2010 Season In Review

Wow, what a year.  For me, it started out not being able to buy season tickets for the first time in 26 years due to the economy.  So, I picked the Giants to win the World Series since I wouldn't be there to see it.  And it happened.

Spring training started with the realization that the Giants had little prospect for improving upon their 2009 total of 88 wins.  Although 88 wins could be figured as overachieving, they finished in 3rd place behind a surging Rockies team, and were the only team of the 8 holding a playoff position at the All-Star break not to hold on.  One thing was clear, though.  The Giants had one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball, and the 88 wins without any semblance of an offense proved it.

They started off very strong in the first couple of weeks, as did the A's.  But they faded as time went on, and it was clear that the Padres were a team to be reckoned with, especially with the way they were pitching.  Slowly, the Giants added bats.  First, Buster Posey was brought up from the minors.  Bengie Molina was their cleanup hitter, and Posey took that spot after Molina's trade to their eventual World Series opponent Rangers.  Pat Burrell and Cody Ross were instrumental additions in the team's stretch run.  The pitching staff caught fire in August - racking up numbers not seen in baseball since the 1965 Dodgers.  I was convinced they easily had the pitching staff to win it all, but I was not convinced at all that the Giants would win anything.  The Giants never won anything, and it was not in their nature to ever do so.

The pennant race with the Padres was simply an amazing thing to watch.  "Torture" as we would come to know it was already coursing through our veins, we just didn't have a word for it.  Of course, that last 3-game series had the Giants dropping the first two - and losing a great number of games during the year to San Diego - and winning the West in game 162 was Torture at it's highest...to that point.

Of the 32 post-season games played in 2010 between all 8 playoff teams, seven were one-run games.  The Giants played every single one of those seven games, and were 6-1.  Now that's Torture.  All four Braves games, three of the six Phillies games, and not one of the Ranger games.  The Giants simply dominated the post-season, going 11-4.  Brian Wilson was on the mound for all four clincher games - game 162 vs. the Padres, game 4 vs. the Braves, game 6 vs. the Phillies and game 5 vs. the Rangers.  Three of those series ended in strikeouts.  Ryan Howard standing motionless trying to argue with the umpire whilst the Giants dogpiled in the center of the diamond is an image of contrasts I'll never forget.  Swing, Ryan, swing!  Tim Lincecum won game 1's of the NLDS, NLCS, WS and the WS clincher.  Matt Cain had a 0.00 ERA in 3 starts, and Brian Wilson was lights out.  The Texas Rangers, who had the best offense in baseball, were shutout once at home all year.  The Giants shut them out twice, and came one pitch from doing it a third time.  The Rangers totalled one run and six hits in the last two games, and only one Texas player even as much as touched third base.  AL MVP Josh Hamilton was a deer in the headlights and Vladimir Guererro swung not like a madman, but like a little leaguer.  Nelson Cruz whiffed and Cliff Lee was spanked.

Madison Bumgarner, Johnathan Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Buster Posey, Edgar Renteria, Javier Lopez, Aubrey Huff.  Kruk, Kuip, Miller and Flem.  Dave Flemming's cracked voice.  Enough names to remember forever.  I hope I didn't forget anybody.  Bruce Bochy, and the million man march down Market Street.  "Swing and a miss.  And that's it!"  What a season.  The replays are great and will be forever.

New Uniforms for The World Champion Giants?

The Giants have won the World Series, their sixth trophy since the first Series played in 1903.  Will the Giants come out with new uniforms as a result in 2011?  Well, after they won their first WS in 1905, the Giants made a change in their 1906 uniforms.  John McGraw thought it necessary to show everybody who they were playing.  So, they promptly removed the traditional "NY" from their jerseys and replaced it with the identifier of "WORLD'S CHAMPIONS."  To see the transition, click here.  For a closeup of the '06 threads, click here.  These come from a great section of the Hall of Fame website, called "Dressed to the Nines," detailing the uniforms for every team in history.

I'm not expecting a big change to their already classic uni's.  But just think how such a thing would go over today.

Black (and orange) Friday Radio Replay

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when all things business start early.  Well, the Giants' flagship station, KNBR, decided to have their own Black (and orange) Friday.  Starting at 6am, they played all four Giants clinching games in their entirety - including celebrations, interviews and post game shows - in consecutive order.  The game 162 clincher against the San Diego Padres, the game 4 clincher against the Atlanta Braves, the game 6 clincher against the Philadelphia Phillies and the game 5 clincher against the Texas Rangers.  It all ended at about 11:30pm.

What a day of baseball on the radio.  All the best games for all the best reasons.  I managed to tape half of the NLCS clincher and all of the WS clincher.  These should be great for rainy days.

Tim Lincecum and the List of Giant Victims

This post-season, Tim Lincecum emerged as the dominant pitcher in baseball.  Or did he?  He was 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA, walked 9 and struck out 43.  He went head-to-head with and beat three pitchers who were supposed to beat him a total of four times.  Derek Lowe in the NLDS, Roy Halladay (the "best" pitcher in baseball the last three years) and Cliff Lee twice (the unbeatable post-season pitcher).  If you could have any pitcher on the mound to clinch the World Series, who would it be?  Well, I certainly wouldn't pick Lowe, Halladay or Lee.  Lincecum won game 1 of each post-season series, plus the clincher in the World Series.  What more could you ask for?

But before I brush this off, I want to look at the rest of the Giants staff.  Matt Cain started three games, went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 21.1 innings, putting him in the category with all-time elites.  Madison Bumgarner went 2-0 in three starts and a relief appearance with a 2.18 ERA.  He pitched the NLDS clincher and a key shutout of the Rangers in the WS.  And although Johnathan Sanchez went 0-2 in the post-season, he had a 4.05 ERA.  He tossed a shutout in the Giants' game 162 clincher over the Padres, and started the game 6 NLCS clincher against the Phils.   Javier Lopez was an unsung hero out of the pen, and Brian Wilson was on the mound in all four Giants clinchers, game 162 vs. the Padres, game 4 clincher vs. the Braves, game 6 clincher vs. the Phillies and the game 5 World Series clincher against the Rangers.

Overall, the list of Giants victims is amazingly impressive.  Mat Latos (the ace of the best pitching staff for most of the year), Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe again, Roy Halladay, Cole Hammels, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, CJ Wilson, Tommy Hunter and Cliff Lee again.  Now that's domination.

Did The Giants Have A Curse?

Of the teams that had the longest World Series droughts, a group I've called "the long suffering five" (Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox, Indians, Giants), each of them seems to have a curse noted by fans over the years.  The most famous was the Red Sox's "Curse of the Bambino" for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees after the Sox won their last World Series.  The Yankees went on to win 26 before the Red Sox ended their curse in 2004.

The Cubs have the "Curse of the Billy Goat," which legend has it that a fan brought a goat to a World Series game in 1945, and was told to leave because the smell was bothering other fans.  He placed a curse on the Cubs after leaving.  The White Sox had the "Curse of the Black Sox," which was directly due to the gambling scandal where eight White Sox players allegedly took part in throwing the 1919 World Series.  The Indians have a much less known curse, the "Curse of Rocky Colavito," preventing the Tribe from winning due to the team trading Colavito for Harvey Kuenn.

The Giants had maybe the lesser known "curse" of them all - the "Curse of Coogan's Bluff."  Coogan's Bluff was the place in Harlem where the Polo Grounds were located, and NY fans supposedly cursed the Giants for moving to San Francisco.

So did they have a curse?  I'm not sure, and I'm not a big fan of curses, but they do make for good conversation.  If they did have a curse, it's over.

I Still Can't Believe It

It's been 12 days since the Giants clinched the World Series with a Brian Wilson fastball whiffing Nelson Cruz.  I still can't believe it.  The Giants won it all.  That's never happened in my lifetime, and not in San Francisco either.  The Giants simply don't win championships.  I've been taught so by history.  So why did they decide to win one this year? 

It's not like it's really difficult for a team to win.  It happens every year.  All the other teams never seemed to have a problem.  Every year the Series has been won by Somebody Else.  It's not like the Lottery where it can fail to have a winner, and it rolls over into the next week, and it can have many weeks in a row without a winner.  No.  Baseball has a World Series champion every year.  Somebody has to win it.  Why not the Giants?  That's a good question.  Why not?  Experience has taught me that the Giants snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Some last minute catastrophe, sometimes the largest and latest ever, always seem to materialize at the wrong moment.  They lead baseball history in heartbreak.

To be fair, the Giants have had some of the most miraculous comebacks, last minute victories and great stories of all time.  But all of those have ended the same way.  With Somebody Else winning the World Series.  Until now.  Is this the same team of my youth?  Is this the same team of my 20's?  And 30's?  And most of my 40's?  Were the 49ers the only team allowed to roll down Market Street?

This wasn't the same team I knew.  It was somebody else.  Somebody Else in Giants uniforms.  But, I'll take it.

The Reason The Giants Out-Hit Their Post Season Opponents

The Giants came into the post-season with arguably the weakest lineup.  Yet, they out-hit their opponents on the way to a World Championship.  This surprised many experts, as well as many Giants fans.  But there's a very simple reason they out hit their opponents.  It's one of those things in life that is so blatantly obvious that everybody completely misses it.  I missed it.  Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

They out-hit their opponents because they're the one lineup that never had to face the Giants pitching staff.

Giants Victory Parade

Before this last Wednesday, the largest crowd I had ever been in was a Giants road game I saw in Denver in 1993, the Rockies' expansion year, in Mile High Stadium.  This was before Coors Field was built.  The attendance that day was 72,431.  I can't remember any other big events I attended with a crowd that large.

But Wednesday was a special day.  At the last minute, early in the morning, we decided to go to the San Francisco Giants World Series victory parade.  About 1 million fans showed up.  Driving into The City was out of the question, so we had to take public transportation, on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train.  We picked the furthest station in our town because the parking situation is always much better.  We drove by the closest station on our way there, and there were hundreds of people walking down the sidewalks of every street we could see, all dressed in orange and black.  Wow.  On to our destination station.  It was packed, and a line for train tickets was about a hundred yards long.  Ouch.  On to the last station on the line, in Pittsburg.  Same story.  The line was through the station, over the freeway, and about 50 yards out into the parking lot.  I used to live a block away, so I knew where to park.  As we entered the station lot, some fans turned us around and told us to go to the Safeway grocery store on the corner, as they sold BART tickets at a discount.  That line was five minutes long.  Thank you, whoever you are!

We proceeded into the station and to the furthest extent of the station to catch the last car.  We saw a friend, Sean, who works in the City, and had to go back home because none of the vanpool vehicles he took to work every day were picking anybody up.  The train completely filled up two stations later, and everybody else along the line was out of luck.  It was a wall of orange inside the train.  The train stations were so filled with people eager to get on the trains, the operator couldn't close the doors.  It took a while to even get to San Francisco.

We exited at the Civic Center station, the closest station to the parade end destination.  Once out, we entered a sea of people semi-jockying for position.  We didn't arrive until after the parade had started at the other end, and it would be a while before it got to us.  I had a radio, so I was able to tell when they were going to turn the corner onto the final street on the way to city hall.  The kids couldn't see, as they were too small, and even I couldn't see because we were too far away.  We could hear the crowd gain in volume around the corner as the parade approached, and when it hit our area, a huge roar erupted.  The caravan angled away from us, and I think I saw announcers Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, and Lincecum's hair.  That was it.  The kids were tired, and I was satisfied.  A much needed ice cream cart passed by as we were leaving, so that bought us maybe a half hour more in a celebratory atmosphere.

We missed the speeches and all, but saw them later on TV.  As the kids were eating ice cream on a low planter wall, a few people down was a lady that sits behind me in my Wednesday night class.  How cool.  She wore her colors all semester, and I would see her later that evening.  She recorded a bunch of stuff on her Flip.  Anyway, the kids finished their ice cream and we headed back toward BART.  But one problem: there were thousands of people heading out to the plaza.  As many people as were leaving, many times more were just arriving.  The station was a zoo, and one exit was completely shut down due to heavy foot traffic.  We got a seat on the train home, trying to beat what commute there would be, and made it home without a problem.  It was exciting just to say we went, and I'm sure I'll look back on the parade with a sense of completion.  What a season.

Game 5 Observations

The Rangers' Cliff Lee and the Giants' Tim Lincecum dueled in an amazing game of pitching, and lived up to everything both games 1 and 5 were supposed to be.  Both had a commanding performance over the other team's lineup, and took a scoreless game into the late innings.  Wonderful!

But as the innings unfolded it became clear that the Giants were taking better swings when they made outs than the Rangers were.  And as each scoreless inning moved into the late innings, I became more sure that the Giants were going to win.  A scoreless game late was unfamiliar territory to the Rangers, while it was home sweet home to the Giants.  It was only a matter of time before the Giants bats broke through.  Lincecum was simply lights out all game.

When they got two hits in the seventh, and Huff bunted the runners over (the first sacrifice of his career), I could taste it.  Although Pat "the Bat" Burrell whiffed, when Renteria came up, Giants radio announcer Dave Flemming called it.  "Can Edgar Renteria be the Giants hero yet again?"  I have never been so ecstatic over a baseball play in my life as I was for his three run homer.  And Flemming's voice cracked like a thirteen year old when he came to the word "gone!" in his call.

After that, Cruz made it interesting with a homer off Timmy Jim, but order was restored the next at bat.  I was a bit surprised when Lincecum took the mound for the 8th, but Wilson's appearance in the 9th, no matter how well Timmy was pitching, was the right choice.  This time, Wilson made it easy.  One, two, three.  As has happened so many times before, Wilson faced the 3, 4, 5 batters to close it out.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  Neither would Wilson.

Final - San Francisco 3, Texas 1
San Francisco wins the World Series 4 games to 1

THE GIANTS WIN THE WORLD SERIES!

IT'S OVER!  THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS HAVE WON THE WORLD SERIES!  WE WIN!  NOW IT'S TIME TO PARTY!

Game 4 Observations

While all his friends went Trick or Treating tonight, 21 year old Madison Bumgarner pitched a three-hit shutout in the World Series against the great Texas Rangers bats.  That's two shutouts now against this team. 

The Giants had a phenomenal defensive performance behind Bumgarner to bolster the win.  But the great glove work started out with Hamilton's diving catch to save the Giants from scoring first.  The G-Men turned several double plays, and Cody Ross came close to matching Hamilton's feat later in the game with a sliding catch of his own.  Rook Buster Posey gunned down Hamilton in a seemingly sure steal attempt.  But the play that sticks out is Freddie Sanchez's robbery of a line drive.  Hit over his head, he went high up, landed into a backward somersault, and came up with a sno-cone snag.

The Giants provided all the offense in the game in a blowout.  Blowout?  Yes, four runs scored by this team is a blowout.  Huff's two run bomb, Torres' bouncer off the top of the fence that bounced back into the yard (yes, Ian, he did it too), and Posey's blast added up to an insurmountable lead.  Bumgarner was iffy in the 7th, but Bochy left him in for the 8th to face the bottom of the order.  The Beard slammed the door shut in the 9th with a 1-2-3 inning.

Final - San Francisco 4, Texas 0
Los Gigantes surge to a 3-1 series lead

Game 3 Observations

As much as Johnathan Sanchez struggled, the difference in this game was one bad pitch by Sanchez.  One pitch.  Cruz led off the second with a double, but Sanchez pulled it together the next two batters.  Molina was hot, so walking him wasn't a bad outcome if Sanchez were pitching around him.  Moreland had a very good at bat, and Sanchez battled back.  Moreland slammed the pitch he needed to, deep into the bleachers.  This is what a good hitter does.  He hits the one pitch he needs to all game long, and that's all it takes at the major league level to win a game.

On the other hand, the Giants have been doing all year long just what Moreland did in game 3, and it has been written off as luck.  Could I get away with labeling this Texas Rangers World Series home run as luck?  Not a chance.  Anyway, the Giants showed signs of getting to the Rangers pitching late in the game, but it was too little, too late.  Feliz came in and blew the Giants away in the ninth.  The key to the rest of the Series is for the Giants to keep this kid on the bench.  The Giants didn't play all that bad, and the Ranger bats showed us what they were capable of doing.  Josh Hamilton finally showed up in this series with a solo shot to give the Rangers an insurance run. 

Final - Texas 4, San Francisco 2.
Texas cuts San Fran Series lead to 2-1.

Game 2 Observations

Okay, another torture game, but only 7 1/2 innings worth.  Matt Cain was simply Matt Cain.  Zero runs in the post-season.  CJ Wilson tossed a really good game, too.  Edgar Renteria!  This was the pitching matchup everybody expected in game 1.  But it got really out of hand in the bottom of the 8th inning.  Both the Giants' bats and the Rangers' bullpen did some things out of character for them.  And, how does Ron Washington let a guy walk more than one batter in that situation in a close World Series game?  That just set up their 9-0 collapse.

I saw a post-game interview with Washington, and he was visibly annoyed at some of the questions.  Are the Rangers unraveling?  Let's hope so.  The Giants need all the opposing team's blunders they can get.  But...and this is a large but...the Rangers still have to play their first World Series game at home.  Those fans should be absolutely crazy.  GO GIANTS!

Final - San Francisco 9, Texas 0
Giants take a 2-0 Series lead

Game 1 Shocker - Giants Defy Odds In World Series

"Nobody had been able to hit Cliff Lee in his playoff career.  Game 1 of the World Series was different."

The title of this post, along with the quote above, were the headline and summary on Comcast's homepage story when I logged on tonight.  Shocker?  Well, if that's what the rest of the world thinks, we've got you where we want you.

Mat Latos, Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe (yes, twice!), Roy Halladay, Cole Hammels, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee.  These were the dominating pitchers, in order, guaranteed to beat the Giants.  They all lost.  Is there a pattern here?

No Respect

Well, the Giants aren't getting much respect nationally.  Just tonight, MLB Network was doing highlights of the Rangers beating the Yankees to win the AL pennant, and the talking heads started yakking about how the Rangers matched up against the Phillies.  Harold Reynolds interrupted the party and inserted, even if a bit hesitantly, "The Giants...may...MAY...win this thing."  I know you need to earn your respect, but really.

The Torture Continues

Last month, the Giants announcers described the way the Giants play - and win - as torture.  And it has become the team slogan.  Torture.

Well, the torture continues.  Game 3 gave the fans a severe case of torture yesterday.  What amount of torture can you receive when your pitcher tosses a two-hit shutout?  Well, if you're leading 4-0 or 6-0 or 10-0, not much.  But when almost the entire game has a 1-0 score, it's torture.  That means that every single batter the pitcher faces during the whole game is either the potential tying run or the potential go-ahead run.  That's torture.

When two pitchers toss two-hit shutouts with 1-0 leads, that's double torture.  Lincecum did it in game 1.  Sanchez did it for most of game 3.  With 2 out and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 8th, and a runner on, the pinch hitter was the potential go-ahead run.  And he hit a home run.  Torture.  If the score had been 5-0 it would have not been a bit deal.  Then with 2 strikes and 2 outs in the 9th inning, the Giants one strike away from losing - torture - Freddie Sanchez gets a hit up the middle.  Huff drives him in.  The Braves make an error.  Giants take the lead...for a few minutes anyway.  Torture.  Then in the bottom of the 9th with a one run lead, Wilson gives up an infield hit to bring the winning run up to the plate.  Torture.  When Matt Cain pitches a gem, and the bullpen torches it in the 8th inning, that's torture.  When Buster Posey hits into a double play in extra innings with the bases loaded instead of driving in the winning run, that's torture.

You know what else is torture?  The only one-run games in the whole post-season so far have been every single Giants game.

THE GIANTS WIN!

Avoiding catastrophe, the Giants put it together and won the NL West today!  Despite losing 12 games (I think) to the Padres this year, they won the last game of the season to be the last team to clinch their division.  The Atlanta Braves are coming to town for a rematch of the 2002 NLDS, where the Giants won in surprising fasihion. 

GO GIANTS!

A Giant Collapse?

Well it appears the Giants are in the middle of yet another enormous October collapse.  Needing to win only one of the three games (or a fourth tie-breaker, if necessary), Matt Cain was shelled last night.  The Padres don't even know  how to score six runs in a game, and the pitching staff that led the majors in September ERA since 1965 (1.76) is coughing it up.  Today, Barry Zito walked in two runs in the first inning, and was touched for two more by the fourth.  Sanchez goes tomorrow.

The ultimate collapse could be to have the Braves lose 2 of 3 to the Phils and tie the Giants/Padres for the wild card.  The Giants could lose the division to the Padres in a tie-breaker on Monday and lose the wild card to the Braves in a tie-breaker on Tuesday.  Wednesday morning the Giants magic number would still be one, but with no games left to play.  It would re-set to 163 for the 2011 season.  I just hope one of the most unbelievable collapses in history doesn't happen.  If the Braves are swept this weekend, then the Giants will back-door a playoff position no matter how many games they lose.  So, Go Phillies!

Magic Number Is One

Well, don't look now, but the Padres have nearly collapsed and the Giants are on a win streak.  They play a three game series this weekend, and a fourth tie-breaker in case the Padres sweep.  The Giants would need to lose all four for the Padres to win it.  I have some excitement, but mostly reserved anticipation.  I hope they're not passing out those rally towels at the game tonight in anticipation of the clincher.  I was at one of those games in 2000, and the air was full of lint and everybody's eyes were scratchy.

But, here's to a first playoff spot since 2003.  It's about time.

Back In First Place - Again

Yesterday, the Giants won and the Padres lost, allowing the Giants to take first place.  Yet again.  It seems this has happened a hundred times over the last week.  The Giants took two out of three from the Rockies and two out of three from the Cubs before that.  But they've lost first place several times, too.  The Giants need to figure out that this is a time of season when winning two out of three simply isn't enough.  There are four teams striving for two playoff spots.  The Giants, Padres and Rockies are all in the division race, and also in the wild card race along with the Braves.  Somebody is going to win, and somebody is going to go home.  Going home isn't an option.

Over the last three weeks, the Giants pitching staff has been on just about the hottest streak in baseball history.  They set a modern record by going 18 consecutive games allowing three runs or less.  Yet in the first 16 of those games, they went a meager 10-6.  The hitting has been a season-long problem.  All these 1-0 games are killing some fingernails out there.  It seems that the showdown will be the last weekend of the season between the Giants and Padres.  Can this be the year?