MercuryNews
The Giants are a team that washes off defeat and looks on the bright side. So in that spirit, there is this:
They cannot clinch the first World Series championship in the city's history on Halloween night. And that should come as a relief to the fine folks working the switchboard for the San Francisco Police Department.
Thus ends the bright side from Saturday night's stompin' good time for the locals in the Metroplex. Jonathan Sanchez got railroaded by the Texas Rangers, and the Giants offense, which glittered as it rolled along in two home games, turned back into a pumpkin in a 4-2 loss at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
There won't be a greased slide to a parade on Market Street. Suddenly, the Giants must win Game 4 behind 21-year-old rookie Madison Bumgarner to keep this series from becoming a best-of-three free-for-all.
"You know, the momentum "... obviously we're still down one game, but it's shifted," said Josh Hamilton, the Rangers' leading man, who hit a solo home run off Sanchez. "I mean, we're at home, we've got the fans behind us. We're right where we want to be."
The Giants still are the lead hound in this race, but their pace has slowed on several alarming fronts.
Sanchez, operating with reduced velocity that concerned pitching coach Dave Righetti, couldn't sneak an inside heater past No. 9 hitter Mitch Moreland. His three-run home run in the second inning cued the waving towels as red fireworks streaked the sky. Pat Burrell's bat looked plenty slow, too, while he struck out in all four of his trips. "You've got to come in tomorrow, have a positive mindset, put your work in and take something positive into the game," said Burrell, who might need Jedi mind tricks to accomplish that. Cody Ross and Andres Torres hit solo home runs, but the Giants had huge holes in their lineup. Designated hitter Pablo Sandoval failed to take advantage of his rare start, going hitless in three at-bats while bouncing into a double play. And Burrell became the first Giant to strike out four times in a World Series game since Josh Devore in 1911. "I picked a bad time to struggle," said Burrell, who is 0 for 9 with eight strikeouts in the series and has struck out 19 times in 38 postseason at-bats. "There's no way around it. I'm getting pitches to hit and just not doing anything with them. I'm chasing some balls off the plate. "I'm supposed to "... be a presence at the plate. That's what I'm here for, and I just didn't do that. You've got to be accountable for what you do, and certainly I didn't get the job done tonight, not even close." Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he would "sleep on" the decision of a designated hitter for Game 4 today. Asked about sticking with Burrell, he didn't commit, but he lauded the big hits Burrell has provided the Giants this season. What if Bochy takes Burrell out of the lineup? "Could I blame him? Probably not," said Burrell, adding he wants to play. "I mean, I'm not exactly swinging the bat real well. And this is a terribly important time for our team. So I'll show up ready to play, and we'll see." That's not all the coaching staff will discuss. There's also the matter of Sanchez, who claimed to have good stuff but brought a fastball that touched 90 mph in the first inning and mostly resided in the upper 80s. With Sanchez's next turn in a potential Game 7, Righetti said he and Bochy would discuss alternatives. "Damn right, absolutely," Righetti said. "One way or another, I'm sure it'll come up. You're not talking about 1 or 2 mph. He's pitching at 88. " Sanchez nearly escaped the second inning after Nelson Cruz hit a laser-beam double off the center-field wall, and Bengie Molina drew a rare, two-out walk. Moreland, a former college pitcher who made his major league debut July 29, fouled off four pitches with two strikes -- all curveballs and changeups -- before catcher Buster Posey called for an inside fastball. Moreland turned on it to win the nine-pitch battle -- a surprising result for a player who had only 20 at-bats against left-handed pitchers in the regular season, and no home runs. "He hit my pitch," Sanchez said. "It wasn't a mistake. That was the game right there." Posey said: "We stayed away from Moreland the whole at-bat, and we tried to come in. I'll take as much blame for it as him. I thought it was a good pitch, and the guy just put a good swing on it." Hamilton crushed Sanchez's hanging curveball for a solo shot in the fifth, an inning that the left-hander couldn't survive. The bullpen gave the Giants a chance to rally, but Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis improved to 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA in four postseason starts. The slider specialist twirled a gem into the eighth inning, and hard-throwing rookie closer Neftali Feliz, 22, became the youngest pitcher to record a save in the World Series since Nolan Ryan in 1969. Now the Giants need Bumgarner, despite his significant workload, to have something in his tank -- especially when so many others are operating on fumes. "It makes it harder to compete when you don't have that jump on your fastball that you're used to having," Righetti said of Sanchez. "It's going to happen this time of year. Timmy (Lincecum) is dealing with it. They're all dealing with it."
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