Bumgarner Pitches Giants to the Brink
Lefty, 21, shuts down Rangers; youngest Series winner in 29 years
ARLINGTON, Tex._Less than three months ago, Madison Bumgarner could not legally buy himself a drink in California. Four months ago, he was in the minor leagues.
Sunday, Bumgarner found himself pitching in front of 53,000 hostile fans here and approximately 12 million television viewers. At 21 years, 91 days old, he was the fifth youngest pitcher to start a game in the 106-year history of the World Series.
He is now the youngest pitcher in 29 years to win a World Series game.
His eyes half lidded as he repeatedly challenged the best offense in baseball with fastballs and biting curves, Bumgarner allowed three hits over eight innings in a 4-0 victory that pushed the Giants to the brink of their first World Series triumph since moving to San Francisco in 1958.
“I just keep telling myself to relax, to stay calm,” he said. “I keep trying to talk myself into thinking that, and eventually it becomes second nature.”
It was only the second time all year the Rangers were shut out at home.
Like the Giants, Bumgarner has come out of nowhere.
He hails from Hudson, N.C., a town of just 2,800, about 90 minutes northwest of Charlotte. It’s the type of town, he says, where “you wave at everybody you see.”
His older brothers still live there, working at the bubble-wrap plant. He married his high school sweetheart, Ali, in February; he’s competed with her brother in competitive team steer-roping since he was 17.
In Spring Training, the Giants wanted nothing more than to hand the fifth starter’s spot to the player they selected 10th overall in the 2007 draft. Bumgarner, however, didn’t seem to want the job.
He arrived at camp out of shape, with diminished velocity and poor control. In seven Spring Training Inning innings, he had seven walks and no strikeouts.
The Giants gave the rotation spot to Todd Wellemeyer (whereabouts presently unknown) and sent Bumgarner to Triple-A Fresno.
The left-hander apparently got the memo from the Giants front office. He got himself in shape and worked on his delivery. The Giants called him up to San Francisco at the end of June, and he immediately became a vital cog in a rotation that put together a modern record of 18 straight games in which the team’s starters allowed three runs or fewer.
Bumgarner went 7-6, with a 3.00 ERA in 18 starts. Remove his one truly bad game (eight runs, seven earned, in 2 2/3 innings on Aug. 25) from the equation, and his ERA would have been 2.49.
“He’s a man, for a 21-year-old guy to go out there and do what he did tonight,” said manager Bruce Bochy, of the rookie’s performance against the Rangers.
Rookie catcher Buster Posey said: “It kind of gives me chills just thinking about it.”
Bumgarner was never in serious trouble. Texas’ first hitter of the game, Elvis Andrus, walked (one of only two Bumgarner issued), but was wiped out when the next hitter, Michael Young, hit into a fielder’s choice. Young was retired a batter later, when Josh Hamilton, grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
The demolition of base runners would become a theme for the Giants’ infield.
Young led off the fourth with an infield single, but was caught stealing. Mitch Moreland stroked a one-out single in the fifth, but the inning ended a batter later, when Andrus hit into a 4-6-3 double play.
Asked about his secret to working out of jams, Bumgarner said: “There’s always some competitive anxiety, but I sit back and try to keep my mind off the game. I spent time before the game with my family in the hotel, and watched some football on TV here in the clubhouse. I didn’t think about the game a whole lot.”
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