NL Semi-Finals - Giants (#6) drop Friars (#9) in 6 to head to the finals vs KCR (#1)

GAME 1 – AT&T Park

I.Kennedy vs Heston

Giants 4, Padres 0

Chris Heston shocked the world with his complete game 6 hit shutout.  The Padres thought they were looking at Madbum in a mirror.  Manager Andy Weinrib treated his prodigy as if it was the good ole days by leaving him out there to throw 144 pitches.  In his post game presser he said, “Enough of this baby-sh-t.  Real me finish what they start.  If he doesn’t want to throw 144 pitches let him throw less.”.  All of San Fran’s scoring came via the long ball.  Both Brandon’s:  Crawford (2) and Belt (1) provided all of the fireworks.

Giants lead series 1-0

GAME 2

Shields vs Hudson

Padres 3, Giants 2

The Friars broke up a 1-1 tie with a RBI single from Derick Norris and an RBI double from Wil Venable in the top of the 7^th.  A Joe Panik sac fly in the bottom of the inning made it a one run game, but Benoit (8^th) and Craig Kimbrel (9^th) combined to shut the door on the Jints to tie up the series.

Series tied 1-1

GAME 3 – Petco Park

Bumgarner vs T.Ross

Giants 9, Padres 0

No one better to have on the bump in a pivotal game 3 than Madbum.  San Fran’s lefty workhorse fanned 8 in a 6 hit complete game effort.  The Giant held a narrow 2-0 lead until the 5^th when they started scoring runs in 4 of the next 5 innings.  When the dominant lefty wasn’t striking out batters he was hitting homers (2) and knocking in runs (3).  Brandon Crawford chipped in with a home run of his own as the Giants scored 9 runs on 17 hits.

Giants lead series 2-1

GAME 4

Peavy vs Cashner

Giants 12, Padres 5

San Fran staked Jake Peavy to a nice 8-2 lead after 2, which was enough to chase Padre starter Andrew Cashner from the hill (8 runs in 1 1/3 IP).  That hole was too deep for the Friars to climb out of as the Giants added four more insurance runs along the way.  Buster Posey (4-6) had 2 RBI’s.  Both Brandon’s (Belt and Crawford) homered again, which seems to be their pattern.  Blanco also went yard.  Matt Kemp and Alonso hit solo blasts off Peavy.

Giants lead series 3-1

GAME 5

Heston vs Morrow

Padres 4, Giants 3

“Not in our house” was the rallying cry for the Friars who were determined to not allow the Jints to clinch on their home turf.   After leading 3-1 after 4 the Friars slowly saw their lead evaporate.  When Gregor Blanco’s sac fly in the 7^th tied the game up Padre fans went silent until the home half of the 8^th when Yangervis Solarte hit a one out solo blast to put the home team up 4-3.  Closer Craig Kimbrel came on for a scoreless 9^th to save the game and send the series north on I-5 to the Bay Area.

Giants lead series 3-2

GAME 6 – AT&T Park

Shields vs Vogelson

Giants 3, Padres 0

In a curious decision manager Weinrib tapped 37 year old Ryan Vogelsong  to be his game 6 starter.  Vogelsong, who was 9-11, 4.67 in the regular season hadn’t had a respectable year since he was 14-9 in 2012.  With Madbum in the wings for game 7 and one game to play with the hopes were to get a quality start out of a guy who has a lifetime 3-0, 2.92 post season record.  What the Giants got was 8 innings of 3 hit shutout ball in 108 economical pitches.  How dominant was Vogelsong ?  Not a single Padre baserunner made it past second.  San Fran scored a run in the 1^st on a Posey RBI single and a run in the second on a Blanco single.  A Hunter Pence solo shot in the 5^th was the final tally.  Romo pitched a perfect 9^th for the save as the Jints head to the finals with a rematch of 2014 with the Royals.

Giants win series 4-2

AL Semi-Finals - Down 3-0, #1 overall KC rallies to pull it out in 7 over #10 TBY

Game 1-Chris Archer and 3 relievers shut out Kansas City in Kaufmann Stadium to give Tampa a 2-0 victory in Game 1. 

Tampa 1, KC 0

Game 2-Lorenzo Cain gets the Royals on the board early with a 2-run double in the 1st inning.Tampa  ties it up with 2 runs in the 4th inning.  Tampa scores one more in the 6th inning but Eric Hosmer ties it with a solo shot in the 8th and the game goes to extra innings.  Steven Souza Jr. puts the Rays ahead in the top of the 11th with a 2 run single, his 3rd of the night, and Brad Boxberger saves it in the bottom of the inning to give Tampa a 5-3 win.

Tampa 2, KC 0

Game 3-Tampa gets a dominating 7-2 win over KC as the series goes down to Tampa. John Jaso goes 3-4 with 2 doubles, a homer, and 5 RBI in the victory.  The Rays are 1 game away from a series win

Tampa 3, KC 0

Game 4-Chris Young puts the clamps on the Rays bats taking a no-hitter into the 9th inning before Jaso breaks it up with a single through the middle.  Young hangs on for the 5-0 2-hit shutout.

Tampa 3, KC 1

Game 5-KC jumps out to another 1st inning lead in this one on a 2 run Kendrys Morales double.  The Royals never look back as Johnny Cueto does not give up a run until the 8th inning.  Morales adds a HR in the 5th inning of the 5-1 Royals victory.

Tampa 3, KC 2

Game 6-The game of the series as each team can only manage 1 run coming into the bottom of the 8th inning despite having 21 total hits with Tampa having 15 of them.  Lorenzo Cain hits a stand up triple with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th.  Eric Hosmer knocks him in with a single to put the Royals up 2-1.  Wade Davis comes in to shut down the 9th but 2 Rays reach base before a game ending ground ball by James Loney.

Tampa 3, KC 3

Game 7-  Game 7 is dominated by Yordana Ventura throwing 7 innings of shutout ball.  Ryan Madson comes on to finish the last 2 and the Royals get a 3-0 victory to close out an epic series comeback.

KC 4, Tampa 3

Thanks for a great series Brian!!

--submitted by Andy Sexton--

Round 3 - SFG(6) holds off #2 Cubbies in 5 game classic series.

GAME 1 – Wrigley Field

Bumgarner vs Arrieta

Cubs 2, Giants 1 (11 inn)

Both aces gave up just one run and matched each other pitch for pitch.  The pens were solid as well.  After 9 innings of play the game remained tied 1-1.  Neither team scored in the 10^th and after Jason Motte set down the Jints in order in the top of the 11^th Dexter Fowler led off the bottom of the inning with a walk off 365 foot homer off of Petit to set off the fireworks on Addison.

Cubs lead series 1-0

GAME 2

Heston vs Lester

Cubs 6, Giants 1

Chris Heston was victimized for 5 runs over the first 2 innings and the Cubbies never looked back.  Jon Lester earned all of his free agent money with 8 shutout innings of 3 hit ball.  Kris Bryant hit a 2 run shot and Anthony Rizzo hit a solo shot.  Bryant (2-4) had 3 RBI’s.  A Hunter Pence 9^th inning blast off reliever Hector Rondon broke up the shutout.

Cubs lead series 2-0

GAME 3 – AT&T Park

Hendricks vs Hudson

Giants 9, Cubs 4

In a must win game 3 the Giants rose to the challenge.  Cub starter Liam Hendricks (7 ER / 5 IP) was putrid.  Buster Posey, fresh from delivering babies, was dominant.  San Fran’s All-Star catcher was 4-4 with 2 RBI’s and 2 runs scored.  The Brandons, Belt and Crawford, each knocked in two as well.  After Chicago scored 2 runs in the top of the 5^th to make it a one run game, Posey and company posted a 5 spot to stave off elimination.  Tim Hudson (1 ER / 6.1 IP) was solid while recording the win.

Cubs lead series 2-1

GAME 4

Hammel vs Peavy

Giants 11, Cubs 1

Jake Peavy fanned 12, while allowing just one while completing the circuit.  Cub hitters were made to look foolish by Peavey who looked more like his 2007 Cy Young version than the battle-scarred 2015 version.  Rookie sensation Kris Bryant was forced to wear the sombrero.  Catcher Montero was one K away from sharing the hat.   Every Jint, including Peavy had a hit, with 6 having at least 2.  Pence, Aoki and Belt each went yard.

Series tied 2-2

GAME 5 – Wrigley Field

Bumgarner vs Arrieta

Giants 2, Cubs 1

In a rematch of game 1 starters fans were once again treated to two great pitching performances.  With all the marbles on the line in this decisive game 5 Madbum and Jake were both spectacular.  The Jints drew first blood with a Matt Duffy RBI single in the top of the 1^st.  A Tomlinson two out two bagger scored Belt to make it 2-0.  Arrieta shut the door after that and would not allow another run.  Unfortunately for him and the “cursed” Cubbes, Madbum found a way to get out of 3 jams and not allow a run.  The byproduct of his magic was a hearty 129 pitch count after 6, which forced the Jints to go to their pen.  In the bottom of the 7^th Fowler led off with his 2^nd homer of the series to make it 2-1, but Javy Lopez  and Santiago Casilla would combine to strike out 6 of the next 9 batters, including the final 3 to clinch the series  and advance the Jints to the Final 4

Giants win series 3-2

Editor's Note:  Congrats to Andy for not only making the final 4 with the Jints, but making the WS in KOD.  Gr8 series to play, as I was subbing for Mike Hill (sorry for letting you down).  It was really cool seeing the Wrigley Field backdrop picture that I took during my summer road trip.  I believe Dave packaged my photos from:  CIN, STL, CUB, CHW, MIL, CLE, NYM and PHI with the 2016 game.  Also, the cards posted here for Dexter Fowler and Jon Lester were from pictures that I took during the NLCS at Citi Field from the Promenade Deck.

Round 3 - KCR(1) needs 5 games to beat the upstart M's(13)

KC was able to squeak by the upstart Mariners to move to the Final Four.  Seattle liked its chances in Game Five, with game one winner Felix Hernandez on the mound against Yordano Ventura, who was banged around in the first game.

But Hernandez wasn't his dominant self, giving up three runs in the first. That was enough for Ventura, as the Royals held down the Mariners' hitters, capped by two great throws to the plate by Cain and Gordon to throw out Mariners attempting to score. Wade Davis again showed why he's the game's best closer by shutting down a hint of a Seattle rally in the ninth, as KC won the rubber game 4-1.

Regards,

Joe Pryweller

Round 3 - Padres(9) upset Dodgers(4) in 5

Facing elimination after three games, the Padres win games four and five.

Game 1 – SD 4, LA 1 – Tyson Ross vs Zack Greinke

Justin Upton homered and Yangervis Solarte doubled in a run to chase Greinke in the 7^th.  Four Padre relievers throw three shutout innings to finish the game.

Game 2 – LA 5, SD 4 – Brett Anderson vs Ian Kennedy

Andre Either’s first inning 3-run homer gave the Dodgers the early lead.  The Padres claw their way back and tie the game in the 7^th when Solarte triples and scores on a ground out.  In the bottom of the 9^th, Juan Uribe hits a pinch double and Joc Pederson doubles him in for the win.

Game 3 – LA 3 – SD 1 – Clayton Kershaw vs James Shields

Adrian Gonzalez hits a 2-run homer in the 3^rd which is all Kershaw needed in this game.  Padres score a run after Derek Norris doubles and Jedd Gyorko singles him, but the Dodger bullpen closes the door.  Kenley Jansen strikes out the side in the 9^th for the save.  Kershaw strikes out 11 in 7 1/3 innings for the win.

Game 4 – SD 5, LA 3 – Andrew Cashner vs Mike Bolsinger

Cashner throws 6 1/3 shutout innings and Matt Kemp knocks in 3 runs as the Padres build a 5-0 lead.  The Dodgers don’t give up and score 3 runs in the 9^th until Craig Kimbrel comes in to get the last out.

Game 5 – SD 3, LA 1 – Tyson Ross vs Zack Greinke

Both pitchers are throwing up zeroes when Solarte connects on a solo homer in the 4^th off Greinke.  Padres manage to build a 3-0 lead until Justin Turner singles in Pederson in the 8^th.  Joaquin Benoit gets the last 4 outs for the save and the series win. 

Solarte is named SD MVP as he goes 5 for 6 with 2 doubles and a home run against Greinke in the series.

Great series between two tough pitching staffs.  Thanks to Keith for the fun games.

John/SD

San Diego beat Grienke twice.

So they completely deserve their place in the Final Four.

Some nice tight games.

Good luck to the remaining teams.

Keith

Round 3 - TBY(10) sweeps DET(14) in 3 straight, with 2 going to extra innings.

Game 1 - Tampa Bay 4 Detroit 0

This game had the two aces going head to head.  David Price was facing Chris Archer - this promised to be a pitchers duel.  Tampa busts through in the third when Longoria blasts a two run shot of Price to give Tampa a 2 to 0 lead.  This was all Archer needed as he shut down Detroits potent offense through 7 1/3 while giving up four scattered hits.  Belatti came in to finish the final 1 2/3 to soldify the 4-0 shutout.  Tampa Bay leads 1 game to 0.

Game 2 - Tampa Bay 2 Detroit 1  10

This game had another fine pitching matchup.  The ever reliable Verlander against the strong Tampa No. 2 - Odorizzi.  The first five innings was a pitching masterpiece - each side remains scoreless going into the sixth.  In the top of the sixth Forsythe lined a single to center with two outs to score Longoria from second, this gives Tampa a 1 - 0 lead.  This lead was short lived as Detroit comes back in the bottom of the inning when Cabrera leads off with a long hard liner off the wall in left center for a lead off double.  He moves to third on a groundout and Cespedes hit a towering sacrifice fly to bring home the tying run.  That was all until the top of the tenth.  Butler, getting a spot start, hit a one out double.  J.P. Arencibia grounded a single up the middle scoring the go ahead run.  Boxberger came in to shut the door in a shaky save.  Tampa Bay leads 2 games to 0.

Game 3 - Tampa Bay 4  Detroit 3  11

This game featured two lefties going head to head.  Detroit sent out Norris who shut down Tampa Bay thru 8 inning giving up only two hits.  In the top of the third McCann heads to the box and hits a moon shot for the Tigers.  While McCann was doing a beautiful spin jump on to third he was rewarded with an injury that would keep him out of the rest of the game.  A fine lesson to all:  Act like you have hit a dinger before!!!  In the sixth Setroit's bats finally woke up and they started to put a few hits together.  Detroit added two more runs in this inning and took a commanding 3 to 0 lead.  Bottom of the ninth arrives and Detroit brings in Soria to close out the game.  Guyer walks for Tampa to lead off the inning, Rivera then singles sending Guyer to second.  Two on no one out tying run at the plate.  BOOM!!!!  John Jaso hits a "no doubter" to dead center to tie this game up at three.  This games heads to the eleventh inning.  Bottom of the eleventh - Rivera singles, moves to second on ground out.  two outs a man on second.  Kiermaier dribbles an infield single - first and third two outs.  Longoria gets a two out game winning series ending single.  Let's go Crazy!!!
--submitted by Brian Stokes--

Round 2 - SFG(6) upsets STL(3) in 4 games.

GAME 1 - Busch Stadium III
Bumgarner vs Lackey
Giants 6, Cardinals 5

Madbum, still feeling the effects of throwing game 5 was ineffective at best working on such short rest.  The Cards touched him up for 8 hits and 5 runs in 7 innings.  Unfortunately for the Redbirds they just weren't able to capitalize as their bullpen faltered and so did their Matt Carpenter's glove (2 errors).  Up 5-4 after 7 STL put the ball in Kevin Siegrist's hands.  The Jints bottom of the order:  Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik greeted St. Louis' reliever with back to back solo jacks to make it 6-5.  San Fran would have no such issues with their pen as Lopez, Romo, Casilla and Osich combined to get the final 4 outs to bail out their ace wo definitely did not have his A game today.
Giants lead series 1-0

GAME 2
Heston vs J.Garcia
Cardinals 4, Giants 0

Jaime Garcia tossed 7 shutout innings to confound Giant bats.  In 105 pitches he fanned 7, while walking just 1.  Yaddie Molina's 2 out 2 run double in the bottom of the second staked Garcia to a 2-0 lead.  An error by Brandon Crawford in the bottom of the 7th led to STL's 3rd run and a solo shot by Grichuk to lead off the 8th made it 4-0.  Socolovich and Villanueva both pitched clean innings in relief of Garcia to seal the win.
Series tied 1-1

GAME 3 - AT&T Park
Lynn vs T.Hudson
Giants 6, Cardinals 1

Retiring veteran Tim Hudson was good for one last hurrah with a tidy 6 inning performance that saw him yield just one run on 3 hits.  Errors by Justin Heyward, Steve Piscotty and pitcher Lynn himself accounted for 5 unearned runs.  Lance Lynn would go just 4 innings because of the error induced carnage, which handed the win to the Bay area team.
Giants lead series 2-1

GAME 4
C.Martinez vs Peavy
Giants 7, Cardinals 3

To close out the series the Giants used the same formula as the previous game.  Once again they trotted out a senior citizen hurler (Jake Peavy) and got 6 solid innings of one run ball.  The bullpen this time was a bit shaky.  In fact manager Andy Weinrib had Madbum warming up thinking he might need him to either close it out or bridge the gap to the closer.  Instead Castilla was up to the test getting the final 4 outs to close out the series.  Brandon Belt was the hitting star for the Jints by knocking in 4 via two 2 run blasts.  Rookie sensation Matt Duffy also hit a two run shot.
Giants win series 3-1

Round 2 - SDP(9) upsets NYM(1) in 4 intense games

Game 1 – NYM 3, SD 0 – Jacob deGrom vs Tyson Ross

The Mets score 3 runs in the first two innings thanks to five singles.  Jacob deGrom makes it stand up with 8 innings of 3-hit ball.   Jeurys Familia pitches a hitless 9^th for the save.

Game 2 – SD 7, NYM 3 – Ian Kennedy vs Matt Harvey

Padres bats wake up in game two.  Yangervis Solarte knocks in 3 with 2 homers, while Matt Kemp and Justin Upton crack 3 hits apiece. The Mets were within 1 run after home runs by Granderson and Conforto before Solarte hit his second HR off Blevins in the seventh.  San Diego used 7 relievers with Kimbrel getting the last 2 outs.

Game 3 – SD 8, NYM 4 – Brandon Morrow vs Steven Matz

As the series shifts to San Diego, the Mets called on rookie Matz while the Padres countered with off-injured Morrow.  Both starting pitchers were ineffective in this one.  The Mets took a 3-0 lead in the second after Ruben Tejada singled in Granderson.  Home cooking kicked in as Will Middlebrooks hit a 2 run homer in the 2^nd, and the next inning Clint Barmes hit a 3-run shot for a 5-3 lead.   Mets get one back in the 4^th when Grandy singled in Plawecki.  The big blow came in the bottom of the 8^th when pinch hitter Cory Spangenberg hit a 3 run homer.

Game 4 – SD  3, NYM 2 – James Shields vs Noah Syndergaard

Padres hand the ball to their ace and Shields responds with 1 run allowed over 5 innings.  Syndergaard only allowed 2 runs over 7, including a homer to Kemp.  Travis d’Arnaud spoils the home party with a solo HR in the 7^th off Quackenbush for a 2-2 tie.  San Diego loads the bases in the 8^th, but Upton and Gyorko pop up to end the threat.  Joaquin Benoit pitches a scoreless 9th.  Mets reliever  Hansel Robles walks Derrick Norris and strikes out Yonder Alonso, but Venable singles to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd.  Spangenberg wants to be the hero but strikes out.  The Mets bring in Addison Reed, who intentionally walks Kemp to load the bases.  Solarte singles on the first pitch from Reed to send the fans into a frenzy.

Thanks to Justin for a fun, intense series.  Padres have to face the winner of the PIT/LAD series.

Thanks,

John/SD

Round 2 - Cubs(2) sweep Fish(10) in 3

Game 1 at Chicago

Chicago 7 Miami 2

WP: Jon Lester

LP: Jose Fernandez

The Chicago bats were alive up and down their fine lineup as they rode their 13 hits to an easy 7-2 victory in the series opener in the Friendly Confines.  Anthony Rizzo and Jon Lester were the only 2 Chicago starters without hits.  Dexter Fowler and Kyle Schwarber enjoyed big days, as the two players combined for 7 hits in 10 AB with 2 HR.  Jon Lester was excellent, yielding only 2 hits in 7.2 innings to earn the victory.  Martin Prado had two of the Marlins three hits in the game including a HR.

Game 2 at Chicago

Chicago 8 Miami 3

WP: Jake Arrieta

LP: Dan Haren

The Cubs used the long ball (4) to dispatch the Marlins again at Wrigley.  The Marlins held a 2 run lead going into the 3^rd inning when Kris Bryant hit a 2R HR to tie it up.  From there, the Cubs just kept hitting HRs.  Anthony Rizzo hit 2 HRs and Kyle Schwarber added his second on the series.  Although he gave up some hits, Jake Arrieta got key strikeouts (6) to prevent a lot of damage.  7 of Chicago’s 9 hits were extra base hits.  In order for the Marlins to have a chance in this series, they’ll have to slow down that Cub offense which is hitting .328/.423/.671 through the first 2 games.

Game 3 at Miami

Chicago 4 Miami 2

WP: Jason Hammel

LP: Adam Conley

SV: Hector Rondon

This was the only tight game of the series.  As they had in each of the previous 2 games, the Marlins scored a run in the first inning.  The Cubs took the lead for good in the 3^rd inning stringing together 3 singles after Dexter Fowler was HBP.  Miami’s best chance to tie up the game came in the 4^th inning when they had runners at the corners with no outs.  Hammel got a big strike out and a weak dribbler back to the mound to keep the Marlins off the board in that inning.  The Marlins got a big break when Kyle Schwarber was not in the starting lineup.  The move made it possible for the Marlins to limit Schwaber to a single HR on this day, when he PH in the 7^th inning and took Sam Dyson deep.  Hector Rondon came into the game in the 9^th inning to pick up the save.

Series Stars (the 3 that you’d want to stop at the start of a series):

Chicago

Kyle Schwarber – .636 BA, 3HR

Kris Bryant – .400 BA

Anthony Rizzo – 2 HR, 5 RBI

Miami:

Martin Prado – .417 BA, 3 HR
--submitted by Stephen Roman--