Skip to main content

Cain Shuts Down Phillies Offense, Giants Lead Series


Matt Cain led the way for the Giants to take control of the best-of-seven series, grabbing a 2-1 lead over the Phillies on Tuesday afternoon at AT&T Park. The right-handed Cain held the defending National League champions to just 2 hits over 7 innings and the San Francisco offense was able to squeak 3 runs out of Phillies hurler Cole Hamels.

The Giants got on the board against Hamels in the 4th inning, after he had been perfect through the first 3 innings. As he's done all postseason for the Giants, Cody Ross did some damage and broke the scoreless tie when he smacked a 2 out single to left field that drove home Edgar Renteria, who led off the inning with a base hit. Aubrey Huff then singled to right field, to plate Pat Burrell with the game's 2nd run.

"He plays with no fear," Giants manager Bruce Bochy told the media after the game of Ross. "That’s what you like about the guy."

Ross is now 8-for-23 (.348 avg) this postseason with the Giants, who claimed Ross off waivers from Florida on August 22nd.

In the bottom of the 5th, Hamels was one out away from escaping the frame without further damage, but Chase Utley flubbed a ground ball from Freddy Sanchez. The ball scooted away from Utley, which allowed Aaron Rowand to score and increase the Giants' lead over the Phillies to 3-0.

Cain earned his first career win over Philadelphia in his second career postseason start. Cain retired the first seven Phillies that he faced, before avoiding damage in the 3rd and 4th innings, when he stranded runners in scoring position in each frame.

Bochy, who was concerned over his team's offensive struggles adjusted his lineup. Ross, who batted 8th in game 1 was moved to 5th in the order, while Andres Torres was benched in favor of Rowand.

Phils left-hander Cole Hamels took the loss, while striking out 8 batters and allowing 3 runs and 5 hits over 6 innings.

The Giants now sit two wins away from the World Series. The team has not won a championship since they moved to San Francisco in 1958.

Phillies righty Joe Blanton, who has pitched just 1 inning since September 29th, will face rookie left-hander in game 4 on Wednesday evening at 7:57pm.

______________________________________________________________

For unique updates, follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...

High Hopes...post season schedule and roster

It's a week later and the Phillies have a 1.5 games lead in the NL eastern division. The Fightin' Phillies control their own fate. It's not 2007, where the good guys were trailing. It's 2008 and the bad guys have fallen behind. According to the TBS web site, the first two days of the playoffs will include both National League games. Wednesday October 1st and Thursday October 2nd would be the first two games of the Phillies' post season. The NL wild card winner and the NL east division champ will determine who plays when and where. Should the Phillies win the east, and the Mets win the wild card, the Phillies would play the 2nd of three scheduled TV times for TBS's national broadcasts, against the west division winner. The game times would be 5pm or 6:30pm both days. If the Brewers win the wild card, the Cubs would not be able to play them in the first round, due to the rule of "wild card winners do not face the champ of their own division in the first round...