Madison Bumgarner Politely Tells Dodgers To Sit Down

Baseball players are often considered good looking

Madison Bumgarner has had starts like this. That’s not devaluing this performance, but it wasn’t like this start flew in from outer space. That’s more Hunter Pence’s story. We’ve come to expect starts like this from Bumgarner, careful not to take it for granted each time a masterpiece like tonight unfolds. But obviously, what separates this starts from any other, is it was against the Dodgers. In Dodger Stadium. Opposite Clayton Kershaw. For first place. A glorious game.

Just as a friendly reminder, the Dodgers swept the Giants in the last installment of the rivalry. It was pretty much a suckfest all the way around. The Giants did not score the final 2 games. Hanley Ramirez sucked every last breath of fresh air out of AT&T in the first game, then whipped out the ole’ set of imaginary goggles. Classic Hanley! A sight to behold. Remember Stephen Fife was quite prominently involved in drilling a hole right through the Giants offense that game? Ah memories…

So that was the freshest Giants-Dodger memory in our heads. Ugly, sluggish, hacky baseball. And tonight the Giants faced the Clayton Kershaw. The 2011 Cy Young award winner that usually records 54 of 27 hitters when he faces the Giants. He’s a fantastic pitcher against everybody else, but against the Giants he turns into a savage werewolf that devours Giants hitters, then rummages through their internal organs for desert. Another sight to behold.

Madison Bumgarner walked onto the hill tonight, with all those storylines swirling around, and promptly shot a bowling ball sized snot rocket right at the Dodgers. Hanley Ramirez put on his goggles for protection.

Madison Bumgarner had pressure tonight. A big rig sized load of it. And he dominated the Dodgers and made the crucial pitch in every situation. Hello Matt Kemp:

Arguably the best hitter in the National League swinging at a 3-2 breaking ball that’s nowhere close to the strike zone. Madison Bumgarner made him look like a fool. There are many wonderful parts of this gif. The part about Matt Kemp looking like a fool would be one. My favorite part of the gif would probably be Matt Kemp's reaction. He first starts to throw the bat away, but then determines that's not an angry enough reaction, so mid-throw he decides to break it in half instead, a sign of the ultimate frustration. Now fans know how angry Matt Kemp was, whereas if he simply threw the bat, we would be still confused about the degree of his outrage. Next level thinking from Matt Kemp.

The best part of the at bat? Gameday what say you. 

That is what a strike out looks like. Madison Bumgarner didn't come in the zone one time, and thus, we have sensational pitching. Here:

One fastball, that wasn't really close to the strike zone. Then 6 straight sliders, all off the plate, all in the inside. Madison Bumgarner entered the at bat with a plan: Don't let Matt Kemp beat you. He had 1st base open with Andre Ethier on deck, who against left handed pitchers turns into Jeff Franceur. Madison Bumgarner knew Matt Kemp likes fastballs. Matt Kemp knew Matt Kemp likes fastballs. Matt Kemp was looking forward to fastballs. The only flaw in was that Madison Bumgarner did not throw fastballs. Now you understand Matt Kemp's frustration. So for Bumgarner, the plan was to throw his  best sliders off the plate and see what happens. If he walked him so what. And oh hey, strike out, whaddya know, thanks Matt Kemp!

The other remarkable part of this performance is that Clayton Kershaw was on his game. Buster Posey, future ruler of the universe, was manhandled in a Burris-like way in his first at bat, and never recovered. Kershaw was excellent tonight, and the Giants had just enough to barely claw out 2 runs, 1 of which could have been taken away by the umpire. Kershaw was Kershaw. Madison Bumgarner was better. 

Madison Bumgarner had possibly his most iconic performance since the 2010 World Series. Again, it's not like we haven't seen this before between now and then. But to do it against the Dodgers, in late August for the division lead. That's something else. <3 pennant races.

*****

In other related news, Buster Posey is good at playing the game. Even when he doesn't swing the bat, he does it with his arm. Tonight, Buster Posey threw out Shane Victorino trying to steal. I'm going to hang out with that sentence, buy it Ice Cream, play gold fish with it, eat cantaloupe with it and then we shall cuddle to our hearts desire. He had some awful swings tonight, but doing something embarrassing to Shane Victorino made up for anything bad Buster Posey will ever do in his life. Then Shane's face got all in a tussle which was cute. Also cute: 

*****

It is just one game, but wow was it a good one. I don't think there's such thing as a one game turning point in a season, but it certainly turns the blinker on. Disregard these comments if the Giants lose the series. That would not be good. Either way though, this was a fantastic baseball game played by both teams. There are 8 more of these to go. Hello rivalry.