Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Game Wrap 2014 World Series Game 7: Giants 3 Royals 2. Giants are World Series Champions!

Well, Madison Bumgarner did not pitch the first 5 inning of this game or even the first 3, but he did pitch the last 5 shutting down the Royals offense once again to lead the Giants to their 3'rd World Series Championship in 5 seasons.  Key Lines:

Blanco, Panik, Posey- 0 for 12.  If you had told me the first 3 batters in the lineup would go a combined 0 for 12, I would probably have told you the Giants would surely lose.  Panik made the defensive play of the game, though, to take away a basehit up the middle from Eric Hosmer and make a glove flip to Crawford to start a DP in the 3'rd inning.  Blanco came very close to being the goat when he misplayed what should have been a single for Alex Gordon into a 2 base error that left Gordon at 3B with 2 outs in the 9'th inning.  For a second there, I actually thought Gordon would take it all the way around and score the tying run right there.  A heartstopping moment and Blanco has been so good on defense all series.  Brought back nightmares of Jose Cruz Jr!

Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, HBP.  BA= .429.  Sandoval just kept pounding out the hits.  Clearly Pabs was intentionally swinging for basehits rather than power all series and it paid off big time in this game with a couple of runs scored.

Hunter Pence-  2 for 4.  BA= .444.  Pence also seemed to suppress his power urges this series and broke out of his slump by peppering the field with singles.

Brandon Belt- 2 for 4.  BA= .308.  No dingers and no Runs or RBI's but Belt had productive outs and kept the line moving for others to score and drive in runs.  Nice game for The Belter.

Michael Morse- 1 for 3.  BA= .250.  Giants secret weapon was Morse at DH.  Perfect fit!

Brandon Crawford- 0 for 3, SF.  BA= .308.  Crawford hitting 8'th is like magic.  Maybe the best #8 hitter in baseball!

Juan Perez- 0 for 3.  BA= .250.  Perez did not get any hits, but made a nice catch on a slicing liner down the LF line that I am not sure if Ishikawa would have had.  I know the other members of my family who were watching did not think Ishikawa would have had it.

Tim Hudson- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 6.14.  Huddy did not have it.  Very poor command, pitches up the zone.  Bochy might have waited too long to get him, but the 2 run lead gave him some rope.  Personally, if Bummy was able to go multiple innings, I would have started him, but it sure worked out in the end.

Jeremy Affeldt- 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Every contract Affledt has signed, people have complained about him being overpaid, but I'll say it right now.  Without Affledt, the Giants do not win 1 World Series in the last 5 years let alone 3!  Another clutch, shutdown performance by the accident prone dude.

Madison Bumgarner- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 0.43.  Man!  The big guy just put the team on his back and carried it across the finish line.  Once he got rolling, you knew he was going to finish it!  What a series by a truly special talent.  And look who is the toast of Major League Baseball now!  Clayton who?  And how many Best Pitchers in Baseball have the Giants left drowning in their wake over these 3 postseason runs?  Let's see, Doc Halliday, Cliff Lee, Justin Verlander, Kershaw…. am I missing anybody?  Anyway, once again, it was an historic Series and postseason for Madison Bumgarner.

Chevy Salesman- Man, when that Chevy salesman  went into his sales pitch while trying to present Bummy with the MVP car, I though Bud Selig was going to walk over and grab him by the throat!  Oh man!  Stankeye, body language, eye rolling, head rolling, face palming, Selig did it all within about a 90 second time frame!  LOL!

KC Royals-  Royals were a very worthy and classy opponent.  Another organization that has taken a lot of guff from baseball oriented internet based media, they played with class, heart, skill and enthusiasm.  They may not have come in with the reputations of the Texas Rangers in 2010 or Detroit Tigers in 2012, but they played a whole lot better.  They have a ton of young talent on that team. They will be good in the coming years even if James Shields moves on to greener pastures.

The Win give the Giants 4 wins in the best of 7 series.  They are the World Series Champions for the 3 third time in 5 season.  I went back through the full list of WS champions in history and was only able to find 7 teams that have won as many in such a short time frame:

Philly A's- 3 times in 4 seasons 1910-13.

Red Sox- 3 times in 4 seasons 1915-18.

Yankees- 4 straight 1936-39 and 5 of 6 1936-41.

Cardinals- 3 of 5 1942-46.

Yankees- 5 straight 1949-53 and 6 of 7 1947-53.

Oakland A's- 3 straight 1972-74

Yankees- 3 straight 1998-2000 and 4 of 5 1996-2000.

The only National League Team to match the Giants is the 1942-46 Cardinals.  The Dodgers were next closest with 3 out of 7 1959-1965.

No Big Red Machine. No Toronto Blue Jays.  No Baltimore Orioles of the 60's and 70's.  No Braves of the 90's.

I've seen pushback in some corners against calling this Giants team a dynasty, and I admit it is a subjective term, but if you look at the history of the World Series, the Giants deserve to be counted among the great multiple championship teams in baseball history.

26 comments:

  1. A couple notes I think bear mentioning:
    1. "Dynasty" is a tough word to use, but I actually think 3 of 5 is more impressive because in the 21st century (and definitely since free agency) players are constantly on the move. Keep a core intact is so darn hard to do!

    2. Curt Schilling said Bumgarner had the most dominating postseason he'd ever seen. He even seemed to brush the Big Unit aside when he said "Randy came out for only 2IP of relief."

    3. Haven't heard anything recently, but if Matt Cain shows up healthier than he has been since 2012, as some reports have indicated he should, we are looking pretty stout again. I wonder if the right route back to a deep push would be to put money in another arm or two instead of replacing Pablo or a LF bat? Just looking at the makeup of the team - a 2010 arms race looks more like the route than a offense-heavy team with aging arms having difficulty by the time the playoffs role around.

    4. What the hell just happened? Bumgarner just threw 5 innings out of the bullpen after throwing 120 pitches 2 days ago. Are you serious? Enjoy this, friends, this won't last forever - the best player on the best team on planet earth for 2014 wears a Giant Uni. If you're young, you don't know how good you have it!

    Andy in SD

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    1. Maybe they let Madison skip the first 2 weeks of next year's spring training. He has earned that and he needs the rest.

      The same with Posey. He didn't hit well, and I suspect he's dead tired...catching every game of the post season. The next time they are in the world series, Susac can catch some and let Posey DH.

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  2. thank god that the "worst world series in history" is finally over

    dang, that soft tossing lefty sure is crafty...somehow he fixed the speed gun to make it look like he was throwing 92 mph fbs 2 days after throwing 117 pitches

    i want to thank selig for sounding like he wanted to be anywhere but giving the giants another trophey.....good riddance

    panik, dyson, cain....rising stars

    eff everyone at fox and espn and the rest of the national media

    eff all the degenerate gamblers who cant sit for longer than an hour to enjoy the world's best sport

    apropos that this team is the first since the we are family bucs to win a game 7 on the road....take that colin cowdork

    i could be wrong, but i think this is the first team in the modern era to not have a single hr in the ws and still win

    amazing that the only close games were the ones with huddy vs guthrie

    i think blanco became mesmerized by maddy's performance and was shocked that a ball was that hard hit

    kudos to huddy on his first ring...hope it was worth the wait

    kudos to morse who tweeted that he was so happy to be a giant...even though his future is with an al squad, splitting time between first and dh

    and finally...kudos to you doc, for all your hard work this season

    and thats it...im going into hybernation....will see you all in 2016

    bacci



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    1. Thanks, Bacc. Great season. Great to have you reading and posting comments. Hope to see you occasionally during the offseason.

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    2. re your comment about the chevy man

      what did selig expect, as the mlb seems to have absolutely no control of any of their teams making major announcements during the post....right up to the 7th game

      maddon and the cubbies can go straight to hades....announcing his hire on the eve of game 7 will not lift the curse

      giants should hold the ring ceremony till the bums come into town....and maddy should drive what ever crappy car he is given, in circles around kershaw

      and baer should walk right up to wilson and say....THIS ONE YOU CANT BIYATCH ABOUT

      bacci

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    3. I think Pence hit a HR in the first game off Shields.

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    4. Not to mention Blanco leading off game 2.

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  3. Congrats to Giants fans everywhere! Wow, can't believe what I just saw from Madbum tonight and the entire post season, legendary performance! He was so dominating the only time I got nervous was when Blanco misplayed Gordon's single.. Glad for Tim Hudson getting his 1st World Series ring, considering the reason he signed with the Giants was for a chance to get to the World Series, how good is that! The Royals are a good young team that was fun to watch, they will be back in the playoffs. Drb, thanks again for your hard work on your blog, it certainly did add to the enjoyment of the baseball season. Time to celebrate!!

    LG

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    1. If you have to pick one moment or a player from each series, what would they be for 2010, 2012 and 2014?

      2014 - Bumgarner's performance for sure.

      2012 - Panda's homers in game one.

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    2. 2010 - Renteria's Homer Heard Around the Bay & Cain's 0.00 ERA in the Playoffs

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  4. This Game 7 win on the road got the stink off the 2002 club. Now maybe next year they can wrap up a Series victory at home for the '62 club.

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  5. When you tell the next two generations of young fans about this time, don't forget the name Affeldt.

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  6. I am 63 years of age, as I have mentioned in the past here; I became a Giant fan at the age of 8 sitting with my Dad watching a Saturday afternoon basegame of the week on TV. A black and white TV. 2010 I cried, 2012 I smiled, 2014 I cried again and for the 1st time since I can remember did not week up once during the night to go for a pee. Thank you Giants.
    Thanks Doc, etal.
    P.S. tell that fat F@%# Frank Thomas where to go.

    Richard in Winnipeg

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    1. Wasn't Frank Thomas the only one of those ex players that took the Giants in the beginning??? Egotistical John Heyman is the jerk that I would like to stuff a sock in.

      My uncle took me to my first game in August 1951 at the age of 6 years old in a pretty much vacant polo Grounds. The Giants were so far out of it, they were on life support and didn't recover till Russ Hodges made history. Then the WS win in 1954 and then began the eternal 56 years of waiting which is a lifetime for some. Then 2010 they camel back the next 3 WS titles. This is just not healthy for us old guys!!!

      I am not so sure that Sabean and Bochy get enough credit with what they have done the last 5 or 6 years.

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  7. Game 7. Joyous, humbled, exhausted.

    Madison Bumgarner. Was there any question? Was he coming out? Was Gordon on 3B going to score? NO. Not tonight.

    Each WS victory has featured sensational play by our 2Bman, Joe Panik I salute you! And get to watch you perform for years to come.

    Our Giants shrine (at the neighbor's house) grew with bottles and orange Christmas lights every game. Topped it with my bottle of Cazadores tonight. I'm a veggie, but ate my first burger in years, just right on!

    Got that effing 02 Game 7 Livan Hernandez rally monkey off my back - good riddance.

    Had to go outside take a piss and yell at the stars after this one. Just one for the ages. Golden Years, indeed.

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  8. For those concerned about the more general health/popularity of our sport as well as our team, see the article in today's New York Times, pointing out that more people go to MLB games than to NFL, NBA, and NHL games combined, and noting that in eleven of the thirty markets, MLB games were the highest-rated on prime-time TV of all broadcasts. And so forth. We're in a Golden Age of Giants baseball but also, as to popularity and money, of major-league baseball more generally. (nytimes.com: "As He Bows Out, Bud Selig Sees Positive Signs")

    And if you go to the NYT site, you can also read some pretty nice thing about the greatness of Madison Bumgarner.

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    1. Last night's TV audience was the 2'nd highest for MLB in 10 years.

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  9. If it is ok for starting pitchers to go less than 2 innings, then 3 out of 5 years IS a Dynasty!! It's a new world! :)

    Congratulations Giants fans for one of the most exciting World Series by any team in years!

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    1. They are a special bunch and know how to win.

      Some people have insisted and still does that baseball in October is all about luck...because they have not won (or maybe that's why they have not won).

      I think the odds of wining 3 championships every other years are much rarer than 3 rings in 3 consecutive years.

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  10. I have tried to post comments throughout this playoff race and the words just haven't come out right. I don't think I have ever been more proud of this team. The win against the Pirates showed what this team was made of and if they had lost to the Nationals after that I would have still been pleased with the season we had based on the effort they put forth against the Pirates and the fact that this team was barely held together with duct tape. Somehow they managed to hold it together to beat some really really good teams and one team in particular in the Royals that had everything going for them. Words don't do justice right now but that's ok because everyone here knows exactly how it feels and nobody really has to explain it. It is a good time to be a Giants fan, see you all at the parade tomorrow!!!

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  11. 3 World Series Championships in 5 years! I didn't want to make a comment and jinx the Giants during the playoff run. I don't know if Pirates chose or if it was the Giants. All I have to say is thank goodness it was Tim Alderson and NOT Madison Bumgarner in the Freddy Sanchez trade!

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    1. While Alderson was a big prospect, I don't think he was EVER going to be confused with Bum. The only knocks on Bum were his hot-headedness and his initial lack of breaking stuff. He developed his breaking stuff rather quickly, and struggled with his hot head all the way through the minors. But he was never looked upon as anything less than a serious blue-chipper. Alderson was a bit of a surprise as he exploded in the Giants system.

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    2. at the time of the trade their values were significantly different. It was certainly not a coin flip.

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    3. Yeah, at the time of the trade, Sabes made it pretty clear that Bumgarner was off limits but they evaluated Alderson as someone they were willing to trade.

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  12. Did anyone notice as Blanco planted his right foot to slow his momentum toward the ball, his cleat slipped and kicked up a divot??? There were a few other divots kicked up by other players on both sides in that OF,

    The common denominator of the Giants players in >every< post game interview - "for my team". When MLB was talking with MadBum, he made note that Sabean brought in the same kind of people with the desire to win. No mention of talent. Sabean said later of Panda, " Pablo is a man's man, but he plays the game like a kid.". I think that statement pretty much described the all the Giants since September 2010. Bochy and that Giants' core made kids out of Burrell/Huff/Ross and on through Huddy/Peavy/Morse.

    Bochy is ol' Casey on valium...

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