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The San Francisco Giants won their first World Series with a 3-1 Game 5 victory over the Texas Rangers. It was the first title for the Giants franchise since 1954, four years before they moved from New York.

Giants SS Edgar Renteria, who was talking retirement just five weeks ago, tells teammate Andres Torres that he’s hitting the long ball. And he did just that. In the seventh, Renteria took a Cliff Lee 2-0 cut fastball for a ride, a three-run home run that silenced the 52,045 in Arlington. His heroics were awarded, as he was named World Series MVP in a 3-1 World Series-clinching victory.

“I got confidence in me, but I was joking like I’m going to get it out. But it went out. I got confident, looking for one pitch. So he threw the cutter and it came back to the middle of the plate,” Renteria said.

Renteria’s heroics are nothing new, though. His 11th-inning walk-off RBI single for the Florida Marlins won Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, and he became only the fourth player in MLB history to drive home the winning run in two clinching games, joining Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra.

The Giants won the way the best teams do—strong, young pitching. They also received a ton of support from what many deem “castoffs and misfits,” which was essentially a collection of short-term rentals, releases and waived players from around the league. No Giants player ranked in the top 10 in any significant statistical category during the regular season.

It didn’t matter that the Giants weren’t headlined by a big-name superstar, as they had a handful of unlikely saviors throughout the postseason—Cody Ross, Juan Uribe, Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez and now Renteria.

“For us to win for our fans—it’s never been done there with all those great teams—that was a euphoric feeling. All those (former players) were in the clubhouse so many times and they were pulling for these guys to win. They helped us get here,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

Much credit is due to RHP Tim Lincecum, better known as “The Freak.” He out-dueled Lee (how often does that happen?) not once, but twice. He went eight strong, gave up just three hits and two walks while striking out 10. He’s now able to add a World Series trophy to his two NL Cy Young awards.

“You know what it is? It’s called being a gamer. Walking into the clubhouse today, the guy’s as loose as can be, joking around. Same old Timmy. You’d have no idea he had the opportunity to go out and win Game 5 of the World Series and win us a World Series championship. You saw it from the get-go. He had swing-and-miss stuff all night. Cruz hit a pretty decent pitch out. And he bounced back and got us out of there,” said Buster Posey.

The question now is can they do it again? A team consisting of castoffs and misfits wasn’t supposed to get this far in the first place, but now, it’s quite possible that a repeat is in the cards.

With an offence that ranked 17th of 30 teams in the bigs with just 697 runs scored during the season, this unlikely championship team has proven that there is no blueprint to success in the MLB.

Around the fanbase, it has proven that baseball is one of the greatest sports for playoff unpredictability, where the best team doesn’t always win, but rather, the one that happens to be playing best at the time.

Taking a look at this team’s roots, there is a ton of homegrown talent. Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval, for example, are two of the club’s few homegrown position players, whereas the pitching staff was created predominantly through the draft—Madison Bumgarner went in the first round 10th overall (in 2007), Lincecum, 10th overall (in 2006), Matt Cain 25th overall (in 2002), Brian Wilson (24th round in 2003) and Jonathan Sanchez (27th round in 2004).

As for their “castoffs and misfits,” a lot of their bats came from second or third markets—so much credit is due to the club’s scouting.

When all was said and done, it came down to their starting pitching. Lincecum defeated Lee in Games 1 and 5, while their other young starters, Cain and Bumgarner, won Games 2 and 4. The trio did an incredible job of putting the Rangers bats to bed—the heart of the order, OF Josh Hamilton, DH Vladimir Guerrero and OF Nelson Cruz, who homered their way past the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees in the postseason, were a combined 7-for-54 in the Series, which includes Nelson’s solo shot that got the Rangers their only run in Game 5.

Wilson retired those three batters in order in the ninth, finally punching out Nelson at 9:30pm CT, initiating a celebration 56 seasons in the making.

One has to love the story behind this team—specifically, for Wilson. It’s the same routine for the creator of “Fear the Beard”—after recording the final out of a ball game, the closer turns away from the plate, crosses his forearms in front of his chest and quickly looks toward the sky. It’s an MMA-style signal that he says he adopted to honor both his late father, who passed away from cancer when Brian was only 17, and his Christian faith.

“This one was the most special, sure. It showed that hard work really does pay off. That’s what my dad always taught me,” he said.

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Now that the least interesting World Series in years is finally over, all 30 MLB teams can again have hopes and dreams for the upcoming season. Most of the 2010 playoff teams are again favorites heading into the off-season, but there is always yearly change in who makes the playoffs. 

The following list is mostly compiled of teams who were not competitive at all late into the year. The teams are in order of how much change their 2011 season will be from their respective 2010 seasons. A major motif for these teams is how their youth will take it to the next level.

Here are the teams that were considered afterthoughts in 2010, but who are going to surprise everyone in the 2011 season. 

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They’ve been called Torture, The Dirty Dozen, The Misfits, The Cast-Offs, The Scrapheap Gang, The
Bad News Bears, The Little Rascals and compared to virtually every underdog team in sports history.

For the video accompanying this article go here.

But now they’ll ultimately be known as the 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants.

For a guy like me who was born and raised in San Francisco and grew up idolizing the Giants, it feels amazing to say.

This team of colorful, diverse, outspoken, crazy characters was indeed a team of destiny.

The Rangers lineup inspires much more fear than the Giants. Cliff Lee was thought to be immortal until the Giants proved otherwise.

The Phillies are a much better team on paper. They’ve got seven all stars in their lineup and a supremely dominant three headed pitching staff. Halladay threw the first no-hitter in the postseason in decades, then a no-name cast-off, Cody Ross, made him look junior varsity.

It doesn’t make sense—at all.

If the Atlanta braves don’t lose Billy Wagner, Martin Prado and Chipper Jones before the playoffs the Giants don’t beat them. Period. Because then Brooks Conrad isn’t on their roster and all those eighth- and ninth-inning comebacks don’t happen. Something miraculous had to happen. And it did.

Miracle after miracle happened, over and over, and no one could even attempt to explain it except with theories of heart and Divine Intervention.

It’s too bad a lot of the country didn’t follow the 2010 Giants and learn their story. It’s a great one, like Boston having their 3-0 comeback against the Yankees and then winning it all. Just a great story.

Sports stories like this one just don’t happen that often.
 
There is story after story of guys on this team who all faced extreme humility and fought back against adversity with the notion of team as their North Star as they overcame every obstacle on their way to World Series glory.

Instead of telling them all, I’ll just tell the most unbelievable one: Cody Ross. A few months ago he wasn’t even a Giant, and he was then, in fact, a strategic acquisition to prevent him from going to competitor San Diego

But more amazingly, Giants fans disliked him a few months ago.

Not like we dislike anyone in a Dodger uniform, but like we dislike Casey Blake for mocking Brian Wilson, or Vicente Padilla for nailing Aaron Rowand.

Ross flipped his bat at Matt Cain after smacking a dinger off him in July. Cain glared at him all the way around the bases, then struck him out swinging his next at bat.

Had that game versus Florida not been close Cody Ross would have gotten a Cain fastball in the ribs. And Giants fans would have loved it.

Has that ever happened before in the history of baseball? A guy goes from hated prick to irreproachable playoff hero in the same year?

It’s the kind of story that fiction writers make up and people laugh at because it’s so implausible and ridiculous. Yet that happened. That happened to the 2010 Giants.

And so in the end, there can be no logical explanation. The Giants played better defense in the playoffs than they’re capable of.

They got more clutch hits in the playoffs than they did in the regular season.

They had a higher percentage of late inning comebacks in the playoffs than they did in the regular season.

Yeah, we’ve always had great pitching, but we didn’t do play like this in the regular season.

We’re 11-4 in the postseason. That’s the best we’ve played all year.

Other teams players got injured. Invincible pitchers suddenly turned mortal. The San Diego Padres lost 10 games in a row, which must have had a probability of less than one percent.

We won game one of each playoff series and never trailed at any time. Everything went right.

The 2010 Giants shouldn’t be the world champions of baseball. But that they are is a reason to believe in something greater than ourselves for anyone out there looking for a reason.

Maybe that sounds like a cliche, but sports isn’t at its greatest when great competition leads to entertaining and dramatic finishes, it’s at its best when great contests tell the amazing, unbelievable and miraculous stories of regular human beings.

That’s what the Giants are: A regular and very flawed group of guys that somehow rose above themselves and played as a TEAM.

And I believe it is a miracle.

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As the old adage goes, “Good pitching will always beat good hitting.” In the case of the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers in the World Series, great pitching completely dismantled good hitting.

Giant pitchers completely dismantled the Rangers lineup in Games 1 through 4, and in Game 5 Tim Lincecum finished the deal. Lincecum tossed one of the more dominant games not only of the postseason but of the entire year, as the Giants beat the Rangers, 3-1, to win the 2010 World Series.

For six innings this game was flat out pitching porn. Lincecum and Cliff Lee were beautiful to watch. Both pitchers were on top of their game. Both pitchers were making hitters look extremely foolish.

Lincecum’s change-up, slider and fastball were almost unhittable. Even when the Rangers did mount any semblance of a rally, like when Mitch Moreland singled to lead off the inning in the bottom of the sixth, Lincecum just squashed it.

Moreland singled, and Lincecum then retired Elvis Andrus, Michael Young and Josh Hamilton on four pitches. It was as if Lincecum went from a 10 to a 15 on the “there is no way I am going to lose this game” scale.

Lee was equal to the task for six innings. In the first two-thirds of the game, Lee allowed three hits and struck out six. Then the top of the seventh happened.

If the first six innings were pitching porn, then the top of the seventh was the equivalent of the director cutting to the dude’s face in the middle of the scene—it just ruins everything.

Lee had Cody Ross and Juan Uribe down 0-2 in the count, and he lost them both. And if you think about it, he made the same mistake against both batters. Instead of throwing something off-speed to set up the fastball, Lee just came at them with fastballs—and paid for it.

The Giants were set up at first and second with nobody out and Aubrey Huff coming to the plate. The next sequence will tell you everything you need to know about why the Giants are World Series champs.

Huff has never had a sacrifice bunt in his Major League career. That is a fact. However, in this situation, a bunt was called for.

Huff proceeded to lay down a bunt that Juan Pierre couldn’t have done better himself. It was a bunt that went between Lee and Moreland, and Lee’s only play was to first. It was such a good bunt that Huff almost beat it out.

That’s how things went for the Giants this postseason. Bruce Bochy asked his players to do things—and not only did they do them, they executed to perfection.

Coincidentally, the Rangers and Ron Washington couldn’t do anything right. Moreland singled in the sixth, Washington called for a hit and run and Andrus flew out to center. Mission unaccomplished.

And just when things couldn’t get any worse for the Rangers and Ron Washington, they hit the mother load.

After a Pat Burrell strike out (shocker there), Lee had to deal with Edgar Renteria. Lee fell behind 2-0, and the consensus was to walk Renteria and face Aaron Roward, who is pretty much an automatic out these days.

Lee decided to pitch to Renteria—that was a huge mistake. Lee threw a fastball right over the middle, and Mr. Clutch hit one into the left-centerfield stands.

Game over. Series over.

Here are some other observations from Game 5.

Washington brought in Neftali Feliz in the eighth inning this game. Congratulations to Washington for finally realizing he wasn’t playing in August. It only took him 16 games into the postseason to realize this.

If Jennifer Aniston knocked on my door and said she wanted to sleep with me, it would be less surprising than a Burrell strike out. Burrell struck out 11 times in 13 World Series at-bats.

Congratulations to Renteria on winning the World Series MVP. For all the sabermatricians that believe “Clutch” doesn’t exist, I will introduce you to Mr. Renteria. The guy is money when it counts.

Brian Wilson didn’t allow a run the entire postseason. Simply amazing.

105 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Just saying.

The team that won the World Series had Cody Ross and Juan Uribe batting fourth and fifth. Again, simply amazing.

Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Jonathan Sanchez—best home grown rotation since ________? You fill in the blank. I will say the Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Rich Harden foursome of the early-2000 Oakland A’s.

Once again, congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on winning the World Series, and in turn pissing all over Moneyball and everything it preaches. Statistical analysis is important, but character and heart are even more so.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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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…

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The World Series is usually a contest that features the best of the best in all of baseball, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes, the best teams are defined by what they overcame, rather than what they prevailed over or commanded.

In respect to this year’s World Series, I would like to take a look at 10 teams from the past that were not the top hitting teams in their respective divisions, and how their unexpected offensive performances carried them above and beyond to the rank of Champion.

I chose five teams from the American League, and five from the National League (by current placement), and ranked them from 10th best to the number one team that won a World Series, when they really weren’t expected to at all.

So sit back and enjoy.

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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.

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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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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 7^th 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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It was the same feeling I had as a little kid on the night before Christmas, where no matter how hard you try to sleep, it is physically impossible because you are anticipating the next day’s excitement.

As a kid, I was excited to see what Santa left under the tree, but last week I couldn’t wait to attend my first ever World Series.

Attending both a World Series and an All-Star Game should be on the bucket list of any baseball fan. While we all want to watch our favorite team play in the World Series, it is not always possible; just ask a Cubs fan. However, this should not detract any fan from attending the Fall Classic.

San Francisco is not often mentioned as a baseball city, but the Giants fans are among the best in the game and had the stadium literally shaking with noise at certain points throughout the games.

The fact that the Giants jumped out to a 2-0 series lead definitely helped the atmosphere, as all the fans were in a celebratory mood. I have been to AT&T Park numerous times, but the atmosphere at games one and two was a totally different experience.

There were countless times when I noticed that I had chills, not from the San Francisco wind, but rather from the excitement of being at the World Series.

While the atmosphere inside the stadium was unforgettable, the environment throughout the city was just as remarkable. There were orange and black signs as well as Giants merchandise everywhere I looked. 

The World Series was a truly unforgettable experience and an event that I will make sure to attend again.

I am not a fan of either the Giants or the Rangers, but the opportunity was too perfect for me to pass up. There will be classes again next week and the week after that, but there won’t be baseball for months.

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