Ryan Vogelsong pitches SF Giants to brink of a World Series title

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Ryan Vogelsong pitches SF Giants to brink of a World Series title

History is littered with big-name players who foundered in the postseason and relatively obscure guys who made their names when it counted most, in October.

Ryan Vogelsong can write a dissertation on the rising from obscurity. With a fourth consecutive postseason gem in Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday night, he moved a big step closer to etching his name on a championship ring.

Vogelsong threw 52/3 shutout innings in a 2-0 victory against the Tigers that gave the Giants a lead three games to none, which no team has overcome to win a World Series.

Matt Cain takes the mound at Comerica Park on Sunday night with a chance to pitch the Giants to a Series sweep, which Willie Mays’ New York Giants accomplished in 1954, and their second title in three years.

The hitters who drove in the second-inning runs against Anibal Sanchez, Gregor Blanco with a triple and Brandon Crawford with a single, are not household names outside of San Francisco either.

The Giants won their second consecutive 2-0 game, the franchise’s first successive shutouts in a single postseason since Ferdie Schupp and Rube Benton skunked the White Sox on back-to-back days in the 1917 World Series.

The Giants also have a six-game winning streak, during which they have not trailed and their pitchers have allowed a total of four runs.

Vogelsong is the fifth pitcher in the postseason, and first since Curt Schilling in 2001, to allow one or no runs in four consecutive starts. He has allowed three earned runs in 24 2/3 innings, a 1.09 ERA.

He hardly was perfect, allowing nine baserunners, but he escaped two jams with double plays and wormed out of his biggest mess — bases loaded with one out in the fifth inning — by striking out Quintin Berry and getting Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to pop out to short.

Manager Bruce Bochy had Tim Lincecum and Jose Mijares warming in the bullpen as options to face Cabrera and Prince Fielder. But after Vogelsong walked Austin Jackson to load the bases, Bochy stayed seated in the dugout as pitching coach Dave Righetti visited the mound.

Bochy let Vogelsong go for the second and third outs. Pitcher did not disappoint manager.

Vogelsong got the final two outs of the sixth and gave way to Lincecum after he walked Andy Dirks. Lincecum got the third out and carried the shutout for another two innings.

Sergio Romo got the save after a Blanco’s long running catch into foul territory retired the inning’s first hitter, Jhonny Peralta.

The temperature was 47 degrees when Anibal Sanchez threw the first pitch in a scoreless first inning. Pablo Sandoval singled for his 22nd hit, tying J.T. Snow’s franchise record for a single postseason.

A lot has been made of the cold weather in Detroit. That did not figure to be a problem for Vogelsong, who grew up and still lives in eastern Pennsylvania.

Vogelsong reminded anyone who asked that he pitched six shutout innings at Wrigley Field in 2011 in a game that started at 43 degrees with a 20-mph wind.

Vogelsong encountered something even colder than the temperatures in Michigan — the Tigers’ bats. He allowed two baserunners in the first and again in the third but ended both innings with double plays. Prince Fielder hit into the first, Berry the second.

The Giants’ two-run first began with a four-pitch Hunter Pence walk, which would have seemed inconceivable the way he was hacking earlier in the postseason.

Pence has looked better at the plate the past two games after recognizing that he was pulling off the ball, or as kids in Little League call it, “stepping in the bucket.” He was easy prey to sliders away and was missing them by a foot.

By keeping his front shoulder closed he has more plate coverage and, more important, can see the ball longer.

“This game makes you adjust,” Bochy said. “I’m sure he didn’t like striking out three times” in Game 1.

Pence is a lot more dangerous on base than he is in the dugout after a strikeout. He stole second as Brandon Belt struck out and took third on a wild pitch.

In recognition of how tough Vogelsong can be, and how well Gregor Blanco can bunt, Tigers manager Jim Leyland played the infield in that early in the game with Blanco batting.

No matter, Blanco said. He built the count to 3-2 and tripled into the right-center gap to give the Giants a 1-0 lead, which grew to 2-0 when Brandon Crawford blooped a two-out single to center. Blanco pumped his fist as he jogged home.

Source : San Francisco Chronicle (blog) - http://blog.sfgate.com