Tonight's game was the first of a 4 game series, vital for both teams' play-off hopes. Both teams are chasing a wildcard with the Dodgers seemingly uncatchable now for the Giants given the slide they are on, and the Cubs being on the verge of clinching the NL Central division with a magic number of just 1 (i.e. just 1 win by the Cubs or 1 loss by the Cardinals would mean the Cards could no longer catch the Chicago Cubs the division title) |
| Johnny Cueto, pitching to Cardinals' Matt Carpenter |
And it came very soon - at about 9.45pm Pacific Time, as Johnny Cueto finished off a fabulous complete game effort to lead the Giants to a 6-2 victory over the Cardinals 6-2. He required only just over 100 pitches, and even contributed a sac fly himself with his somewhat ungainly swing. But it was his pitching that was a joy to watch. His fastball is in the low 90s (mph) and breaking stuff a few mph less, but then he threw in one loopy pitch at 52mph and just grinned at the befuddled St Louis batter.
The game got off to a good start with Buster Posey getting a hit in the first inning, and then Hunter Pence immediately hitting a home run to give us a 2-0 lead. Although St Louis clawed the two runs back slowly, we managed to put several hits together and drive people home like we haven't been doing, with Cueto's hit to RF scoring a run, and 3 more being tacked on too.
A 'K' is hung on the wall in right field seats to count up the number of strikeouts by the Giants pitching staff that night ('K' being the designation on scorecards for strikeouts where the batter swung the bat; the reverse K indicates that the batter didn't swing). When Cueto pitches, the dreadlocks are draped over the 'K's as well.The game was over in just about 2 and a half hours, which was nice as it was much colder this evening - even than yesterday evening,
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