Philadelphia Phillies downed 3-0 by San Francisco Giants
After a dominating performance by San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain and a 3-0 loss, the Philadelphia Phillies find themselves down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
Game 3 started as it should, with Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels and Cain silencing the bats on both sides. That was until the top of the fourth when the Phillies had runners on first and second with two out
and had contact hitter Raul Ibanez at the plate. However, Cain persevered and struck him out for the second time in the game ending whatever threat that Philadelphia could conjure up. Ibanez’s strike out made him 0-9 in the series.
In the bottom half of the fourth, the Giants threatened Hamels and his shut-out bid, by putting runners on first and second with two out and Cody Ross at the dish. Ross, who has already had a stellar post-season
with four home runs (HR’s) and seven runs batted in (RBI’s), singled down the left field line to bring in Giants Shortstop Edgar Renteria and the first run of the ball game. The next batter in the inning was Aubrey Huff who followed suit with a seeing-eye
single that bounced off the glove of a diving Chase Utley to bring in the second San Francisco run.
After another Giant run scored in the bottom of the fifth, Cain proceeded to cruise through the sixth but got into some trouble in the seventh. After he hit Carlos Ruiz with 2 outs in the inning, he walked
Ross Gload to put runners on first and second. However, Cain got down to business and induced a ground ball out of Shane Victorino to bring the Giants faithful to their feet for the seventh inning stretch.
With a little flare for the dramatic in the top of the ninth, Giants closer Brian Wilson gave up a one-out single to Jimmy Rollins, but made a quality pitch to Ibanez to end the game with a 4-6-3 double play.
Ross was the clutch star and fan favourite of the game and the series so far.
“It’s been an unbelievable experience for me so far. A month and a half, two months, ago, I didn’t dream I’d be in this situation. The Giants were awesome to bring me over here. It’s just been a great ride.”
Ross said.
Cain was masterful, holding the highly touted Phillies offence to only two hits while striking out five in seven scoreless innings. So far this post-season, Cain is doing his part in trying to get the
Giants back to the promised land of World Series play. The last time the Giants won the World Series was 1954 and they weren’t even playing in San Francisco. Their last appearance in the fall dance came in 1958 with the team known as the New York Giants.
Game 4 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) will be played Thursday at AT&T Park in San Francisco at 7pm with Joe Blanton starting for the Phillies and Madison Bumgarner for the Giants.
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