Giants’ Tim Hudson wonders aloud about the Nationals… mettle
Swept up in the exuberance of his team winning the National League wild-card game Wednesday night, aged San Francisco Giants right-hander Tim Hudson spoke… frankly… about their next opponent, the Washington Nationals. In a chat after the Giants put down the Pittsburgh Pirates, he questioned a certain physiological characteristic of the Nats.
Adam Kilgore of the Post writes:
“Obviously they have a talented group over there, there’s no question,” Hudson told The Post’s Barry Svrluga. “They have some great pitching. But come playoff time, talent can take you a long ways, but what do you have between your legs? That’s going to take you real far. And I think we’ve got a group in here that really has some of that.”
Hudson’s implication: The Nationals don’t. Or at least they haven’t shown it yet.
The notion – right or wrong, contrived or accurate – will hover over the series until the Nationals disprove it. The Giants since 2010 have developed an aura of invincibility in October, and they have kept the core of those two World Series teams largely intact. The Nationals will receive their first chance to shake the deflation of Game 5 (in 2012) and the disappointment of 2013.
Kilgore is right, and were Hudson an dispassionate observer or analyst, what he said would be at least a reasonable talking point. That he’s a player for the Giants, one who just turned 39 years old and has been through the playoff wringer, makes it questionable that he’d stir the pot like this. The Nationals already know what outsiders think about them, so there’s no good use in reminding them.
Hudson, in the past, has come off as one of those players whose guts need not be questioned. But anyone looking closer at his postseason record certainly could, based on Hudson’s own nervy criterion. In 10 career postseason starts, Hudson has posted a 3.46 ERA, about the same as he’s performed in the regular season. But his teams haven’t won; They’re 2-8 in his starts. And the six postseason series in which Hudson has appeared, his teams have won, precisely, none of them. The A’s and Braves. Not all his fault. Mostly not his fault. It’s just good to know that Hudson is speaking from the point of view of someone who knows what it takes by other teams to win in the playoffs.
To anyone thinking he’s only speaking only on his own club’s behalf, that’s dubious. Hudson’s quote does, in part, pump up his own guys — but only on the back end of it. To review:
“Obviously they have a talented group over there, there’s no question,” Hudson says of the Nats. “They have some great pitching.”
But…
“But come playoff time, talent can take you a long ways, but what do you have between your legs? That’s going to take you real far.”
And then he pivots again: “I think we’ve got a group in here that really has some of that.”
It’s almost as if the savvy 39-year-old inside told him, oops, better make it more about the Giants than the Nationals. Oh, well, too late.
In recent seasons before Hudson arrived, the Giants have won two World Series and, famously, came back from elimination six times in 2012. To what extent it matters, and to what extent the rosters have stayed the same, the Giants come in with plenty “between their legs.” Their fortitude might help to carry them again.
But the phrase, “Act like you’ve been there before” is used frequently in the postseason. Hudson didn’t really do that in this case. He made a rookie’s mistake of poking at a hornets nest. It’s up to the Nationals to prove him wrong, like Kilgore said. But they might have done so anyway without the bulletin-board material.
More MLB coverage at Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
