They did it, folks!
The San Francisco Giants will return from Texas as World Series champions for the first time!
So how will they celebrate?
They’ll start with a parade that will commemorate the 1958 arrival of the Giants in San Francisco.
Here are the details…
Apparently, the age-old axiom “quality pitching beats good hitting,” so often quoted in regards to postseason baseball, is true after all.
The 2010 San Francisco Giants, a team full of self-proclaimed misfits and recent castoffs from other franchises, have thoroughly defeated the Texas Rangers in five games to claim the first World Series title since the Giants franchise moved to the West Coast from New York following the 1957 season.
Texas, with its power-laden, American League-style lineup boasting several great hitters, was supposed to present a mighty challenge to the pitching-rich yet occasionally offensively-deficient Giants.
In addition to the dynamic offense, Texas’ pitching staff is led by modern postseason hero Cliff Lee, a man who has recently been compared to all-time greats Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson. The Giants were supposed to have no chance.
Though the Giants’ position players may not pack the name-brand recognition or impressive statistics on the back of their baseball cards, they combined with a stellar San Francisco pitching staff to overwhelm a Texas team that never really got going in the World Series.
Game 5’s pitching matchup pitted each team’s ace against one another in a rematch of Game 1’s starters, two of the best hurlers in the game today. Tim Lincecum of the Giants and Texas’ Cliff Lee have won three Cy Young awards between them since 2008. In Game 1, neither ace was sharp, and Lee was handed the first loss of his postseason career, as the Giants got to Texas’ lefty for a playoff career-worst seven runs.
After Game 1’s pitching duel never truly materialized, most baseball people expected Game 5 to be a finely pitched affair, as the two aces looked to revert to their top form. Lincecum and his mates smelled blood in the water and preferred to finish out the series quickly, never allowing Texas reason to dream. Lee, on the other hand, desperately needed to pitch his team to victory in an effort to send the series back to San Francisco for a potential Game 6.
As it turned out, the contest lived up to the hype, as both hurlers traded zeroes until the seventh inning. Only a dramatic seventh-inning, three-run homer from unexpected World Series MVP Edgar Renteria would tarnish the pitching line of Texas’ ace Lee. Lincecum would allow a solo blast to Texas’ Nelson Cruz in the same frame.
San Francisco’s crisp 3-1 victory brought elation to Northern California’s Bay Area and, conversely, agony to those denizens of Arlington, forced to watch the Giants’ joyous celebration on their home turf.
Instead of returning to San Francisco for another do-or-die game, the Rangers will now have time to mull their shortcomings and craft their plans for 2011.
With the 2010 Major League season now history, as baseball fans, we’re already casting a hopeful eye toward next year, but for now, let’s grade the Texas Rangers’ performance in their fateful Game 5 of the World Series.
Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants, the 2010 Major League Baseball champions.
By wiping out the Texas Rangers, the Giants won their sixth World Series and first since moving to San Francisco in 1958.
It has been a long time coming for the San Francisco Giants. Just how long has it been?
Let’s have a look.
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series, knocking off the Texas Rangers in Game 5 today with a 3-1 victory.
Tim Lincecum edged out fellow ace Cliff Lee in a heated matchup where pitching fought it out till the end. The two-time NL Cy Young award recipient finished with ten strikeouts and only let three hits go through eight innings. And, as always, closer Brian Wilson came in and was able to seal the deal.
Of course, the game was ultimately determined by Edgar Renteria‘s three-run homer in the seventh inning. After the game, Renteria was deservingly rewarded with the World Series MVP honors.
This team may not have tremendous star power, but they are fundamentally sound, with a solid pitching rotation and a lot of scrappy batters who have demonstrated the ability to make plays when they count the most.
All in all, this is a team built for the playoffs, and even though they came in as underdogs they displayed perseverance and proved to be victorious.
Interestingly enough, we learned that superb pitching can shut down top-notch batting as the team with the MLB’s highest ERA knocked off the team with the league’s top batting average.
This is the franchise’s first championship since 1954, and the first champion the Bay Area has seen ever. That said, this is certainly a proud moment for any Bay Area sports fan, and is one that will undoubtedly be celebrated
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Congratulations to the 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, who beat the Texas Rangers four games to one to win the title.
Any World Series Championship team has to consist of talent players who like to play the game of baseball together, and this Giants team was exactly that. The Giants played with a lot of heart.
The Giants won on pitching, just as they did all season long, but they would not be where they are without the veteran hitters.
Aage and experience should not be brushed aside as too many fans and media do in baseball. Appreciate infielders like Audrey Huff (34), World Series MVP Edgar Renteria (35), Freddy Sanchez (33), Pat Burrell (34) and relief pitchers like Javier Lopez (33).
My hope for 2011 is that the Yankees can get back to being World Champions again, with all the great veterans in pinstripes. Maybe watching the Giants take what was still theirs up until a few hours ago will get the Yankees to start to believe in themselves again.
The Giants never stopped believing, just like the 2009 Yankees wouldn’t give up until they were on top.
New York’s championship crown has been passed to the new kings on the West Coast. The Yankees reign feels like forever ago again, But hopefully the fans and players will get back again in 2011.
But for tonight, it’s all about the city of San Francisco, and their mighty Giants. You have earned the right to be proud, because you are the best in the World.
The most sincere congratulations, from me, a Yankees fan.
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Edgar Renteria = Babe Ruth.
Really? Um, no. But it was Renteria’s supposed “called shot” that won it for the Giants as they can now call themselves World Series champions.
Aaron Rowand was miked when he was told that Renteria had said he was going to do it. And do it, he did. His three run homer was the difference as the Giants won 3-1, taking the series 4-1.
Cliff Lee was good, but he is 0-2 in the World Series. Meanwhile, the only mistake Tim Lincecum made was the solo home run that Nelson Cruz hit in the bottom of the seventh.
There is no reason to believe the Giants cannot do it again next year.
Look, I know the game just ended. But let’s take a look at five reasons why the Giants could repeat.
The San Francisco Giants, to this point, have outplayed the Texas Rangers. They’ve beaten the team that was supposed to be the favorite. The little guy has taken down the big guy.
One more win and the Giants will bring home the first ever World Series trophy the city has ever seen. They’ve been there—more than once—but never have they been the ones to celebrate. They’ve always been the ones that ended up watching the celebration.
In Game 5, it’s Tim Lincecum for the Giants and Cliff Lee for the Rangers. These two aces went head-to-head in Game 1, and Lee was dispatched early by the Giants offense.
However, most baseball people will tell you that Lee won’t lose twice in a row and that he won’t lose a big game like this.
He’s pitched in the World Series before—he’s been here, and he knows what it takes to get a win.
It’s a good thing for the Rangers because they cannot afford to lose. They want to continue to push this season one more game and take care of business tonight.
It’s Game 5 of the World Series. Are you ready?
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The ghosts of opportunities lost can swirl and haunt in an instant, and any temptation for the San Francisco Giants or their fans to look ahead to an assumed World Series title must be stifled.
As Giants fans tingle with the anticipation of a clinching opportunity tonight in Game 5 of the 2010 World Series, the demons of the 2002 World Series are on-deck and ready to swarm.
These ghosts hold permanent residence in the collective memory of all Giants fans. One need only ask if the name “Scott Spiezio” means anything to a Giants fan, and the resulting expression alone from your victim should aid in clearing up any confusion.
That is, if you don’t get punched first.
Unfortunately, there is no shelf life attached to the lost moments and horrible memories connected to the recent history of the San Francisco Giants and the World Series.
I can close my eyes right now and see Dusty Baker handing the ball to Russ Ortiz. I can remember the 5-run lead in the 7th inning, and the red noisemakers clanged by the Anaheim Angel fans. I remember being eight outs away, and slapping fives with my buddies. I remember watching the rally monkey on the screen, and wishing hateful things. I remember Brendan Donnelly in his goggles striking out seemingly everybody, and then Mr. Spiezo and his bleached hair, hitting a 3-run bomb that changed the entire complexion of the Series.
Finally, the very next evening, I remember the Angels beating us and becoming the 2002 World Series Champions.
It was eight years ago, but that collapse is all there for me in vivid, mental color whenever I don’t want it. It stings, and is as accessible as the memory of being dumped in the Mountain View Tower Records parking lot by my high school girlfriend.
Yes, the parking lot.
As for past gut punches, I can’t accurately speak to the sinking emotions surrounding the 1962 World Series for the older generation of Giants fans, because I never had to live through it. For anyone witnessing Willie McCovey line out to Bobby Richardson that afternoon at Candlestick Park, the finality of it must have been overwhelming.
By all accounts, McCovey crushed the ball, one that a foot to either side of Richardson would have probably scored Willie Mays from second base with the Series-winning run for the Giants. Instead, that same crowd, who only a half-second before had been rising to their feet anticipating history, were now cut down where they stood.
Any visions of Market Street parades that day, lost forever to the sight of a New York Yankees celebration on the Candlestick infield.
It must have been truly awful, but that is as far as I want to take it. Any further conjecture risks being disrespectful to the fans in attendance, as well as those listening to Lon Simmons on radios all around the Bay Area that day in 1962. Any more personal musings risk being callous to the pain those fans probably carry in their hearts to this very day, some 48 years later.
That said, with 2002 as stirring in my own mind, I think I can at least relate.
Like all true sports fans, Giants fans love deeply and without remorse. We attach the same elevated meaning in our lives to clutch hits as we do tape-measure homeruns that put us ahead. We lionize twenty-something catchers and pitchers, and lose our minds when a second baseman climbs the ladder to snowcone-grab a liner.
The haunting phantoms thrive in this passion, and are all too ready to delight in bringing the pain of lost chances and failed glory to the very forefront of our minds for another five decades. The one thing, the only thing, that can render these demons powerless, is when we believe without assumption, and support without any expectation.
The Giants have an excellent chance tonight to end over 50 years of futility—a chance. Should that unbelievably sweet event happen, and the San Francisco Giants actually win the 2010 World Series, the very first since moving West, and the very first title for an amazing city, only then will all suffering Giants fans be able to collectively exorcise the nagging ghosts of our history.
The vast amount of space that those awful ghosts heretofore occupied in our minds, now replaced with an amazing and permanent memory that can be cherished, recounted and retold until the day we die.
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The Giants won in Texas, 4-0, ending a three game home park advantage in the series. More importantly, with this win, they go up 3-1 in the best of seven and only need to win one of the remaining three games to win the World Series.
Aubrey Huff’s two-run shot off Tommy Hunter in the third inning put the Giants ahead to stay early in the game, and Andres Torres (double) and Buster Posey (homer) accounted for the other runs.
Meanwhile, the Rangers bullpen returned to its previous-to-game-3 form as two of the three relievers gave up runs.
Teams have seldom come back from a 3-1 deficit, although it is certainly possible. The 2-3-2 schedule means that there is one more in Texas before the series goes back to San Francisco, which makes a comeback slightly more possible.
Still, it does seem like it’s all over but the shouting for the Rangers, who had a great season. But it appears that the antlers and claws may soon be put on the shelf, at least until next year.
This Giants team may be a bunch of misfits, but if so, then misfits never fit so well together.
Riding the pitching arm of Colby Lewis and a three-run homer from the bat of their No. 9 hitter, the Texas Rangers defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-2 to cut their series deficit from two games to one.
To many, starting pitcher Lewis and rookie first baseman Mitch Moreland (their nine-hole hitter) may not sound like World Series heroes, but tonight their stars shined the brightest before a jubilant crowd at Ranger Ballpark in Arlington.
Their heroics guided the American League champions to the franchise’s first-ever World Series victory as they served notice to the Cinderella Giants (and the baseball world) that this, indeed, may be a long series.
The Rangers were already in uncharted territory, playing in their very first Fall Classic, and hosting their first game of such magnitude. Adding to the drama were these little stats that may have been quite sobering to a team looking to fight back after dropping the first two games of a series.
The last 11 teams to take a 2-0 lead with home field advantage went on to win the World Series.
In the history of the Fall Classic, teams have taken a 2-0 lead 51 times; 40 of them have become World Series champions.
The last three teams to grab a 2-0 lead not only went on to win, but also went on to sweep the series.
Against these Texas-tall odds, the Rangers sent Colby Lewis to the hill to effectively keep them alive. Lewis, who entered the game with a 2-0 postseason record and a sparkling 1.45 era, was equal to the task, even if he didn’t start the game with full command.
After retiring leadoff batter Andres Torres on a bouncer to second, Lewis gave up a two-strike hit to the sizzling Freddie Sanchez. Aubrey Huff flew out to deep right, before Lewis walked Buster Posey. Lewis got left fielder Pat Burrell to strike out (kind of a mean feat as Burrell was 0-for-4 with four whiffs) on a slider that appeared to be a foot aside. Still, a huge out for a team that could not afford to give the Giants even more momentum..
The Rangers almost got to Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez in the bottom of the first frame. Vladimir Guerrero, back in his familiar designated hitter role, put a mighty swing on an inside pitch with two outs and a man (Michael Young, with a single) on first. Vlad may have gotten it off the end of the bat, but Burrell, temporarily redeeming himself, made a fine running catch to keep the game scoreless.
For the next five innings, Lewis was in almost complete control, yielding a total of two more hits and one walk, The one free pass was issued to Cody “Babe” Ross to start the second, but the threat was wiped out by an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play of Pablo Sandoval, started by the nifty glove work of second sacker Ian Kinsler.
While the Rangers may not have made too many “web gems”, they were solid all night, committing no errors or misplays after playing two shoddy games in San Francisco.
On the other side of the hill, Sanchez, who at times can be brilliant, faced Nelson Cruz to start the second. The muscular left fielder hit a rocket, best described as a “Cruz Missile” that attacked the center field wall, but did not clear it for a leadoff double.
Sanchez got Kinsler to ground out to short, and Cruz alertly ran on contact to take third, with shortstop Edgar Renteria electing to take the sure out at first. With the infield playing back, Jeff Francouer hit a one-hopper even with the bag, but the normally aggressive Cruz retreated to third, even though the Giants appeared to concede the run on a contact play.
With two outs and Cruz stalled out at third, it would now take a hit (barring a wild pitch, of which the often wild Sanchez has proved capable of dealing) to get on the board. After Bengie Molina walked, in stepped rookie first baseman Mitch Moreland, hitting out of the nine hole.
In the key at-bat of the contest, Sanchez fell behind Moreland 2-1 before getting the benefit of a borderline strike to even the count. The first baseman would foul off four straight pitches before seeing a pitch—the ninth of the climactic showdown—that he liked. Well, Moreland did not miss it, sending it deep into the rightfield seats to give Texas a 3-0 lead that (thanks mostly to Lewis) it would never relinquish.
Josh Hamilton, who had not yet had his big moment in the Fall Classic, would add to the 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Again, the Rangers and their prodigiously talented center fielder would strike with two outs. Andrus had started the frame with a leadoff single, which Michael Young followed with a hard one-hopper to third baseman Juan Uribe.
Uribe’s throw was high, but Freddie Sanchez turned a sensational pivot, just nipping Young to complete the twin killing. Hamilton would drive a Sanchez fastball well into the bleachers to make the score 4-0 Texas. As well as Lewis was pitching, the blow was a key one in giving the home team some insurance against a team that never gets discouraged.
A Babe Ross homer in the seventh—almost a formality in the craziness of the 2010 postseason—would put the Giants on the board, but Lewis and the Rangers minimized damage all night by retiring the leadoff man eight out of nine times; in this case, Burrell had started the inning by whiffing again.
Things got a little more scary for Lewis after he gave up another one-out solo shot in the eighth, this time a blast by centerfielder Andres Torres. Had Lewis, who prior to this season had done his most effective pitching in Japan, run out of gas?
Manager Ron Washington elected to leave him on the game, and Sanchez hit a rocket to left that looked like extra bases off his bat. Cruz, making one of the best plays of the night, robbed him with a terrific over-the-shoulder catch. Lewis stayed on to face dangerous lefty Aubrey Huff, and hit him on the top of his front foot with an off-speed pitch.
Preternaturally mature rookie catcher Buster Posey stepped to the plate, and Washington elected to turn to setup man Darren O’Day. The resulting showdown would define the game, and indeed, be what postseason baseball is all about.
Top of the second: Rangers 4, Giants 2. Two outs, a man on first, and the momentum trending to the visitors. A less-than-hot reliever versus a great young hitter who had already reached base safely twice on the night.
The mano-a-mano would be epic. After getting up 0-2 on Posey, the side-arming reliever would miss on three straight offspeed pitches that were wide of the outside corner. O’Day would step off the mound three times, continually shake off Molina, and even have a summit conference with his battery mate during the at-bat. It was the kind of high drama that baseball fans love, and non-believers can’t stand.
The Rangers ended up loving it, as Posey reached for a 3-2 pitch and tapped it weakly to shortstop Elvis Andrus, who gunned him out at first.
With a well-rested rookie closer Neftali Feliz throwing pure gas in the ninth, the Rangers left their raucous ballpark with a 4-2 victory and the sense that they were truly in this series.
The Rangers will turn to young Tommy Hunter against an even younger (and quite impressive) Madison Bumgarner to try to keep their momentum going in Game 4.
But under the Saturday night lights deep in the heart of Texas, Lewis, Moreland their teammates made the debut of World Series baseball in the Longhorn State a quite memorable one.
Gold Notes
Nolan Ryan’s ceremonial first-pitch toss to honorary catcher Ivan Rodriguez was clocked at 68 MPH. It was a little short of the plate and outside, but Pudge scooped it with ease, saving the legendary team president a wild pitch.
Babe Ross and Josh Hamilton both hit heir fifth home runs of the postseason; it was Moreland’s first.
I realize that FOX pays a ton for the rights to televise the World Series, but they have to give us a better “God Bless America” singer than Martha Plimpton, the star of a FOX series, Raising Hope. She was horrible; I hope she’s better in the series, which I’ve decided to boycott, anyway. Sorry to give it some play here (Kelly Clarkson gave a pretty good version of the national anthem).
One has to think FOX and otherwise neutral baseball fans would like to see a Lincecum-Lee matchup with the teams tied at two apiece. Maybe this one will actually be a pitcher’s duel.
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