Bruce Magowan covers the Giants for the SF Examiner as well as being the host of “The Insiders”, KNBR’s Weekend baseball pre and post game shows.

No one feels for the Giants like Bruce, but he is an astute baseball person who calls them like he sees them.

Check out Bruce’s column below, it is a firsthand look at the Marlins-Giants playoff series including insights that I hadn’t heard before.

Thanks, Bruce…

Marty LurieGiants’ fans are starting to wonder if they will ever see their team win a World Series. On the flight home from Miami with the team, my KNBR colleague Ralph Barbieri recited their all too familiar litany of post season failure, stretching back to 1962. Ralph and I are among the many thousands who have lived in this area for well over a generation, and we’re
feeling more than a little frustrated.
Blowing a five run lead in the sixth game of the Series last year at Anaheim was bad enough, but to lose two more absolute gut wrenchers within 24 hours this past weekend in Miami was almost too much. As it turns out
however, the Giants might not have been able to go much further even if they had beaten the Marlins. On the team bus heading from the team hotel to Pro Player Stadium in North Miami, Jason Schmidt told me he was ready to pitch on three days rest if called upon. But trainer Stan Conte and Giants skipper Felipe Alou knew that Schmidt’s tender elbow (which turned out to have a small tear in the tendon) was not worth risking further injury over,
and rookie Jerome Williams got the start. Had shortstop Rich Aurilia not made a throwing error in the second inning allowing the Marlins to score their first run, who knows if the 21 year old rookie might have had better
results?
The bottom line however is that the Giants didn’t do what they had done all season long. After setting a team record for fewest errors in a season, they committed an astounding 8 miscues, (including of course, Jose Cruz’
dropped fly ball that set up the Marlins for the winning rally in game three.)
After showing both power and consistency at the plate, they failed to hit a single home run and blew numerous opportunities to drive in runners in scoring position. If they had managed to knock in just one more run in game three, they would probably have won that one, and thus switched the momentum. But instead they left 18 men in scoring position, and allowed the boisterous crowd of over 60,000 to give the upstart Marlins every possible bit of vocal support. And you have to give the Marlins some credit for more
than just beating the Giants. Manager Jack McKeon’s arrival sparked a hot streak that continued from June on, and the hottest team is usually the one that goes deepest into October. (Remember the Giants’ wildcard surge last year that saw them wins 28 of their last 38?)
The biggest spark however was provided by a future Hall of Famer. Pudge
Rodriguez. Long considered the dominant catcher of his era, the fiery Puerto
Rican was a one man wrecking crew, particularly in the last two games. In
game three, Rodriguez smashed a two run first inning homer, broke up a double play, threw out Marquis Grissom who was trying to steal third, and then fought off a 1-2 pitch from Tim Worrell with two out in the last of the
11th to deliver a mind blowing 4-3 win.
In game four, Rodriguez may have outdone himself as he collected two
more hits, drove in a run, scored twice, and picked JT Snow off first. And
his alert, aggressive play in the bottom of the eighth when he hooked Yorvit
Torrealba at the plate and knocked the ball loose was another example of
smart, hard-nosed baseball. Two critical runs ended up scoring and making
in the difference in the series clinching 7-6 win. And then after San
Francisco came back to narrow it to 7-6, Rodriguez made the play of the year
to preserve the win. It was also a signature moment for the great catcher
as the squat Rodriguez took Jeff Conine’s perfect throw from the outfield,
then braced himself for the inevitable collision with Snow who was trying
desperately trying to score to tie the game. Snow smashed the veteran
catcher head over heels, but Rodriguez emerged from the dust holding the
ball aloft, and on cue umpire Gary Cederstrom signaled out! Pandemonium
ensued in the stands and on the field as the fans roared and the Marlins
poured from the dugout in celebration.
In the somber Giants’ clubhouse afterward, grown men sat quietly next to
their cubicles, slowing peeling off their uniforms while speaking in low,
hushed tones. Outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds, who’s single to left set up the
dramatic, game-ending sequence at the plate explained what he saw to
reporters. “When I hit it, I was thinking, yeah, go JT! Go! And then I
saw the play at the plate and thought, oh sh…!”

While several other Giants players told reporters that they felt that
they were a better team than Florida, virtually all admitted that the
Marlins were the better team when it counted. “They were trying to give
this one to us, but we just couldn’t take it,” reliever Matt Herges ruefully
reflected after game three. “When we left all of those men on base, that
gave them an opening and they just took it took it away from us,” he
shrugged.
Herges, along with Edgardo Alfonzo who had nine hits and drove in five
runs were virtually the only guys who played up to snuff in the four games.
After losing three straight stunners, Jason Schmidt’s brilliant performance
in game one was almost an afterthought.
I heard several Giants front office folks afterward use that all too
familiar, but tired refrain: “..we’ll come back and get ‘em next year.”
Wasn’t that the same thing long suffering Brooklyn Dodger fans used to say
after losing repeatedly to the hated Yanks in the World Series?
Let’s face it. As good as the Giants management is, as fine a job as
manager Felipe Alou did, as much as this team played clutch baseball in
close games against tough opponents all season, the bottom line is this:
another post season disappointment left everyone feeling empty.
After coming within eight outs of winning it all with a wild card team a
year ago, this year’s wire to wire NL West Division winners could win only
one game in the first round. Their failure illustrates just how difficult
it is to make it to the World Series. And it also shows quite clearly why
Giants’ fans are now feeling like kindred spirits of long suffering Cubs and
Red Sox followers. 49 years without a World Series title is a long time!