SAN FRANCISCO — A Giants-Dodgers game that no less an authority than Vin Scutlly tweeted was “the most important game in the history of their rivalry” lived up to the hype.
The Giants saw their season end in a dramatic, heartbreaking 2-1 loss in Game 5 of the NLDS on Thursday night at Oracle Park. But the game was filled with the twists and turns, heroes and nearly-heros worthy of the final game in the first modern era playoff series between two longtime rivals who mirrored each other practically every step of the way this season.
In the end, the 109-win Giants (counting two playoff wins) saw their season end with the potential tying run on first base in a game the Dodgers started a reliever, and ended with Game 3 starter Max Scherzer striking out Wilmer Flores on a disputed check swing.
Giants wunderkind Logan Webb was just as effective as he was in Game 1, holding the Dodgers scoreless until the top of the sixth inning. That was the only run the 24-year-old allowed in 14 ⅔ innings.
The Giants offense never broke out during the series. Darin Ruf, who had been hitless in the series, tied the score with a booming homer 450 feet into the netting beyond the center field fence to lead off the bottom of the sixth. That lead held until Cody Bellinger’s RBI single in the top of the ninth..
Here are some highlights from Thursday night’s post-game media session with manager Gabe Kapler and players Ruf and Webb.
To Kapler: I know all year you have not been one to talk much about umpire decisions, but that final check swing call seemed as if it really angered a lot of people. What were your thoughts on that and how did you see it?
Kapler: “Super tough. Yeah, I mean, obviously you don’t want a game to end that way. I know these guys work really hard to make the right call, so it’s super challenging on our end. Obviously, it’s going to be frustrating to have a game end like that, but a pretty high-quality hitter at the plate that can climb back into that count, it’s no guarantee of success at the end of the at-bat. It’s just a tough way to end it.”
To Kapler: Do you think he checked his swing?
Kapler: “It looked like he didn’t go. I mean, that was my take on it.”
Logan, you said before this series began you were going to treat the postseason start like it was any other game. You had two of the most epic postseason starts in the history of this game with some elite company. So what did you learn from it and what are your takeaways?
Webb: “I learned that it’s a lot of fun. The crowd was just awesome. That was really cool. Just being in the spot with our guys. We deserved this, to be here, and that was the coolest part for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen the way we wanted it to end it and it really sucks. But it’s just a ton of fun. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys in our room.”
To Kapler: You guys played them 24 times this year. You each won 12 times. We know how close it was at the end of the regular season. What do you make of just the season as a whole against the Dodgers and how close the series was?
Kapler: “Yeah, I thought we were really tough in the games against the Dodgers all season long. I thought we were really tough in tonight’s game as well. Yeah, I think the character of the team, independent of the talent of the team, really shined in our games against the Dodgers and some of the things that we talked about when we played the last game of the season, that grittiness and that toughness and that unselfishness and some of the vision. It just all came togethers in those games against the Dodgers.”
To Webb and Ruff: Gabe said that the (Giants-Dodgers) rivalry is healthy and well. Going into next year how motivated are you and what do you think about where the rivalry is and where it’s going?
Webb: “This won’t be the last time we play them in the playoffs.”
Ruf: “We don’t plan on talking any steps backwards, so I know they don’t, so, yeah, it will be hopefully fun for years to come.”
To Ruf: Acknowledging that the Dodgers pitched very well through the whole series, you guys had four runs in the first game and then didn’t really mount much of an attack after that. How much did that have to do with them and how much of it had to do with you and how much of it had to do with breaks, balls hit at people and how do you kind of process all of that?
Ruf: “Yeah, I mean, obviously, the arms that they have, every single at-bat, starting pitching, bullpen, are some of the most elite arms in the game. You can have an approach, you can have a game plan, executing it against that level of ability is obviously very hard.
“I think we had great approaches, great game plans. Obviously, you need balls to fall, you need breaks. … In a one-game-take-all it doesn’t matter if you have great at-bats, you need positive results.”
To Kapler: We can’t be inside the clubhouse right now. What is the emotion like and is it more a mix of anger or frustration or is it just disappointment in how this has come to an end?
Kapler: “I think there’s like a combination of still processing the game and thinking about the moments that we would have liked to have seen go differently, and then I think there’s quite a bit of, I think players really care about each other. I think the staff really cares about each other, and I think the staff and players care about each other as well.So there’s expressions of appreciation for a job very well done and an incredibly successful season that at the very end just came up a tiny bit short, and I think this is the appropriate time to just share that the Dodgers pitched really well in this series and pitched really well in this game and you got to tip your cap to the work that they did. They beat us.”
Logan, obviously you pitched well this game, but it seemed like Mookie Betts was that guy that even on good pitches he was able to get some hits off of you. (Betts had five of the nine hits Webb allowed in the series and Betts was 9-for-20 overall after going 4-for-4 in Game 5). What did you feel about facing him and what’s your respect level for him?
Webb: “He’s one of the best players in baseball for a reason. He’s a pretty incredible player and pretty incredible guy, honestly. So he did a good job, he kind of knew the way I attacked him the first game and he just, I tried to kind of do that the same way in this one and kind of just got to tip your cap, he’s a special player and there’s a reason why he’s so special.”
For Kapler: You’ve mentioned how well the Dodgers pitched,but you wound up not scoring any, four runs in the first game was the most that you had and I think the batting average is probably below .200 for the whole series. Were your quality of at-bats what you wanted to see and you just didn’t get breaks and they pitched well? How would you assess that?
Kapler: “I think in hindsight you can come off or comments can come off looking like making excuses about what happened. I mean, Darin Ruf had two balls that he smoked on the nose early in the game. That happens. It’s part of baseball. So you don’t expect all those to go your way.That ball that (Brandon Crawford) hit to left field on a line, Mookie was right there. Donovan Solano hits a ball down the third base line, Justin Turner’s right there. That’s just part of baseball and I don’t think it makes any sense to throw your hands up and say, I wish this was different in any way.
“I thought we had some quality at-bats throughout the series. At the end of the day they made more pitches than us. And, yeah, I mean, this is what the postseason is all about. You’re going to face the best pitching. Everybody’s going to be well rested. You’re not going to get like through the best pitchers in a pen and then get to poorer pitchers because they’re all good.
“You get into the postseason, you’re going to face really kick-ass pitching and then you’re going to need to be on your A-game offensively. And I actually think we put good at-bats together and we just weren’t able to get the job done.”
To Kapler: If you haven’t already, or maybe you will, what would you want to emphasize to your players about the season they had, and obviously a tough ending, but a great season.
Kapler: “Yeah, I think the unselfishness that this team showed throughout the year, the trust that they showed in one another was second to none, better than any season that I’ve ever been a part of as a player, as a coach, in any position in baseball.I just respect the hell out of a team-first mentality. I’ve never seen it like this. This is the best I’ve ever seen. So if there’s a message, it’s continue with that and we’re going to build on this season and be better because we have that foundation in place, that foundation of trust and unselfishness.”
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