SAN FRANCISCO –— The Giants know how realistic it is to rally in the playoffs.
San Francisco leads Washington 2-0 in the NL Division Series, two years after losing its first two games at home to the Reds – just as the Nationals did this time. The Giants became the first team in major league history to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five series by winning three straight road games. They went on to win their second World Series title in three years, and they’re still riding a 10-game postseason winning streak dating back to that run.
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“Yeah, it can be done,” Nationals Manager Matt Williams said Sunday. “It can certainly be done. You have to start with the first one.”
The Nationals’ next – and, perhaps, last – chance comes in Game 3 on Monday at AT&T Park when San Francisco can close the series at its picturesque waterfront home behind 18-game winner Madison Bumgarner.
Both clubs could be weary following the Giants’ 2-1, 18-inning victory that stretched into Sunday morning. San Francisco’s plane landed back in the Bay Area just after 5 a.m.
The Nationals, who led the NL with 96 wins, held an optional workout under clear skies in Northern California. A few players tossed a football around in right field before batting practice.
After catcher Buster Posey could be seen blowing on his hands to keep warm a night earlier in the nation’s capital, cold weather shouldn’t be an issue during an unseasonably hot Indian summer in San Francisco. It was 81 degrees as Washington players took the field Sunday.
Even after the cross-country flight, Williams wasn’t too concerned about his team being mentally ready to fight for its season after a pair of one-run defeats. Doug Fister will pitch Game 3.
“They’re fine. They’re all here,” Williams said. “We have an optional workout today, but the buses are full and they are itching to get back out there and work today. Last night’s flight was a long one, but there was a lot of conversation going. Guys were talking about the previous two games and what we must do to get back in this thing and win tomorrow. …
“They don’t panic, for sure. That’s a good thing.”
Bumgarner pitched a four-hit shutout at Pittsburgh on Wednesday night in the wild-card game.
During this 10-game postseason winning streak, San Francisco pitchers own a 0.90 ERA, having allowed 58 hits in 100 innings with 99 strikeouts and 27 walks.
The Giants are looking for the third-longest postseason winning streak ever and the best since the 1998-99 New York Yankees won 12 straight, according to STATS.
It could be another pitchers’ duel two days after Jordan Zimmermann and Tim Hudson dazzled.
Fister’s last start at AT&T Park was memorable for the wrong reasons. Pitching for Detroit in Game 2 of the 2012 World Series, Fister took a line drive by Gregor Blanco off the right side of his head but stayed in and carried a shutout bid into the seventh inning. The Tigers wound up losing 2-0 and San Francisco swept.
Fister, who grew up about two hours away in Merced in California’s Central Valley, has watched video of the play many times.
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