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World Series Wrap-Up
As I’ve complained about numerous times already, just as the Giants win the World Series, I had to leave town. Went to Seattle for work, a town that wasn’t necessarily as excited about the Giants winning as the Bay Area, though I did get a few “go Giants!” while walking Seattle’s streets in my Giants sweatshirt. I should have invested in a He-Cam so that I could interview some of them, as I was curious whether or not these pro-Giants people were actual fans stranded in Washington or just happy the Giants won over the Rangers (or maybe just knew the Giants won because they read the paper and like to shout out “woo hoo!” when the opportunity presents itself). But I didn’t interview any of them, so now we’ll never know who they were.
Of course, now that I’m back, there’s Giants Giants everywhere.
The Giants had a parade. I heard 1.5 million people showed up.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/common/thePlatform/web/swf/flvPlayer.swf
Aubrey Huff revealed the rally thong.
Brian Wilson and The Machine were on the Tonight Show. Jay Leno still sucks. (Make sure you watch both parts!)
President Obama called to congratulate the Giants for their most excellent victory. I love (no really) how he always has to make sure people know he’s a White Sox fan.
Pablo is caught eating a Colossal Brownie Sundae made for six from Buca di Beppostill, apparently still determined to eat his way out of baseball. According to Sabean, “Panda starts next year in minors if he doesnt get his act together.” Good.
Renteria declined an offer from his home town to throw him a parade in favor of having the money go towards helping the Columbian flood victims. MVP indeed.
Freddy Sanchez showed up on Lopez Tonight. George Lopez is a better interviewer than Jay Leno
This blog makes it on the latest leaders list for the first time at #31. Helps when the team you’re righting about wins the World Series, eh? Now…which blog is Wonder Woman writing?
Celebratory Wallpaper: World Series
To continue the tradition, a wallpaper of the series winning home run by Edgar Renteria.
The Torture is Over
I’m supposed to be preparing for my trip to Seattle. I have tons to wrap up at work, I have packing to do, but I can’t concentrate. How the heck am I suppose to accomplish anything after last night?
I started by listening to it on the radio on my way home from work. Cliff Lee was back. Uh oh. This is going to be tough. Sounds like we’re coming back to San Francisco and I’m going to miss it. Damn.
But no, Lincecum is in full force too! Three up, three down. The Freak is on the mound and he’s taking no prisoners. He saw Cain and Bumgarner’s shut outs and he wants a taste. This is going to be a tight race.
For seven innings they battled, neither giving up a run. This is what everyone wanted in the first game. This is what everyone wanted when Lincecum faced Halladay. This is a pitcher’s duel.
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Then in the 7th, the first slip. Ross and Uribe hit singles to center field. Could this be the opportunity? Huff bunts…BUNTS a sacrifice and the two men on gain a base. Ross is so close to putting a run on this board. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t watch, I HAD to watch. Burrell up. Oh no, why is he still playing? Maybe this will be his time to make up for his post-season. Sacrifice fly? Get someone home? C’mon Burrell! Strike out. Ack. So much for drama. Edgar Renteria up. Now would be a good time for a home run, I really said that. He hits it out of the park. Where there were no runs scored by either team, now there are three and they are Giants runs.
OMG! And it’s the 7th. We can hold them until the end. We do it all the time. This is our thing. We have it!
Lincecum gets excited and Nelson Cruz knocks one out of the park. Whoops! Okay so the lead is getting tighter, we can still do it. Ian Kinsler walks. Oh no, Lincecum is losing it. The Rangers are going to issue out some payback now.
Nope!
Lincecum reigns it in and adds two more strikeouts to his belt, ending the inning before more damage is done. He also takes care of the 8th. I’m thinking, much like Bumgarner the night before, he probably could have knocked out the 9th too, but Bochy sticks with tradition and brings in Wilson to finish it off.
No champagne, no jumping up and down, I just sat there on the couch soaking in the surreality of the moment. I watched all the post-game coverage, I watched the awards given out in the Rangers hidecloset, I did some dishes and listened to Jewel, which has nothing to do with baseball but somehow helped satiate the excitement that was consuming me.
I dreamed about baseball. I woke up thinking about baseball. I’m not going to get anything done. I’m going to be in Seattle with no underwear.
But who cares? THE GIANTS WON THE FREAKIN’ WORLD SERIES!!!!!
Watching the World Series last year, when my baseball obsession was starting to blossom, I thought and wrote the following:
I got home in time to see the Yankees win it and watch the post-game hoopla and I got to wondering what it would feel like to have a team you had an investment with in a game like this, win or lose.
Who the heck could have thought that it would happen the very next World Series? I can’t even believe. I still don’t believe it. I’m not sure it’s sunk in completely. I have no idea how to even communicate my thoughts on all this. I feel like I could write an entire book on these guys in one sitting, while at the same time I’m struggling just to put a coherent sentence together.
I love this team. I love everything about them that everyone is now latching on to. I love the misfits, the team made up of rookies and players nobody wanted. I love the beards and ‘fros and pandas and freaks. I love that every person on the team contributed in some way. When someone was slumping, someone else rose to the occasion. They’re all superstars. I’ve followed them from Spring Training to the top of the world. I never want this band to break up.
In some ways this might be a horrible season for me to have started caring. It can only be downhill from here. It’s not like this can happen every year, right?
“Why not?” ~ Buster Posey
Giants-Rangers Game 5: Champions
2010 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
SAN FRANCISCO
GIANTS
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Giants-Rangers Game 4: Rookie Sensation
Who knows what this Bumgarner guy is going to do? That’s what I was thinking going into this anyway. I like the guy, but he hasn’t been ridiculously dominate or anything, and this is the World Series, and the potential tie-winning game for the Rangers. So what’s he going to do? How about this?
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Bumgarner, W (2-0) | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2.18 |
The Giants shut down the Rangers for the second time this World Series. The fifth highest scoring team in the majors in the regular season, and they’ve been shut down twice. Yes yes Media, I know I know; their bats disappeared. Funny how that keeps happening when the Giants are in town.
I knew it was going to be a good night when it seemed like the innings where Texas was pitching took forever whereas the innings where the Giants were pitching were like one, two, three. I think Tommy Hunter averaged about twenty pitchers per batter, seemed like. Stands to reason he only lasted four innings, the dude must have been tired.
Bumgarner, on the other hand, lasted eight, and probably could have went all nine, but I guess since it’s the World Series and all, Bochy decided to play it safe and bring in Wilson for the last inning. The guy has to do something this series, right?
Considering the scores of the first two games, not a great deal of offense from the Giants last night, but in a shut out, I guess you only need one run. Top of the 3rd, Aubrey Huff takes his new job as DH seriously and knocks one out of the right field, driving in Torres and making it a 2-0 game. Freddy Sanchez was surprised:
I was too. Can’t remember the last time Huff hit a homer. He used to do it regularly. So there was the game winner. In the 7th, Torres doubles in Renteria and in the 8th Buster Posey remembers who he was and slams another one out of the park, making it a 4-0 game.
So one more to go. I am on egg shells of course. Do not want to jinx anything. Thirty-eight of the last 44 teams to have a 3-1 in the World Series went on to win, so good odds. But still, there were those eleven who thought the same thing.
I hope they win tonight, even though they’re still stuck in Texas. Seems unlikely we’ll beat Cliff Lee twice, but a lot of things have seemed unlikely this season. That’s kind of the Giants thing, to do the unlikely. It’d be great if Lincecum clinched it, being Mr. Franchise and all. Plus, I have to go out of town first thing Wednesday morning, and I want a day of celebration, which would have to be Tuesday. So yeah Giants, do it for me, would ya?
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Giants-Rangers Game 3: Home Runs
Each team contributed two home runs, Josh Hamilton and Mitch Moreland for the Rangers, and Cody “MVP” Ross and Andres Torres for the Giants. Unfortunately for the Giants, when Mitch Moreland did it, there were two men on base. Giants lose, 4-2.
Once again Sanchez doesn’t do so hot. I almost feel like changing him out with Zito, just to see what happens. Okay, maybe that’s drastic, and not up to me regardless, but if it comes down to a Game 7, do we want it all on Sanchez at this point? I don’t think so.
Oh well, I was certainly not delusional enough to think the Giants would sweep this thing, even if they started off with a 2-0 lead. Of course the Rangers are going to fight back, and the first night back in their home town is a good time to do it. My only consolation is at least the Giants tied for home runs, it was just they had nobody on base when they were hitting theirs.
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Giants-Rangers Game 2: Cake Walks
I am completely confused as to what’s going on. This is not Giants baseball as I have come to know it. 20 runs in two games? Not that I’m complaining, mind you, it’s kind of nice actually. Is this what games are like for other fans? Lots of runs, great defense, no torture? I could get used to it, but on the other hand, the pessimist in me is waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It started out like a normal Giants game. No runs for the first four innings, both Cain and Wilson (C.J. Wilson, now our Wilson) shutting out the competition. Then Edgar Renteria decides to relive his past World Series experience and knocks one out of the park. 1-0, still a normal Giants game. That run ultimately won the game BTW, but let’s keep going.
Bottom of the 7th, Juan Uribe, the other “old guy” on the team with post-season experience, knocks a single into right field and Cody Ross scores. 2-0 Giants. Okay now, from past experience, the goal now is to keep those measly two runs and prevent the other guys from catching up by using our awesome bullpen to shut them down, sealing the deal with Brian Wilson.
But then the 8th happened. Like this:
- O’Day now pitching, strikes out Torres. One out.
- Freddy Sanchez up, strikes out. Two out.
- Buster Posey, single to second base. Still two out.
- O’Day replaced by Derek Holland. Nate Schierholtz walks. Buster to 2B. Still two out.
- Cody Ross walks, Posey to 3B, Scheirholtz to 2B. Bases loaded. Still two out.
- Aubrey Huff WALKS. Posey scores. Scheirholtz to 3B. Ross to 2B. Still two out. SFG: 3, TEX: 0.
- Holland out, Lowe in. Walks Juan Uribe. Scheriholtz scores. Ross to 3B. Huff to 2B. Still two out. SFG: 4, TEX: 0.
- Renteria singles to LF, Ross and Huff score. Still two out. SFG: 6, TEX: 0.
- Lowe out, Kirkman in. Aaron Rowand triples to RF, Uribe and Renteria score. Still two out. SFG: 8, TEX: 0.
- Andres Torres doubles to LF, Rowand scores. Still two out. SFG: 9, TEX: 0.
- Freddy Sanchez strikes out swinging. Three out.
The Texas bullpen just died or something. Giants score 7 runs in one inning, two from walks. It was like one of those cake walks at the community fair, where everyone is just walking around in circles waiting for the music to stop. It finally stopped after 7 runs. Of course, as I said above, only 1 run was needed to win this game, so the 8th inning was just icing, but an icing that certainly boosted confidence and hopefully sucked some life out of Texas. I guarantee you there will be a pitchers meeting before Game 3.
Fear the ‘Fro again, people! Matt Cain performed another shut out, keeping his post-season 0.00 ERA intact. I’m so glad the world gets to see how awesome this guy is. (Well, the world that’s watching, because y’know.. the Yankees and Red Sox aren’t in it this year.) Ian Kinsler almost knocked one out of the park in the 5th, but he was about 10 cents short and the Ranger remained scoreless.
Matt Cain everyone!
Speaking of awesome pitching, and I don’t think I ever have spoken about this guy, but how sick is Javier Lopez? His crazy pitching style had me from the beginning, but I always overlook him in my posts because he generally only pitches for one or two at-bats. But they’re always smoking. He takes out left handers like a freakin’ ninja with Chinese throwing stars. His sideways looking bullet eliminated Hamilton’s last chance to get something going in the 8th. It was a beautiful thing.
So the Giants are 2-0 so far. Everyone around here is getting all cocky again, just like they did in the NLCS. I hate that, personally. I guess I’m too negative to celebrate before anything is official. Of course, all the premature back patters were right about the NLCS, so maybe they’ll be right about the World Series too. I heard on the way to work this morning that a 2-0 lead has happened 51 times in World Series history, and of those 51 2-0 teams, forty have gone on to win the title. Pretty good odds, but how much you want to bet the Giants were one of those 9 teams who didn’t make it?
Not to be negative though. Be positive. But not too positive. Everyone keep wearing the same hats, sweaters, lucky socks; whatever you’re doing keep it going. Don’t change your routine now. We’re in Texas now. Enemy territory. Don’t look ahead, focus on the next game. Keep your cool, your determination, look for those lucky breaks to feed on. Wait…who am I talking to?
GO GIANTS
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Giants-Rangers Game 1: First Down
The Giants add another pitcher’s pelt to their wall next to Jimenez, Latos, Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels. Here’s Cliff Lee’s new post-season stats:
| Rk | Series | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | H | R | BB | SO | HR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009 | NLDS g1 | Oct 7 | PHI | COL | W,5-1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2 | 2009 | NLDS g4 | Oct 12 | PHI | @ | COL | W,5-4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| 3 | 2009 | NLCS g3 | Oct 18 | PHI | LAD | W,11-0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| 4 | 2009 | WS g1 | Oct 28 | PHI | @ | NYY | W,6-1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 5 | 2009 | WS g5 | Nov 2 | PHI | NYY | W,8-6 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2010 Postseason | Series | Tm | Opp | Rslt | H | R | BB | SO | HR | |||
| 6 | 2010 | ALDS g1 | Oct 6 | TEX | @ | TBR | W,5-1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| 7 | 2010 | ALDS g5 | Oct 12 | TEX | @ | TBR | W,5-1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 8 | 2010 | ALCS g3 | Oct 18 | TEX | @ | NYY | W,8-0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0 |
| 9 | 2010 | WS g1 | Oct 27 | TEX | @ | SFG | L,7-11 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 48 | 19 | 8 | 74 | 1 | ||||||||
That “L” on the last row? That’s the Giants. Not only does nobody think the Giants are going to win this series, absolutely nobody saw them defeating Lee, especially in an 11-7 game. The Giants don’t have offense, what was that about?
Even I’m somewhat baffled. I’m not sure what any of it means. I would have preferred that the Giants kept the 8-2 score they had in the 5th, that makes more sense to me. The Giants strength all season has been their ability to keep runs at bay. So it concerns me that after Lincecum leaves the game the bullpen gives up 5 more runs in 4 innings. Yes, the Giants scored 11 runs and took the win, but can they do that all the time? Are they going to have to? They’ve only scored double digits fourteen times this season.
On the other hand, I’ve heard the Rangers are pretty good about not giving up runs too, especially Cliff “third greatest post-season pitcher of all time” Lee, and yet they gave up 11. So I really have no idea what to make of this game. Maybe it was a fluke for both teams.
I would like to think that the Rangers 3 runs in the 9th were mostly because Bochy didn’t put in Wilson right away, per usual, and I would like to think that the reason he did that was because the Giants were far enough ahead that he wanted to save Wilson and give other closers a chance to see some action. Of course, it didn’t work out for Ramirez or Affeldt and Wilson ended up coming in anyway, but maybe those last 3 runs were “freebies” or something.
Another “battle of the great pitchers of all time” hype that didn’t live up to itself. Despite giving up more runs, Lee tied Lincecum in the hits department, dominated him in strikeouts and ultimately ended up with a slightly better ERA, even though he pitched one less inning. But obviously, given the amount of runs in the game, neither star pitcher gave his best performance and the media was once again sad.
The tack-on offense was just amazing last night. Consider that the Rangers had 8 hits off Lincecum but only generated 4 runs, while the Giants had 8 hits off Lee and generated 7 runs. The singles and double just kept coming, and it always seem like it was when there were two outs. Freddie Sanchez made World Series history by hitting three doubles in one game, generating three RBIs. Posey, Schierholtz, Ross, Huff and Ishikawa all got to contribute RBIs and Juan UUUU-Ribe once again batted one out of the park with two on base. God I love that guy. He doesn’t always hit, but when he hits it’s always good.
Aside from the lame Fox announcers, two things I hated about last night’s presentation: 1) They completely skipped the opening pitch by Giants hall-of-famers in favor of focusing on two igits in the press box who, by their own admission later in the game, don’t know what they’re talking about. How come I had to watch them instead of watching Orlando Cepeda, Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal and Willie McCovey? I don’t even know what they said. Who cares what they said! 2) Didn’t get to see whether or not the crowd cheered when they announced Bengie Molina. That was a discussion around the bay area all week, as to whether that would happen. I heard on the radio this morning that they did in fact cheer his name, and I’m glad for it. I love the Bengie, even if he’s in the wrong colors.
Speaking of Bengie, his latest blog entry is full of warm-hearted goodness. My favorite bit:
The first time I was up, I wished Posey luck and he wished me luck. Then I looked out at Lincecum and touched the bill of my cap, and he touched his in response.I had as special a relationship with Timmy as I have had with any pitcher. Maybe because he was so young when I began catching him and I became a mentor to him. We have texted since I was traded but I had not seen him or talked to him in person until the game yesterday. I had heard he had said really nice things about me to the press.When he came up to bat for the first time, I stood and told him, “I want you to know that hits or no hits, win or lose, you’re my boy.”“Hey, Be-Mo, I love you.”Then we both got to work.
Awesome.
Game 1 is in the bag. Cliff Lee defeated. The Giants are 1-0. We’re still making the media scratch their heads in bewilderment. Keep it up!
GO GIANTS!
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Hey, I Did It!
“I’m not claiming to be an expert, or even a fan. That would be an insult to all the people who’ve actually put in the time. Let’s say I’m a wannabe-fan and let’s also say that if I maintain this blog for a year, and follow the Giants through an entire season, then maybe I’ll promote myself . Maybe.” – Me
I just realized it’s been a year and a week since I started this blog. Like I said back then, I wasn’t raised sports. I liked baseball in the general sense, it made for good movies, I liked that it was America’s past time, etc. and as a lifelong Bay Area resident, the Giants were “my team”, even though I never did anything about it except hit the very occasional game.
But in October of last year, the World Series drew me in and I’ve had baseball on the brain every since. This is the first season where I’ve followed the Giants religiously, and I couldn’t be more spoiled really. What a year! The World Series has come around again and this time my team is in it, and the first game is today.
I can’t say I’ve been as prolific with this blog as I’d like. I think initially my goal was to blog daily, which obviously didn’t happen. But hey, I didn’t skip any months, so that’s something. I’ve also met a lot of great people this year who’s blog I really enjoy reading. MLBlogs is a great community and I’m happy to be a part of it (even if they use Movable Type Pro).
Still no expert, but I definitely consider myself a fan now.
You want to see something really crazy? On my very first post, I posted a picture of my son. This is what he looked like then:
A year and a week later….
Time flies, huh?
Just a Bit Outside... 