Nine to Know: The Giants win 2-0, Up 2-0

1. Just a thought for Tigers fans - The Giants won Game 2 of the World Series and held the Tigers to two hits and won 2-0. On October 5, 1962, in Game 2 of the World Series, the Giants held the Yankees in San Francisco to three hits and won 2-0.

• The winning pitcher for the Giants was Jack Sanford and the losing pitcher for the Yankees in Game 2 1962 was Ralph Terry.
• In Game 7, 1962, in San Francisco, the Yankees won, 1-0, and the winning pitcher was Terry, the loser was Sanford.

2. Last night was the 50th postseason game in which the losing team was held to two hits or less and the 24th in World Series play.

3. Madison Bumgarner was brilliant last night mixing his pitches and changing location while striking out eight.

1. In the 1st, Bumgarner struck out Austin Jackson looking at an 86 MPH slider.
2. In the 1st, Bumgarner struck out Omar Infante swinging at an 88 MPH slider.
3. In the 2nd, Bumgarner struck out Avisail Garcia swinging at an 88 MPH slider.
4. In the 3rd, Bumgarner struck out Doug Fister swinging at an 87 MPH slider.
5. In the 3rd, Bumgarner struck out Austin Jackson swinging at an 91 MPH four seamer.
6. In the 5th, Bumgarner struck out Delmon Young swinging at an 75 MPH curveball.
7. In the 6th, Bumgarner struck out Gerald Laird swinging at an 89 MPH four seamer.
8. In the 6th, Bumgarner struck out Omar Infante swinging at an 89 MPH four seamer.

4. Of the 52 teams to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series, 41 have gone on to win the title including 14 of the last 15.

5. The critical moment in this game came in the 2nd inning when Prince Fielder was thrown out at the plate with no one out. Had Tigers third base coach Gene Lamont made the correct call and held Fielder at third, Jhonny Peralta would have been the batter with runners on second and third and no out.

Peralta with runners on second and third and no out this season

• During the regular season, with a runner on third and less than two outs, Peralta was successful in getting the runner home 11 times (39%).
• During the season with runners on second and third and no out, Peralta was 7-for-24 (and two walks) with two doubles, one homer, four strikeouts, and seven RBI.

6. Now they know how the Yankees felt - In the ALCS, the Tigers pitchers had a 1.38 ERA and a 0.872 WHIP. In Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, the Giants pitchers had a 1.50 ERA and a 0.778 WHIP.

7. The Tigers always held lead sweeping the Yankees and have never held the lead in losing Games 1 and 2 of the World Series.

8. Striking out much?

• The Giants have struck out 16 times in the first two games of the Series with Hunter Pence, Gregor Blanco and Brandon Belt whiffing three times each. In 14 postseason games, the Giants have whiffed 106 times (7.57 strikeouts per game) with Brandon Belt whiffing 15 times and Hunter Pence whiffing 14 times.

• The Tigers have struck out 17 times in the first two games of the Series with Austin Jackson striking out four times and Omar Infante whiffing three times. In 11 postseason games, the Tigers have whiffed 86 times (7.81 strikeouts per game) with Austin Jackson whiffing 14 times and Omar Infante whiffing 12 times.

9. Time to shut up out

Postseason shutouts by the Giants

Date	Series	Gm#	Tm ▴	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	BB	SO
1905-10-09	WS	1	NYG	PHA	W  3-0	9.0	4	0	6
1905-10-12	WS	3	NYG	PHA	W  9-0	9.0	4	1	8
1905-10-13	WS	4	NYG	PHA	W  1-0	9.0	5	3	4
1905-10-14	WS	5	NYG	PHA	W  2-0	9.0	5	0	4
1913-10-08	WS	2	NYG	PHA	W  3-0	10.0	8	1	5
1917-10-10	WS	3	NYG	CHW	W  2-0	9.0	5	0	5
1917-10-11	WS	4	NYG	CHW	W  5-0	9.0	7	1	7
1921-10-13	WS	8	NYG	NYY	W  1-0	9.0	4	5	3
1922-10-06	WS	3	NYG	NYY	W  3-0	9.0	4	1	2
1923-10-12	WS	3	NYG	NYY	W  1-0	9.0	6	3	4
1962-10-05	WS	2	SFG	NYY	W  2-0	9.0	3	3	6
1987-10-07	NLCS	2	SFG	STL	W  5-0	9.0	2	4	6
2003-09-30	NLDS	1	SFG	FLA	W  2-0	9.0	3	0	5
2010-10-07	NLDS	1	SFG	ATL	W  1-0	9.0	2	1	14
2010-10-19	NLCS	3	SFG	PHI	W  3-0	9.0	3	3	7
2010-10-28	WS	2	SFG	TEX	W  9-0	9.0	4	3	2
2010-10-31	WS	4	SFG	TEX	W  4-0	9.0	3	2	8
2012-10-19	NLCS	5	SFG	STL	W  5-0	9.0	7	1	8
2012-10-22	NLCS	7	SFG	STL	W  9-0	9.0	7	4	8
2012-10-25	WS	2	SFG	DET	W  2-0	9.0	2	2	9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/26/2012.

Detroit's postseason games in which they have been shut out:

Date	Series	Gm#	Tm	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	BB	SO
1907-10-12	WS	5	CHC	DET	W 2-0	9.0	7	1	4
1908-10-13	WS	4	CHC	DET	W 3-0	9.0	4	0	4
1908-10-14	WS	5	CHC	DET	W 2-0	9.0	3	4	10
1909-10-16	WS	7	PIT	DET	W 8-0	9.0	6	1	1
1934-10-09	WS	7	STL	DET	W 11-0	9.0	6	0	5
1935-10-02	WS	1	CHC	DET	W 3-0	9.0	4	4	1
1940-10-07	WS	6	CIN	DET	W 4-0	9.0	5	2	2
1945-10-03	WS	1	CHC	DET	W 9-0	9.0	6	5	4
1945-10-05	WS	3	CHC	DET	W 3-0	9.0	1	1	1
1968-10-02	WS	1	STL	DET	W 4-0	9.0	5	1	17
1972-10-08	ALCS	2	OAK	DET	W 5-0	9.0	3	0	2
2006-10-24	WS	3	STL	DET	W 5-0	9.0	3	0	6
2012-10-09	ALDS	3	OAK	DET	W 2-0	9.0	4	2	11
2012-10-25	WS	2	SFG	DET	W 2-0	9.0	2	2	9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/26/2012.

San Fran's Starters Avoid Fat Part of Plate During Shutout Streak

The San Francisco Giants have leaped into first place in the NL West thanks to four straight shutouts, becoming the first club to blank the competition four or more consecutive times since the 1995 Baltimore Orioles. Barry Zito, Ryan Vogelsong and Tim Lincecum dominated the Dodgers for a series sweep, and Madison Bumgarner was an up-the-middle roller from Ryan Hanigan away from a no-hitter versus the Reds last night.

While Zito, Vogelsong, Lincecum and Bumgarner all put up zeroes, their pitch location during their respective shutouts varied. One thing they all had in common, though, was avoiding the fat part of the plate.

Barry Zito

Zito's pitch location vs. Dodgers on 6/25/12

Zito stuck to his glove side versus the Dodgers, staying away from lefty batters (nearly 60 percent of his pitches to lefties were thrown outside) and pounding righties inside. Zito threw just five of his 109 pitches to both the horizontal and vertical middle of the plate.

Ryan Vogelsong

Vogelsong's pitch location vs. Dodgers on 6/26/12

While Zito pitched to his glove side, Vogelsong located to his arm side and induced a bunch of ground balls (15, compared to eight fly balls). Vogelsong also left just five of his 98 pitches over the horizontal and vertical middle of the plate. 

Tim Lincecum

Lincecum's pitch location vs. Dodgers on 6/27/12

Lincecum turned in arguably his best start of the season by keeping the ball down: 54 percent of his pitches were at hitters' knees, compared to 45 percent overall in 2012. Only nine of Timmy's 115 pitches were left middle-middle.

Madison Bumgarner

Bumgarner's pitch location vs. Reds on 6/28/12

Good luck finding a pattern in Bumgarner's pitch location. Batters must have felt like they got walloped with a beer-and-shaving-cream pie as the big lefty peppered all four quadrants of the plate. Bumgarner threw a mere four of his 107 pitches to the middle-middle-portion of the plate.

Bad things happen when pitchers leave the ball down the heart of the plate: hitters are slugging a collective .579 on pitches thrown to both the horizontal and vertical middle of the dish this season. Basically, batters turn into this year's version of Robinson Cano when they get a cookie. But Zito, Vogelsong, Lincecum and Bumgarner only threw a combined 5.4 percent of their pitches to the fat part of the plate during the shutout streak. The average for starting pitchers is about 7.5 percent. It pays to be precise.

Bumgarner Boosts His K Rate

For a former top-10 prospect on the defending World Series champions, Madison Bumgarner pitches in relative obscurity. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and international man of mystery Brian Wilson get the attention on San Francisco's staff, and LA's Clayton Kershaw is the precocious NL West lefty that pundits swoon over. Yet, the soon-to-be 22 year-old Bumgarner has quietly ranked among the NL's best while boosting his strikeout rate.

Bumgarner's K rate has climbed from about seven batters per nine innings in 2010 to 7.9 per nine in 2011. And that uptick hasn't simply been the result of facing more hitters per inning: Bumgarner has struck out 21.1 percent of the batters that he has faced this year, compared to 18.2 percent last season. That 2011 K/PA total puts Bumgarner in the same rarified air as Dan Haren, Ricky Romero and CC Sabathia.

How has Bumgarner racked up the Ks? By gaining a tick on his fastball (from 91 MPH to 92 MPH) and shifting his location of the pitch.

In 2010, Bumgarner often threw his fastball middle and middle-away to left-handed hitters:

Bumgarner's fastball location against lefties, 2010

Lefties made lots of contact against Bumgarner's fastball: his 14 percent miss rate with this pitch was well below the 17-18 percent league average for lefty fastballs versus lefty hitters.

In 2011, Bumgarner seems to be employing a high-low approach with his fastball against same-handed batters. While his 2010 fastball was at the same height in the zone most of the time, his '11 heater complements those higher offerings with more low-and-away fastballs:

Bumgarner's fastball location against lefties, 2011

That shift in pitch location is paying dividends: lefty hitters have missed Bumgarner's fastball 24.8 percent of the time this year. Most of those misses have come on fastballs high in the zone. Maybe hitters are taking weaker cuts at those high pitches because they're also trying to cover the lower portion of the zone.

Versus righties, Bumgarner pretty much threw his fastball right down the pike last year:

Bumgarner's fastball location against righties, 2010

Righty batters missed Bumgarner's fastball 11.8 percent of the time that they swung, south of the 15 percent league average.

This year, he's throwing more outside fastballs:

Bumgarner's fastball location against righties

Right-handers have missed Bumgarner's fastball 19.4 percent of the time in 2011, with the highest percentage of those empty swings coming on outside fastballs.

As a guy possessing four major league-quality pitches, Bumgarner already gave opponents much to think about when they stepped into the box. But now, they not only have to contend with an upper-80s slider, a high-70s curve and a mid-80s change, but also a fastball that goes high-low against lefties or middle-away versus righties. That's enough to give a hitter a headache.