2010 Cy Young

Congrats to Roy Halladay for winning the 2010 Cy Young Award. 

With a perfect game, a post-season no hitter, a 21-10 win-loss record and an overall 2.44 ERA, all in one season, who else could have won this thing, really?  As awesome as Giants starters were this season, I didn’t expect any of them to snag it, as none of them had those kind of stats.  It was nice to see three on the list though, including Matt Cain and Brian Wilson, the latter who scored more points than Lincecum.  Crazy.

So again congrats to Roy Halladay.   I love pitching and you were certainly impressive this year. BTW, Cody Ross says “hi.”

2010 TYIB Awards

Pitching won the World Series and yet not a single Giants starter is amongst the nominees for MLB’s This Year In Baseball Awards.  Who comes up with the nominees?   It almost seems too silly to participate in the voting, but of course I did.  If you’d like to vote party, here’s a handy-dandy cheat sheet.  Remember you can vote more than once in each category, so make sure you tag every Giant!

STARS

Rookie – Buster Posey

Closer – Brian Wilson

X-Factor – Pat Burrell

Executive – Brian Sabean

Manager – Bruce Bochy

Postseason MVP – Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Cody Ross, Brian Wilson

MUST C

Postseason – Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, Edgar Renteria, Juan Uribe, Brian Wilson

And there you have it.  Apparently there was nothing to see from the Giants until they hit the postseason.  Awesome.  

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.

http://www.hulu.com/yahoo/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hulu.com%2Fwatch%2F190941%2Fthe-tonight-show-with-jay-leno-brian-the-beard-wilson-part-1/embed/I5U2TqSSrCgFD7g5vdNZyg

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?

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.  

VS

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 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	ERA
Madison Bumgarner, W (2-0)	8	3	0	0	2	6	0	2.18

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/1/2010.

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?

WORLD SERIES WIN COUNTER

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.  

	Series	Date	Tm		Opp	Rslt	Inngs	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
2010	NLDS g2	Oct 8	SFG		ATL	L,4-5	GS-7	6.2	7	1	0	2	6	0	0.00
2010	NLCS g3	Oct 19	SFG		PHI	W,3-0	GS-7	7.0	2	0	0	3	5	0	0.00
2010	WS g2	Oct 28	SFG		TEX	W,9-0	GS-8	7.2	4	0	0	2	2	0	0.00
								21.1	13	1	0	7	13	0	0.00

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/29/2010.

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

WORLD SERIES WIN COUNTER

Giants-Phillies Game 6: Onward

I painted all day Saturday. 
The wife and I just bought a new house, so my weekends have been
replaced by manual labor in an effort to make the house her own.  Labor makes me tired and I almost forgot that
Game 6 was even happening that day, but I managed to wake up and tune in to see
the Phillies score 2 runs off Sanchez in the 1^st. 

Off to Game 7, eh? 
God damn it. 

I was tired, it had already been a long day, and the idea of
three hours of torture to cap off my evening did not appeal to me at all.  I turned on Star Trek.  This will be easier.  Captain Kirk always wins, even when he’s in
Philadelphia. 

It started off good. 
I managed to sit back, relax and enjoy watching the exploits from where
no man has gone before.  But then the
back of my brain started scratching. 
“Hey, what if something awesome is happening right now?  What if the Giants have hit eight home runs
in a row or something?  You’re missing
it!”  I brushed it off and kept watching,
but “what if…?”

I cave and flip to the game, “just briefly” I tell myself,
and it’s tied up 2-2.  I convince myself
that a tie is worse than losing, and it will probably go 12 innings now just to
get to Game 7 anyway.  I flip back to
Trek.  Captain Kirk isn’t doing so well
but I’m confident he’ll come through. 

I start switching back more frequently.  Every time there’s the briefest lull in Trek
action, I use it as an excuse to “let’s just quickly see how it’s going.”  Still 2-2. 
Over and over again, it’s still 2-2. 
Every time I switch back, there’s a new pitcher; Sanchez, Affeldt,
Bumgarner (BUMGARNER?) and it continues to remain 2-2.  

By the 8^th inning, I’m watching more baseball
than Trek.  It was more torturous to not
know what was going on than it was to just watch the torture.  UUUU-Ribe hits a home run.  Captain Kirk will have to go on without
me.  Game 7 gets farther away.  Can we hold them? 

Lincecum is brought in to try.   Lincecum! 
One day of rest and coming in to help close?  Ridiculously unusual, and I’m not sure if it’s
a great idea, but I’m glad to see him anyway. 
He strikes out Werth.  But then
Victorino and Ibanez get on base.  Oh
no.  Then they call in Wilson.  Oh no again. 
This is too early for him isn’t it? 
It’s only the 8^th. 
They should only bring him in when there’s three outs left, not
five!  Double play-YES! 

Three more outs and the World Series. 

Wilson’s back. Good, it has to be Wilson.  Ross Gload grounds out, two more to go.  Jimmy Rollins walks, oh no.  That’s okay, Wilson always has to have a
little drama, it’s part of his charm.  Palanco
grounds out.  ONE MORE TO GO.  Utley walks. 
OH NO.  There’s drama and then
there’s drama, Wilson.  Ryan Howard steps
up.  The crappy Fox announcers talk about
how he hasn’t done anything for the Phillies all post-season.  “Thanks for the jinx”, I think to myself, wondering
if this will be the moment where he decides to snap out of his funk and hit one
out of the park to keep his team in the game. 

Strikeout!  Giants win
the NLCS!  World Series bound! 

The Giants come rushing off the bench and everyone jumps up
and down as the quietest stadium I’ve ever seen in my life watches their
victory.  My wife and mother-in-law were
all watching at this point, and even they commented that it seemed a shame no
one else was celebrating.  Were there no
Giants fans there?  Probably but
considering the massive sea of red, they must have been few and far between.  I didn’t expect fireworks or even applause
really, but man was that moment quiet. 
It’s a real shame they couldn’t have won it in San Francisco. 

Nothing against the Rangers, but they weren’t officially in
it until the other day and haven’t really been on my radar.  The Phillies have been the team to beat since
the Giants made it into the post-season. 
They’ve been to the World Series the last two years and have clinched
their division consecutively since 2007 and they were number one in the
National League this year.  They were the
hurdle the Giants had to get past as soon as the regular season was done.  Hats off to you Phillies, MUCH respect.  You didn’t make it easy.

Off to the World Series. 
Giants vs Rangers.  Posey vs
Molina.  “Haven’t won a World Series
since NY” vs “Haven’t won a World Series ever.” 
I know little about the Rangers, other than Molina’s been hitting and
Cliff Lee is full of win.  I’ll look into
them later.  Right now let’s just bask in
the joy of winning the NLCS. 
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh….

P.S.

Congrats to Cody Ross for being selected MVP of the
NLCS.  You da man!

Screw Magic

I never liked this year’s “It’s Magic Inside” slogan, so it’s nice to see that better, fan-made slogans are catching on instead.

The first one was actually coined by Duane Kuiper, so yes fan-made, but also professional fan-made.  Sums it up well, if my chewed up fingernails have anything to say about it.  

Because Brian Wilson is that scary. I first saw this one on signs held up by fans when the Giants clinched the NL West. May have been around before that.  The Giants should definitely make an official shirt like this while the beard is still around.

And the most recent slogan that will NEVER be adopted officially by the Giants organization, but which pretty much sums up this team perfectly:

Good luck getting into AT&T wearing that!  

Braves-Giants Game 4: Onward

Well I was right about the close games, but wrong about it taking five.  Giants are off to the Championship after winning game 4 in Atlanta:

My grandma decided to fall down in her shower the other night, so I had to miss most of the game to go visit her.  Geez, doesn’t she know it’s the playoffs?  How rude.  Anyway, got to listen to the tying and winning run on the radio on the commute home, which was actually the way to go because you get to hear the announcers you’re used to rather than the strange TBS personalities that just don’t seem right.  

Got home in time to hold my breath and watch Wilson get the three last outs in his typical dominating, yet torturous fashion.  I swear he does it on purpose, letting the opposition taste the bases just a little bit before going in for the kill.  Makes it more dramatic.  Makes us love him more too, I think.  He knows it. I want this shirt.

Once again it was tainted with another possible error as what may have been a second out turned into an opportunity for a winning RBI from Cody Ross.  I guess it’s lame for me to complain about good/bad calls when they’re in the Giants favor, but I just don’t like the ambiguity of it all, regardless of who comes out on top.  

Glad we won it in four, but sucky that we weren’t at home when it happened.  Kind of depressing to see a stadium full of sad faces.  Especially sad to see Bobby Cox saying goodbye to the crowd.  Look like he had shrunk three inches after the game was over. 

The series is over, thank god.  Was definitely not my favorite, but ultimately the Giants came out on top and they’re moving on the Championship round.  Woo hoo!  The Phillies are certainly scary but I’m looking forward to playing them anyway.  Funny how when I first started this blog and starting paying closer attention to baseball in general, it was around this time last year when the Phillies were playing the Dodgers in the NLCS.  Now they’re playing the Giants in the NLCS.  Let’s hope they fair better than the Dodgers, eh?

Clinchez

FRIDAY

I was really hoping for a Matt Cain victory on Friday.  Not only is he my current favorite starting pitcher, but it was his birthday, and it would have got the pressure off right away so that I could enjoy a stress-free weekend.  Unfortunately no such luck.  I wasn’t able to watch the game, as my step-daughter was only going to be with us on Friday this weekend, so I sacrificed baseball in favor of a pizza-kid movie evening, but I kept up with it on MLB’s Game Day, periodically checking in to watch as the Padres hit a home run in the second…third…fourth inning, ultimately taking the game 6-4.  Oh well, Giants baseball is not about making things easy for fans, and we’ve still got two more games to go so it’s cool…right?

SATURDAY

While I haven’t been especially confident in Zito lately (which is a shame, because he was real fun at the beginning of the season) I had this weird fantasy that he would destroy the Padres to ensure himself a spot in the post-season, maybe even throw a shut out or perfect game or something, just to make up for all his bad luck.  But a fantasy it was.  Again I couldn’t watch the game, because a family friend of my wife’s family planned a wedding during baseball season for some weird reason.  But at one point we took a break between wedding and reception at a sports bar and I got to see my Giants losing, but also witness another UUUU-RIBE home run.  Afterwards I followed the score on my cellphone as the Giants lost again 4-2.

So okay now we had one more chance before tying with the Padres and having to play a tiebreaker in their home town.  But what are the odds that a team could lose three games in a row?  Or four?  While proceeding to drink mass quantities of free alcohol, I desperately tried to recall if and when and how often the Giants have had a 4+ game losing string this season, or this season post-All-Star break, and I couldn’t think of any examples, but I was pretty sure they must have at some point.  I was starting to feel the panic.

But then the rum kicked in and I realized with perfect clarity what they were doing.  They were waiting for Mat Latos.  Of course!  Why not clinch it when Mat Latos is pitching?  It’s way more dramatic.  The guy trash talked this team, so of course the Giants want to make sure he’s the reason they clinch it.  Plus Jonathan Sanchez will be pitching, and he talked a bunch of bravado about beating the Padres in August and didn’t come through, so this would be HIS chance to back up his bold statements.  That MUST be why they’re playing it this way…right?  Right?  

SUNDAY

Right!

The Giants finally take the victory with a 3-0 shut out.  Sanchez and the bullpen give up four hits and zero runs while Latos only makes it six innings, giving up two of the three runs.  AND Sanchez got the runs rolling with a triple off Latos in the third inning!  

Again, I ended up following much of the game via the computer (seriously, I’m the worst baseball watcher ever) but I tuned in at the bottom of the eight, just in time to see Posey hit his last home run of the regular season.  From there it was just a matter of Mr. Wilson getting us three outs, which is his specialty, and it was over!  The pressure was off!  Bouncing ensued!  

There’s still a big hill or three to climb, but the Padres are gone!  Not even wild card, just GONE.  That alone is a victory for the Giants this year in my book.  

Tomorrow I’ll start examining the stats and theorizing on our chances of dominating the National League.  Today though, I’m just going to enjoy the feeling of triumph.  

Congratulations Giants!  

MONDAY

Hey look!  I made the first page!  (No I’m not the girl holding the sign…)

Not a huge deal I guess for the veteran bloggers out there, but it’s a first for me, and a nice bit of icing on a great NL West clinching weekend!  I guess I’d better start spelling things right now…