A human error and BABiP loss for Ryan Vogelsong and the Giants

A game after the Giants honored Buster Posey for his NL MVP-ness in 2012 ended in the Giants seeing some of the breaks not go their way, and in the end, would see the Cardinals walk away with a 6-3 victory in rookie Shelby Miller‘s 2013 debut. Ryan Vogelsong was tabbed the #5 starter, possibly the best #5 in baseball until Zack Greinke was named that after being pushed back for LA’s fifth game. The trouble started early with a squibber from Matt Carpenter, and there was really no way anyone was going to get it. We should’ve known that was going to be the beginning of weaker contact and trouble like Taylor Swift.

Then, when Matt Holliday came up, there was what appeared to be a human error by umpire Angel Hernandez when a 1-2 pitch against Holliday was ruled a passed ball and Carpenter then scampered on over to second base. He would eventually score after a wild pitch advanced him to third, and then a base hit by Carlos Beltran to get the Cards their only run of the inning in what ended up being a twenty-eight pitch inning.

On the radio, the crew sounded pretty convinced Holliday had tipped it, Holliday himself thought he’d tipped it, but the video for me isn’t conclusive, and since it didn’t go the way of the Giants, I’m going to play the blame Angel Hernandez game.

Hunter Pence would homer to straightaway center in the 2nd, and Pablo Sandoval would get a hit with a runner in scoring position in the 3rd to put the Giants up 2-1. It would be the last lead they’d hold on Saturday, mostly because of the 5th inning festivities that would ensue. Pete Kozma hit it to the perfect spot in the infield that would make for a very high degree of difficulty play for Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, and Crawford actually would’ve had Kozma out had Brandon Belt been able to successfully be able to make the scoop.

He makes that scoop 49 times out of 50, so I figure this to be the one time it didn’t happen. Kozma was the first batter of the inning, and after a sacrifice and a ground out, he’d move over to third base with two outs. Matt Holliday would eventually bring him in, tying the match up at two. Still needing one more out, Allen Craig hit one to a tough spot like Kozma did, and Pablo Sandoval did his best to make a play.

The ball squeaks out of his glove, and the bases would be loaded for Beltran who once again came through on a high fastball to right field that would put the lead up to 4-2. The Cards would add another run in the 6th, and Ryan Vogelsong would have a 5 ER day, but hard to say that was all his fault after you see the videos. Another day, those grounders are field-able, and those rallies you see above may have never happened.

The Giants did see a pretty good chance to rally in the 6th when Pence and Belt walked to end Shelby Miller‘s day, when Joaquin Arias came up to pinch hit for Gregor Blanco and would make excellent contact but…

yea… that got caught, and Belt would get doubled off. Rally: ended.

Angel Pagan would have an issue with Angel Hernandez’s strike zone in the bottom of the 7th. Let’s see if you can recognize what he’s upset with:

Angel Hernandez’s zone did have the tendency to stretch a little bit when a batter was batting lefty on Saturday, and as I found, that isn’t too uncommon for him.

George Kontos would pitch two scoreless innings, and Pablo would homer to CF to cut the lead to 5-3, but Javier Lopez would see a run get plated in his 9th inning appearance, and Mitchell Boggs would end the day for the Giants, giving them game two of the series.

A matchup of aces greets the baseball world from AT&T Park when Adam Wainwright goes up against Matt Cain and the World Champs. Don’t forget tomorrow is the day the Giants get their Rings! Should be a very awesome ceremony.