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.

Baby I Got Your Number

I can’t help but wonder if Pablo Sandoval is singing his own version of ODB’s “Baby, I Got Your Money” when facing Justin Verlander.  Sandoval seems to own Verlander, starting with the All-Star Game back in July.  In three at-bats against Verlander, Sandoval has three hits.

Back in July, Justin Verlander had one of the most embarrassing and disappointing starts, allowing five earned runs in the first inning.  One of the big hits in that inning was when Pablo “Panda” Sandoval hit a bases clearing triple.  Needless to say, Verlander was looking to put that behind him, but Panda wasn’t feeling that.  Panda, in the 1st inning welcomed Verlander to San Fran by taking him deep to put the Giants on the board first 1-0.  But he wasn’t done yet.  In his next at-bat, Panda took Verlander deep again to push the Giants lead to 4-0.  Verlander only lasted four innings before the Tigers had to go to the bullpen, but at that point, it was really too little too late as the Giants were already leading the Tigers by five runs.  Plus, if that wasn’t enough, he hit another homer in the fifth inning off relief pitcher, Al Alburquerque, bringing Panda’s RBI total on the night to four, or half of the Giants runs.  Holy cow!

On the flip side, we have Barry Zito.  I love Barry Zito, even if he did leave the A’s to go to San Francisco.  Is he highly overpaid?  Yes, but this year he’s pitching more like a guy that makes that much money.  Tonight, Zito pitched like the Barry Zito of old, the Oakland A’s Barry Zito, throwing 5 2/3 innings and only allowing one run.  And, Zito did something I LOVE.  In the fourth inning, Zito got a hit and knocked in a run.  I love to see pitchers hitting and helping themselves.

It was going to be important for the Giants to come out strong tonight, especially with Justin Verlander on the mound, and they did.  I’m looking forward to seeing how things go tomorrow.  I think that the Giants have a strong chance to win the series after what I saw tonight, and I think they have some major momentum going for them now.