Monday, November 1, 2010

Game Wrap: World Series Game 5- Giants 3 Rangers 1 The Giants Win the World Series!

Well, they did it! Timmy went out there and showed all those Cliff Lee bandwagoners who's really boss completely shutting down the Rangers vaunted offense for 6 innings, long enough for Edgar Renteria to win a World Series MVP Trophy with a game winning 3 run HR in the top of the 7'th inning. Nelson Cruz took Timmy deep in the bottom of the inning, but it was too little too late. Timmy finished the 8'th without further damage and then Brian Wilson mowed down the last 3 Rangers batters in the 9'th inning to close it out. The Giants Win the World Series!!! How sweet it is! Key lines:

Edgar Renteria- 1 for 3, HR! That's it for the offense, really. Cody Ross and Juan Uribe led off the 7'th with back-to-back singles. Huff Daddy laid down a surprise perfect sac bunt. It all looked like it was for naught when Burrell struck out yet again, but then Rent came to the plate after telling Andres Torres he was going to hit it out. He did! 3 run jack for the game winner and the World Series clincher. Renteria was worth every penny of the $18 Million the Giants paid him over the last 2 seasons and then some! World Series MVP and well deserved!

Tim Lincecum- 8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 10 K's. Oh my! Facing a much better lineup, I believe Timmy was more dominant than in Game 1 of the NLDS. Halfway through the bottom of the second inning, I looked around at my family, knocked on wood and said, "Timmy is on fire tonight!" Right then, I figured that if the Giants could just get him a run or two that was all they would need. It took until the 7'th inning, but they got him 3 and that was more than enough!

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save. Wilson just kept getting more and more dominant as the season and the playoffs went along. He might just be the most dominant closer in baseball right now. Alternate take: Does anyone else get the feeling that Brian Wilson sometimes loads the bases and goes to 3-2 counts just to keep things interesting? I mean, I think he understood that the last two games in the World Series was not the time to mess around and he just came in a blew people away at will! Either way, gotta love the guy!

Cliff Lee- 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 6 K's. What's with the Cliff Lee fixation out there anyway? I mean, I just scanned through the fangraphs.com game chat and Dave Cameron, who has to be the most condescending guy who doesn't know a darn thing about baseball I've ever read, was going on and on about how great Lee's stuff was. Said the Rangers had a 60-40 chance of winning tonight. Someone asked him if the ratio would be reversed if the starting pitchers were reversed. His reply? Yes! or maybe 50-50. I mean, here's a website and a guy who claim pride in ignoring small sample sizes, yet they are gaga over a guy who pitched great in a couple of playoff games yet dis a two time Cy Young Award winner and a 3 time NL Strikeout leader! Just unbelieveable! 2 innings into this game I was about 90% sure Lee was the guy who was going to crack first, and he sure was!

What can I say? With the Win, the 2010 San Francisco Giants win the World Series for the first time since moving to San Francisco in 1958. It's the first Championship for the franchise in my lifetime and the first in my 45 years of being a Giants fan. Lefty Malo has an interesting post about what it will be like to be a Giants fan now that they have won it. I'll worry about that another day! Today, I'm a happy man! No game tomorrow!

I started this blog last offseason, at least in part because I believed this team was headed in the right direction, and had a chance to be very good as soon as this year. I finally got sick of being ridiculed on other Giants fansites for saying just that. I like to think that maybe my blog was a good luck charm for this team. Hey, it's as good an explanation as any, right? I just know that I've been a passionate fan for 45 years and have stuck with this team through thick and thin. I haven't always defended management. I even called for Brian Sabean to be fired after he deliberately punted a draft pick to sign Michael Tucker, which went 180 degrees against everything I believe about how a team should be built. This year, I knew they were headed in the right direction and knew they had a chance to be very good. It's been an unbelieveable experience chronicling my thoughts on Giants baseball through this amazing, wonderful season.

I'm going to take a day or two to digest the whole experience and then decide where to go from here. Barring some unforseen catastrophe, I believe the Giants are poised for their greatest era with a great core of young players and a strong scouting department and farm system. They won't win it every year, but they will be in contention for a long time. As we all know, you can't win the World Series without getting there first!

Thanks to everybody who faithfully followed along all season. Stay tuned for word on the future of the blog. I promise I won't keep you waiting long, but I need a couple of days to let it all sink in. Thanks again everybody!

19 comments:

  1. Whoo Hoo!!!! Been reading your stuff on the Giants message board for years, been following your blog since you started it. What a team! Can't wait for Wednesday, the party in S.F. will be INSANE!

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  2. Sure hope you have time to continue this blog. You're one of the few Giants observers with a deep knowledge of the game and a close understanding of the talent in the pipeline. It's great to celebrate this Series win, but 2011 is right around the corner. Where do we stick Brandon Belt?

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  3. Woo Hoo DrB, I feel great too! I started screaming after Renteria hit his homer, then watched the final inning in a Costco, with my daughter, and I gave out a WHOOP when they won.

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  4. doc,

    had bochy managed during the season the way he managed during most of the post, i wouldve had much less issue with him.

    still have problems with sabean...but im gonna let those slide for at least a year

    as for that other site...you know as well as i do that the majority of people who post there, dont know or love the game...you should see how many are now praising to the heavens, bochy, sabean and rags

    i want to say this....everybody in this org...from the clubby in low a, to the ushers at the belle, to every fan both here and departed, to every guy who threw a pitch, caught or hit a ball, with the giants emblazened on their jersey have a part of this world series...(except jeff kent...eff you kent)

    the rangers have a good org...and if i was them, i would steer clear of the bidding war for cliff lee...not since schilling have i seen a pitcher that i like less....great pitchers respect their opponents...he didnt respect the giants, and he got spanked....twice.

    i will admit it...i was one of the nay sayers at the start and for most of this season...

    i knew that they had a pitching staff for the ages...but i thought their offense just couldnt carry them into the post...i was thankfully wrong

    this series proved one thing....heart means a hell of a lot in the game of baseball....and every one of these guys have heart

    bring on the parade...bring on the hot stove...this is gonna be the best off season ever

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  5. Thanks everybody! I'm sure the blog will continue. I made a pledge when I started the blog to make a post every day for a year and then re-assess. I didn't quite make every single day, but I've averaged a little over two per day. The blog has been a success and accomplished what I wanted it to. It hasn't been quite a year, but right now I just don't have a post-a-day left in me. I've just decided to make the re-assessment a bit early.

    There's always plenty to talk about in the offseason so I'm sure the inspiration will come back quickly, but right now I have posting fatigue.

    Bacci,

    I know you love the Giants and we just have a disagreement on Sabes and Bochy. I will say this about Sabes. He has his work cut out for him this offseason. He's acquired a ton of players that he's now going to have to make some really gut wrenching decisions about. The good news is that the young core is intact for at least 2 more years and by then we'll be just 1 year from the end of Zito's contract.

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  6. DrB,

    It is a great feeling to know that our guys and our city are world champs.

    I didn't think this day would come, in the early rounds I was waiting for the implosion but it never came. In the World Series the team played so well that I never got the feeling in my stomach that something bad was going to happen. It was bliss.

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  7. wow, Dr B, what a game, what a series!
    As for me--I was looking at the roster before the playoffs and wondering if Renteria should be on it or not, since he couldn't hit right handers. wrong again.
    And good thing nobody threw themselves down the stairs when MadBum was signed. Tidrow and friends sure do know how to draft pitchers.
    sign me...54 was good, 010 is fantastic

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  8. Congrats to all Giant fans on here and everywhere...Been a fan since 1965...Now I can die in peace...

    DRB..Thank you so much for keeping this blog going...I read it everyday, just don't post as much..I really hope you keep it going..even if irregularly.....

    At the other sites I have also always been accused of being optomist, a Polyanna, A Sabean apologist, whatever..The antaganism grows old..WHy a place like this is refreshing too..Anyway, least this WS run seemed to bring people together for a little while

    SteveVa

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  9. Thanks for the labor of love, Dr. B. Your blog made for entertaining and informative reading. You have written objectively and positively, displaying a true love for the Giants and the game of baseball. You were negative when the situation and circumstances called for it, not just for the sake of being negative or trying to seem clever. I've been a fan for nearly 40 years. My earliest memories of the Giants were them being dispatched quickly and easily in the 1971 playoffs. Giants fandom since then has been one of predominantly disappointment. But as true fans we have to focus on the positive, even in down seasons. We have to harbor hope that things will get better and we have to trust those baseball people who make the important decisions, who, whether we want to admit it or not, know far more about the game than any of us ever will.
    So thank you Dr. B for providing fans a forum that exudes and enables the expression of hope. And speaking of hope, I am with you 100% that this team has the foundation to gift fans with an era of Giants baseball unlike any we have seen in our lifetimes, perhaps even harkening back to the great days of NY Giants baseball. My kids are just now old enough to begin to grasp the concept of fandom, and I am so glad that their Giants fandom is being borne out of the ultimate joy rather than disappointment as mine was. But I will strive to instill in them the need to always have hope no matter the circumstances, for that is the essence of being a fan.

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  10. YES !!!!!!!

    I am trekking for more than 10 days in the desert of Altacama and now in Patagonia , I was just able to see Sanchez game and I just find a connection on the internet now !!!

    I love you all. I love the Giants. I love Cain, Mad Bum, Lincecum, well every body.

    Thanks DrB for this blog and all your comments since 2004. Thanks Bacci, OGC, SteveA and so many others for all your comments during all my years of lurking. I can't believe we win it. It is so weird, the Giants win it all and I was not able to watch that. F.... but well that's so good.

    Go Giants !!!!

    GIP

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  11. Thanks for a great year of commentary Dr. B.

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  12. Doc, you're absolutely right - this offseason will certainly set the direction of the team for the next 2 seasons, and it will be fascinating to see which player(s) Sabean targets for re-signing.

    Like Bacci, I am not a Sabean fan. That said, he really made a lot of good moves this year. A harsher critic than I might say he got lucky by missing on Nick Johnson and Adam LaRoche and having to settle for Aubrey Huff. Perhaps we can agree that he deserved to get a bit lucky after all the... unlucky... things he's done in the last 6 years.

    I've been a fan since 1966. I told my son last night that I'd been afraid I'd die without ever seeing the Giants winning a Championship. I'm so grateful that's no longer a concern. And the future does look reasonably bright. Brandon Belt, Zach Wheeler, Thomas Neal, heck maybe even the unlikely Charlie Culberson... Gotta keep dreaming!

    GO GIANTS!!!

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  13. When Wilson got that last strike my whole world just stopped. It was like a dead silence yet the TV and PC were blaring. Then... It was like - what do I do now???
    I know Burrell had a miserable Series but I kind of hope they bring him back. Reason??? When announcers asked, "what got them there", the young guys always brought up Burrell being a kind of like a guiding light. I believe in chemistry - real chemistry and not one that is acted out. My nephew is a Georgia State trooper and he said those Giants were the happiest bunch of guys he ever saw. He has seen alot of the MLB teams.
    I do not want to hear that Timmy is not the best pitcher in the majors. I am sick of Fox, ESPN making claims that Lee and Halladay are better. I really want to say thanks and I was getting the same treatment from some of the team websites but it is all good. Thank you for this website. Always in peace...Tacklebox

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  14. Oh yeah, Surkamp is coming. I think if he hadn't injured, he would have been in Richmond... Yeah I know he is aged aboved San Jose but he pitched like it...

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  15. Best quote of the 2010 WS.

    Cornbread fed MadBum; "I pitch till they tell me to stop...."

    He live about 50 miles from my family's home in Winston-Salem.

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  16. ok...the tweet rumors have begun

    no plans on moving zito (like where are they gonna move him to)

    org is looking to changing runzler into a starter...which means most of next season in fresno

    rumor that phillie might be interested in a trade for rowand...if giants take the bulk of his contract....if a couple of good prospects are in that package, i might think about it

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  17. I am overwhelmed. I remember seeing comments from time to time from all of you, but it never really sunk in that so many people visit this site regularly. Thanks for reading everybody and let's all thank the Giants for a great season!!

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  18. Dr. B, love the blog and am a loyal reader. Great Job! What a great time to be a Giant's fan.

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  19. So happy that the Giants finally did it. Read your blog all year, ever since you left the other board, mostly love reading your take on our prospects; right now I can't stop thinking about how our boys pulled off becoming WS Champs! Here's to hoping you keep up the great work... cheers to you, to the Giants, and to an overall wonderful season!

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