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Ben Solomon for The New York Times
These are the San Francisco Giants. This is what they do. You were expecting something else?
The Mets did well just to get this far, into the National League wild-card game — at home, too — with a chance to get back to the World Series. They used Noah Syndergaard, their last ace standing, who did all he could. The Giants’ ace, Madison Bumgarner, did more. It is what he does.
“He did what everybody expected him to do,” first baseman Brandon Belt said. “It’s almost boring. He needs to do something different next time.”
Bumgarner’s routine October four-hit shutout Wednesday ended the Mets’ season, 3-0. All he needed was a run, and it finally came from a journeyman No. 8 hitter, Conor Gillaspie. His three-run, ninth-inning homer off Jeurys Familia sent the Giants to Chicago for a division series with the Cubs.
The Giants, who had the best record in the majors at the All-Star break, tumbled to 30-42 in the second half. But they got hot at the end, and now they are dangerous.
“They know where the start line is and they know where the finish line is, and that’s important,” said Larry Baer, the Giants’ chief executive. “We get down in August, we lose some games. Some teams kind of just topple. But these guys have been through it, so they just know what you’ve got to do to get in. Look, we’ve got a long, long, long way, but that part is a big deal — they know the pacing of a championship season.”
The Mets now know how the Philadelphia Phillies felt in 2010, when Cody Ross — a waiver-wire afterthought — slew the great Roy Halladay. They know how the St. Louis Cardinals felt in 2012, when Marco Scutaro — playing for his sixth team — batted .500 to beat them for the pennant. And they know how the Cardinals felt again in 2014, when a homer by Travis Ishikawa sent the Giants back to the World Series.
Each of those seasons ended with the Giants celebrating a World Series championship on another team’s field: first in Texas, then Detroit, then Kansas City. Bumgarner, always, was a major reason. As they pursue another even-year championship, the Giants are using their same formula: an unsung hitter reaching new heights, and Bumgarner adding more gilded text to his Cooperstown plaque.
“He doesn’t let anything that’s happening affect the next pitch, and I think that’s what makes him so special,” said Jake Peavy, the veteran Giants starter. “Just the poise and under-controlness, with all that rage and anger and competitive adrenaline throwing — the poise to throw the ball where it’s supposed to be thrown.”
For the Mets, the game had echoes of their winner-take-all loss in the seventh game of the N.L. Championship Series in 2006, to the Cardinals, with Curtis Granderson playing the Endy Chavez role: game-saving catch at the wall, staving off defeat for a few precious innings. That October, Yadier Molina hit the decisive home run. Now, Gillaspie joins the list of Mets villains.
Gillaspie, 29, was a first-round pick of the Giants in 2008, another in a line of first-rounders that included Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Bumgarner and Buster Posey. As it turned out, though, the Giants had little use for Gillaspie. He played sparingly, ran out of options and left for the Chicago White Sox in a 2013 trade for a Class A reliever.
He returned on a minor league deal in February, and on Wednesday he joined Ishikawa and the former starter Ryan Vogelsong as bit players from the past who came back to help in October. They do not forget the Giants’ way.
“I tell you, there’s also something they do that we don’t forget,” General Manager Bobby Evans said. “So we want them back.”
Bumgarner showed again that he absolutely owns the postseason. This four-hitter was not even his first in a wild-card game; he also did it in 2014 in Pittsburgh. Bumgarner started this game by inducing five of the first six batters to pop out, tempting the Mets with high fastballs too appetizing to take, but not good enough to drive.
“He had that one down today,” said Posey, the catcher. “It’s a tough, tough pitch to handle. I can’t think back to too many pitches to right-handed batters that he threw down in the zone tonight.”
Bumgarner used that approach to end his five-inning save against the Royals in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, preying on the aggressiveness of Salvador Perez for a decisive pop foul. He had sniffed at a suggestion that he might be limited that night if the Giants needed him. Yes, he would be working on two days’ rest, but his pitch count, he said, would be 200.
The message was clear: Don’t worry about me, I’ve got this. And then he backed it up.
“His focus, his competitiveness — it goes back to high school,” Evans said. “I remember in San Jose, our manager said, ‘I’ve never seen a guy this competitive.’ That’s what he told me. And I’m like, ‘That sounds good.’ He was at A-ball. He hated to lose as much as he liked to win.”
In his last nine postseason games, Bumgarner is 6-0 with a 0.79 E.R.A., and that very big save in Kansas City. Bumgarner was his own closer again on Wednesday, hitting for himself after Gillaspie’s home run. This was his game. The nominal closer, Sergio Romo, would have the night off.
“I’ve been blessed with a lot of opportunities,” said Bumgarner, now 8-3 with a 1.94 E.R.A. in nearly 100 career postseason innings. “But I’ve played this game long enough to know that anything can happen, especially this time of year, so I’m not going to take anything for granted or expect it to come easily.”
He might not expect it, but everyone else does. After three harmless fly outs in the ninth, the Giants had done what the Giants do. The Mets should not have been surprised — and the Cubs should be terrified.
