OT congrats to the SF Giants
 

I wanted to say congrats to the Giants, and Bumgamer for pitching such a great game, even calling it before the game! But I especially want to give major kudos to Brandon Crawford on his grand slam, he is really a great guy, and I can only imagine how awesome it felt to be playing for your hometown team, in the playoffs, and hit a grand slam; something every baseball loving kid dreams of growing up, and he did it for real. And this coming from a Dodger fan.

Ed

This was a yawner compared to the Royals/A's game. That game will be a tough act to follow!

Giants had some really bad stretches during the season, but come October they are able to turn it up two notches. They really know how to win big games.

I just hope Huddie helps.

He's also had a mixed bag season, some good games and some awful.

I'm worried about Hudson, he's straight-up injured and they know it. I'd prefer if we did Petit. If he's on, his version of dominance is as good as anyone in the game. Problem, of course, is whether he's on or not

Agreed on Hudson - he's given us all we're going to get out of him this year. The Giants have a lot of key injuries to overcome, but right now they are doing what they do: WIN playoff games.

Not to disparage the Giants in any way, but here's hoping for a successful conclusion to the Nationals' season.

I totally agree. I am shocked to see Hudson getting Game 2 :eek:. I'd take a chance with either Petit or Voglesong. Then again, Bochy has been pretty good with his postseason hunches.

You guys may be right about Hudson (I had heard nothing of an injury), but if he isn't injured, you got to faith in someone who was tied until recently with Babe Ruth on a significant record - i.e. never having had a loosing season...maybe he can go 3-0 in the post-season and get to 12-12. Fingers crossed BIG TIME!

Awesome/classy post Ed, it's appreciated by the SF faithful. (btw- I grew up a Dodger fan in Bay Area... Dad, big sister and Garvey were the key reason)

Re- Huddy, hope he helps, but he'll have a short hook given the availability of long guys. I've got a gut feeling he'll step up come what could be his last shot to pitch in a WS. I'm 100% happy with a split in DC... And love seeing Peavy in game 1. He's been nails since coming over.

VERY nice words from a D**ger fan! Sorry, I can't summon the same civility when it comes to your boys. :p

Here's young Brandon Crawford on the final day of the 1992 season, when it looked like the Giants were heading to St. Pete. I wrote a LOT of letters that year to anyone who might listen.

That's such a great shot. It surfaced a lot in 2012 WS, and I'm sure will get some more play this year if we get a little further.

Man, I remember that who saga so well. I was 15, totally broken hearted... 3 years removed from a WS, Will the Thrill still in his prime, China Basin ballpark vote fails, George Shinn ownership group falls through.. so bad. The emotional rollercoaster to follow-- Magowan group saves the day then sings Bonds for 7 years $42M, and an amazing and eventually heartbreaking 102 win season to follow. That '93 teams has gotta be one of the best not to make the playoffs.

Thanks for the classy post!

I'm a massive Giants' fan and am thrilled with that game. Bumgarner is really something special. ...and he's only 25 years old...with 2 rings... and the lowest ERA in on the road in post-season baseball history (minimum 25 innings).

It would be epic to face the Dodgers in the NLCS... maybe this year. (A guy can dream, right?) Cheers!

great game (in 10th)
 

Well Huddy did step up, pitched his a** off... Zimmerman was a little bit better. I never get sick of watching good, clean, well pitched baseball.

Great game, regardless of outcome, and hats off to both teams/starters so far. Also, hats off to Giants for being their typical scrappy, clutch postseason selves (win or lose).

I would've been happy to leave DC with one, but two would be great too!

Congrats to the Giants. Awful loss to endure for my Bucs but Bumgarner was insane. Great job. Good luck with the rest of the post season. Some great teams there.


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Now in 18th
 

This game is unreal. Petit is postseason MVP, don't care what follows.

Done
 

One of best postseason games I've ever seen... Wow, and phew! Hats off to Nats for playing a great game too..but amazed how Giants keep coaxing these postseason performances.

2 WS championships in the last 4 years, but ever the underdog (I challenge the sabermetricians to explain the them). Go Giants!!:D

AGAIN? Wild Card VS. Wild Card?
 

Giants vs. Royals? I'd love that!


Way to go Huddie!

That's been my hope since the beginning. My wife is from KS and I've made a lot of friends (and in laws) out there, so 100% happy for them.

Meanwhile, Giants defy all "on paper" expectations, stats, etc and manage continue to give themselves a chance to win and often win late.

Fittingly the prelude to the potential SF KC battle is Sundsy.. And, even though rooting for Niners, would 100% happy for Alex (a true class act) if he's able to win in return home.

ADDING-- again, had hunch Huddy had something left for this. Love the mix of core Giants (Posey, Bum, Panda, Belt), young guys (Panik, Susac, Strickland), and aging vets giving it maybe one last go (Peavy, Huddy, Vogey). I love it when the old guys step up in those fleeting/final opportunities.

The torture is back!

Ricky Y

The Giants have mediocre hitting, injuries to older players, and experienced long and depressing long streaks during the season. They are really only good at one thing: winning in the post season.

What an amazing game they played last night. GO GIANTS!

Indeed!

Took this pic from my hotel in Boulder last Wed night before the Wild Card game. This "Torture" shirt from 2010 has been my lucky charm during the postseasons. Have worn it to all postseason games attended (6-1 record so far) and again tonight.
Attachment 163343

Scouts everywhere will now be looking for pitchers named Yusmeiro from Venezuela.

I've had my "lucky shirt" on for all three games so far. It did the trick in 2012. We're pathetic. :eek: :D

(the shirt is in the wash, as we speak)

At 6 1 and 255, petit he is not.

He's no surprise - one pitch away from a perfecto last year and set the MLB record for consecutive batters retired this year.

He was pretty awful for his first few years in the majors and ended up playing a year in the Mexican League. He seems to have turned it around. Strikeout to walk ratio this year of over 6, wow.

His stats were pretty solid, but Petit's value this year cannot be quantified by stats alone. He's been a true swingman. He was the stop gap after Cain went down and before Peavy arrived. He then moved into Lincecum's spot and had many good, some near dominant starts down the stretch. He's also been very good out of the pen, as evidenced by last night and by setting what IMO is one of the most impressive pitching records (retired 47 batters in a row) earlier in the season.

The level of insurance and flexibility Petit gives Boch is invaluable. In the right circumstances (starter goes down to injury/innefectiveness, or gets knocked out early in a key game), I think a swing man can be one of the most valuable pitchers on a staff.. defintiely more so than a specialist or closer.

Re- lucky shirts, I'm with you Ooo-ribay! When younger, I hit my growth spurt at 13 (hit 6' 1" and never grew since), which allowed me to use the same lucky shirt in every baseball and football game I played through age 18. Still have it, holes and all. Travelling again this week and bringing "Torture" with me every step of the way... then hopefully having some home WS games I can wear it to when we get back.;)

The Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant!

... and frankly, I cannot explain how they've done it again?? Such a weird, funky, scrappy, "any means necessary" team... but probably most important-- absolutely fearless and full of character. Regardless of how strangely they win, 3 pennants in 5 years is no fluke.

Also, big props to Travis Ishikawa. I was so happy for the guy for just coming back to the Giants and contributing with some key pinch hits down the stretch... then amazed and happy he earned a roster spot... even happier he'd been able to contribute and with exception of one time tonight, play a clean left field... and then tonight?? Are you kidding?

Giants v Royals will be a classic.

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? I'm guessing this series will answer that one. Way to go Giants!

I hope you guys forgive me for posting this on the main forum, but this guy comes back from playing Washington, and takes the time to sign this and send it back to us (it is for my kid), in the middle of the playoffs. He is really a great model for kids (my boy was so excited when this came the other day). I am having a hard time here, last year Kemp goes up to SF and gives that sick kid his jersey, hat, cleats, ball, then brings the kid down to see a Dodger game in LA. Brandon Crawford has consistently made it hard for me to hate the Giants. What is the world coming to, SF residents learning to like Dodgers, LA residents learning to like Giants? Next thing you know there will be a Yankee fan in Boston! Nah....

Funny Ed, I've totally softened on my LA hatred. I was raised to be bitter that "they take all our water", "the smog", blah blad. It peaked in college where it was a 50-50 split (San Luis Obispo) and So Calers would spot No Calers within 1-2 sentences of a conversation and call them out ("hella", "the 101", "hooked up" vs "got together", etc)... but it has really tailed off the past 10 or so. It's better that way.

Crawford an absolute class act, and glad to hear that story. He's been one of my favorite Giants since he came up.

Did you know that Crawford hit a Grand Slam as his first hit in MLB? He is also the only shortstop in MLB history to hit a Grand Slam in the post season. He was great at UCLA.

I've spent many a day in SLO, did you ever have a cocktail there called "LA city tapwater"? It's purple, and very mean. Made me laugh. I also used to live in Rockridge, and have a ton of bay area family members. But my family originally moved to LA area in about 1940. We moved throughout the state ever since.

Haha, never had a LA City Tapwater, but it definitely sounds like N CA/SLO humor for sure. I will say, the So Cals were generally better groomed, better tanned, with better abs than us.

I absolutely remember that first grand slam, in Milwaukee.. think it was his 2nd or 3rd AB, and think it tied game or gave us lead. Ever since then, I've always described him as the "best .240 hitter in baseball" to my friends (and posted similar here). He has a knack for coming through in key moments offensively, and is amazing and hugely underrated defensively. I think he looks big, sort of bulky and slow, so people assume he's got limited range, but he can move and has great hands and arm.

It's like Brian Sabean said...they're like cockroaches....can't kill em all...they keep coming... this was a great series though...the Cardinals grind and grind with the best of em!

Ricky Y

Yeah, I have so much respect for the Cards and the way they play (imagining how good Jon Jay would look in orange and black) and the series could've definitely gone the other way. The Matheny cap tip was the best. Think Giants/Boch would feel the same had roles been reversed.

One of the interesting things in this fantastic Giants post season run is that Lincecum has yet to make an appearance. Bochy says he is ready to go, but I think Timmy has pitched himself into the doghouse.

Did anyone pick a Giants-Royal world series? I bet it will be a great one.

Possible World Series trivia that you might not hear...
 

Could this be the first World Series where there might be 2 "Brandons" batting back to back? Or even 2 Brandons on the same WS team?

Giants had 3 Brandons for the 1st half of the season.. Brandon Hicks won the job at 2nd and hit 8-9 early HRs, then totally hit a wall.

Re- Timmy, I think Boch is definitely hesitant to use him, but don't think it's a dog house situation. He just doesn't trust his stuff right now. I genuinely believe he'd love to get him in if the situation allowed. By all accounts Timmy is really well liked in the clubhouse, and think it's appreciated by all that he hasnt created any drama, or pouted.. similar was true for Zito in 2010.

As is, Lincecum does give Bochy nice flexibility when making late inning pitching changes, since he provides a second true long man. Had last night gone way into extras, I think he'd likely have been used. As is, think Petit will get all stress/close game situations and Timmy may be relegated to inning eater if we're getting blown out.

I think Timmy is on the WS roster also...but only for mop up or if they go extra innings...besides his pitching struggles, he doesn't hold runners at all..and that is not good against the Royals...I think the game he pitched against them this year...they ended that game with like 7 steals...

Ricky Y

No need to risk using Timmy for mid-game relief when he's got Petit, who has been just lights out lately.

Bochy knows exactly what he is doing.

Who doesn't get as much credit as a number of other managers. A definite HOF manager!

I actually prefer to keep Timmy and drop Machi then add a position player. Machi was amazing in 1st third of the season but has been really shaky since. I don't trust him in tight situations and he doesn't have a rubber arm to go long in mop up. I think Timmy actually adds some value if they get down like 10-1 by the 3rd. He can literally eat 6 innnngs an save Petit and others for tighter situations. Seems bench has been near depleted by 9th or shortly after in many games, so would be nice to have one more guy just in case (Gary Brown as pinch runner, defensive replacement?). I guess it's also considered that 1/2 games will use DH, so need for fewer subs and double switches. In short-- no Machi.

That all said, I 100% trust in and defer to Boch and his head.

In Bochy / Sabean We Trust
 

What an AMAZING game!!! Echoes of '51... Ishikawa a wonderfully unlikely hero... but he was joined by Michael Morse (CLUTCH HR to even it up against a reliever who baffled the Giants the whole series), MadBum (a few mistakes, but solid as a rock despite that), Affeldt (key out of the game), Blanco (great catch), Joe Panic (so, so impressive in every way), Buster (he's Buster) and Crawford (WHAT a play to save the day!)...

This team eats rusty nails and broken glass... grind, grind, grind... then BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

GO GIANTS!!!!

ALSO: The Giants victory has condemned the Dodgers' "Western Division Champions" t-shirts into "That's cute" status. LOVE IT!!!!

Hats Off to Both Teams
 

Should be an entertaining Series:

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...psb75c3a9a.jpg

Well the boys just keep plugging away.

After this year's postseason performance, I can't imagine a better big game pitcher in baseball than Bumgarner. Kershaw has all the awards and regular season, 20 win pedigree, but Bum is just amazing when it counts most. It all started in 2010 as a 21 year old rookie when he went 8 shutout in the WS in Arlington, and has continued until now.

All respect to the Royals, but also think their 8-0 run may have been a bit of a curse similar to that 34-0 NCAA basketball team that gets bounced in the tourney. Feel like a little loss/disappointment is a good thing.. need to remember how to lose, and more important how to bounce back. I was happy Bum gave up that HR just before exiting, just to end that scoreless streak. Anyway, I know the series is far far from over, and the Royals have plenty of magic left, but definitely happy to take the 1st one on the road.

Go Giants!

Its a good thing Jeter retired this year. Now Yankees fans have something to talk about in October. :rolleyes:

Got my Barry Bonds jersey off the hanger and will be wearing it all week.

Go Giants!!

+1. Bumgarner really is a worldbeater, and he is a pleasure to watch.

I absolutely love Romo and Timmy with all of my heart, but that Topps poster should have Panik and Castillo on it instead. Both are huge contributors.