Nationals-Giants Game 3 Preview: Nats in must-win situation
By Ryan Ritchey
The Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants will get together coming off the longest game in postseason history, 18 innings, done one other time and the longest game in postseason history, time wise. The Giants lead the series two games to none in a best-of-five series. Game three will be played at AT&T Park which has sold out every game this season and saw over three million fans come through the turnstiles. The Giants will have their number one starter, left-hander Madison Bumgarner on the bump, while the Nationals will hand the ball to offseason acquisition, right-hander Doug Fister. First pitch is scheduled for 5:07 p.m. on MLB Network.
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Doug Fister (16-6, 2.41): Fister has faced the Giants twice this season and the starts have been polar opposite of each other. On June 10 he pitched seven innings of shutout baseball, allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out three. The Nats won the game 2-1 at AT&T Park. On August 22 he took the loss pitching six innings, allowing seven hits, four runs, and two home runs.
Fister has not been as good on the road as he has at home. He has allowed 16 more runs away from Nationals Park, than in it, and allowed almost three times the home runs. The 6’8″ sinkerballer will need to have that pitch working later this evening if the Nationals want to win and survive another day.
Playoff Experience: He has pitched in the postseason the last three seasons as a member of the Detroit Tigers, who were eliminated on Sunday. Over his last three postseason starts he’s allowed five total runs, in 18 innings. Hopefully he can keep that trend going because the Nats are going to need him to be the best he has been all season.
Current Giants versus Fister:
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter Pence | 9 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .222 | .222 | .222 | .444 |
| Buster Posey | 9 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .222 | .222 | .556 | .778 |
| Pablo Sandoval | 9 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .625 | .667 | .750 | 1.417 |
| Brandon Crawford | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .167 | .286 | .167 | .452 |
| Gregor Blanco | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 | .200 | .200 | .400 |
| Madison Bumgarner | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 |
| Travis Ishikawa | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Joe Panik | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 3.000 |
| Brandon Belt | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 53 | 51 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 7 | .294 | .321 | .431 | .752 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
The Giants have very small samples against Fister since this is his first season in the National League. They have gotten all of their at-bats this season, but Pablo Sandoval has had pretty good success, along with Joe Panik who has a homer off Fister in three at-bats this season.
Madison Bumgarner (18-10, 2.98): This season Bumgarner faced the Nats once, and he squared off against Fister. He took the loss after he pitched seven innings, allowed eight hits and two runs, in the 2-1 Giants loss. The Nationals have faced Bumgarner three times since the beginning of 2013 and have won each of the meetings by a combined total of four runs. Bumgarner has only come into the decision once, that came this season.
Bumgarner has been opposite in his splits this season. He has been a lot better on the road than at home and that could help the Nats. He has an ERA over four at home while it is just over two on the road.
Playoff Experience: He has pitched in each of the past two postseasons in which the Giants won the World Series and also pitched and won the Wild Card Game against Pittsburgh this season. The thing that jumps off the page in his postseason starts is that he is either really good or really bad. He allowed five runs in five starts that resulted in a win or no decision, but 10 runs in his two playoff losses.
Current Nationals versus Bumgarner:
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam LaRoche | 21 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | .286 | .286 | .429 | .714 |
| Ryan Zimmerman | 18 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .176 | .222 | .412 | .634 |
| Ian Desmond | 17 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | .333 | .375 | .400 | .775 |
| Danny Espinosa | 16 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .308 | .438 | .308 | .745 |
| Jayson Werth | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .154 | .267 | .308 | .574 |
| Bryce Harper | 10 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1.000 |
| Denard Span | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .125 | .111 | .125 | .236 |
| Wilson Ramos | 8 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .250 | .500 | .750 |
| Doug Fister | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Anthony Rendon | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .600 | .600 | .800 | 1.400 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 |
| Jose Lobaton | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1.000 |
| Nate Schierholtz | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 140 | 129 | 34 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 35 | .264 | .299 | .395 | .695 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
None of the Nats on the current roster have shown great success against Bumgarner. The Nats will be hoping for an old fashioned pitchers duel on Monday as they try to win game three and stay alive in the best-of-five series.