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In Game One, we got a blowout, which is another way of saying we got one half of a pitcher’s duel. In Game Two, we got the whole duel. Both starters got through their first six innings unscathed. Both starters' lines showed fewer baserunners allowed than innings pitched. Both starters watched Andy Pettitte when they were younger and decided to steal that thing he does with his glove before each pitch.

The fastest pitch Doug Fister threw went 90.2 miles per hour, and the fastest pitch Madison Bumgarner threw went 90.7. If you like watching batters get blown away, you were probably bored by Bumgarner and Fister, but if you’re a fan of finesse pitchers (or Sergio Romo’s slider), this was one of the best combined pitching performances you’ve seen all season.

Bumgarner’s command was missing in his first two postseason starts, but it was nearly perfect last night, as the World Series again brought out the best in him. He put most of his pitches where he wanted them and avoided making any serious mistakes. Against left-handed hitters, he stayed away almost exclusively:

Against right-handed hitters, he got fouls on the inside corner, called strikes on the outside corner, and swinging strikes up, completely avoiding the heart of the zone:

In the seventh inning, he got Miguel Cabrera to swing at and miss a 90-mph fastball; as Dan Brooks reported on Twitter, Cabrera had swung through only 11 fastballs slower than 91 mph all season. In that plate appearance, Bumgarner threw nothing over the plate between the waist and the knees, nibbling at the edges of the zone and mixing up his horizontal and vertical locations from pitch to pitch.

The only time he doubled up on location was from the third pitch to the fourth, when he followed a slider over the plate up with a fastball just a bit higher. Even though Cabrera had just seen a pitch in a similar location, his bat had been slowed by the slider just enough to make this miss possible:

Bumgarner’s careful approach kept him out of trouble against Cabrera, who—like most of the Tigers—went hitless on the night. Cabrera did walk in that plate appearance, but ball four (the ninth pitch of the at-bat) was in the strike zone, one of the few questionable calls by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna.

And Bumgarner did it all despite stepping directly on the foul line and daring fate to do something about it.

As good as Bumgarner was, Iassogna might’ve been better. Check out this chart:

With just a few exceptions, that’s exactly what you want a called pitch plot to look like.

The Tigers produced some line drives that didn’t lead to baserunners, but they collected only two hits—one of which was a humpbacked liner Brandon Crawford couldn’t corral at short—and came close to scoring just once. There were really only two times when Detroit could have done something different that might have affected the final score. Prince Fielder was hit by a pitch to lead off the second and was waved home two pitches later on a Delmon Young double. Buster Posey (barely) managed to apply the tag before Fielder crossed the plate, ending the threat. It wasn’t the worst send you’ll ever see, but with no outs, Fielder and third-base coach Gene Lamont could have chosen to play it safe and count on one of the next three batters to drive the runner in from third.

The other possibly pivotal play came in the seventh, when the Giants loaded the bases with no outs against Fister and reliever Drew Smyly.* Jim Leyland opted to play the infield back rather than bring the infielders in to cut off the go-ahead (and, as it turned out, winning) run. Smyly got a groundball and the Tigers turned two, but Hunter Pence scored from third.

*On the podcast yesterday, Sam Miller and I discussed the ripple effect that Jose Valverde’s downfall has had on Detroit’s bullpen, specifically the fact that Phil Coke’s ascension to the closer role makes Drew Smyly the Tigers’ lone situational lefty. You wouldn’t think that would be such a bad thing, given Smyly’s stats as a starter and the benefit most starters see from pitching in short bursts, but in eight innings out of the bullpen, he’s walked 10 batters (one intentionally). It might mean he’s not suited to or acclimated to short stints, or it might mean nothing, but that’s not the sort of thing a manager wants to worry about sorting out in the World Series. Three of those walks came last night, and the second one turned into San Francisco’s second run.

It’s really hard to say whether Leyland made the right call, since there are so many variables to consider, not all of which we can weigh precisely. The batter, Brandon Crawford, (somewhat surprisingly) isn’t much of a bunter, so the Giants didn’t have to worry about him laying one down, and they also didn’t have to hold the runner at first with second base occupied. The pitcher’s spot was up next, but it was predictable that the Giants would pinch-hit. Pinch-hitter Ryan Theriot isn’t exactly a scary bat off the bench, but the top of the order was due up after him.

What we don’t know is exactly how where the infielders are stationed affects the likelihood of each outcome—a double play, a hit, a grounder that would lead to an out at home, etc. All we can say is which direction each alignment moves the needle: infielders back makes a double play more likely, infielders in makes an out at home (but also a hit) more likely. And another thing we can say is that the Giants’ run expectancy for the inning (which was 2.260 with the bases loaded and no outs) would have been slightly better with the bases loaded and one out (1.537) than with a runner on third, two outs, and one run already in (1.363).

That suggests that the double play was the more desirable outcome, which in turn suggests that Leyland’s decision wasn’t bad and may actually have been the better one. The extra run the Giants plated in the eighth dialed down the scrutiny of Leyland’s call a little, but it looks like we can all put away our pitchforks regardless.

***

The Giants had only four hits off of Fister, one of them off of Fister’s head.

The ball was hit very hard by Gregor Blanco—after the ricochet, it went all the way to shallow center on the fly—so either Fister has an especially hard head or the liner hit him at the perfect point or angle to prevent an injury. He showed no ill effects from the impact, which was a relief to everyone watching.

Now you can watch it again and again without worrying:

***

Less than two weeks ago, the Tigers shut out the Yankees to take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS. Now they find themselves on the other end of a shutout and a two-game deficit, having been held scoreless for just the fourth time all season after mustering only three runs in Game One. As Joe Buck noted at the end of the broadcast, 41 of 52 pennant winners that went up 2-0 won the World Series. The Giants probably aren’t 79 percent likely to win this series—most of those previous losers couldn’t call on the best pitcher in baseball twice in their final five games—but the Tigers are undoubtedly in a deep hole as they head back to Detroit.

***

Coming up with keys to the game must be really hard, because the key to the game is always scoring more runs than the other team scores. But you can’t just do this

because eventually America will catch on. If you’re going to do keys, you really have to commit to coming up with some convincing faux-insights every time out. “GET US BACK HOME 1-1” is another way of saying “WIN”, which isn’t so much a key to the game as it is the goal of the game.  

***

Why you have to be crazy to be a catcher, exhibits A, B, and C:

And exhibit D, or what FOX’s high-speed Phantom camera was made for: watching a foul tip deform Gerald Laird’s cheek in thousands of frames.

***

If you think we’re anywhere close to coming up with a way to prevent pitcher injuries, gaze upon this GIF of Fister throwing a 74-mph curveball and despair.

Fister, as far as I can tell, has never had an elbow injury, but his UCL comes a little closer to tearing every time you let that GIF repeat.

***

Hunter Pence was so excited about scoring a run that he briefly considered biting off the ear of an unsuspecting Matt Cain:

The only person who’s ever been capable of creepier expressions than Pence is Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, circa 1968:

***

Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski was sitting in the stands. His expression was sad, but his hair was spectacular.

No one with hair like that at age 56 should ever look so unhappy.

***

Since San Francisco is up 2-0, Intensely Fist-Pumping Giants fan gets the last GIF:

That fist pump followed a routine groundout with no one on in the fifth.

Thanks to Colin Wyers for his infield in consulting services.

Thank you for reading

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harderj
10/26
Is it a concern or a good thing that Bumgarner's velocity was only 90.7? His command certainly seemed good (love that chart with the big hole in the middle).

In his first playoff start in 2010 against Atlanta his fastball was sitting 94-95 in the first two innings, then 92-93. Against Philadelphia it was 93-94 through three, then 91-92 with but one 90 mph fastball in his fifth and final inning.

In his World Series start in Game 4 in 2010, he threw 44 fastballs out of 109 pitches. Of those, none were slower than 91 until the 6th inning. In the 6th, 7th, and 8th, he had one 90 mph fastball in each. So 41 of 44 fastballs in his start in 2010 were faster than his fastest pitch last night.

Fangraphs shows his average fastball this year was 91.1, so if true last night's maximum was slower even than that. And since his 2010 average was only 91.3 during the regular season, perhaps he was a little amped up as a rookie in the playoffs back then.
bornyank1
10/26
Sam and I just talked about that on the podcast that's about to be up. Could be a concern, sure, assuming he's more likely to lose the pinpoint command than he is to regain velocity.
kcarter80
10/26
He's hurt. If he's not hurt, I predict this "new", weaker, MadBum won't continue to have the success he had last night for long.

In fact, I'd bet he gets pounded if he starts again this series.
rweiler
10/26
He had a huge drop in velocity at the beginning of his rookie season as well and it came back.We'll find out in the spring.
tombores99
10/26
Bumgarner's timing had been off for over a month, and the Giants had Bum make an adjustment by decreasing his upper-body load (twist). The ripple effect made it easier for Bum to repeat and find his release point, but he had less torque than usual.

Interestingly, Bum has relatively low velocity for a guy with such heavy hip-shoulder separation, and his velo was also down before he made the adjustment. He maxed out at 91-mph vs StL and sat 89-90 most of the game, and vs. Cincy he hit 92-mph twice in the first inning but his velo dissipated afterward.

My guess is that Bum is dealing with the physical toll of pitching a long season (at 22 years old), making it more difficult to coordinate his peak mechanics. I wouldn't worry about next year, and he proved that he can survive at 89-90 mph if given another start.
tombores99
10/26
Special thanks to Ian Miller for providing the Krukow quotes to confirm what my eyes were seeing
DetroitDale
10/27
Bums lower velocity is probably a concern long term but short term it probably helped him, as it made him more of a finesse petty like Zurich and those guys givetigers more trouble than fireballers like sabathia
DetroitDale
11/01
auto correct on my cellphone really messed up this message, petty = pitcher
Zurich = Zito
apbadogs
10/26
At first glance I thought that guy pumping his fist was Alex Smith.
SaxonB
10/26
Anyone else see the mini-stars floating in from the left over the dude who looks like hes about to spit out his fifth hot dog?

SaxonB
10/26
In the last gif that is....
flyingdutchman
10/26
"It wasn’t the worst send you’ll ever see, but with no outs, Fielder and third-base coach Gene Lamont could have chosen to play it safe and count on one of the next three batters to drive the runner in from third."

Could you please explain how it could have been worse? Are you kidding me?

frampton
10/26
Sure, he was out on a close play, but it did require an excellent relay (from Scutaro; Blanco overthrew the relay man Crawford) and a good tag, to barely get him. Anything less from Scutaro, and Fielder is safe.
flyingdutchman
10/26
It didn't make sense. It made zero sense. The relay was a good one, but that's what good baseball players do. They make good relays because it's not that difficult for them. Not every relay is good, but more than enough of them are.

Second inning, Fielder running in quicksand. It's dumb to send him, period. I use the present tense because it is running on a loop in my head.
Sacramento
10/26
Note that Blanco's throw missed Crawford--the designated cutoff man. I presume that most second basemen remain at second base for a possible relay from the cutoff man to second base to trap the trailing runner, but last night Scutaro moved towards third base to back up Crawford and caught the Blanco's overthrow. Perhaps Lamont sent Fielder to home because Lamont saw that Blanco's throw was going to miss Crawford and Lamont didn't see Scutaro moving to catch the overthrow. Without Scutaro's apparent improvisation, Lamont's decision would have worked well. Was Scutaro's move towards third base an improvisation? Or was it part of the Giant's standard drill?
flyingdutchman
10/26
It's standard for the other middle infielder to tail the cut-off man on this play.

Please do not attribute Lamont's decision to anything other than incompetence. That's what it was. Lamont does it all the time.
frampton
10/27
True about the second baseman backing up the relay man (the first baseman trails the batter-runner to cover second).

But, you just can't say that it was a terrible choice to send him because he got thrown out. I hope you don't think that if a guy gets thrown out it was wrong to send him; I know you didn't say that. The fact that he was thrown out by inches, by an excellent play, means that he would likely have been safe well over half the time. Maybe the no-out situation warranted more caution, but that absolutely doesn't mean don't send him if you think he'll be safe.

It is not like getting thrown out at third with no out; a third-base coach can be too timid, as well as too aggressive, and in this case, it is not at all clear to me that he was too aggressive. The Giants made an excellent play; that was the only way they were going to throw even Fielder out. You may well know more about Lamont's record than I do, and have a predisposition towards blaming him. Watching the play, I can't say it was a clear mistake
flyingdutchman
10/27
Wow.

You're just wrong about this. Trust me. It's absolutely maddening to be having this argument anywhere, let alone on a site like this.
frampton
10/26
In the gif of Fister, it's weird that his wrist rotates inward instead of outward once he releases the ball. Might it be a change instead? (Point would be the same, it hurts my arm just watching it.)
ceadie
10/26
Excellent artical with good mix of motion, stills and words. Great job BP.
ScottBehson
10/26
Did it seem odd to anyone else that, with big outs to get in the 7th, leyland pulls the excellent Doug Fister and relies on an inning plaus of rookie lefty Guy er Drew Smyly?

Wouldn't either keeping Fister in or going to Benoit just after Smyly faces the lefties be the preferred approach? Why trust the most important inning of the game (and maybe the series) on Smyly?
rweiler
10/26
Aside from getting hit in the head, Fister had thrown 114 pitches and seemed to be losing his command so I think the decision to pull him was justifiable with the lefties coming up. The Tigers only have 2 left handed relievers so it was either Smyly or Coke and Coke is now 'the ninth inning guy'. Smyly was somewhat more effective against left handed hitters than Benoit this year, so he got the call. I would have gone to Benoit instead of Dotel though.
DetroitDale
10/27
There really is no defense for lamonts sending fielder. Yes he runs with heart but a big heart only takes a huge slow body so fast, that every run in a game is precious is an argument for caution not recklessness. This is nowhere near the first time lamonts ineptness has cost the team dearly. Also, bum only needed 80 pitches to go 6 imminent. Fisters needed 100 over the same period. This is not a knock on fister but on hitting coach mcclendon who just can't teach his jitters to work counts like the giants do. Leylands biggest mistakes are not in managing his own but hiring his buddies instead of competent coaches.
DetroitDale
11/01
imminent = innings