Champions

The San Francisco Giants are the 2012 World Series Champions.

Last night, the Giants finished off a four game sweep of the Detroit Tigers, giving them their second World Series win in three years.  This Giants team was down, but never out for most of the playoffs, coming back to win game five in the NLDS to knockout the Cincinnati Reds, and coming back to win game seven of the NLCS to eliminate the defending World Champions, the St. Louis Cardinals.  For the World Series, the Giants said they didn’t want to play with their backs against the wall, and to come out strong.  They did just that, only trailing the Tigers briefly in game four before reclaiming the lead.  The Tigers pitching was strong in games two, three and four, but the Giants pitching was better the whole series.

While the Tigers pitching was good, their bats were not.  The Tigers struggled to put runs on the board all series, and looked like a team that had a week off.  Much like 2006 when the Tigers swept the Oakland A’s in the ALCS, the NLCS that year also went to a game seven.  The St. Louis Cardinals won the series in five games.  Having a week off is nice in that it gives the players a chance to rest and relax, but a week is also enough time to mess up your timing.  The Tigers’s players looking lost at the plate the whole series.  They started to show signs of life in the game last night, but when you’re down 3 games to none, it’s a little too late.  This season, the Tigers have played far better at home, like most teams, but Comerica is a special ballpark.  It’s HUGE.  If it wasn’t for the strong wind blowing out, there wouldn’t have been any home runs.  They’ve brought the outfield walls in, and it’s still a huge yard.  The Coco Crisp play in game two of the ALDS showed how large the outfield is when he came running in and wasn’t able to cleanly catch the ball.

The Giants players came together like a team in the World Series, which was great to watch.  There was a different guy making things happen each night.  You see too many teams rely on one guy to get things done, but the Giants had each guy out there making things happen.  Plus, we have Angel Pagan making us all happy by stealing a base- Don’t forget to get your free taco from Taco Bell tomorrow (October 30) from 2-6 pm!  Pablo Sandoval got the Giants off to a good, and by good I mean great, start with the THREE home runs in game one off of Justin Verlander.  I believe in momentum, especially in baseball.  Beating Verlander, one of the best pitchers in the game right now, is a big deal, and put the Giants in a great spot.  Some argued that the Tigers should have started him on short rest for game four, but I think the Tigers made the right choice.  The Giants had Verlander’s number in game one, and I don’t think it would have changed in game four.  Also, I don’t think it mattered who the Tigers put on the mound.  The Giants were just too good and too hot to be stopped.  After everything they had to overcome to make it to the World Series, they deserved the win.  I’m very happy for Marco Scutaro, he played great, but I already knew he was more than capable of that.

Congratulations to the 2012 World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants.

Playoff Wednesday

If you’re a baseball fan, today is a very good day.  With the Giants and A’s both avoiding sweeps last night, there is now four games scheduled for today.

The first game today is at 1pm ET with the St. Louis Cardinals at the Washington Nationals.  The series is tied at one game a piece, with the Cards bats coming to life on Monday in game two of the series.  I picked the Nationals to make it to the World Series based on how good they have been all season, but these first two games have me worried.  Sure, the Nationals won game one, but Gio Gonzalez was more than a little shaky with seven walks in five innings, including five in one inning to walk in a run.  Since I’m on the topic of starting pitchers with the Nationals, do you think they’re missing Stephen Strasburg yet?  With all of the controversy in shutting him down for the season, the playoffs were the top question.  It was bad enough that they shut him down for the season, but now to be in the playoffs without one of your Aces is risky.  Especially against the defending World Champions.  Holy cow!  I just checked the score of the game- the Cards just won 8-0.  WOW!

Game two today is the San Francisco Giants at the Cincinnati Reds in game four.  The sweep is off the table for the Reds, but they still just need one win in order to advance to the NLDS.  The Giants on the brink of elimination battled the Reds into extra innings before pulling off the win.  The Reds starter, Homer Bailey, was looking like a playoff pitcher, unfortunately the fielding behind him was less than stellar.  The Giants scored their first run of the game without getting a single hit, and scored the winning run on an error by Scott Rolen.  Today, Barry Zito is on the mound for the Giants, and he brings lots of post season experience from his time with the Oakland Athletics, and is looking to tie the series up at two game a piece.  The Reds, however, have Mike Leake going for them.  Leake wasn’t even on the NLDS roster for the Reds, but with Johnny Cueto official hurt and unable to pitch, the Reds got permission from MLB to add Leake to the roster.  That’s a blow to the Reds, especially if and when they do beat the Giants to move on.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this game goes for sure.

The third game today is the Baltimore Orioles at the New York Yankees.  These two teams have been battling it out with each other for first place in the American League East for all of September.  The first two games of the series was exciting to watch, and I loved seeing Oriole Park at Camden Yards packed.  The O’s have struggled the last several years, and the fan attendance has dropped, so it’s nice to see the fans coming out to support their team.  With the series moving to New York for the final three games, the pressure is on.  It’s hard to win on the road, but going into New York and Yankees Stadium is a lot of added pressure.  The O’s have played well in New York though, so it’s going to be interesting to see how things go.  I think this series is going five games, with all of them being close.  While the Yankees have the experience of winning in the post season, they have struggled in recent years.  Plus the Orioles are on FIRE this season.  I love watching these two teams go at it and can’t wait to see how things turn out.

The final game tonight is the Detroit Tigers at the Oakland Athletics and yours truly will be there in person to root on the A’s.  The catch made by Coco Crisp last night was stellar to say the least.  Does it make up for the one he missed in Detroit? No, but it almost did.  Brett Anderson, what can you say about that performance other than AMAZING!!!!  I love Anderson and wish that he would have been healthy all season, but I’m so glad he was able to pitch last night and throw up zeros like that.  If the A’s can get another pitching performance like that out of AJ Griffin tonight, which he’s fully capable of, the A’s have a high chance of winning.  The only thing in their way is Max Scherzer, mister strikeout.  I love Max.  He’s a super nice guy, and a skilled pitcher that’s finally getting some credit.  The A’s have set a new franchise record for strikeouts this year so they need to be careful tonight, otherwise they will be in serious trouble.  In his last start against the A’s, Scherzer had to leave the game in the 3rd inning and missed his next scheduled start, so the A’s have that on their side.  I hope the A’s can win, and not just because I’m an A’s fan, but because the season they had, for it to end now would be so sad.  No matter what, I’m stoked and having a blast.  Let’s Go Oak-Land!!

Call to the Bullpen

There are countless arguments as to why each position is the most important on the team, but in last night’s game in San Francisco, the bullpen was the most important.

I’m a firm believer that you need a strong bullpen in order to be successful.  You need guys that can go out there at any point in the game and get outs.  Last night, Cincinnati’s bullpen did just that.  I turned the game on in the second inning last night and was utterly confused.  The Giants were batting, but the pitcher for the Reds was a white guy, and that meant Cueto was out.  Before even looking at the score, my initial thought was oh great, the Giants already knocked the starter out of the game.  Then I saw the score, and had that “oh crap Cueto is hurt” moment.  To have your game one starter leave the game after one batter is a manager and teams worst nightmare, but the Reds bullpen was lights out.  The Reds relief pitchers threw 4 2/3 innings allowing just two runs.  While Sam LeCure pitched, starter Mat Latos warmed up in the bullpen before pitching four solid innings.  Cueto hopes to pitch in game four, if necessary, back in Cincinnati.  The Reds are in need of a solid start by tonight’s starter, Bronson Arroyo, to give the bullpen a little bit of rest so they’re ready to go for the remainder of the series.

On the flip side, we have the game today in Detroit.  Both the A’s and Tigers bullpens were a bit shaky, with each allowing two runs.  The difference in the game was the two unearned runs the Tigers plated on the Coco Crisp error in the outfield.  Now, the A’s find themselves down 0-2 heading back to Oakland.  The two things the A’s have going for them: they’ve been up 2-0 in past series only to lose 3-2 (2001 against the Yankees and 2003 against the Red Sox), and they went into the end of the regular season needing to sweep the Rangers to win the division and did that.