Well, not exactly the pennant, but Steve Lounello's Giants certainly pulled off the upset of all upsets last night at the A Diamond with a 4-2 victory over the No. 3 seeded Yankees.
The baseball gods can be humbling, and the 7-11 Giants served up a big slice of humble pie to the 11-6 Yankees last night. Considering that the Yankees dealt the Giants a 14-0 pasting in May and followed up with a 15-1 trouncing last month, the elimination of the Yankees makes it even more of a stunner. But the fact is, the Giants have turned it up a notch down the stretch, winning six of their last seven games.
Stevie Lou, who was sidelined with injuries much of the season, but was at nearly every game with scorebook in hand trying to rustle up nine players for each game, took matters into his own hands with a gutsy effort on the mound. I don't believe he walked a batter, and few Yankees squared him up (recalling without a scorebook is getting more difficult at age 66). His batterymate Dan Maguire kept the Yankees runners at bay, and he came up with the defensive gem of the game, diving for a four pop up to get the critical first out in the bottom of the seventh.
The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the first -- all with two outs -- but the Yankees answered back with two runs in the bottom of the first. Dave Smitherman, who started on the mound for the Yankees, had a booming double up the right-center gap to cap the rally. It would stay that way until the Giants rallied for a pair in the fourth to take the lead and added an insurance run in the fifth. The Giants defense was solid behind Lounello -- Doug Reisinger played particularly well at shortstop -- and the Yankee bats never woke up from their snooze. Tony Nardacci was an offensive catalyst for the Giants from the No. 2 hole, as he seemed to always be on base and running with reckless abandon.
The No. 6 Giants will now draw the No. 2 Dodgers in a best 2-out-of-3 semifinal series that starts on Wednesday. Not sure how many bullets Lounello has left in that right arm, but the Dodgers will need to bring their best game if they are going to advance to the finals to meet the winner of the Cubs vs. Whiz series.
-- Edited by adtimbrown on Tuesday 13th of September 2022 10:53:58 AM
