[SSW]

Game 4 -- GREAT Game!!!! Best game of the series.

The bats for both sides finally woke up. A hard fought back and forth game with a lot of managerial moves that was ultimately decided by a couple of fielding errors and a stronger Giants bullpen.

It was clear that Vogelsong didn't have good stuff from the start. Neither did Miller. Both gave up 1st a 1st inning run and got knocked out early.

In the top of the 2nd, Vogelsong gave up another run. Cards up 2-1. In the top of the 3rd, Vogelsong gave up a double and a single to score another run and with 2 outs gave up yet another post-season solo HR to Wong, who has been one of the best hitters (and fielders) for the Cards this series, to give the Cards a 4-1 lead. Volgesong got the final out and that was the end of the game for Vogelsong.

In the bottom of the 3rd, the Giants come back with an RBI by Posey and another RBI by Pence. Cards lead 4-3. In the bottom of the 4th, Miller gets
2 out and gives up a walk when he's relieved by Choate to face Belt (lefty on lefty) who gets the final out of the inning.

Petit comes in for the Giants at the top of the 4th and shuts out the Cards for 3 innings thru the 6th. The Cards bring in Martinez in the bottom of the 5th, who manages to not give up a run despite 2 walks. Missed opportunity by the Giants.

The Cards then bring in Gonzales at the bottom of 6th hoping to get some solid middle relief from him BUT it doesn't work. Gonzales only lasts 2/3 innings after giving up 3 runs due largely to fielding errors by Adams, who failed to deliver the ball on a FC to the plate after a bunt by Blanco that scored Perez and who went for a double play on a hard hit grounder to 1st (instead of throwing to the plate) which allowed Crawford to score when Adams' throw to 2nd was wide. The Cards then bring in Maness who gives up a single to Posey which scores Blanco from 2nd. Giants lead 6-4.

In the bottom of the 7th, Maness gave up a single and a double to start the inning but was able to get out of trouble w/o giving up a hit with good fielding by the Cards and poor followup hitting/running by the Giants. Another missed opportunity by the Giants to score more runs, which fortunately weren't needed. Neshek gets 3 quick outs in the bottom of the 8th, the last Giants at bat.

Five Giants pitchers combine to throw the final 3 shutout innings from the 7th thru the 9th. Casilla closes out the game by striking out Carpenter and Holliday after getting Decalso to pop up and giving up a single to Jay. Petit, who again gives the Giants great relief, gets the win. Gonzales got the loss.

Interestingly, Bochy chose to bring in Machi rather than Stickland to face Holliday (righty on righty) in the top of the 7th. Before facing Machi, Holliday was 2 for 3 and was hitting the ball well. Machi gave up a single to Holliday but at least it wasn't a homerun which would have tied the game at 6-6. I think this choice indicates that Bochy is NOT going to risk giving Strickland another chance to pitch in the playoffs (or WS, if we get there) unless he ABSOLUTELY has to do so, given that Stickland has already given up 4 HRs in the playoffs. Just too much risk involved to do that.

Although mistakes ultimately decided this game too, it was the BEST game so far in terms of each team battling back and making strategic decisions in order to try to take the initiative. Bochy again comes out on top in terms of the decisions made and the Giants now lead the series 3-1.

Won't call it for the Giants yet because the Cards have a very good team and it was the Giants who came back from a 1-3 deficit to beat these same Cards in the 2012 NLCS but we've got Bumgarner back on the mound for Game 5 and, if he's got his "stuff," we should be in a good position to win the final game and go on to meet the Royals in the World Series.

GO GIANTS!!!!