Busy week for the Giants

It's been a week since my last post and the Giants have been busy.

They kicked off with the Miguel Tejada signing, they resigned Pat Burrell to an incentive-laden deal, resigned Mike Fontenot, and parted ways with Chris Ray and Eugenio Velez.

At this point, the Giants are just about where they ended last season talent-wise.  Maybe at a slight downgrade when you compare Tejada to Uribe.  I can't argue too much with the Giants basically standing pat especially since they won it all last season with this same bunch of rag-tag castoffs.

But the rest of the division won't be standing pat.  The Dodgers picked up Jon Garland to help with their rotation that was a huge liability last season and there are rumors that they may be able to swing a Loney for Fielder deal (although ESPN is now reporting that may no longer be the case)  and of course they stole Juan Uribe.

I do have to applaud Brian Sabean for not jumping in on the ridiculousness that is the Jayson Werth contract.  The Nationals made what many sources are saying is the worst free agent deal on the market and maybe kicked off insanity in the free-agent market.  As long as he doesn't pay $150 million to sign Carl Crawford for 10 years we will be OK.

Based on the crazy happenings in the free agent market, I don't expect any big-name signings by the Giants.  Not that I did before that, but there was at least that stray, crazy thought.

Stay tuned as the Giants try to get more athletic and have a bigger left-handed presence in the lineup at the winter meetings this week.

Giants land Tejada for one year.

The San Francisco Giants signed Miguel Tejada to a one year deal for $6.5 million dollars.  The Giants are now paying two former Oakland A's about half of the entire payrolls the early 2000's teams were pulling down.

I don't hate this deal.  I don't like this deal.  I do think it's a little much for a guy who will hit .260 and give you maybe 10-15 homers.  Couldn't they get that much production from Emmanuel Burriss?

Probably, but they wouldn't get the leadership that a guy like Tejada brings to the table.  Unless it's a major injury, this guy isn't going to miss a whole lot of time on the field.  At one point Tejada was the active leader in consecutive games played.

His power numbers actually went up when he came to San Diego last season in a ballpark that is just as pitcher friendly as AT&T is.  There have been scouts out there who said that that Tejada is going to be the free agent bargain of the season.  So this could be a diamond in the rough type of signing.  Not Aubrey Huff type diamond in the rough but good for the value.  A guy who got stronger in the second half of the season at 35 years is not necessarily a sign of a guy who is breaking down.

Tejada is more of a third baseman at this point in his career so this could be a challenge to Pablo Sandoval.  Although if they wind up playing Tejada at third they still have a hole at short.  Mark Derosa has played short in his career, but he is more of a left-fielder at this point and I would suspect that the Giants are really hoping DeRosa fills more of that Super-Utility role that Uribe has filled for them the last few seasons.

Lastly, I still think the Giants can make a move for Jason Bartlett of Tampa Bay.  The price has got to be right however.  He is young and cheap.  His hitting style would probably play well in the spacious AT&T park.  There is no guarantee that Sandoval is going to be counted on and Tejada at third with Bartlett at short would be a real possibility.

Now to paint my Miguel Tejada Atheletics bobblehead orange and black!

Uribe to LA

Juan Uribe assured that another nice thing will ever be posted about him on this page!

Juan signed a 3 year $21 million deal  to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This deal may work out to the Giants' favor in the long run.  Uribe has missed a few games in each of the last few seasons due to nagging injuries.  His average and OBP are subpar, his defense is OK at best, and did I mention that he tends to have a lot of nagging injuries?  The injury bug is really the biggest question mark that I have about this deal.  A guy who has a lot of muscle strain type injuries like Uribe has will only miss more games as he gets older.  Although I'm not too upset that it will be the Dodgers dealing with this.

Juan made a big impact on the Giants in his two years with the team.  He had two huge RBIs in the Phillies series and is a huge reason they made the World Series.  The homeruns he hit during the regular season always seemed to come at key moments.  He will definitely be missed.

This does leave the Giants with a glaring hole at shortstop.  Look for them to make a deal for a guy like Jason Bartlett from the Rays.  The Rays are said to be looking for some bullpen help which I think that the Giants can come up with.  The internal options are not good.  They can try Emmanuel Burriss but he has not shown anything at the big league level that would make you think he could come close to filling Uribe's shoes.  Brandon Crawford is just terrible with the bat and beyond him there isn't much help.  The Giants may resign Edgar Renteria but if they do it will not be as a starter.

The Giants are also said to be interested in Miguel Tejada, but his best days are behind him.  If they could give up Dan Runzler and another bullpen arm, they may be able to swing a deal for Bartlett and while he isn't going to put up 20+ HRs he may just be the guy that is available and is the best fit for the Giants.

Only time will tell.

Aubrey Huff will be a Giant for the next 2 years!

If you haven't heard about it by now then you must have been under a rock!

Aubrey Huff resigned with the Giants!

The deal is for 2 years and is valued at $22 million.  There is also a team option for a third year.

On the face of it, the dollars seem like a lot.  But when you consider that Huff has put up similar numbers in the past, the fact that he can play multiple positions, and how much of a clubhouse leader this guy is, you start to realize that this deal isn't all that bad.

The way the deal is constructed is pretty good too.  If Huff shows some decline next season, the Giants still will have another season to decide if they will retain him for the third year.

Look for this to be the model that the Giants go with for veterans over the age of 30 in the future.  We can also gain some insight into how the Giants are going to approach the Juan Uribe negotiations as well.  Uribe's numbers were almost identical to Huff's.  He had 1 less RBI, 2 less homeruns, but only scored 64 runs to Huff's 105, and hit for a much lower average than Huff(about 50 points lower).  Uribe does have some added value due to the fact that he can play multiple infield positions as well.

The story from SFGiants.com that I linked above quotes Sabean as saying Uribe and the Giants "weren't talking the same language yet" as far as figures go.  Hopefully now that Huff the sides will come together quickly.  But if Uribe someone were to offer Uribe a four year deal or even a 3 year deal with the third year not an option year. I could see him walking.  I just don't see anyone giving a 34 year old super utility guy who has some issues with nagging injuries a 3 or 4 year deal.

But stranger things have happened.

Anyway, Welcome back Aubrey Huff!  It will be good to see you in a Giants uniform for the next few seasons.  If nothing else but to read all of your quotes!

Or to hear you sing!

Buster Posey: Nl Rookie of the year

Well you can add the rookie of the year award to the already impressive list of accomplishments this season for Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants!

After all of the worrying about the media continuing the East Coast bias and handing the ROY award to the less deserving Jason Heyward, Posey collected his hardware today.

Not bad considering he played less games in the season which he won his rookie of the year award than any other rookie in the last 30 years.  He is also the first San Francisco Giant to win the award in 35 years.  So now Buster can join other Giants greats such as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, John Montefusco, and Gary Matthews as rookies of the year.

A lot of people will point to the fact that Posey did not play much more than 100 games this season (he played in108).  But if you look at his numbers and compare them to Heyward's  then you will see that Posey was just as productive as Heyward.  In 120 less at bats to boot!

So Buster, enjoy your award for a few days, a week, maybe even a month.  Then get back to work and start on your MVP award for next season!

Brian Sabean: The Best San Francisco Giants GM in history

It's not the World Champion ring. 

After the last few tumultuous years the San Francisco Giants had been through,  I don't think any body would have ever expected that headline.

But there it is.

Just the fact that he brought a World Championship to San Francisco qualifies him for this title, but if you look a little closer at his overall run and see how successful he has been, you can see he was deserving of the title already.

His first trade as the Giants GM was the infamous Matt Williams and Trent Hubbatrd to the Indians for Jeff Kent, Julian Tavarez, Joe Roa, and Jose Vizcaino.  This trade probably made a lot of people view Sabean as a terrible GM from day one, but Jeff Kent had a Hall of Fame career with the Giants and most of the players in the trade not only contributed to the Giants 1997 playoff run but also to the 2002 World Series appearance.

Speaking of World Series and playoff appearances, Sabean's five playoff and 2 World Series appearances are tops in San Francisco Giants history as well. The last time the Giants had appeared in the playoffs more than once in a five year stretch was when they made it to the NLDS Vs. the Cardinals in 1987 and in 1989 when they played the A's in the Bay Bridge series.  I think we all know how that one turned out.

Sabean's detractors grew in numbers with the disastrous Joe Nathan trade.  I refuse to type the name of the guy the Giants got in return( partly because it's a pain in the ass to spell) that's how bad this trade was.  This trade looked a little worse for the Giants when Francisco Liriano, a guy who was considered a throw-in at the time of the deal, turned in to one of the top pitching prospects in the game.

Sabean's credibility took another hit when the Giants struggled to four consecutive losing seasons.  He was crucified when Big-money signings for Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand, and Edger Renteria turned out to be busts.  (although Renteria would redeem Sabean somewhat with his 2010 World Series MVP award.)

But for every poor move Sabean has made, Marvin Benard's big contract, Edgardo Alfonso, and Dave Roberts there are a bunch of guys he has pulled off the scrap heap and got what he needed out of them such as Benito Santiago, Bengie Molina, Reggie Sanders, Pat Burrell, and Andres Torres.

These deals don't even compare to the steal he made in the deal for Jason Schmidt.  The Giants got Jason Schmidt and Jon Vander Wal from the Pirates for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong.  Rios and Vogelsong never amounted to much for the Pirates.  Schmidt, on the other hand, went 78-37, struck out 1065, and had an ERA of 3.36 in six seasons for the Giants.  He finished 2nd in the CY Young award voting in 2003 and 4th in 2004.  He also made 3 All-Star game appearances for the Giants along the way.

The Giants W-L record since Sabean took over as GM is 1212-1054.  Not too many teams can claim a +.500 record for 15 seasons.

All in all, the Brian Sabean ERA in San Francisco has been the most successful and exiting in San Francisco Giants history.

I didn't even mention the white flag trade in 1997 that led to the Giants improbable NL West crown in 1997!

World Series champion parade!

So I went to the parade on Wednesday!  All I can say is what a blast!  Getting there and back was quite an odyssey too! 1.5 million Giants fans all squeezed into downtown San Francisco was quite a sight to behold.  The atmosphere was fun and the scene was amazing!

The whole idea to attend the parade was my cousin Rob's.  He sent me a text message before the start of the World Series that said: "You gonna be able to go to the parade when we win the World Series?" I told him I would figure out a way.   I was a little worried since I only had one day of PTO left but I figured the Giants would win in a way that would be all I needed!

When the Giants won on Monday night and the parade was set for Wednesday it guaranteed that I would be able to get to the parade and get back down to Palm Desert in time for work at 6 AM on Thursday morning.  We would just have to leave Tuesday night, drive up to Sacramento to pick up my uncle Paul, go to the parade in S.F., drive back to Sacramento to drop off my uncle, and then drive back to Palm Desert.  My cousin, who lives in San Diego, would still have another 2 hour drive to get home after dropping me off.

Rob got off work at quarter to 5 and shot up to my house from San Diego.  He got to my place just after 7 PM.  I was ready to go. But my 3 year old wasn't ready for me to go.  He had been sick all day but now he had been crying for the last hour and complaining that his stomach hurt.  We weren't quite sure, but there may have been a trip to the emergency room in his immediate future.  His mom was freaked out enough as it was, but the thought of her having to take my son, who just would not stop crying and our 4 year old daughter to the ER by herself for untold hours were really frazzling her.  I decided I would take our daughter with us and drop her off at my grandmother's before the parade since I really didn't think that lugging a 4 year old around San Fran with hundreds of thousands of people around would be the best idea in the world.

We got to Sacramento around 3:30 AM.  Enough time to get some sleep before we got on the road at 6:30.  My cousin wanted to drive into the city but my vote was that we should take BART.  The deciding factor was when Rob talked to his brother and heard that all of the parking garages in the city were closed already at 7:30 AM.  We decided to take the BART train at the Del Norte station.

I used to live in San Pablo and had a class in San Francisco that I had to attend for a week,  I rode into SF on the BART from the Del Norte station so the fact that the parking lot was full at the station wasn't that strange to me.  We had to park up the hill from the station a little bit and walk.  As we were heading to the station we got our first idea of how long this day was going to be.  A lady, who was walking back up the hill, asked us if we had our BART tickets already.  We told her no and she said: "It's an hour and a half wait."  We thought "Bullshit" and decided that even if it was there was no stopping us from getting to the city

Well the scene at the BART station was one I had never seen before and I rode the BART train during times when the Bay Bridge was closed!  There had to be at least 2000 people in line at the station.  We got in line and waited for about a half an hour before the BART officials announced that we would be allowed to ride the train for free.  Even though the officer said to stay where we were and we would all get on the train there was still a mad dash to the gates.  We stayed back because we figured we would get there and it wasn't worth potentially getting trampled.  This was also the first of many times that I was glad I left my four year old in Sacramento with her great grandmother.

The train ride into the city was uneventful.  We got off at the Civic Center BART station because we got into the city after the parade started.  We decided we would go straight to Civic Center and watch the speeches at the end of the parade.

Once we got out of the BART tunnel it was a scene you never would have expected.  I had a little bit of an idea because I had been checking my phone and seeing pictures that people were posting on Twitter from all of the office buildings along the parade route.  But Market street was wall to wall people.  they had the road blocked off and people just walked down the middle of the street.  We walked down to UN Plaza and they had the farmer's market going on and there were thousands of people swarming the Plaza.  They weren't bums either!

We found a good spot on the grass at Civic Center and stayed there for the rest of the festivities.  It was an unreal scene.  people were climbing on top of the elevator housing for the Civic Center parking garage (I really thought we might see that thing collapse), there was so much pot smoking going on you would have thought you were at a reggae concert or that prop 19 actually passed (take that Josh Hamilton), above all everyone was excited and happy to be there.  From the chants of UUUU-Ribe, to the Boos for Arnold Schwarzenegger, to the chants of MVP, MVP, for Edgar Renteria.  It was awesome.

The trip home wasn't quite as arduous.  There were still crowds everywhere and the BART train was just as crowded.  We left the city at 2:00 and if you throw in the normal Commute traffic we didn't get back to Sacramento until 6:00 PM.  We picked up my daughter and headed for Southern California.  I got home just in time to get ready for work!

So out of 57 hours from the time I got p on Tuesday until the time I went to bed after work, my cousin and I were awake for 54 of them,we traveled over 1200 miles (my cousin put in more like 1500), we got mentioned in the Sacramento Bee, and we witnessed one of the coolest things we have ever seen.  1.5 million Giants fans celebrating the WORLD CHAMPION SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS!

Here are a few pictures and videos from all the fun:

Edgar Renteria homers to give the San Francisco Giants their first World Series title!

GIANTS 3 - RANGERS 1

Edgar Renteria is the World Series MVP for the San Francisco Giants.

Wow.

Somehow the fact that a guy who was castoff and considered one of Brian Sabean's worst signings being voted as the World Series MVP makes sense, Aaron Rowand being in the starting Lineup for the deciding game 5 was just right, and Tim Lincecum being on the mound was perfect.

All of this, all the beards, the waiver wire claims, the pitching, the clutch hitting, and did I mention the pitching?  All of this adds up to the first World Series in San Francsico history.

Tim "The Franchise" Lincecum struck out 10 Texas Rangers, the team with the highest batting average in baseball during the regular season, and held them to one run while outdueling Mr. Postseason Cliff Lee.  Edgar Renteria hit a three run homerun in the 7th inning to break a 0-0 tie and account for all of the Giants runs.  It was a typical Giants victory.

That's the way the season should end.

I'll have more for you guys as the week goes on.  Right now I want to just sit back and soak in the atmosphere.  Tomorrow night I'm gonna head up to the bay with my cousin so we can watch the parade in San Fran so it's gonna be a long week since I'm gonna have to work on Thursday!

Celebrate San Francisco fans!  Your Giants are World Series Champions!

Finally!

Madbum pitches the Giants to within one one of a World Series title!

GIANTS 4 - RANGERS 0

The San Franciso Giants shutout the Texas Rangers for the second time in four games.  The club with all the offensive weapons at it's disposal, you know: Elvis Andrus, Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Josh "Superman" Hamilton, and Nelson Cruz, have only mustered a grand total of four runs in the last 3 games against this Giants staff if you take away game 1.  This is the team that set an ALCS record with 39 runs against the Yankees.  The team that 49 out of the 50 states thought was gonna manhandle the Giants.

Instead, a 21 year old rookie southpaw from North Carolina held those bats to three hits in eight innings.

Good pitching beats good hitting.  Sure the Rangers have some nice starters, but really, after Cliff Lee their starters aren't Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Madison Bumgarner.  If one of the Rangers starters is suffering from fatigue due to a career high number of innings pitched as Sanchez is for the Giants then they have nobody to step into the void and replace him.

The Giants do.  His name is Madison Bumgarner.

It's time for the Giants to bring a World Series title to San Francisco.  They need to do it so the kids have something to celebrate since they won't be able to get toys in their Happy Meals anymore.

Tonight is game 5 with Cliff Lee Vs. Tim Lincecum.

Giants drop game 3 in Texas

RANGERS 4 - GIANTS 2

Cody Ross hits postseason homer number 6

Nobody expected a sweep.

At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Thoughts of a sweep were dancing through Giants fans minds after they manhandled the Rangers in the first two world series games in San Francisco.  But these Texas Rangers are actually a pretty good team.

I know a lot of people were upset about the strike zone last night and they have a legitimate gripe.  Colby Lewis' strike zone was almost as big as the one Livan Hernandez was getting with the Marlins.  Jonathan Sanchez could have taken advantage of that strike zone too but he was so wild his pitches weren't even close.  He did battle last night and held the damage to 4 runs against a very potent Rangers offense.

There are some good reasons to worry that Sanchez has hit a wall.  After his dominant performance against the Braves, he has turned in 3 stinkers in a row.  The two games against the Phillies were surprising because he has dominated the Phils in his career.  The game last night was surprising because he gave up 2 homeruns to left handed batters.  Something he had only done 5 times in the regular season.  Sure, Josh Hamilton hit one of those but the real killer to Mitch Moreland was the real killer and wound up being the difference in the game.

Sanchez's wildness might be a hint that he has reached his limit in terms of innings pitched.  He is at 213.1 IP this season.  His previous high was 163.1 IP last season.  So he is 50 over his previous high.  His extreme wildness would be an indicator that he is tired.  But the Giants have no other choice than to hope he has one more good start in him in game 7.  The only other option would be to start rookie Madison Bumgarner on 3 days rest but he is in a similar situation as far as an increase in innings even though he hasn't shown the same signs of fatigue.  But since I predicted the Giants to win in 6 games we shouldn't have to worry about what kind of Sanchez we will be getting in game 7.

The offense was mediocre again last night.  Besides the usual Cody Ross homerun and a homerun by Andres Torres, the Giants were only able to muster 3 hits off of Rangers starter Colby Lewis.  Thus they continued their season long tradition of making mediocre starters look like Cy Young award candidates.

Tonight Madison Bumgarner, one of the heroes of game 6 against the Phillies, will be going against Tommy  Hunter who is sporting a 6.14 ERA in the postseason.  The matchup favors the Giants and that's good given the importance of game 4 in the World Series.  This is a pivotal game given the history behind who wins game 4 and it's relation to the eventual series winner.

Some other random thoughts.

Pat Burrell is enough of a professional to work his way out of his slump at the plate.  As with Sanchez, there just aren't many alternatives at this point.  But he is still a force in the lineup and his presence is a factor in how the Rangers approach Buster Posey.  I love Nate Schierholtz but there is no way he is as valuable to the team as a hitter as Pat Burrell and he definitely does not have the lineup presence.

Keep Pablo as the DH.  Sure he didn't look that great last night but he hasn't played in over a week.  Now that he has had 4 ABs to get his stroke and to work out the nerves of playing in the World Series, he should be much better.  He is the Giants best option at DH anyway.

Despite all the gloom and doom of last night's loss, there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the series.  The Giants don't have to win any games in Arlington.  They can go home and still maintain home field advantage.  That's the worst case scenario.  Also, they still have Lincecum and Cain looming in games 5 and 6 so things don't look so bad after all!

It just wouldn't be fitting to not have some torture in the World Series after having it in just about every other aspect of 2010!

Go Giants!

Pablo to DH game 3

Bruce Bochy has announced that Pablo Sandoval will be the DH for game 3 of the series.

The Giants will be facing righty Colby Lewis and wanted to get another lefty in the lineup.

I'm glad he resisted the temptation to put Pat Burrell in as DH just because he did it with Tampa.  Burrell was so good as a DH in Tampa, they released him with close to $9 million owed to him.

As for Huff batting DH and bringing in Ishikawa to play first, I believe Bochy doesn't want to lose one of his best pinch hitters (even thought there will be less pinch hitting opportunities with no pitchers in the lineup).

No, Pablo Sandoval is the clear cut choice to be the DH, especially when he is batting left-handed.  In the Rangers small ballpark he will have a chance to use some of his power and maybe he can contribute.

3:30 game time!

Cain and the Giants beat down the Rangers

GIANTS 9 - RANGERS 0

ESPN took a poll before the World Series started and 49 out of 50 states picked the Rangers to beat the Giants  in the World series.

I wonder what kind of results you would get if you took that poll again today?

The Giants dominated the Rangers in every facet of the game last night.  They shut them out (for only the sixth time this season) and they brought the big bats with them that they used last night.

The story of the game is Matt Cain.  After toiling in relative obscurity for the first 5 years of his career, he started to get a little recognition last season with his selection to the All-Star game last season.  He didn't get to pitch thanks to a line drive thanks to a line drive off his forearm but it was the first recognition of what a good pitcher he is.

Last night he put himself amongst the immortals.

With his 7.1 innings of shutout baseball, Cain becomes the fourth pitcher to throw 20+ consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.  That list of  4 now has two Giants on it and Christy Matthewson is at the top of that list with 27 consecutive innings pitched.  Cain probably won't get a chance to catch the All-Time Giants great since his turn doesn't look like it's going to come back around again.  no matter what, Cain has shown the world the great pitcher that Giants fans have known they have had for a few years now.  The guys over at RaisingMattCain must be going crazy tonight!

The guy that got all the scoring started was Edgar Renteria.  His solo homerun in the 5th got the scoring going for the game.  He was the latest of a long line of heroes who have stepped up for the Giants this postseason.  But Renteria stepping up is possibly one of the most inspiring. Edgar is a guy who had a pretty solid career, from his game winning hit for the Florida Marlins in game 7 of the 1997 World Series to all of his postseason experience with the Cardinals and Red Sox he has produced.  Then he came to the Giants and has done nothing but struggle.  Both with his health and with his bat.  A lot of Giants fans have considered his signing a bust, and up until this world series it has been.  But this World Series is making Brian Sabean look like a genius for signing him.

Renteria has said he is contemplating retirement after the season.  If he does retire, then there is no better way to go out than the way he has been this World Series.

Enjoy the off day today. The series picks up again tomorrow in Texas.  Jonathan Sanchez Vs. Colby Lewis.  So far this series has been relatively torture-free but this is the 2010 Giants so don't be surprised if a little of that creeps in.  The Giants really only have to win one game in Texas.  At this point, it doesn't look like the Giants will be coming home except to enjoy the parade down market street.

Giants shock even themselves while stunning the Rangers!

GIANTS 11 - RANGERS 7

Ever since the San Francisco Giants clinched on Saturday night, I had a nagging feeling that there would be a game like this in the World Series.  Never in a million years did I expect that it would come with Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum on the mound.

The Giants pounded out 14 hits last night, 8 of them off of Lee, and 11 runs, 6 off of Lee, to defeat the Rangers 11-7.

This pitching matchup didn't have quite the anticipation that the Lincecum - Halladay matchup had, but it was pretty well hyped.  Lee was an astounding 7-0 in postseason play and he had just come off of a masterful performance against the Yankees.  The Giants, on the other hand, had  struggled to put runs on the board all season long and were not an offense that anyone expected to defeat the mighty Lee.  As a matter of fact, the Giants were such underdogs that an ESPN poll had 49 out of 50 states picking the Rangers to win this world series.

But this is a Giants team that has handled Ubaldo Jimenez, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, Adam Wainright, and manhandled most of them.

Now they can add Cliff Lee to this list.

On a night when Tim Lincecum didn't have his best stuff (good thing they got the early series lead because I doubt that at this point Timmy could be effective on short rest) the Giants offense picked him up.  Lincecum did battle however because the game could have been easily 6-0 after the second inning rather than 2-0.

But the offense is really the story here.  Led by Freddy Sanchez whose 3 doubles set a world series record with three straight doubles in their world series debut.  Juan Uribe chipped in with a 3 run homer in the 5th that basically put an end to the contest.  Cody Ross chipped in with his usual RBI and Aurey Huff chipped in 3 hits of his own.

I do have to give a special shout out to Edgar Renteria.  He is rapidly making up for all of those days on the DL.  His performance last night in the field and even at the plate made me wonder if this was the same guy who the Giants have been trotting out at shortstop every so often, when he was healthy, for the last 2 seasons.  He is earning those 12 million dollars now.  That play he made on Ian Kinsler was a play that I wouldn't have believed he could make if I hadn't seen it myself.

Overall it was a great win.  I really wish that the Giants wouldn't have let the Rangers have those 3 runs in the ninth but they did.  The Giants even make blowouts torture don't they.  This Giants team has shown time and time again that they do what it takes to win games and they did it again last night.  No we are fooling ourselves to think that the Giants are going to put up double digits every night, but the Giants offense has been struggling for a while now and it was time for them to get hot.  Boy did they ever pick the right time to get hot!

It all starts tonight!

What a great season it's been!

Tonight our beloved San Francisco giants take on a team in the Texas Rangers that is just as World Series starved as they are.  It's been 55 years for the Giants since they last won a world series.  The Rangers?  Well they have never won a world series.

As I stated in an earlier post, the 2010 Giants team has been my favorite team out of the three World Series bound Giants teams that I have had the opportunity to see in my lifetime.  Maybe it's because I started this blog this season but I think it has a lot to do with the personalities on this team as well.

The way we follow our team has changed.  I live in Southern California.  Right in the middle of Dodgers and Padres territory (funny how all of those Dodgertown signs seem to have disappeared after the season.).  I only get the Giants on TV if they are playing the Padres or Dodgers.  I also get them on the rare day that they get a national game.  Yet I feel like I know more about this year's team than I have in years past when I could watch practically every single game on TV.  The combination of SFGiants.com, Twitter, MLB Network, and the many blogs dedicated to the Giants all have made me more in tune with what is going on in the world of the Giants.

Go back to 1989 which was the first season that I followed the Giants and I got maybe one game a week on TV, listened to the radio for the other games, and had the game recap and box score to get the inside scoop on the Giants.  That was about it.   Well I did get to stay up and watch them on the news once in a while (I was only 13 after all!).

So again, this is the day that we have been waiting for.  The Giants will take on the Texas Rangers tonight at 4:30 our time.  It has been a great ride and there were many times this season that I thought this day was going to be coming another season.  But it's here and we have areal shot at winning this whole thing despite what all the pundits are telling us.  So get ready and find, comfortable seat, grab your favorite beer, and enjoy some Giants World Series baseball!

Giants in 6!

The Giants win the Pennant! Uribe's bomb puts the Giants in the Series!

GIANTS 3 - PHILLIES 2

Maybe bomb isn't exactly the way to describe it.  But it will show up as a bomb in the box score.  As a matter of fact, it will probably go down as one of the biggest bombs in San Francisco Giants history!

I've had a night to sleep on it and I still can't quite wrap my mind around it.

The San Francisco Giants are going to the World Series!

The game itself was typical Giants baseball.  It was tied 2-2 until the 8th inning until Juan Uribe stepped up to the plate with 2 outs and nobody on.  Uribe hit a line drive over the fence in right field and the Giants had a 3-2 advantage.  Tim Lincecum came on in the bottom of the 8th and looked like he probably shouldn't have been out there.  He got a strikeout to start the inning but he gave up singles to Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez and then he was pulled in favor of the bearded one, Brian Wilson for a five out save.  Some of that Giants magic showed up when he got Carlos Ruiz to line into a double play.  The ninth was vintage Wilson torture but he made an absolute perfect 3-2 pitch to Ryan Howard to end the series looking.

The game had it's strange moment in the third inning.  After Jonathan Sanchez hit Chase Utley in a situations where he absolutely could not afford to hit him.  Utley flipped the ball back to Sanchez, they had some words, and the benches cleared.  I don't know exactly what the reason for the benches clearing was but it happned.  It ended Jonny no-no's night and it turned out to be the best thing that probably could have happened to the Giants. As Affeldt, Bumgarner, and Lopez came in and shut the Phillies down.

The Giants will go to the world series for the third time that I've been around to see and this team might be my favorite team out of all of them.  The 1989 team will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first season that I followed baseball intently, the 2002 team had a few unlikeable guys, this team kind of reminds you of Robin Hood's band of merry men!

But this band of merry men is going to the world series, not sleeping in the forest!

Sloppy game 5 sends giants back to Philadelphia

PHILLIES 4 - GIANTS 2

On a wet and sloppy night, the San Francisco Giants played a wet and sloppy game.  The game came down to two crucial plays, Roy Halladay's bunt that wasn't foul and Aubrey Huff's 2 run error.  The Giants' inability to take advantage of scoring opportunities was another part of problem last night.

It's amazing to me how the Giants, for probably the 50th time this season, can knock a pitcher around (they had at least 10 baserunners against Halladay) yet can fail to score more than 2 runs.  You can't credit Halladay, he was not very good last night. It's also not as if we haven't seen this kind of offensive performance before from the Giants.

Timmy was pretty good last night.  He allowed 3 runs, two of which were earned, on 4 hits and a walk.Huff's error led to all three Phillie runs and, other than a solo homer in the top of the ninth from Jayson Werth, would account for all of the Phillie's offense.

Cody Ross did contribute his nightly RBI.

The Giants have shown a knack for bouncing back from games like this all season.  the series goes back to Philadelphia with the Giants leading 3 games to 2.  I predicted that the Giants would win in 6 and with Jonathan Sanchez on the hill that looks like a pretty good bet right now.

This off day comes at a good time.  I really need it!  I don't think I can take another game like the ones we have been seeing lately so I think I'm gonna go totally baseball free today.

UUUUUU-Ribe gets the Giants within one win of the world series!

GIANTS 6 - PHILLIES 5






Finally someone on offense besides Cody Ross stepped up!  He was involved too with a big double in the sixth getting both himself and Pat Burrell in scoring position for Pablo Sandoval's two run double.

That double was the biggest hit of the game and he had to hit it twice for it to count!

In another scenario that will add to the case for instant replay in baseball, Sandoval hit a ball that appeared to graze the line in right field that would have scored Burrell and Ross.  Instead, the umpiring crew (one of which was standing directly over where the ball hit the line) ruled it a foul ball.  Pablo battled and drove the ball to left field for the 2 run double that put the Giants up 5-4 after previously being down 4-3.

The Phillies tied the game in the 8th and, in a show of desperation, Charlie Manuel brought in Roy Oswalt to pitch the 9th inning on two days rest.  Freddy Sanchez lined out to Jayson Werth.  next, Aubrey Huff singled on a groundball to right.  Buster Posey hit a single into the rightfield corner to get runners at first and third with one out in the ninth and set the stage for Juan Uribe.

Uribe, nephew of former Giants shortstop and fan favorite Jose Uribe, was on the bench for this game while still being bothered by an injured right wrist that kept him out of game 2 as well.  He battled Oswalt, at one point it appeared that he was hit by a pitch but replays showed it was more likely he was pulling a Derek Jeter,  he had 2 strikes on him and he finally hit a deep fly ball to left that brought Huff home with the game winning run and put the Giants one win away from the world series.

The Giants go for the series clincher tomorrow behind Lincecum.  It's not going to be an easy task with Roy Halladay going for the Phils.  But it's going to be exciting!

Go Giants!

Big Game Cain Dominates Phils, Giants take 2 games to 1 series lead!

GIANTS 3 - PHILLIES 0 

Big Game Cain.

I think it's safe to say that he has earned that nickname.  Cain absolutely dominated the Phillies holding them to 2 hits in seven shutout innings.  Other than 3 walks and 2 hit batters, the Phillies really didn't put up too much of a Phight.  Cain threw down a challenge to the rest of the Giants staff today.  He showed them this Phillie team could be dominated and as they have been telling us all season, the good pitching is contagious.

The scoring was opened by, who else, Cody Ross.  I want to take this moment to thank the Florida Marlins for giving the Giants this guy to the Giants for nothing.  They are also paying his salary so they can technically say they have a player in the post season.

Bruce Bochy must save his good decisions for the post season because everything this guy has done has worked out.  Flip-flop Matt Cain with Jonathan Sanchez?  Cool, Sanchez pitched decent and we already know about Cain.  Pull a struggling Torres and Fontenot and replace them with Renteria and Rowand?  They only scored two of the Giants 3 runs.  Bat Aubrey Huff 5th?  He only drives in Pat Burrell with 2 outs  in the fourth.  Put Nate Schierholtz in RF late in the game?  He only holds Jimmy Rollins to a single off the RF wall in the 9th with a tremendous defensive play and throw.

Bochy has been raked over the coals by all of us (myself included) for a lot of his decisions during his Giants career.  He could probably turn water into wine in this postseason right now.  MLB network has been gushing over him all day today and rightfully so.

So Boch, I am glad you are at the helm this postseason!

Only 2 more wins to the World Series!

Giants return to San Francisco with a split

PHILLIES 6 - GIANTS 1

Cody Ross with his third homer in 2 nights

Cody Ross was the giants offense last night.  He continued his amazing playoff stretch with a homerun off Roy Oswalt to break up Roy's no-hitter in the 5th inning and tie the game which the Phillies led 1-0 at that point.

Unfortunately that would be all the offense they would muster.

Every single offensive player on the Giants should watch the Phillies half of the 5th inning so they can figure out how to manufacture some runs.  Shane Victorino led off with a double.  Chase Utley flew out to deep right which allowed Victorino to advance to third.  Next. Placido Polanco flew out to center to allow Victorino to score on the sac fly.  I almost cried at the simplistic beauty of the perfectly executed fundamental baseball.  Please Giants, take note of how you score off a good pitcher.

The Giants are still in the driver's seat however.  They come back to SF and there is a very real chance that the series does not return to Philly.   It's unlikely that the Giants win 3 in a row in SF but I bet they win 2 out of 3 for sure.  Game 3 is Hamels V. Cain and the Giants absolutely rake against Hamels especially this season where they are hitting .348 against him.  The Phillies don't even know who they will throw in game 4 while the Giants will be running out the phenom Madison Bumgarner.  Then Philly will throw Halladay in game 5 against Lincecum and the Giants have already beat him twice this season!

So fear not Giants fans.  Sure it's a loss, but a split in Philadelphia is still huge!

P.S.

Fire-Sabean.com is asking all Giants fans to show their playoff beards.  I live in Palm Desert, Ca and with average temperatures of 110 degrees in the summer, I usually keep my hair pretty short.  I was growing out my beard and my hair at the same time mostly because I was too lazy to cut my hair.  Well last night I was tired of being too hot so I cut the hair and trimmed the beard and thought it looks like the style my new favorite Giant Cody Ross wears!  So I finally got around to sending my picture into Fire-Sabean and told him I'm calling it the "Cody Ross".  The result was this post and Cody Ross hit another homer last night!  I swear if Ross keeps up hitting like this he might start a national trend!

Cody Ross powers Giants to a 1-0 series lead

GIANTS 4 - PHILLIES3                                                               

Well the big pitcher's duel that was promised didn't exactly materialize.  Both starters pitched OK but neither of them even came close to matching the epic performances they put up in the NLDS.  In the end, Tim Lincecum was just a little bit better than Roy Halladay and that's all the Giants really care about.

The Giants were involved in their fifth consecutive 1 run game in the postseason.  Their record in those games is 4-1.  During the regular season they were only 28-24 in one run games so they have been finding ways to get the wins that they weren't finding during the regular season.  of course the fact that they aren't playing the Padres who probably beat them by one run 27 times probably has something to do with it.

Cody Ross was the player of the game and rightfully so.  I think any time you hit 2 homeruns in one game off of Roy Halladay you ought to be named the player of the game.   Ross is quite possibly the player of the postseason for the Giants since he has 3 of their 4 homeruns and was the difference maker in game 4 of the NLDS and was the same difference maker tonight.  Not bad for a guy who the Giants allegedly claimed off of waivers just to keep him away from the Padres.

It could also be argued that Bruce Bochy was the difference maker.  His decision to pinch run for Pat Burrell with Nate Schierholtz in the 6th inning.  If Burrell is still running in that situation there is no way he scores on Juan Uribe's single.  I seriously doubt that Burrell even gets sent from third.  But he did put Nate in and Nate did score what was ultimately the deciding run of the game.  Bochy has been crucified on this blog and in many other places so it's only fair to point out when he makes a good decision.

The Phillies are already in a tough situation in game 2.  Never mind the fact that 15 out of the last 18 NLCS game one winners have gone on to the World Series.  But, the Giants already know that they can beat Roy Oswalt.  Plus the Phillies know that they can't hit Jonathan Sanchez.  That puts the Phillies in panic mode.  If they get put in a position where they need to start Halladay in game 4 do they?  He has faced the Giants twice and they have been able to get at least 8 hits off them in each of those contests.  Of course they will start Halladay in a do or die game.  After all, who would you rather have representing you in a do or die game?  Roy Halladay or the Family Guy look-alike Joe Blanton?

I feel the need to comment on the Philadelphia fans.  I always knew they were pretty bad fans, but tonight they really showed that they are low class.   From signs that said "fix your teeth" and "Hippy trash" to whistling at Lincecum as if he was a girl the Phillies fans did everything they could to show they are idiots.  Really, how does a dude whistling at a dude make anybody but the guy doing the whistling look bad? 

It doesn't really matter I guess because for all their crap, they still went home losers after watching their ace go down in defeat. 

Best tweet of the Night: Bay Area Sports Guy:

"Cody Ross stayed at a Halladay Inn last night. And he trashed the room like a goddamned rock star. #sfgiants"

Giants rotation gives them the edge in NLCS

The San Francisco Giants Vs. the Philadelphia Phillies is being hailed as one of the greatest playoff pitching matchups in postseason history.   There is no disputing that these are some great pitchers but how did they fare against their opponents this season?

Well, let's take a look:

Game 1
Tim Lincecum Vs.
Roy Halladay

Lincecum faced the Phillies once this season.  He dominated them.   He struck out 11 and allowed three hits.  the Phillies managed 2 runs off of him.  He didn't get the win however because the bullpen fell apart and the Giants wound up losing 7-6.  His ERA stands at 2.16 against the Phillies.

Halladay also faced the Giants only once this season.  He gave up 10 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings pitched.  he lost to Jonathan Sanchez 5-1.  Halladay is sporting a nice 6.43 ERA against the Giants this season.

Game 2
Jonathan Sanchez Vs.
Roy Oswalt

Jonathan Sanchez is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 13 IP against the Phillies this season.  He has held them to an incredible .114 batting average as well.

Roy Oswalt is 1-3 with a 3.33 ERA against the Giants with 22 Strikeouts in 27 IP.  You kind of have to throw out the won - loss record since he was an Astro for his 3 losses to the Giants and his one win came with the Phillies.  Although he gave up 3 runs to the Giants and only won because Barry Zito gave up 4.  If Roy gives up three runs in this game, It's an almost certain bet he will be hung with an "L".

Game 3
Matt Cain Vs.
Cole Hamels

Matt Cain gave up 5 runs to the Phillies in 6 IP.  Only 2 of those runs were earned so it is tough to get a clear picture of how well he pitched against them.  He struck out 4 batters in 6 IP and gave up 7 hits so it would be safe to say that he struggled against them.  One of those 7 hits was a HR.

Cole Hamels appears to be the real weak link against the Giants for the Phillies.  He has pitched twice against them and is 0-1 with a 7.46 ERA.  He gave up 16 hits to them in 11 IP but he also managed to strike out 15 Giants in those same 11 IP.  the Giants are batting a modest .346 against him this season.

Game 4 is tough to preview.  If a team is down 3-0 or if a team is even down 2-1 we may see one or both of the pitchers from game 1 again.  If the Phillies do go with a different starter for game 4 we don't even know who that would be.  Joe Blanton is a possibility.  he beat the Giants earlier this season but it was only because they couldn't figure out how to score any runs off him after getting 8 hits in 6.1 IP.  Though his 4.82 season ERA  has got to be a concern for Phi.  ( his record was still 9-6 despite that ERA.  Could you imagine what his record would have been if he were on the Giants?  3-12 ? barry Zito's ERA was only 4.15 and he's not even on the postseason roster!  He was 9-14, BTW)

Kyle Kendrick is another option.  His 4.73 ERA was not good even though he wound up with a winning record as well (11-10).  he did not face the Giants this season so maybe the Phillies would throw a little bit of the unknown at them?

Madison Bumgarner would appear to be the wildcard in this series.  his 1.13 ERA in Sept as the Giants were in a bitter pennant race shows that this kid has the guts.  He did only go 3-2 but that's because the Giants didn't score a single run for him in either of the losses.  He has figured out how to win as a Giant since he only allowed 1 total run in the 3 wins he had in Sept.!  His 6 IP 2 ER performance against ATL showed that he can pitch in the postseason just as well as he can in the regular season.  He is definitely the wildcard but I believe that he is the guy who gives the Giants the edge.

The Giants have a big 4 while the Phillies have a big 3.  This is no small advantage in a 7 game series.  One game can be the difference between winning and losing the series.  Sure Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels have the name recognition but the Giants pitchers are simply better.  They are going to have to be since the likelihood of the offense waking up is remote at best.

Oh and who would you rather have pitching the 9th?  Brian Wilson or Brad Lidge?

Giants in 6

Giants advance to the NLCS

GIANTS 3 - BRAVES 2



The San Francisco Giants will face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS starting Saturday.

Until then we will have a week to bask in the glory of the hard fought four game NLDS win over the Atlanta Braves.  Hopefully the Giants will be able to find a little bit of offense along the way as well!

But for now we can celebrate.  This was a Giants team that was written off and left for dead during the season.  Both by the fans and by the media.  Hell, at some point during their 7 game losing streak I even purchased a Fire Sabean T-shirt!

That was before an epic run by the starting pitching and just barely enough offense to make that epic run stand up.

In the NLDS, they won the first game 1-0, gave game two to the Braves, tried to give back games 3 and 4, but the offense just eeked out enough runs to defeat the Braves and send the citizens of Atlanta back home with their foam tomahawks between their legs.

Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner.  These are your NLDS MVPs.  Sure the media is going to say that, if there was an NLDS MVP award (and why isn't there?), it should go to someone like Cody Ross or Buster Posey.  But in reality, the Giants MVP(s) is that 4 man rotation.  It has been all year long and it will be what the Giants need to ride if they are to slay the beast from the NL East.

It's going to be a tough series, but then again aren't they all?  The Giants will face the only other rotation in the playoffs that can hang with theirs but with a better offense.  They will be the underdogs.  I would call them the Giant killers but that somehow doesn't sound right.

Anyway, enough with the rambling and random thoughts.  Congratulations G-men!  But don't get too comfortable, there is still more work to do!

NLDS Trivia:
Did you know that the two Giants who hit homeruns in the NLDS were Pat Burrell and Cody Ross?  Yes they were the two guys that the Giants claimed off waivers for nobody in return and, if you are to believe some reports, to keep them away from the Padres!

Don't stop believing!

Found this on the Dodgerhater's site. And about 20 other blogs but I found it on Dodgerhater first so he gets the shout out! It's worth 3 minutes of your time trust me:

Giants snatch victory from the jaws of defeat

GIANTS 3 - BRAVES 2

Freddy Sanchez scoring the winning run in the 9th

As Giants fans sat completely shocked after Sergio Romo gave up the go-ahead homer in the bottom of the 8th inning something happened to the Giants offense.

They figured out how to string some hits together.

The ninth inning was a thing that will go down in Giants' lore as a game to remember.  The Giants' backs were to the wall.  They were about to go down 2 games to 1 to the Atlanta Braves with one more game left to play in Atlanta.  Not a good recipe for winning s best of 5 series.

The ninth inning started with Cody Ross popping out.  Travis Ishikawa worked a 6 pitch walk. Then Andres Torres struck out and Freddy Sanchez was down to his last strike and the Braves were just waiting to celebrate.  Then it happened.  Sanchez hit a seeing-eye single up the middle which got Ishikawa into scoring position.  Next came Aubrey Huff, who had two hits in the series so far, he stroked a single to right field which scored Ishikawa.  Huff was followed by Buster Posey who poked a grounder to Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad.  Conrad strengthened his case for the Giants' MVP of the series by totally whiffing on the grounder and letting it go into rightfield which allowed Freddy Sanchez to score the third and final run of the game.

It was quite a turn around and it showed the never-say-die attitude that these same Giants had shown so many times during the season.  All day long it appeared that the only run the Giants, or the Braves for that matter, would score would be the unearned run the Giants scored in the second inning when Brooks Conrad (more evidence he should be the Giants' MVP) dropped a medium deep popup to rightfield which allowed Fontenot to score from third after his leadoff triple.  The Giants apparently need their backs against the wall to put runs on the board when Pat Burrell isn't driving everybody in with homeruns I guess.

I would not be doing the game justice however if I failed to mention the pitching duel that led to all the theatrics in the 8th and 9th innings.  Jonathan Sanchez did his best to outdo Tim Lincecum's game 1 performance and darn near did it to.  He held the Braves hitless into the sixth inning and his 11 strikeouts broke the Giants postseason single game strikeout record that was held by Carl Hubbell in 1933!

I will admit that I thought that the Giants made a mistake by not trading Sanchez for Adam Dunn at the trade deadline.  Although I believe the Nationals wanted a little more than just Sanchez for Dunn.  But now I am glad they didn't trade him away.  This guy has been showing a lot of signs of maturity this season and he has been the Giants most consistent starter since the beginning of September with a 1.08 ERA in his last 8 starts.  Hell, he even was the team ERA leader this season with his 3.07 ERA! (technically Madison Bumgarner's 3.00 ERA was lower but he didn't throw enough innings in the bigs to qualify as the leader.)

Bobby Cox: I knew I should have retired last season

This puts the Giants in the best possible scenario.  Tomorrow's game is kind of a luxury.  The Braves backs are now to the wall and the Giants don't have to throw Lincecum on short rest.  The Braves will face the rookie Madison Bumgarner who pitches well on the road and the Giants don't have to get the win.  Obviously you want to close it out if at all possible but it sure feels good knowing that the Giants will return to San Francisco with Mr. 14k's waiting to see how many more strikeouts he can add to his total.  Derek Lowe will be going on 3 days rest because, well, the Braves don't really have anybody else who they trust to start tomorrow.

Go Giants!

Giants throw game 2 away

Burrell's 3-run homer had us excited early

When Matt Cain walked off the mound in the 7th inning it looked like the Giants would be cruising to a 2-0 series lead.  Pat Burrell got the Giants going with a first inning 3 run homerun and Matt Cain helped himself out with an RBI single in the second.  Cain had pitched well, only allowing one unearned run on 7 hits.  Javier Lopez got out of the 7th without giving up any runs.

Then came the 8th inning.

The normally steady duo of Brian Wilson and Sergio Romo came on and coughed up the lead.  A bad throw by Pablo Sandoval allowed one of the Braves 8th inning runs to be unearned making 2 of the Braves runs on the night unearned.

Romo and Wilson had to get over their postseason jitters I guess.  Romo didn't retire a single batter while allowing 2 baserunners.  The Sandoval on a slow roller to third with runners on first and third in the eighth inning wouldn't have prevented the runner on third from scoring but the runner who scored the tying run on Alex Gonzalez's 2 run double wouldn't have been on base to score the tying run.

In the bottom of the 10th the Giants were in position to win the game with the bases loaded, one out, and future rookie of the year Buster Posey at the plate.  All the Giants needed at this point was anything other than a double play.  A double play is exactly what the Giants got.  One of the storylines of the 2010 season returned to bite the Giants in the ass at the worst possible time.  The momentum suddenly was in the Braves dugout.

In the 11th Ramon Ramirez served up a fat pitch on a plate for Rick Ankiel who hit what has to be the longest homerun of his career to put the Braves up to stay.  It looked like Travis Ishikawa caught ahold of one in the bottom of the 11th but it was off the end of the bat was just a fly ball out.

The Braves and Giants will head to Atlanta for game 3.  The Giants need to just win one game in the Atl.  Johnny No-no will be taking the mound for the Giants while the Braves will counter with Tim Hudson.  It's gonna be another tough battle for the Giants and probably another torturous game.  But us Giants fans are used to those so it will be no problem.

We can all worry about any heart conditions after the Giants win the world series!

Lincecum steamrolls Braves

GIANTS 1 - BRAVES 0

That was the first 1-0 Giants game this season that didn't feel like torture!

It just seemed like no matter what, the Braves weren't going to be scoring any runs off of Tim Lincecum.  He was that dominant.  Matt Diaz summed Timmy's performance up best when he compared it to the game earlier this season in which the Braves were no-hit by Ubaldo Jimenez: “We had two hard-hit doubles. Other than that, we might have hit more hard-hit balls in the no-hitter, and got no hits. We only really had two balls hit hard at all tonight.”

It was that good of a performance.

It was also a performance for the record books.  Both the Giants' record books and MLB's record books. Lincecum set a franchise postseason record of 14 strikeouts in a single playoff game.  He also tied the record for most strikeouts in a postseason debut.  Last night he joined the likes of Bob Gibson, Roger Clemens, Sandy Koufax, and Mike Scott who all struck out at least 14 in a single postseason game.  (Livan Hernandez did too but that game will forever live in infamy as the game with the largest strike zone of all time!)

The game wasn't without controversy however.  Buster Posey's steal of second base in the fourth inning and led to the only Giants run of the game was the source of said controversy.   Pat Burrell struck out while Buster was on the move in what only could have been a broken hit and run.  The throw to second looked like it might or might not have got Posey and he was ruled safe.  TV replays showed Posey was clearly out by a good 6 inches or so but there was no disagreement on the field.  A few batters later Cody Ross grounded a ball that magically eluded Omar Infante's glove and scored Posey in what was the only run of the game.

Now let's take a break and talk about instant replay here.  There are a lot of blogs pointing to this play as a reason as to why baseball needs instant replay.  I do agree that baseball needs instant replay, bit this is a bad example.  instant replay would have had zero effect on this play.  Nobody on the field even questioned the call.  Not the second baseman, not Bobby Cox, Buster Posey didn't even look surprised to be called safe.  Cox said of the play: “Some of the guys came down after that inning and said he was out by 6 or 8 inches. From the dugout you can’t see anything, and I didn’t see a reaction from our infielders.”  So even if baseball had instant replay it would never have been used in that situation.

But the real story of the game is Tim Lincecum.  He has been called the franchise and last night he proved it.  Rarely does a young pitcher come out and pitch like a veteran in his first postseason game.  Usually the nerves get to him and it takes an inning or two to settle down.  Last night it took Lincecum exactly one batter to calm down.  Calm down he did!

I think this is going to be a special playoff run.