SAN FRANCISCO — The Cubs were six outs away from finally doing it. Six outs away from knocking the Bruce Bochy lead Giants out of the playoffs for the first time ever. Nine times a team had pushed San Francisco to the brink of elimination, and nine times the Giants withstood it.
Early Tuesday morning that number stands at 10, on the heels of Monday’s truly incredible come from behind victory in Game 3 of the NLDS, that had more twists and turns than your typical playoff series.
The Giants have maybe never looked more vulnerable than they did in the second inning of Game 3 on Monday, when Jake Arrieta rocketed a ball into the San Francisco twilight, giving the Cubs an early 3-0 lead to add to their 2-0 advantage in the series.
Knowing what we know now, it’s funny to think that Arreita’s homer was primed to be the game’s defining moment. That Madison Bumgarner and the Giants looked like they would finally fall together, after taking so many punches and staying upright.
But they didn’t fall on Monday, even when the Cubs withstood what looked like a knockout blow from Conor Gillaspie, who again came through in an enormous moment, this time in the face of a 103 mph fastball from the best closer in the game.
The Cubs showed their toughness too, when Kris Bryant countered to tie the game with a two-run homer in the ninth. The moment was a startling, not simply because it looked like the Giants might lose, but because Gillaspie’s moment, improbable as it was, falls perfectly in line with the type of even-yeared hijinks we’ve seen time and again.
So for a second time, it looked like the Cubs were finally going to do it. That Monday would in fact go down as San Francisco’s final valiant effort, before the mystique finally ran into the cold reality that this Chicago team is just too good.
But again, the Giants would not die. First leaning on rookie September call-up Ty Blach to help calm things down during the 11th and 12th innings, before Joe Panik made himself the second hero of the night, rocking a double to right-center field that easily scored Brandon Crawford from second, adding yet another chapter to the Giants mythology and officially keeping them alive for one more night.
“What they did tonight, that’s one of the best, most exciting games I’ve ever been involved in.” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “The game had everything — pitching, timely hitting on both sides. It was just a fun game to be involved with.”
Perhaps most fun is what’s happening with Gillaspie, who has joined Travis Ishikawa, Cody Ross and Marco Scutaro in a long line of unexpected Giants playoff hero’s. Even he seemed confused by how he was able to connect with Chapman’s 102 mph fastball, admitting that he had no idea where the ball was after it fired off his bat, or how exactly he got it to connect in the first place.
“Fire your hands at it, I guess.”
The Giants season could still end tomorrow. This could all go down as dramatic exercise in delaying the inevitable, and probably will against a Cubs team this good.
After what happened in Game 3, however, it’s hard not to let irrational thoughts creep in. It’s hard not to remember all the times that it was reasonable to pick against the Giants and all the times they proved you wrong. It’s hard not to feel like whatever made those teams so resilient, is the same thing we saw Monday. It’s hard not to think that this team is only at their best when the season is on the line.
With their margin for error at close to nothing, that’s how things seemed on Monday. Maybe it was a precursor of more magic to come or maybe it was one last hurrah for old times sake. We won’t know until tomorrow.
As Madison Bumgarner pointed out, however, there is one thing we know for certain.
“We’re hard to kill.”