Well, that went pretty well. The Giants rode momentum straight through Verlander and the Tigers to take a 1-0 series lead. Pablo Sandoval flexed his muscle all night long with three homers and a bullet for a single. Verlander was never able to settle in and incredibly was the 9th opposing starter to fail to make it into the 5th inning. He never had it and the bullpen didn't look much better. Albuqurque was solid, aside from a little run in with the powerful panda but Valverde had another blow up and I doubt we will see much of him the rest of the series.
The Giants got another stellar start, their 6th in the last 7 games, by Barry Zito. He allowed just one run in five and two thirds innings. Nothing short of spectacular. Bochy made a good choice by pulling him out of a jam in the 6th and bringing in our secret weapon, Timmy Lincecum. The Freak was locked in from the word go, striking out 5 of the 7 men he faced in two and a third perfect innings.
With the game locked up in the 9th, another great move, Bochy elected to turn it over to Mijares and Kontos. It is always good to try to get guys who have never been on this stage a little experience when you can. No better situation that an 8-1 lead in the 9th. Kontos struggled a bit and Affeldt had to come in and finish things off.
Another positive sign in the game was Posey looking much more comfortable and confident at the plate while collecting two hits and an rbi. It is hard to see this team winning a world series if Posey didn't break out of his slump. Pence continues to struggle and just needs to settle down and get back to swinging at strikes.
One of the biggest stories of this game was the stellar defense by the Giants and the lack of defense played by the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera, Delmon Young and Prince Fielder all look like designated hitters and it showed tonight with Miggy lacking range and Young showing off a little league throwing arm. Meanwhile, Blanco, Crawford and Posey all had stellar days defensively. If this continues, it could be huge in this series.
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