Sunday's Mound Matchup
Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants vs. Tommy Hunter, Texas Rangers
Madison Bumgarner (7-6, 3.00 ERA)
Bumgarner has been a pleasant surprise for a young San Francisco pitching staff. The 21-year-old rookie southpaw compiled a 7-6 record with a stellar 3.00 ERA in 111 innings of work during the regular season. He had pitched just 10 innings with one start prior to this year.
Bumgarner has been similarly solid in the postseason. In Game 4 at Atlanta, he went six innings and gave up just two runs on six hits, good enough to get the win in the series-clincher. Bumgarner lasted just 4 2/3 innings in his lone NLCS start against the Phillies, but he bounced back for two innings of shutout relief work to help clinch Game 6 at Philadelphia.
Interestingly, Bumgarner was much better on the road than he was at home during the regular season. He was just 1-3 with a 4.60 ERA at AT&T Park, but he went 6-3 with a meager 1.91 ERA in 10 road starts. That appears to be good news for the Giants heading into Game 4.
Tommy Hunter (13-4, 3.73 ERA)
Not to be outdone by a pitcher three years his junior, Hunter was outstanding for Texas during the regular season. He rolled to an impressive 13-4 record thanks to a 3.73 ERA, no small feat especially in the American League. The righty improved in just about every statistical category from his first year to his second, including a drop in WHIP from 1.30 to 1.24.
Hunter’s first foray into the postseason has not gone as smoothly as it has for Bumgarner. In a potential Game 4 clincher against Tampa Bay, Hunter lasted just four innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits while taking the loss. He exited after a mere 3 1/3 innings in Game 4 against the Yankees, but the Rangers’ bats erupted for a 10-3 win.
Something will have to give on Sunday because while Bumgarner is awesome on the road, Hunter is scary good at home. He compiled a perfect 7-0 record in 11 starts at the Ballpark in Arlington and boasted a 3.06 ERA.
Derek Holland, who has been a force in long relief work, was a contender for the Game 4 start admits Hunter’s postseason struggles. Manager Ron Washington had a decision to make. “It's a decision we have to wait and see, and see what they do,” Hunter told the Dallas Morning News last weekend. “Holland's been great in the bullpen, and a lot of things will factor into it. I really hope I get the ball, but if I don't, I understand.”
To Hunter’s delight, he will get the ball.
Texas Rangers try to even World Series in Game 4
By: Willie Bee
The Texas Rangers are back in the hunt. Down two-love in the World Series, Texas erased any sweep dreams the San Francisco Giants might have had with a 4-2 triumph in Game 3 on Saturday in front of a boisterous Rangers home crowd.
Saturday's victory also will keep Texas skipper Ron Washington from having to make a tough decision about his Game 4 starter. Washington insisted before Game 3 he was not bringing Lee back on three-days rest, but one has to wonder how true that was, It's a moot point now, however.
Sunday's contest will be a battle of youngsters with the Rangers sending 24-year-old right-hander Tommy Hunter (17-7, 3.85) to the hill to face San Fran's 21-year-old rookie southpaw Madison Bumgarner (13-7, 3.05).
MLB oddsmakers have laden Bumgarner and Hunter with a minus money line just once in the four starts the young hurlers have combined to make in the postseason to date. That was a minus 110 price on Hunter at home in Game 4 of the ALDS versus the Rays and their rookie righty, Wade Davis.
Hunter was plus 145 on the road in Game 4 of the ALCS versus the Yanks; the Giants have been priced at plus 120 on the road in Atlanta during the NLDS and even money at home in Game 3 of the NLCS versus Philly in Bumgarner's two starts.
Game 3 saw Texas closer Neftali Feliz finish what Colby Lewis started. Lewis worked into the eighth for his third postseason victory. Feliz fanned two in the final frame to nail down the first World Series win in Rangers franchise history. All six runs in the first 'under' of this Fall Classic came home via the long ball with Rangers No. 9 hitter Mitch Moreland's three-run job in the second the telling blow.
San Francisco used big innings to take a 2-0 lead into Game 3, but never could put together any real threat for a big frame against Lewis on Saturday. The Giants exploded for six runs off Lee in the fifth inning of Game 1 en route to an 11-7 win on a plus 115 MLB money line. San Fran then busted out with seven runs in the eighth inning of Game 2 to break open what was a 2-0 pitchers duel to then between Matt Cain and CJ Wilson. It was a season-high single-inning scoring binge for the Giants who closed as minus 115 favorites for the contest.
This will be Bumgarner's third postseason start with the Giants winning the previous two. He last pitched in San Francisco's clinching NLCS Game 6 win at Philly, tossing two scoreless relief frames in the Giants' 3-2 win. Texas hitters have never faced the former first-round pick out of North Carolina.
Bumgarner will be the fifth-youngest starting pitcher in World Series history at 21 years, 91 days old. The rookie southpaw will have a rookie catching him in Buster Posey who is just the 11th rookie catcher to start in a World Series. My quick research shows it's just the second time since the Eisenhower Administration an all-rookie battery started a World Series game.
Game 2 of the 1966 Series saw Jim Palmer start for the Orioles with Andy Etchebarren as his backstop. Palmer was still more than a week away from turning 21 in his World Series debut, Etchebarren a few months younger than Posey is now to make that pair the youngest-ever battery tandem from what I can tell.
Posey and Bumgarner are no doubt hoping for the same outcome as Palmer and Etchebarren enjoyed, a 6-0 shutout win over the Dodgers.
The Rangers will be seeing a starting lefty for the seventh time this postseason counting last night's battle with Sanchez. Texas beat Tampa Bay's David Price twice in the ALDS and came home a winner against Andy Pettitte and the Yankees in Game 2 of the ALCS. New York won both of C.C. Sabathia's starts versus the Rangers, though the Texas Lineup did rough up the big lefty in Game 1 of the ALCS before losing the game late.
Giants hitters have also never seen Hunter as a group, though both Pat Burrell and Cody Ross have faced the former Crimson Tide star while hitting for other teams. It will be Hunter's third postseason appearance with Texas splitting his previous two starts.
Mike Winters, a veteran of 22 MLB seasons and 11 previous playoff series, will be under the mask for Game 4. The California native split scoreboard totals during the regular season, 16-16-1. He worked the deciding Game 4 of the NLDS in Atlanta when the Giants topped the Braves by a 3-2 count. Bumgarner was the winning pitcher for San Francisco in that contest that finished 'under' the 7-run number.
All signs point to a great Halloween evening in Arlington, Texas as far as the weather goes. Thermometers should push their way into the low-to-mid 80s under clear skies during the day with the 5:20 p.m. PT start time likely to find the temperature in the mid-70s.
Game 5 on Monday is set for a 4:57 p.m. PT first pitch. Tim Lincecum will get the ball from manager Bruce Bochy for San Francisco with Lee slated for Texas.
NOTE: W-L records displayed for starting pitchers are team records in games the pitchers start, including the postseason.