A Game for the Ages - the Century-Old Rivalry at its Best

Things were certainly bleak.  2 time Cy-Young award winner Tim Lincecum was nothing of his old self; he gave up 5 earned runs in under 5 innings, racking up a measly 2 strikeouts against 3 walks.  He gave up 3 runs before getting an out in the first and even uncorked this humorous (but concerning) pitch.  Lincecum also hit Kemp with a fastball that ran inside after narrowly missing the pitch before, prompting the umpires to issue warnings to both sides.  The Giants had just one hit (and a run, thanks to a walk that preceded the hit and a sacrifice fly) through 5 innings against the Dodgers' young left-handed ace, Clayton Kershaw.  Kershaw was cruising, having retired 11 straight Giants until Freddy Sanchez's one-out single in the 6th, and the Dodgers held what seemed to be a comfortable 5-1 lead.

Paul drops the ball.

Then, things got interesting.  In the sixth inning, after Posey and Sanchez both reached base, outfielder Xavier Paul dropped a crucial fly ball that allowed the Giants to score 2 additional unearned runs.  Burrell had hit a fly ball that looked to be nothing more than sacrifice fly (which was still good considering the Giants' offensive woes); instead, Paul's error would put runners at 2nd and 3rd with just one out.  Sandoval made sure the Dodgers would pay for the mistake, ripping a 2-run double down the left field line on a high fastball from Kershaw to cut the deficit to one.  (A positive note: Pablo seems to have figured out how to hit that high fastball.)

In the bottom half of the frame, Giants reliever Denny Bautista threw another controversial pitch, running up and in toward Russell Martin's head and forcing him to jump back to get out of the way.  Surprisingly, it was neither Bautista nor Bochy that would be ejected in this scenario - Dodgers bench coach (and backup manager) Bob Schaefer got into a heated argument with the umpires from a distance, as he furiously called for the ejection of Bautista, and was ejected as a result.  Kershaw, despite struggling the previous frame and running his pitch count to over 100, stayed in the game to bat in the 6th.  This set up the 7th inning, in which Kershaw promptly hit Rowand, the first batter he faced, prompting the automatic ejections of both he and Dodgers manager Joe Torre and leaving the Dodgers with batting coach Don Mattingly as their temporary manager.  (All three ejections here.)

(Joe Torre argues with the umpire after bench
coach Bob Schaefer is ejected.)

This would prove crucial in the 9th inning.  After two perfect innings by All-Star reliever Hong-Chih Kuo, the Giants were left to face with Broxton.  Though widely considered to be an elite closer, Broxton had not been himself lately, blowing important saves recently to both the Yankees and the Cardinals, and would not get the job done tonight either.  A leadoff single by Uribe, a walk by Renteria, a perfect bunt by Rowand, and an intentional walk to pinch-hitter Aubrey Huff would load the bases with just one out.  Andres Torres began walking toward the plate in an apparent matchup with Jonathan Broxton - emphasis on the apparent.  Acting manager Don Mattingly went out to the mound to talk to Broxton and, as he began to walk away, first baseman James Loney asked him a question, leading to the gaffe of the night, as Mattingly naively returned to the mound after stepping off in order to add a few final words.  He completely forgot about a strict MLB rule regarding mound visits, which dictates that a manager cannot pay two consecutive visits to the mound without making a pitching change.  Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who played an important role in facilitating the Giants victory tonight, argued that Mattingly's additional action constituted a second mound visit, thus necessitating a pitching change, and won his case.  Broxton left the game and in came George Sherrill with his 7+ ERA.  The rest, as you know, is in the books.  Torres promptly put the Giants on top with a dramatic, crowd-silencing 2-run double on the second pitch from Sherrill and Posey added an RBI single for insurance.  Affeldt, filling in for closer Brian Wilson, who had pitched 4 straight days, closed out the game despite a 1-out double from Furcal by striking out Andre Ethier, and that was that.  Casilla, who pitched two scoreless innings, escaping yet another self-created jam in the 7th by coaxing a double play ball, got the victory.  With this, the Giants have won 11 of their last 13 games and handed the Dodgers their sixth consecutive loss.  They remain three games out of the NL West and half a game out of the Wildcard.

(Andres Torres celebrates after hitting the go-ahead 2-run double and scoring on Buster Posey's base hit.)

(Images taken from MLB.com)