Had Them All The Way – Giants Win Game 7, By Chuck Strom

Middle relief pitching is perhaps the least glamorous position in all of sports. Those who make a career of it rarely win lucrative contracts, at least by major league standards, but they can be as crucial to success as anyone else on a baseball team, particularly in October. No one has demonstrated this more effectively than Jeremy Affeldt with the San Francisco Giants. Last night, as he did in 2010 and 2012, he came into a game at a point when one mistake could have meant the difference between victory and defeat. His style wasn’t flashy—lots of ground balls and two double plays as a result of his sinker. As in 2010 and 2012, though, he left the mound with the score the same as when he entered. Much as the attention has justifiably centered on Madison Bumgarner, I was glad to see that Affeldt, after a late change of mind by the official scorer, got the win in last night’s game. When I saw manager Bruce Bochy summon Affeldt from the bullpen in the second inning, I knew that the game would be safely back under control.

I would like to claim precognition by noting my earlier comments on Bumgarner’s availability for Game 7, but that would be overstating things. On two days’ rest, I would have expected him to pitch two or three innings at most to tide things over until either Sergio Romo or closer Santiago Casilla came into the game. No one, including Bochy, could have expected him to pitch five innings with a one-run lead and finish the proceedings. As has been said many times today, it is one of the most impressive accomplishments by a pitcher in a World Series. The only superior example that comes to my mind is Game 7 of the 1965 World Series, when Sandy Koufax, also on two days’ rest, pitched a complete-game shutout with only his fast ball. Bumgarner’s achievement, of course, was more than good enough.

When Chevrolet presented Bumgarner with a massive new pickup after the game as part of his World Series MVP award, I remembered Johnny Bench’s quote about Brooks Robinson when he won the award in 1970 with the Baltimore Orioles: “If we had known he wanted a car that bad, we would have all chipped in and bought him one.”

See you on Opening Day.

– Chuck Strom