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Showing posts from October, 2012

World Champs!

After having to go the full 5 in the NLDS then 7 in the NLCS, the Giants  weren't about to be turned away on the biggest stage in baseball. Now, Giants fans all over the world gets to bust out the party hats and celebrate their second World Series victory in three seasons. I must say, I really had no idea what to expect in this World Series coming in. After the Giants fought back in both their previous series' to get to this position, I knew they were going to put up a fight, but I honestly had no idea we'd see this kind of dominance over the team that was clearly the AL's best. The Giants showed they were a team on a mission though, and played really exceptional baseball all-around this whole October. The thing that I really liked about this squad was that they didn't just rely on one or two big hitters in their lineup to support them like Detroit did. Marco Scutaro and Pablo Sandoval were really excellent throughout this postseason, but the Giants won this year ...

World Series: Giants Off to Detroit, Up 2-0

In their first two series' of this postseason, the Giants were slow out of the gate, getting down 2-0 to Cinci in the NLDS then 3-1 to St. Louis in the NLCS. Their start in this World Series has been drastically different. After getting a historic day out of Pablo Sandoval in game 1 Wednesday, the Giants took the commanding 2 game lead Thursday behind a rebound effort out of Madison Bumgarner. They flexed their muscles and racked up 8 runs against arguably the best pitcher in baseball, thanks to an all-around great effort out of the top four hitters in the lineup (including Sandoval's 4-4 day with 3 big fly's), but they didn't need the offensive out poor in game 2. After struggling through his first two starts of the 2012 Postseason, Madison Bumgarner finally looked like the young lefty that was so dominant the last time the Giants were in the playoffs, shutting down a potent Tigers lineup, allowing just four base-runners over 7 innings. Unlike his first couple of sta...

World Series: Giants Ready for Verlander, Tigers

Well, if you watched the NLDS and saw the Giants comeback from the unthinkable with three straight wins on the road to get to the NLCS, you might of saw this comeback vs. St. Louis coming. After Zito won that crucial game five to get the series back to San Francisco, I just had a really good feeling about things. The starting pitching locked things up and fed off Zito like I was hoping they would, and Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain turned in a few of the most clutch pitching performances I've seen in a while. The trio of Giants starters held the potent Cardinals lineup to just 1 run over those final three games, and reminded all of us that they're still the incredible pitching staff we've grown to know here in San Francisco. What really stuck out for me in games 6 and 7 was the Giants finally woke up the offense at home in AT&T Park. We saw them tap into it in game two, but for the most part, the Giants had been struggling to score on their home field. They had no such ...

Zito Lifts Giants in Game 5

In a win or go home situation, the Giants got their best starting effort from their most unlikely source and will return to AT&T Park for another do or die game on Sunday. With the ramifications coupled with the way he threw, it was easily Barry Zito's best start of his Giants career, and he even admitted after the game it was probably his biggest start of his whole career. With a tough right- handed heavy lineup to face the Giants soft-tossing lefty, everybody was giving the Giants a slim-to-none chance of walking out of St. Louis with their season still riding, but Zito showed up Friday night ready to go. He went 7 2/3 scoreless, striking out 6 and walking just one, an intentional pass to get to Lance Lynn during a crucial spot in the 2nd. Zito did dance out of some trouble early on in the game, but what really impressed me was how he kept getting stronger later into the game. Typically with Zito, he hits a wall around the 5th or 6th inning or 90 pitch mark, but you could s...

Back to STL, Series Even

Although the Giants didn't leave town with a 2-0 lead like we were all hoping for, you have to like what you saw out of the team in the second half of game one, and game two of the NLCS. First of all, we didn't do a recap post after game one, and I wanted to touch on a few things there before I get to the Scutaro injury and what happens going forward. Yes, the Giants won the NLDS, and yes, they responded beautifully in game two after a slow start in game one, but their starting pitching has me a bit worried. Before Vogelsong's valiant effort in Monday night's game, Giants starters have been averaging about five innings per start and the two guys they were counting on the most coming in, have not been crisp. Madison Bumgarner got lit up in game one, and his recent struggles go back to the end of the regular season. Also, Matt Cain wasn't bad in his two starts in the NLDS, but he had nowhere near the ace-like performances the Giants were hoping after the career year...

Giants Headed to NLCS

After getting shut down in game two by Bronson Arroyo, things didn't look good for the Orange and Black heading into Cincinnati. But once again, this team showed why they're one of the best road teams in baseball, and completed the unthinkable comeback over a very good Reds team. The Giants squeaked out the win in game 3, then they finally got their offense going in game four, and kept it going through game five. First I wanted to talk a bit about game four, cause we don't even have that deciding match Thursday without the gutsy performance by the Giants bullpen. One of the keys to Wednesday's game was Barry Zito's command, and he just didn't have it, but George Kontos and Tim Lincecum each picked him up. Lincecum had a dominant, vintage like performance coming in during the fourth inning, and shutting the Reds down through the 8th. The guy who wasn't included in the NLDS rotation certainly made his case for returning for the NLCS after throwing 6 1/3 shut...

Giants Have Backs to the Wall

With the first two games of the best-of-five series at home in AT&T Park, everybody was expecting a better showing than the Giants gave in games one and two. In game one, the Giants came up just short, as their line drives seemed to all find Reds' fielders and Matt Cain wasn't quite himself. However, in game two, things got downright ugly. The Reds used the formula the Giants have been using most of the regular season to get to San Francisco in the first two match-ups, getting out to an early lead and then letting terrific pitching take them the rest of the way. I had a bad feeling right off the bat when Johnny Cueto went down in game one, and the Giants failed to muster anything up against LeCure and then Mat Latos. Normally you see the Giants take advantage of the opportunities they get, but they failed to do that in the opening game and it cost them. Then came game two, when the Giants got to face perhaps the Reds most beatable arm in Bronson Arroyo, and all he proceed...

Giants' NLDS Roster

Bruce Bochy hasn't made anything official regarding the Giants roster for the upcoming NLDS vs. Cincinnati besides the starters for games one and two. That said, we're going to take an educated guess on which 25 guys will fill out their active roster, as well as the expected playoff rotation, and this is who we expect to get the nod: Catchers : Buster Posey, Hector Sanchez Cain Preps for Gm. 1 Infielders : 1B Brandon Belt, 2B Marco Scutaro, SS Brandon Crawford, 3B Pablo Sandoval, IF Joaquin Arias, IF Ryan Theriot, 1B Aubrey Huff Outfielders : RF Hunter Pence, CF Angel Pagan,  LF Xavier Nady, OF Gregor Blanco Starting Rotation : 1. RHP Matt Cain 2. LHP Madison Bumgarner 3. RHP Tim Lincecum 4. RHP Ryan Vogelsong Bullpen : RHP Sergio Romo, LHP Javier Lopez, RHP Santiago Casilla, LHP Jeremy Affeldt, RHP Guillermo Mota, LHP Jose Mijares, RHP George Kontos, LHP Barry Zito The only two real question marks here, to me at least, is whether the Giants will roll with Fra...

Buster the Batting Champ

Wednesday marks the last day of the regular season all across baseball, and it's a big day for the Giants in particular. Not only did San Francisco find out their NLDS opponent Wednesday, but they also have a player of their own trying to lock down a pretty big accomplishment. Unless there's a miracle for Andrew McCutchen in this final day of the season, it looks like a Giant will be walking away with the NL Batting Crown this year after all. Melky Cabrera was in optimal position to run away with the award before he went down with his infamous suspension, but thanks to Buster Posey's epic second half, the award will be coming home with a Giant. Buster is in the lineup for Wednesday's game, though he'll likely only see a couple at-bats before Bochy removes the starters and he has a comfortable 10-point lead over the Pirates' star outfielder, so although it won't be official until after play Wednesday, it's a lock. What also could be a lock is Buster...