Now that the Los Angeles Dodgers have won their first World Series in just over three decades, Giants fans have an easy scapegoat for the loss of their favorite trivia-based trash talk.
Facing elimination in Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday night, Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled starter Blake Snell after allowing his second hit on 73 pitches in the bottom of the sixth inning with immediately disastrous results. The Rays' one-run lead quickly gave way to a 2-1 deficit and, ultimately, a 3-1 loss.
Nick Anderson gave up a double to Mookie Betts, then Austin Barnes scored from third on a wild pitch. Betts scored the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice by Corey Seager.
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The Dodgers lost Game 4 in excruciating fashion, but that can't compare to the life-comes-at-you-fast gut punch Cash and the Rays felt Tuesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex. Snell was dealing, holding the top of the Dodgers' order hitless through 5 1/3 innings.
Twitter, predictably, showed no mercy.
Snell was due up to face the Dodgers' top hitters for a third time. He had struck out each of LA's top three hitters twice, as well as clean-up hitter Max Muncy once. Starting pitchers, typically, perform worse on their third time through the order, and the Rays under Cash have been proponents of the strategy.
Given how well Snell was pitching, the decision was questionable, to say the least.
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Plenty of current and former players used their platforms to channel the scouts speaking to Billy Beane in "Moneyball," but far more amusing banter emerged in the form of tweets best described as Bruce Bochy Would Never. The ex-Giants manager, of course, called on former San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner to pitch five innings out of the bullpen on short rest.
Behold, tweeters channeling their inner Greg Cote.
Take heart, Giants fans. There's always Even Year nostalgia to wash down the taste of the Dodgers ending their championship drought.
