The Nationals and Giants essentially played two baseball games in Game 2 of the NLDS. The 18-inning game was the longest played baseball game as the Giants edged out a 2-1 victory. Brandon Belt knocked a home run to give San Francisco the win after the 6 hour-23 minute effort where 17 pitchers and 24 position players took the field at one time or another. Now they return for Game 3 as the Giants look to move on to the next round.
The Giants are ready to sweep. During this postseason win streak, their pitching has been the story. The team's starters have a 0.90 ERA while giving up just 58 hits in 100 innings and 99 strikeouts. San Francisco is inching closer to having the longest postseason win streak in history. They need to top the New York Yankees who won 12 straight back in 1998. Madison Bumgarner will look to help the effort. He is pitching on regular rest after getting the shutout win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, giving up just four hits in the process. After winning 18 games in the regular season, he has momentum in his favor.
If the Nationals are going to extend their postseason run, they must do so on the road. Washington came into the postseason having led the National League with 96 wins, but they have gone cold in the postseason. They are putting their faith in Doug Fister to get the team a win after struggling heavily in his last start in San Francisco. The pitcher took a line drive off the side of head, but opted to stay in an try to finish the game. Still with the Detroit Tigers, he got the 2-0 win. He notes the incident could have been a lot worse than it was and now he is determined to return and keep Washington alive for at least one more game.
If the Washington Nationals are going to win their NLDS series against the San Francisco Giants, they are going to have to do what only a handful of other teams have done, rally from being down two games. The San Francisco Giants are one of those teams that have successfully rallied from being down 0-2 to winning the series. Against the Cincinnati Reds two years ago, the Giants sat in the same position as the Nationals and managed to come back, win the series and win their second World Series in three years. The Nationals are hoping to mirror that run that has extended to a 10-game postseason win streak.
Listen Online Game 3 NLDS live, click here.
