And sure enough, he went there, and worse it seems as if Posey tried to pull it instead of going the other way (he may have been out front). Generally, if you try to pull an outside pitch, weak grounders to the pull side or popups ensue. Bad AB.

We shall see if he learned something. If he didn't, I'm going to be REALLY MAD!!! Not so much that he pissed away another AB, but that he doesn't read my blog. THAT WOULD REALLY PISS ME OFF, BUSTER!!!

1-2 pretty quick. No discernible change in approach so I can feel my pulse quicken. Fouls one off.

HOME RUN TO DEAD CENTER FOR BUSTER POSEY!!!!! OMG, MAYBE HE DOES READ MY BLOG!!!!

Or maybe he's just a major league hitter and I'm just a fan writing a blog. But who cares now, right? Giants up 4-0.

Cody Ross goes down, Uribe up. We got the tack on run we've been looking for. Uribe doesn't leave anything on the table with his swing. EVER!!! Have to take the good with the bad, I guess.

Uribe fouls to 1B to end it. Four up with six out left. I like our chances here.

Francoeur leads off against Bumgarner. 2-1 to start. Francoeur just misses leaving the yard to left. One out.

Bengie Molina up. Bumgarner dealing at 91. 1-1 to start. Misses outside 2-1. Still throwing hard. Molina hits an 'at 'em ball ' laser beam liner right at Cody Ross in LF for the second out.

Lopez and Wilson warming up in the bullpen. Bumgarner at 102 pitches. Moreland up for the Rangers. Good AB expected here. 1-2 count to start him. Moreland has him right where he wants him. MadBum misses 2-2 count. Misses in the dirt 3-2. I like this Moreland kids hitting approach a lot. Got him looking.

BUMGARNER IS NAILS!!!!

WE GO TO THE NINTH INNING - GIANTS 4, RANGERS 0!!!

9th Inning: Derek Holland in for the Rangers. Let's see if he can throw a strike. Starts 2-0. Maybe not.He throws a strike and the Rangers fans cheer. I'm detecting sarcasm. He walks Ishakawa. Now I sense building anger and disgust.

Strike one to Renteria. Throws one under his hands strike two swinging. Strike Three looking to Renteria. Looked good. Renteria didn't offer. No argument.

Schierholz up. Painted the black outside to Nate. He stays there he'll get him, lefty / lefty. Schierholz skies to center, two outs.

Torres from the right side. Torres even at 2-2. Fouls a 95 MPH heater off. Looking for a gapper here. Nope, grounds out third to second.

Here we go, onto the ninth, top of the order due up for the Rangers. I think Bumgarner starts the inning. This may be the last game he has to pitch this season. He's a little high in the pitch count, but with the adrenaline flowing, I think I let a batter tell me that he's done for the night, then go to Brian Wilson for the close. That's the Nolan Ryan approach to developing pitchers. Old School. I think I like it here for us too.

Nope. Brian Wilson opens the ninth. Great effort by Bumgarner. Beard don't fail us now.

Elvis Andrus lines to Schierholz in RF for the first out.

Michael Young. Strike One. Misses for a ball. Misses again. Strike Two. Got him with a half swing. Two outs.

Josh Hamilton steps in. Close the deal, Brian. Strike One. Swings at a slider inside, strike two. I think he has him. Got him on a half swing.

WILSON CLOSES!!! BUMGARNER GETS HIS DUE TONIGHT!!!

Giants are up 3-1 and look to close it out tomorrow.

We've been here before and closer actually.

So hopefully the boys take nothing for granted and close the deal.

Moreland explains his game winning HR and why the Giants are Boom or Bust

Mitch Moreland explains his approach to his game winning AB versus Jonathan Sanchez and by contrast demonstrates why the Giants tend to be boom or bust. IMO. Moreland may be on the verge of becoming the Rangers answer to The Cody Ross Experience. A folk hero in the making.

from espn.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=5748057

Moreland collected four hits in a mere 20 regular-season at-bats against lefties. But against Sanchez, he simply refused to be denied. After going up 2-0 in the count, he hit a long foul fly to right field. Then came a fastball for a called strike to even the count. Sanchez followed with four straight sliders and changeups, and Moreland fouled off all four to hang tough at 2-2.

"It was kind of down and in, and I just reacted. I'm not going to say if that's my sweet spot. I don't even know if I have a sweet spot."

Finally it came time for one more fastball, and Moreland didn't miss it. He drove the pitch into the right field seats to put Texas up 3-0 and give his hometown cause to bust its buttons with pride.

"I just wanted to stay short and get the barrel to it,'' Moreland said. "It was kind of down and in, and I just reacted. I'm not going to say if that's my sweet spot. I don't even know if I have a sweet spot.''

Moreland was willing to 'stay short' or shorten his swing to battle Sanchez. The Giants demonstrated in the ninth inning versus Neftali Perez, that they would rather go down flailing like windmills in overdrive than shorten up their swings to make contact. The pitcher is supplying the power, throwing 97-98 MPH. A screaming, line drive gapper in one of those spots would have worked just as well as a HR. And until you had at least one guy on base in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate, you have no business swinging from your heels. Just dumb, wasted, unproductive AB's. Not even a loud foul ball in the bunch.

Buster Posey also had a disappointing key AB versus Darren O' Day. As soon as Washington brought him in I said I like the matchup, but it was clear O'day wanted to get him on the sidearm curve to the outside corner or darting off the black. Posey made no visible adjustment to his stance or position in the batters box to accommodate that pitch. The guy doesn't throw hard enough to break a pane of glass (easy for me to say, I know) so you crowd the plate more, dare him to fit one through a mail slot to hit the inside corner, at the same time Posey would be in better position to punish the outside corner. Not second guessing, I told my wife before the pitch, when Molina went out to talk, if he throws the curve to the outside corner, he'll get him, he's got to go the other way. And sure enough, he went there, and worse it seems as if Posey tried to pull it instead of going the other way (he may have been out front). Generally, if you try to pull an outside pitch, weak grounders to the pull side or popups ensue. Bad AB.

Rangers win MUST game as Giants revert back to BOOM or BUST

The Rangers won a game they HAD to win. The Giants lost a game it would have been nice to win. Any time an NFL game features a game where one team MUST win versus another team that would LIKE to win, I go with the team that MUST win. The old cornered rat thing. Or the boxer, backed into the corner. The only way out is to punch back. If you curl up and take the hits, it's not long before you are counted out.

And so the Rangers win 4-2. The Giants will not sweep the series. But who really thought they would? If you told me after three games, 'the Giants will be up 2-1' I would have taken it. The difference in the game: The Rangers 2 HR's were a 3-run blast and a solo versus the Giants 2 solo jobs. That's it.

Andres Torres gets his signature hit. The Cody Ross Experience continues with another HR, his fifth of the post season. Huffie laces a laser beam double. Burrell is struggling. PAINFULLY STRUGGLING.

The Rangers still have to run the table at home and get one in Frisco, so we're still in pretty good shape.

I like the match-up today MadBum versus Hunter. Both young pitchers so who knows which pitcher shows up. If Bumgarner settles in early, he can be tough as nails.

GO GIANTS!!!