Nice to see three Giants get votes, even though they didn't receive many. I suspect they would've pulled more votes had the voting been conducted after the postseason.
I'm pretty sure these are the exact award-winners as determined by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. I'm guessing the Baseball Writers' Association of America will vote the same way. We'll see if I'm right...
Tim Lincecum did not pitch well. There's no getting around it...his final line -- 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 3 K. Any game where Lincecum goes 5+ innings and manages just three strikeouts is a bad game, for him. He's only done that six times in his career. It's quite excusable, though, considering the offensive outburst the Giants had, the somewhat sloppy defense played behind him, and the fact that he's facing one of the best offenses in the majors.
Cliff Lee, who came into this game with tons of hype (considering his career postseason dominance), but had a terrible start: 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 7 K. In all fairness, he had the large gap created in right field due to Vladimir Guerrero's poor range, but it didn't seem to play a big role in his disaster of a game. Most of the hits he allowed were right up the middle, indicating that the Giants were timing his pitches very well.
Lee entered the game with a 0.75 postseason ERA in 2010. His 2010 postseason ERA is now 2.51
This isn't the first time the Giants have done well against an elite starting pitcher. They've put up crooked numbers against some of the best in the game this year. Here are some notable incidences:
Player of the game? The guy who used this as his walk-up music. Freddy Sanchez.
Sanchez went 4 for 5 with three doubles, two runs, three RBIs. He became the 13th player in World Series history to have three doubles in a single game. He came close to tying the record with a fourth double, but his final hit was ruled a single with an error by Vladimir Guerrero.
Bengie Molina got a very warm welcome from San Francisco Giants fans. He gave the team three good years, so it was nice to see this. He also had a decent game: a couple of hits, an RBI, and two runs scored.
Santiago Casilla shall be acknowledged for his 1.1 no-hit no-BB scoreless innings of baseball. He helped to settle the game down when the Rangers were starting to mount a comeback. He will likely play a critical role in this series, as the Rangers have a plethora of hot-shot right-handed hitters: Elvis Andrus (debatable), Michael Young, Nelson Cruz, Vladimir Guerrero, Ian Kinsler, and the way he's hitting right now, Bengie Molina. The Giants don't have -- at this point -- a solid middle relief right-handed pitcher that they can trust. Sergio Romo was good all year. Ramon Ramirez was great for the Giants. Even Guillermo Mota had his good moments. But not one of them has shined in the postseason. Someone's gotta step up, and I think it'll be Casilla or Romo. We'll see how it unfolds. But if the Giants offense keeps having outbursts like these, it won't really matter.
Nothing is predictable in the postseason. Everybody thought that the Roy Halladay v. Tim Lincecum matchup would be an amazing pitchers duel, but it was rather disappointing (not that they didn't pitch well). Everybody thought that the Cliff Lee v. Tim Lincecum matchup would be an amazing pitchers duel (Lee, Lincecum poised for Game 1 greatness), but it was quite the opposite.
11 of the last 13 teams that have won Game One of the World Series have gone on to win the series. The Giants, if they win Game Two, will only need to win one of three games in Texas to stay in good shape. Winning Game One was huge. They did this to their ace, at ATT Park, which is not a hitters park, especially compared to the Ballpark in Arlington. Three wins away from a World Series Title. It feels good
HALLADAY, HERNANDEZ OVERWHELMING WINNERS OF WALTER JOHNSON AWARD
2010 was often referred to as “the year of the pitcher.” However, not all pitchers are created equal.
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance announced today that Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay was the unanimous selection for the National League Walter Johnson Award, receiving all nineteen first place votes. In the American League, Seattle’s Felix Hernandez was almost as dominant, garnering all but four of the first place selections from the BBA membership.
Halladay, who came over to Philadelphia in an off-season deal with Toronto, wasted no time getting comfortable in his new league, posting an 2.44 ERA, striking out 219 batters, winning 21 games, and throwing a perfect game to boot. While only the regular season was considered for voting, he also became only the second player to throw a post-season no-hitter when he faced the Reds in the National League Divisional Series. Halladay received 133 points, well ahead of the runner up, St. Louis’s Adam Wainwright, who received 66.
Hernandez’s win was statistically more impressive, due to more ballots being cast in the American League and a wider range of pitchers receiving votes. His 2010 season, where he put up a sparkling 2.27 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP, and struck out 232 in just under 250 innings pitched, led voters to bestow upon him 137 points, with second place being New York’s CC Sabathia, who received three first place votes and 62 points over all.
The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):
