SAN FRANCISCO — October is when Major League Baseball separates the men from the No. 5 starters. With runs at a premium, the teams that win are the ones with the most timely hitting.
And timely managing, it turns out.
With his team coming off a 6-1 loss in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, Giants manager Bruce Bochy decided to shake up his lineup for Tuesday’s Game 3. He made it official with a pen, but he might as well have used a bulldozer.
So what happens? Two forgotten men whose names landed on Bochy’s lineup card played key roles as the Giants beat the Phillies 3-0 at AT&T Park to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Edgar Renteria, who hit leadoff three times during the season, replaced Andres Torres at the top of the lineup and scored the Giants’ first run after leading off the fourth inning with a single. Aaron Rowand, who lost his job to Torres, hit eighth and scored the third run after doubling to lead off the fifth.
The Giants’ second run? That was driven in by Aubrey Huff, a left-handed hitter who was dropped to sixth in the lineup from the three hole against lefty Cole Hamels.
“Bochy does things like that and he’s always right,” said Giants closer Brian Wilson. “That guy continues to nail it. Hats off to him for shaking it up and having it work. It really did a number today.”
So did Matt Cain, who allowed two hits, both singles, in seven innings. Three times the Phillies had two runners on in the same inning, and all three times Cain stepped up and made the key pitches. No surprise there. During the season, Cain allowed opponents a .201 batting average with runners on.
“You try to think of it that way, but it’s not,” said Cain, when asked if pitching in the postseason was akin to the regular-season. “There’s a lot more pressure on you. I would say this has got to be the top one (performance of his career). To be able to go out there and throw the ball and help your team win, it’s a great feeling.”
So it is that the Giants have a 2-1 lead in the series, with Games 4 and 5 at AT&T, where Madison Bumgarner will pitch today and Tim Lincecum will work Thursday. Is it time to start wondering if the Giants have that little something called destiny on their side?
No. It’s time to start wondering if the Giants’ pitching staff, the one without Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt at the top of the rotation, is good enough to carry them to the World Series.
“They’ve been getting all the press with their pitching, but we’ve got pitchers that match them pitch for pitch,” Huff said.
The Phillies’ pitching has lived up to its billing with a 1.87 postseason ERA, but the Giants are right behind them at 2.10. And now they’re starting to do things they’ve never done before. To wit: Cain was 0-3 with a 6.23 ERA in five career starts against the Phillies, the only National League team he hadn’t beaten.
The Phillies don’t figure to go away quietly. That said, they’ve officially arrived at the crossroads. Joe Blanton will make his 2010 postseason debut today in a ballpark in which the Phillies have lost eight of their last 10 games. Lose it and the back-to-back NL champions would have to beat Lincecum in Game 5 to stay alive.
Hamels held the Giants hitless through three innings before Renteria singled to lead off the fourth. And who drove him in with the game’s first run?
Who else? Cody Ross, the waiver-wire afterthought whose smoking-hot bat has turned him into an instant folk hero in the Bay Area. Ross is 4-for-9 in the series, three of them home runs.
So, Hamels was asked, how do you game plan for a guy that hot?
“You hit him.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
Star of the game
Matt Cain: Before Tuesday, Cain had beaten every National League team but one. Any guesses as to which team he couldn’t figure out? That would be the Phillies, against whom Cain was 0-3 with a 6.23 ERA in five starts. Not anymore. Cain allowed two hits, both singles, in seven masterful innings.
Key moment
Phillies starter Cole Hamels joked Monday about how hot Cody Ross was: “I’m just banking on the fact that he won’t go 5-for-5. I guess I’ll just throw them right down the middle. I know he can’t do it all the time.” Maybe Hamels should have come down the middle in the fourth inning. Instead, he entered Ross’ hot zone — down and in — and Ross drove the ball to left field for the game’s first run.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
