3 Key Themes of the Social Chatter from Giants vs. Cardinals, Game 4

There is an old saying in baseball that suggests leadoff walks often come back to haunt pitchers. Such was the case again during Game 4 of the National League Championship Series when the San Francisco Giants drew one to start a game-winning rally against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Giants managed to erase an early three-run deficit to eventually take the contest by the score of 6-4 and inch closer to the following accomplishment.

Here are three of the most interesting themes gathered from social media surrounding this contest.

No Long Ball Needed for the Giants

The Giants have yet to hit a single home run in the NLCS, yet they still found ways to scratch across enough runs to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

San Francisco managed to draw some walks and put balls in play to put the pressure on the opposing defense and give themselves chances to score some key runs, which proved to be the turning point in Game 4. 

With the Giants down 4-3 in the sixth, Juan Perez started the rally by drawing a walk to lead off the inning. Brandon Crawford then singled to right to set up a sacrifice bunt from pinch-hitter Matt Duffy that moved the runners to second and third with one out.

After that, St. Louis' Matt Adams botched two grounders that were hit to him to allow the tying and go-ahead runs to cross the plate.

ESPN's Jayson Stark summarized the rally in simpler terms.

It wasn't the prettiest baseball to watch, but the Giants were willing to take the runs in any way they could get them.

Kolten Wong Continues His Redemption

Ever since Wong was picked off in the Cardinals' Game 4 loss of last year's World Series, it has been a journey for him to redeem himself.

After a solid regular season in which he batted .249 and hit 12 home runs in 113 games, Wong turned it up a notch in October.

The rookie second baseman hit his third home run of the postseason in the second inning and made a couple of nice defensive plays as well that even drew praise from the slick-fielding Cardinal legend Ozzie Smith.

As for Wong's bat, everything it has made contact with this October has been hit hard.

Wong's home run also put himself and the Cardinals in the history books, according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.

Internet Chimes in on Pierzynski's Flop

It's no secret that A.J. Pierzynski is not the most popular guy in baseball, after being voted as the "most hated player" in the league in a 2012 survey by Men's Journal.

Pierzynski has been inserted into the starting lineup for the past two games due to Yadier Molina's injury. Check out what he did during the second inning of Game 4 that got the social media buzzing.

Pierzynski was hit on the helmet by Travis Ishikawa's back swing on a strikeout and per MLB rules, the play is dead and no runners are allowed to advance.

Home plate umpire Mark Carlson made the correct call on the play, but the Internet wasn't too impressed with Pierzynski's little performance at home plate. Here is one fan's reaction.

"

Can we talk about the Pierzynski flop? He took his mask off... THEN fell down. My 1-yr old daughter is a better faker.

— Ryan Sarpalius (@ryansarpalius) October 16, 2014"

On the other hand, Pierzynski can take home some fictional hardware courtesy of SportsNation.

Going Forward

The Giants are in prime position to reach the World Series when they send their ace Madison Bumgarner to the mound in Game 5, which is set to start at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday at AT&T Park.

Bumgarner has had an incredible October, positing a 0.76 ERA in 23.2 innings pitched.

Opposing him for the Cardinals will be Adam Wainwright, who won 20 games during the regular season but has struggled so far during the playoffs.

Wainwright has made two starts and worked just nine innings combined. He has also allowed 17 hits and eight earned runs during those starts while posting a 2.33 WHIP and a .405 batting average against.

If that's not enough to indicate the advantage for San Francisco, FOX Sports Live dug up some more numbers to back up the Giants.

"

GOOD news for #Giants fans. BAD news for #Cardinals fans. #FSLive pic.twitter.com/O7YqlrOqFN

— FOX Sports Live (@FOXSportsLive) October 16, 2014"

Oh, one last thing, ever since Bruce Bochy took over as the manager for the Giants, he has never lost a playoff series, according to ESPN's Pedro Gomez.