An L for K-Rod

Rodriguez loses aura of invincibility, Game 4 in one inning

Twenty-year-old Francisco Rodriguez had been virtually unhittable in October, tying a postseason record with five victories. AP

By Stephen Cannella, Sports Illustrated

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants beat the Angels 4-3 on Wednesday night, and for the next 20 hours or so, newspapers, Web sites and TV's talking heads will tell you that the World Series is tied at two games apiece.

Don’t be fooled.

The score that really matters heading into Game 5 of this series is San Francisco hitters 1, Francisco Rodriguez 1.

Until the eighth inning of Game 4, Rodriguez, the Angels’ 20-year-old supernova of a reliever, had been virtually untouchable in the postseason. It wasn’t just his eye-popping stat line -- five wins, no losses and 19 strikeouts in 13 innings of work. (Consider what he did to the Giants in Game 2: He threw three perfect innings in a game that otherwise was a hitter’s paradise, and just four of his 26 pitches were out of the strike zone.)

With all of 13 major league outings under his belt, Rodriguez already carried a catchy nickname (K-Rod) and a Rivera-esque aura of invincibility to the mound.

Until Wednesday, when the Giants became the first major league team to hang an L next to Rodriguez’s name.

“To get a win tonight was big,” said third baseman David Bell, who knocked in the game-winning run with a single off K-Rod. “I think to get a run off him is important, too.”

It’s not like the Giants battered Rodriguez, but that’s an indication of why he’s the Angels’ answer to Barry Bonds in this series: Even the smallest shred of success against him is monumental.

J.T. Snow, who led off the decisive eighth inning, stroked a single to right field when Rodriguez hung a slider. Two pitches later, Snow advanced to second when Rodriguez’s catcher, Bengie Molina, let a cut fastball glance off the webbing of his mitt. The ball rolled to the backstop for a passed ball.

“It was a bad play on my part,” said Molina. “And it ended up costing us the game.”

Not immediately. Reggie Sanders popped out. Bell, the next hitter, took a slider for a ball. Rodriguez then tried to sneak a fastball past Bell.

“I thought a fastball outside would be good to get the count to one and one,” Rodriguez said. “But I left it down the middle.”

It might have been the straightest, most hittable pitch Rodriguez has thrown in the postseason. Bell hammered it back up the middle and into center field for a single. Snow scored, and the Giants had changed the complexion of the whole series.

Forget the 2-2 tie. Rodriguez is no longer a fire-breathing ogre lurking in the bullpen waiting to shut them down.

The seventh and eighth innings are no longer offensive wastelands. The Giants proved he’s human, and facing the rest of the week won’t be as frightful as it once was.

“It’s not like we scored five runs off him, but that’s big,” Aurilia said. “I’m sure we’ll see him again in this series. Hopefully we can use something we learned tonight next time we face him.”

Unfortunately for the Angels, he won’t be as intimidating as he once was.

 

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