World Series: Game 7 Notes

Here are my thoughts while watching game seven of the Series yesterday as told to my scorecard. Editorial commentary in square brackets. By the way, I have devised my own scorecard with one page devoted to each team's batting lineup and another to the pitchers (3 in total). I record each pitch (including pickoff attempts, stolen bases, wild pitches, etc.), in a separate line under each cell and I have a footer devoted to the legend that continues to grow as time goes on. I also record nice plays with an asterisk, a slash in the corner of the cell of the last batter faced for a pitching change, and I draw the diamond as the runner proceeds around the actual diamond. Yeah, I'm a geek. Henry Chadwick would be proud.

Top of 1st: Aurilia K's 2-3.
Kent-flies out on warning track.

Bottom of 1st: Eckstein 2-0 pitch looked good. Walks-other balls not close.
Bud Black-says "Look at Barry. He knows we're going to walk him if he gets on"-[referring to Bonds on deck] when Kent was up [in top of first].
Erstad-nice 1-0 bunt.
Salmon-Hernandez evens count [2-2]. Misses outside. Looks shaken-ball inside for walk.
Anderson-Ball one looks pretty good. Hernandez upset with [home plate ump] Gerry Crawford. Soft liner to center. Eckstein-caught off [double play], bad play. [i know that he's now America's sweetheart, but I'm still not convinced about Eckstein especially as a leadoff hitter. His .363 on-base percentage is good, but it was third on the Angels and his 13 times caught stealing in 34 attempts is nothing to brag about. It's almost inexcusable that he as the leadoff hitter caught so far off especially with only one out and two on.]

Top of 2nd: Bonds-lines out to second.
Santiago-1-1 fastball just inside for ball 2. Single. First hit of the game.
Snow-3-2 pitch Santiago running-fouled off. Draws a throw to first. Santiago going again on 3-2. Line drive gapper to right-center. Santiago to third. [good idea to start runner.] Snow-stays at first even though no one at second (McCarver points this out), but man getting relay is between him and the bag.
Sanders-McCarver says Goodwin not DH'ing since they want him available to PH for Sanders. Why not just use the lefty? Hanging breaker 2-2. Sac Fly to deep left. Throw into sceond, 1-0 Giants.
Bell-1st pitch, way foul but in upper deck [he had a couple of those that he turned on way foul]. Pitch 2-slider in dirt almost got away. Pitch 3-slider off corner, gets strike call. 5th pitch-just inside 2-2; Slider to K.

Bottom of 2nd: Glaus-two called strikes (2nd inside), K's on slider in dirt.
Fullmer-2-0 breaking ball on outside corner [strike]. Next pitch, tried the same thing but got too much plate, nice catch to his right for Lofton.
Speizio-everything away. Loses him after starting 1-2.
Molina-strike on inside corner but Santiago set up outside. 3rd pitch, Molina clearly went aroundm but third-base ump says didn't go. Hits a hanger to gap in left-center, double, game tied 1-1. McCarver points out that the ball bounced off the top of fence-ground rule double would have kept runner at third.

Top of 3rd: Feliz-[DH batting ninth.] Act of desparation?
Aurilia-tips into family jewels of Molina [on pitch one].
Poll-"which team has the momentum?" Result: Angels, well didn't they just score?

Bottom of 3rd: Eckstein-Bonds third straight bobbled ball (plus one over his head). [single to left.]
Erstad-soft line to left. 1st and 2nd.
Giant BP-no one is up. Baker has really dragged his feet getting pitchers ready.
Salmon-Slider on 2-1, low and away (2-2). Hit on right hand.
Zerbe and Witasick up in BP.
Anderson-nice backdoor fastball, strike 1. Frozen rope down right field line, 4-1 Angels, on high hanging fastball-too much plate. (How improbable was this after his last few games?) Sanders was hit by fan with thunderstick [retrieving ball]-interfered. [Didn't appear to alter play, but definition only applies to touched ball:

INTERFERENCE (d) Spectator interference occurs when a spectator reaches out of the stands, or goes on the playing field, and touches a live ball. On any interference the ball is dead.

Top of 4th: Lackey may be iffy after long 1/2 inning. [Hernandez rely labors with men on. He should be used to it by now.] Heart of SF order up.
McCarver-"17 inches of real estate." [Uses teleprompter to illustrate.]
Kent-0-2 fastball-called strike. Looked good but Kent doesn't like it.
Bonds-2-0 fastball down the middle, called strike. I think Lackey missed because Molina set up outside, grounder to deep short (Glaus because of the shift), gets to it, but can't get Bonds.
Santiago-nice 0-1 liner over short. Lackey didn't get ball far enough inside.
Snow-big AB. 1-0 fastball looked high and inside-called inside. Flies out.
Rueter-up in SF BP.
Sanders-slider up the pike-looked good, 1-0. Swings through belt-high fastball (1-1). Same thing (1-2). Slider away in dirt (why?), 2-2. Molina and Lackey confer. Fastball-not high enough, fouled off. Fly out.

Bottom of 4th: Kennedy-Rueter in, Zerbe came out due to blister, would have stayed in for [lefty] Kennedy. 1-2 then two close ball calls outside, 3-2. K's on high heat.
Eckstein-strike one called looked inside. Soft liner to left, fan's think it will go an additional 50 feet over wall, out.
Darren Baker-[close-up] loses gum, keeps chewing anyway. Thank you, Fox.
Erstad-K's on pitch 2+ feet outside.

Top of 5th: Bell-soft liner to left-center. Great running catch by Erstad.
Feliz-two fastball strikes. 2 sliders in dirt. K's on slider.
Lofton-showing bunt on ball 1. They need the top of the order to wake up (0-for-6 with 2 K's). Checks swing, 2-2. Fans overwrought, want K. Works a walk.
Bud Black-out to mound. Donnelly up [in BP].
Aurilia-almost throws ball away in throw to 1st. Flies out on first pitch

Bottom of 5th: Anderson-3 unassisted. The last AB keeps lookin odder.
Donnelly-taking over for Lackey in 6th.
Glaus-Pitched to carefully. 5-pitch walk. [See, I said that they'd give him the Bonds' treatment.]
Fullmer-3-2, grounds to pitcher.

Top of 6th: Kent-Molina set up away, ball at Kent's head. Not good sign. High heat, to third.
Top 3 are now 0-for-8 with walk and 2 K's.
Bonds-pops up on high heat.
Santiago-swings at pitch off plate outside. Tips of Molina's mask. Empathizes with Angel catcher. Takes ball on outside corner-called ball. 2-2 way inside. (Angel fans want every pitch.) 3-2, ball way outside (fans though it caught inside corner). Ball 4 low. 3rd time on base.
Snow-0-1, low fastball over plate. Roped into right, double. Santiago holds at third. Bud Black to mound.
Goodwin-PH for Sanders, why not just start him? 1-0 outside fastball-called strike (close). Three straight fouls. K's on outside fastball.

Bottom of 6th: Spiezio-Rueter still in-looked shaky last inning. How many times does McCarver have to mention his father [Bonds' father played a bit, too.] Another plug for Sandfrog. Flies to right.
Molina-3-1, doubles to deep right-center. Off out-of-town scoreboard. Nice backup by Goodwin.
Kennedy-hits to right. Out. Lomina to third.
Witasick-up in BP. Just getting ready. Rueter must face Eckstein. Why wasn't someone up?
Eckstein-nice catch by Kent on liner.

Top of 7th:Bell-Rodriguez and Schoeneweis up in BP. Anderson catches ball with back against wall. Just missed HR.
Feliz-looks silly on breaking ball outside, 0-2. K's on three pitches. Looks pathetic. Why waste outs on this guy?
Lofton-Erstad catches 1st-pitch flay against wall in right-center.

Bottom of 7th: Flashbacks to '61 Angels. Fox-now anoints Angels as champs.
Rueter-still in? Is anyone up in BP?
Erstad-quick 2-0, 3-0 (pull Rueter if walks?). Does Rueter a favor and goes after high 3-1, ground out.
Salmon-3-1, 2nd straight. Witasick and Eyre ready in BP. Strikeout called on low fastball.

Top of 8th: F-Rod in; Why not Percival [with heart of order]?
Aurilia-takes two (hoping Rodriguez wild?). Strikes put on slider outside. 0-for-4 with two K's [on the day].
Kent-called strike, looked outside. Fouls off-Rodriguez looks sharp. K's on slider over plate. 0-for-4 with two K's.
Bonds- 3-0, 3-1-Bonds thought it was low (looked like he was right). Walks.
Santiago-fouls three off. Looks off-balance. K's outside.

Bottom of 8th: Worrell is in. Uh-oh.
Michael Eisner is a geek.
Bud Selig-looking goofy.
Galus-K's.
Fullmer-high K (Crawford wants to go home). Snow great dive on ball just off line, 3-1.
Poll-"If Angels win is Barry Bonds MVP?" [didn't see result]

Top of 9th: Percival in. Is it a lift for the Giants after Rodriguez?
Snow-ball one way outside. Snow shows bunt on another outside ball. Fastball right down the pike-taking al the way. Gets call on outside corner, 2-2. Turns on inside fastball, Misses spot-Molina outside. [single to right.]
Goodwin-McCarver predicts bunt. I think that's a bad option with a 3-run deficit. Shows bunt on 2nd strike. Grounder to 2nd-they get lead runner. Nice slide by Snow to ensure no DP.
Bell-Goodwin took second.[They didn't give him stolen base, good.] Shinjo on deck. Inside strike-maybe to correct bad strike two call. 3-1. Walk.
Shinjo-Giants have no bench. McCarver calls him pinch-hitter but just replacement DH. Nice outside strike. Fouls back. Breaking ball-just a bit outside. Timing fastball-hits one straight back. K's on high heat too far outside.
Lofton-Flies out. Angels win [Giants do win the pennant though.]
Darren Baker is crying. I'm crying too: no baseball for 5 mos.

Postgame: Bud Selig-Booed. [The first nice thing that I've said about the Angels fans so far.] Such a bad public speaker. [Take you hands out of your pockets.] Calls them the "Cali...Anaheim Angels"-moron.
Jackie Autry-calls them the California Angels, too.
Jeanne-"Rookie manager been here three years"-re. Scioscia, huh?
MVP-Glaus. Right call. Selig barely shakes hands and dives out like there's a fastball aimed for his head.

My summation after reading over my notes is:

1) Gerry Crawford called an awful game. The Fox crew hasn't called umps on poor strike zone adherence the whole postseason. The last three were inconsistent, and Crawford was the worst of the lot. He was pretty consistently inconsistent though. The only time it seemed to really affect the game was on Molina going around and that was the third-base ump's call. Of course, it didn't help Hernandez much, but then again he was easily distracted.

2) The Angels pitched well, but I submit the Giants offense hog-tied itself as much if not more than the Angels' pitchers. Other than F-Rod, none dominated. They pitched well enough, but missed spots often, and the Giants just did not take advantage of the mistakes.

3) Baker needs to get his bullpen up in these important games. Hernandez should not have faced Anderson. The BP did amazingly well, but when they started to falter slightly, Baker had no options because the BP was not up. This was inexcusable given the importance of the game. You could also argue that he picked the wrong pitcher to start, but hindsight is always 20-20. My problem was in his reluctance to pull Hernandez after he continually proved ineffective.