Giants at Tigers: World Series Game 3 preview
Fire up the oven, honey. Vogey’s pitching.
As Game 3 of the 108th World Series gets underway in the Motor City, Giants fans across the nation will be paying homage to Ryan Vogelsong tonight by serving enchiladas at the dinner table.
It’s become a ritual not only for Vogelsong, who eats the cheesy Mexican dish the night before every start he makes, but for many of us Giants fans, too.
I know at my house, we’ll be sucking on Coronas and chowing down on some yummy, roasted green-chile chicken enchiladas. Extra spicy.
And why not? It seems to work for the 35-year old right-hander, who has been hot himself this postseason.
Vogelsong is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA and 0.895 WHIP in three postseason starts. He’s 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 0.889 WHIP in his last six outings (32 innings) overall. In his last start, he struck out a career-high nine batters over seven innings to beat the Cardinals, 6-1, in Game 6 of the NLCS.
Tonight in Detroit, he’ll try to help the Gigantes say adios to the Tigrés.
A San Francisco win would put the G-men up three-games-to-none in the best-of-seven World Series (FOX, 5:07 p.m. PT).
Vogelsong has faced the Tigers just once in his career and allowed two runs in 6.2 innings in the Giants’ 6-3 loss to Detroit on July 3, 2011.
Over the years, nine current Tigers have gone up against Vogelsong:
| ▴ | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Avila | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | .667 | .000 | .667 |
| Miguel Cabrera | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .200 | .333 | .200 | .533 |
| Andy Dirks | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Prince Fielder | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Omar Infante | 11 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .636 | .636 | .636 | 1.273 |
| Jhonny Peralta | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .667 | .500 | 1.167 |
| Anibal Sanchez | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .000 | .143 | .000 | .143 |
| Ramon Santiago | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 |
| Delmon Young | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Total | 46 | 38 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 9 | .263 | .378 | .263 | .641 |
The Tigers will counter with Anibal Sanchez, who was 9-13 with a 3.86 ERA and 1.267 WHIP between the Tigers and Marlins during the regular season. The 28-year old right-hander is 1-1 with a very tidy 1.35 ERA and 0.975 WHIP in his two postseason appearances this year. He’s allowing less than a run per nine innings (0.94 ERA) over his last four starts overall.
Against the Giants, Sanchez has a lifetime mark of 3-1, 1.98, and 0.881 in five starts. Two of those three starts were complete game victories.
Before he and Omar Infante were traded to Detroit by the Marlins in exchange for three minor leaguers and a 2013 draft pick back in July, Sanchez faced the Giants twice this season, winning 3-2 at AT&T Park on May 3 (7 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 5 K) and losing 14-7 at Marlins Park on May 24 (5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 5 ER, 7 K).
Sanchez has faced his share of Giants players during his career:
| ▴ | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joaquin Arias | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 | .200 | .200 | .400 |
| Brandon Belt | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Gregor Blanco | 9 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | .571 | .667 | .857 | 1.524 |
| Madison Bumgarner | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Brandon Crawford | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Aubrey Huff | 13 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .000 | .077 | .000 | .077 |
| Tim Lincecum | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Xavier Nady | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .143 | .143 | .143 | .286 |
| Angel Pagan | 25 | 23 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .261 | .320 | .391 | .711 |
| Hunter Pence | 18 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .389 | .722 |
| Buster Posey | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .125 | .222 | .125 | .347 |
| Pablo Sandoval | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .333 |
| Ryan Theriot | 10 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .222 | .300 | .778 | 1.078 |
| Ryan Vogelsong | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .333 |
| Total | 123 | 114 | 25 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 27 | .219 | .264 | .316 | .580 |
Right now, San Francisco seems to be clicking on all cylinders.
The Giants have outscored their opponents 30-4 in their last five postseason games, all victories. Pablo Sandoval is one hit shy of tying the Giants’ all-time record for most hits in a single post-season (J.T. Snow owns the record right now, with 22 hits back in 2002). Marco Scutaro is right behind the Panda with 19 postseason hits so far.
Three of the Giants’ last five playoff wins have come by way of shutout. One more Giant goose egg will tie a postseason record. (The 1905 New York Giants, 1998 New York Yankees, and 2010 Giants all tossed four postseason shutouts.)
Over their last five games, Giants starters are 5-0 with a phenomenal 0.55 ERA. They’ve held their opponents to a .195 batting average, striking out 30 and walking just six in this span.
Will Vogelsong push the Tigers to the brink of elimination tonight?
It won’t be easy, that’s for sure.
Detroit was 50-31 at home this season (the second-best regular season home record in baseball) and is 4-0 in the playoffs. They’ve won five straight postseason games (and eight overall) at Comerica Park, averaging 4.5 runs per game at a .305 clip.
Also, the Tigers won’t be facing a lefty starter tonight.
During the regular season, they batted just .253 against southpaws and .275 against righties. Detroit is 29-28 this season against left-handed starters and 66-50 vs. right-handers.
Even if the Tigers win tonight, the odds are still in San Francisco’s favor to win their second World Series title in three years.
That’s because the Giants have won all five of their best-of-seven series after taking a 2-0 lead (including four World Series titles dating back to 1922).
Detroit has been in this same situation four times, and has been bounced every time, including two World Series losses (1907, 1908).
Plus, 79% of all teams that have won the first two games of the Fall Classic (including 14 of the last 15) have gone on to win the whole enchilada.
Mmmmm, enchiladas…
My Game 3 prediction: Giants 4, Tigers 2
2012 World Series schedule:
Game 1: Giants 8, Tigers 3 (SF leads series 1-0)
Game 2: Giants 2, Tigers 0 (SF leads series 2-0)
Game 3: Sat., Oct. 27: SF (Vogelsong, 14-9, 3.37) at DET (Sanchez, 4-6, 3.74), 5:07 p.m.
Game 4: Sun., Oct. 28: SF (Cain, 16-5, 2.79) at DET (Scherzer, 16-7, 3.74), 5:07 p.m.
*Game 5: Mon., Oct. 29: SF (Zito, 15-8, 4.15) at DET (Verlander, 17-8, 2.64), 5:07 p.m.
*Game 6: Wed., Oct. 31: DET (Fister, 10-10, 3.45) at SF (Bumgarner, 16-11, 3.37), 5:07 p.m.
*Game 7: Thu., Nov. 1: DET (Sanchez, 4-6, 3.74) at SF (Vogelsong, 14-9, 3.37), 5:07 p.m.
* If necessary
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