Fear The Kung Fu Panda.
Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, Albert Pujols and now Pablo Sandoval the only men in the history of the World Series to hit three home runs in one game. Sandoval, nicknamed “ Kung Fu Panda” for his large personality and even bigger waistline, paced the Giants attack with four runs batted in, three coming courtesy of the long ball.“Man, I still can't believe it," Sandoval said after the game, a sentiment shared by Detroit’s ace starting Pitcher Justin Verlander, who served up two of Sandoval three home runs.
The Giants are not a team renowned for their ability to hit home runs. Indeed, they finished last in the majors in home runs. It was the kind of power display most were predicting we would see from the Tigers not the Giants. Then again in Game 1 the Tigers struggled to do much of anything against Barry Zito.
Zito Stays Hot
On a team full of unlikely heroes, Barry Zito is perhaps is the unlikest. As detailed yesterday,Zito has been nothing but a colossal disappointment since signing with the Giant. A 126 million dollar cast off the last time the Giants made the World series. A postseason chance is all Zito wanted this time.His abscene from the team in 2010 Championship run hurt, a pain that he wasn’t going to repeat this year. "I battled in September to make the postseason roster," Zito said. Coming into Game 1 Zito had been on a hot streak with the Giants emerging victorious the last 14 times he has taken the ball. It is that level performance that earned the left hander his opportunity in the postseason and boy has he taken it .
Zito has transformed into the ace of the staff which. cemented by his best performance of the season so far ,out dueling the Tigers Justin Verlander ,to give his team the victory. "The last thing I would have expected at that point was to be starting Game 1". Neither did the Giants or the results he has produced so far.
The Layoff Hurt Detroit
Pitching is a occupantion of routine. To be successful, a pitcher must have the ability to repeat his delivery everytime he throws a ball, He must find a schedule that allows his body to recover in his four off days between starts and do so from the first pitch of Spring training In February to the last out in October. Naturally, because of these demands Pitchers become creatures of habits who can easily get out of sync if their routines are messed with. Justin Verlander, went into last nights game sporting a 3-0 record and 0.74 ERA so far in the postseason. He departed it after only 4 innings giving up six runs on his way to an early shower.
"Just going up against Verlander, I was coming out here expecting a game that was going to be 1?0, 2?0," Giants starter Barry Zito said. He wasn’t the only one. But Verlander seemed off from the moment he took the mound. Out of rhythm and out of sorts, the command that has made Verlander so dominant was lost. Pitches drifted into the heart of the plate and into the swinging bats of the Giants . Every mistake Verlander made was punished by a razor-sharp Giants lineup. Afterwards ,Jim Leyland and Verlander pointed to the six days the Tigers had off before opening play in the World Series as the reason for Verlander’s uncoopertavie fastball. Maybe so, but if last night didn’t provide a jolt of energy to wake up the Tigers, it could all be over before Verlander gets another redeem himself.
