Talking Chop

Refresh this post all night for an inning by inning recap of NLDS game one between the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants.

Top of the first
Tim Lincecum on the mound for the Giants. After a 3-1 count, Omar Infante starts the game off with a double to the right center field gap. But Jason Heyward flied out to the left fielder and Derrek Lee and Brian McCann both struck out, stranding Infante at second. Lincecum went to a three-ball count on every hitter but Heyward, throwing 20 total pitches. He seemed pretty amped up and wild, but somehow effectively wild -- that's how good his stuff is.

Bottom of the first
Against Derek Lowe the Giants get their leadoff hitter Andres Torres on to start their half of the first, but a couple of pitches later Freddy Sanchez clears the bases with a ground ball 4-6-3 double play. Lowe then walks Aubrey Huff, but gets Buster Posey to ground into a force out to end the inning.

The rest of the game after the jump...

Top of the second
Lincecum strikes out Alex Gonzalez to start the second, and then promptly strikes out Matt Diaz and Brooks Conrad. Five strikeouts in a row ... not a good sign for the Braves, Timmy is getting locked in.

Bottom of the second
Pat Burrell and Juan Uribe ground out to third base for the first two out, and Pablo Sandoval strikes out. Easy inning for Lowe, he looks in control, though in a totally different way from how in control Lincecum is.

Top of the third
Rick Ankiel pops up to second to lead off the third. Derek Lowe look at a called third strike to become Lincecum's sixth strikeout victim. Infante hits a come-backer to the pitcher for the final out.

Bottom of the third
Lowe walks Cody Ross to lead off the third ahead of the pitcher. Lincecum sacrifice bunts Ross to second. A routine ground ball is booted by Conrad and allows Torres to reach first and advances Ross to third. Sanchez ground into a come backer to the mound and Lowe gets Ross in a rundown between home and third. The other two base runners advance to second and third on the play. Lowe then strikes out Huff on three straight pitches. Nice job of pitching around the error by Lowe.

Top of the fourth
Lincecum comes out a little wild and walks Heyward on five pitches to start the inning. Lee pops up to the second baseman, and McCann gets under one just a bit and hits a fly ball just shy of the warning track to right field. Sea Bass hits a foul out to the first baseman to end the inning and strand Heywarrd at first.

Bottom of the fourth
Posey sneaks a ball through the hole between short and third for a lead-off single. Lowe strikes out Burrell as Posey steals second, and it looked like he was out. Mark that down as the first call of the series to go against the Braves. Lowe then strikes out Uribe, and the Braves choose to intentionally walk Sandoval to pitch to Ross. That move backfires and the missed caught stealing call costs the Braves as Ross singles through Infante's glove to score the first run of the series. Infante should have made that play. Lincecum strikes out to end the threat. Braves 0, Giants 1

Top of the fifth
Diaz hit a nice drive, but it was to straight away center field, the deepest part of the park, for the first out. Conrad strikes out for the second time. Ankiel then reaches for a ball and grounds out to first -- somehow he hasn't been a strikeout victim, yet.

Bottom of the fifth
Ankiel makes a diving catch in the right-center gap to rob Torres of extra bases. Finally some good defense. Sanchez grounds out to Conrad, who doesn't boot the ball and completes the play for the second out. Conrad gets another chance as Huff also grounds to second to end the inning.

Top of the sixth
Lowe predictably strikes out swinging to start the sixth. Infante gets under one a bit and flies out to right field, and with the crowd chanting "Pos-ey's bet-ter," Heyward strikes out swinging. Ugh, that's nine strikeouts for Lincecum.

Bottom of the sixth
Buster Posey leads off the bottom half of the inning by taking a hanger from Lowe off the center field wall (it looked like the ball just grazed Ankiel's glove). He had some trouble picking up the ball in the outfield, and that allows Posey to advance to third on a double and an error. Lowe bounces back and strikes out Burrell, but then walks Uribe. That spells the end of the night for Lowe, as Bobby Cox makes the call to the bullpen for Jonny Venters. Lowe threw 96 pitches, and many of them were high-stress pitches. Venters comes on and gets Sandoval to ground into a 6-4-3 double play on the first pitch. Braves are out of the jam and escape a runner on third with no out situation without surrendering a run.

Top of the seventh
Lee becomes Lincecum's tenth strikeout victim to leadoff the inning, then Brian McCann swats an opposite field double to left center. Gonzalez bounces back to the pitcher and advances McCann third with two outs. Diaz swings at the first pitch and flies out to center stranding McCann at third.

Bottom of the seventh
Ross grounds out for the first out, and Venters strikes out Liincecum and Torres to end the frame.

Top of the eighth
Conrad pops out to the shortstop. Ankiel finally strikes out. Eric Hinske pinch-hits for Venters, but strikes out on a pitch in the dirt. Lincecum's 12th strikeout sets a Giants' postseason strikeout record.

Bottom of the eighth
Peter Moylan comes on to pitch, relieving Venters. He gets Sanchez to ground out to first, and Bobby calls down to the bullpen for the lefty Michael Dunn. The left-handed batter Huff breaks his bat on a ball back up the middle just off the glove of a diving Conrad. Cox once again goes to the bullpen, this time for right-hander Craig Kimbrel. With Posey batting, Huff gets caught stealing, and a few pitches later Posey strikes out looking. The replay actually showed that Huff was safe at second, though he was called out. The umps get two wrong.

Top of the ninth
Infante grounds out to the shortstop for the first out. Heyward strikes out on a ball in the dirt, and Lee strikes out looking to end the game. Lincecum was brilliant and one bad call will haunt the Braves.