The Giants Baseball Blog

Just one victory separates the Giants and their first World Series tittle in their San Francisco era after rookie left-hander Madison Bumgarner baffled the Rangers with 8 shutout innings, and the Giants have to be sensing something special. I said it after his relief outing in game 6 when the Giants clinched the NLCS, Bumgarner's nails in pressure situations, and looked to really get back on track in that outing, and it definitely showed in Game 4 in Texas Sunday. Bumgarner held the high-powered Rangers offense to just 3 hits, none for extra-bases, and struck out 6 Ranger hitters on the night. Offensively, all the Giants really needed was Aubrey Huff's 2-run bomb in the 6th, but for good measure, Andres Torres drove in a run with a double, and Bu ster Posey hit a solo homer off of Darren O'Day to push the Giants lead to 4 runs. Though the offense looked good, the defense was dominant, as Bruce Bochy fielded his best defensive club, and they really came through for Bumgarner...

The Rangers really had to win Saturday's game 3 in order to avoid going down 3 games to none to the Giants in the World Series, and they did just that, getting to Jonathan Sanchez early, then shutting down the Giants the rest of the way to hold on the win. Sanchez once again had a rough start, as he's really hit a wall after finishing the year so strong, then dominating the Braves in his lone NLDS start in Atlanta. He struggled in his 2 starts in Philly, looking very bad in his last on in game 6, a game in which he failed to get out of the 3rd inning. He didn't throw particularly bad Saturday, but gave up a huge 3-run bomb to Mitch Moreland in the 2nd inning. After that, Sanchez really cruised into the 5th inning, until, once again, he was taken out of the yard by Josh Hamilton. That AB by Moreland was a tough battle, and you kind of have to tip your cap to the Rangers' first basemen for fighting off those tough pitches until he got that low fastball in the zone where m...

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t...

The Giants are now past party mode, and have re-focused on baseball, as they prepare for Wednesday's Game 1 showdown at AT&T Park, as the Giants send Tim Lincecum to the hill vs. Cliff Lee. Both Lincecum and Lee have been very good this postseason and their numbers in their 3 starts are nearly identical. In 3 starts and 24 innings, Lee's gone 3-0 while allowing just 2 runs, 13 hits and 1 walk. He's also struck out 34 batters, and allowed just a .151 BAA. In Lincecum's 3 starts this postseason, he's gone 23.1 innings, allowed 5 ER and 14 hits with 30 k's, good for a .145 BAA... Game 1 is going to definitely be a good one and are just as enticing as the Lincecum-Halladay match-up's were, especially since it's the World Series. After Lee, the Rangers starters drop off a little, but not much. The Giants will probably face C.J. Wilson (15-8, 3.35 era, 170 k's in 2010) in game 2, Tommy Hunter (13-4, 3.73 era, 1.24 WHIP) in game 3 and Colby Lewis (12-13...

The crazy ride the Giants have taken us all on in 2010 is going to the World Series, and the Giants have a legit shot at bringing home the first world championship in San Francisco team history. First off, I'm in full celebration mode, so this post won't be a long one... Jonathan Sanchez wasn't on his game Saturday night, but just about everybody else on the Giants pitching staff, starters included, were. Both Jeremy Affeldt and Madison Bumgarner's performances out of the pen was what saved the game in my opinion. The Phills had the momentum going off Sanchez early, but Affeldt, then Bumgarner righted the ship and shut Philly down. Once again the Giants found themselves in a tie game going into the later innings, and as they've done so many times in this postseason, they found a way to get it done. Juan Uribe showed why the Giants fans are so found of him in San Francisco, even though he hit just .248 in the regular season. The dude comes up with clutch hits, and of...

Roy Halladay didn't have his best stuff, and Tim Lincecum actually looked better than Doc again out there Thursday night, but the Giants defense cost Lincecum the game. They also didn't do a whole lot at the plate, but if they make a few plays that they didn't, they very well could have taken this ballgame. The big play that comes to mind was Aubrey Huff's blunder on that ground ball off the bat of Shane Victorino in the second inning. A play which led to the Phillies scoring 3 runs rather than the likely goose egg that would have gone up had Huff fielded that ball cleanly. That was all the Phillies really needed though, as the Giants wouldn't score more than 2 runs on the night, even though Roy Halladay didn't have his uncanny control, or his sharp breaking pitches really working for him throughout the night. The Giants collected just 7 hits on the night, as the middle of their order (Huff, Posey, Burrell) went a combined 1-11, and series superman Cody Ross k...

The Giants have looked like a team on a mission all postseason long, and have moved to within 1 win of making their first World Series trip since 2002. Madison Bumgarner was on early, but ran into some trouble in the fifth abd couldn't quite hold the 2-0 lead the Giants gave him. Bruce Bochy didn't really give him a chance to pitch out of it though, as he went to the Giants bullpen early. Santiago Castilla proceeded to allow 3 runs, and forced the Giants to come back for the first time in the series, and they did just that. The bullpen really took care of business after that hiccup in the fifth, and the Giants offense took it from there. Buster Posey had his big breakout game that t he Giants have been waiting for this series, going 4-5 with 2 big RBI. Aubrey Huff also had a big night, something the Giants really need out of him after he started 2-20 this postseason, going 3-5 with an RBI and of course got that game-winning rally in the 9th started. The Giants also got a huge h...