[jg2977]

I’m SICK over this game. SICK.
This is a game the Giants had NO BUSINESS LOSING, and they found a way. They always find a way to make it harder than it needs to be.
You go into Washington, hostile park, chance to close out the series, and for FIVE innings you’re sleepwalking. Absolutely dead at the plate. Nothing. Zip. Zero. You spot them runs like it’s a charity event. And I’m saying to myself, what are we doing here?
Then — THEN — the Giants finally wake up in the sixth. BOOM. Four runs. Perdomo launches one, Campbell launches one, suddenly the whole thing flips. That’s championship DNA right there! That’s what I’ve been WAITING FOR.
And what do they do with it?
They hand it right back.
You let Washington hang around. You let Villavicencio breathe. And the minute you do that, you’re DONE. Because this guy — 4 for 4, every at-bat a dagger — he owned this game. Owned it. I don’t care what the box score says, he was the game.
Now let’s talk about the ninth inning because this is where I lose my mind.
Tie game. Tie game! You need ONE clean inning. ONE. And John Turner comes in and immediately — immediately — puts traffic on the bases. You can’t do that in October. You just can’t. No outs, fastball over the plate, base hit, game over, season hanging by a thread.
That’s not bad luck. That’s execution.
And don’t give me “well, it’s hard to win on the road.” I don’t wanna hear it! The Giants had chances all over this game. Left runners. Took bad at-bats. Fields stranded FIVE guys by himself! You can’t do that in a playoff game and expect the baseball gods to smile on you.
Now here’s the thing — and this is important.
The Giants are STILL in control.
Game 5 is back at Oracle Park. OUR park. OUR crowd. And I’ll tell you this right now: if San Francisco loses a one-game playoff at home after getting production from Perdomo, Campbell, Valenzuela, after Swinford gave you SEVEN solid innings — then you didn’t deserve to go to the NLCS anyway.
But make no mistake — this one hurts.
Washington didn’t beat the Giants with power. They beat them with pressure. Singles. Speed. Contact. They chipped and chipped and waited for the Giants to blink.
And in the ninth…
They blinked.
Friday is it. No tomorrow. No excuses.
Win at home — or you’re watching the Cardinals on TV wondering how you let THIS slip away.