Travis Landes’
The Unlikely Lads
The in depth statistical look at the 2010s’ San Francisco Giants, who won three World Series titles in five years from 2010-2014.
by Travis Landes on April 12th
Willie Mays. McCovey. Gaylord Perry. Marichal. Mel Ott. Cepeda. Bonds. The holy royalty hierarchy of the New York/San Francisco Giants Baseball Club. Each of them putting up unprecedented numbers, some of them seemingly bending the rules of certain stat categories, like Ott’s 14 seasons worth of an OBP above .400, and Willie’s 6 seasons of slugging .600 plus, Just stupid. All of them bonafide Hall Of Famers (it all snowballs from here Barry, this article right here), turning the club into one of baseballs’ behemoth franchises, with three World Series titles between them.
Buster, Bumgarner, Lincecum, and The Round Mound of Pound, Pablo Sandoval. Two blue collar boys from Braves country, a kid from the boonies of Washington that weighed maybe 100 pounds soaking wet, and, well, Pablo. A core of players brought together by prominent Bay Area figure and then manager Bruce Bochy, with hopes of bringing consistent success to the club. Those fab four of players ended up bringing home three championships themselves to the city of San Francisco, in a span of just five years. Five!?. Five. 12 rings between them. With a handful of other Giants during that run with two. An achievement worthy of the term “dynasty’, a success that, regardless of the sport, can change the landscape of a club and the game itself. Is that the case here? Did the early 2010’s San Francisco Giants change the game? Etch their accomplishment into the highest realms of baseball legacy? How did they even do it? The numbers themselves, may still make you wonder how.
by Travis Landes on April 12th
2010
Before we dive into the first championship of the San Francisco dynasty, a great thing to remember is that in the previous 2009 season they won 88 games, and finished 3rd in the NL West. No playoffs. No nothin’ but a tip of the hat of recognition from the baseball world as the seasons’ overachiever. Harsh, but they could smell October baseball, and they were hungry, very.
The youth was all in place, in mix with the veteran presence. Pablo burst onto the scene in 2009, jacking 25 HRs, 90 RBIs, a towering .330 AVG, 44 doubles and finished 7th in MVP voting at just 22 years old. The much anticipated first full season of Florida State University star Buster Posey, who front office and fans alike, looked to him as the cornerstone of the future of the club ever since drafting him 5th overall in the 2008 Amateur Draft. A 19 year old Madison Bumgarner that was drafted 10th overall by the club in the 2007 Amateur Draft (an absolute steal at the time, let alone what he’s become now) just polishing up for his first full season as well, and young pitching combo of Tim Lincecum (25) and Matt Cain (24) hurling a combined 29 wins in 2009. Both with sub. 3.00 ERAs to boot, the future seemed quite bright despite creully missing out on the 2009 postseason.
That offseason saw a few recognizable names depart from the club. Long time 3rd baseman and fan favorite Rich Aurilia, scrappy yet polished outfielder Randy Winn, veteran pitcher Brad Penny, two key bullpen arms in Bob Howry and Justin Miller, first baseman Ryan Garko, and the Big Unit himself, 45 year old Randy Johnson. Freeing up over 22 million. Brought into the club was veteran Mark DeRosa on a two year, $12 million dollar deal, instilling some depth and leadership into the roster. Another being long time Tampa Bay corner infielder Aubrey Huff on a 1 year, $3 million deal, whose solid, respectable bat was a distinct upgrade from Garko, and would prove to be an essential piece to the club. I was going to wait to drop all the juicy seasons’ stats later on in the story, but I can’t stress enough the importance Huff played in their 2010 campaign. Missing just 5 games, Huff jacked 26 bombs, 86 RBIs, 100 runs, a .290 AVG. .385 OBP, and slugged .506. All despite not being an All-Star, proving an absolute rock during the latter dog days of summer.
We’re almost to those juicy stats we’re all waiting for, but to refresh everyones’ memory, let’s look at what the 2010 Giants lineup and rotation consisted of. Prodigal son of Georgia and the new heir of San Francisco, Buster Posey, assumes his first full year of catching duties, and as previously mentioned, Aubrey Huff was brought in as the everyday first baseman. The Kung Fu Panda, Pablo Sandoval, manning the hot corner fresh off his stunning breakout year. A trio of veterans filled up the middle infield positions. Former batting title winner Freddy Sanchez (.344 in 2006 with PIT) was the main man at second, Juan Uribe at shortstop, providing surprising power and production in 2010 with 24 HRs and 85 RBIs, both season highs for the Dominican, with Edgar Renteria adapting the role of super utility man, filling in for both second and short throughout the season. The outfield consisted of San Francisco minor league product Nate Schierholtz in right, soft handed fielder Aaron Rowand in center, and Andres Torres in left, who seemingly did it all in 2010 with some of the most surprising numbers of the year. In 139 games, 136 hits, 16 of them leaving the yard, a whopping 43 doubles, 63 RBIs, 26 swipes, 8 triples, and 84 runs scored. The true definition of the underrated catalyst. Power bat Pat Burrell was signed midseason to provide depth and a little extra pop as the 4th outfielder in AT&T Park.
The Giants were fortunate enough to have two ace-worthy arms in Cain and Lincecum top the rotation and there was little doubt their 2009 campaign was just a flash in the pan. Barry Zito and his famous 12-6 curve returned for his fourth year in San Fran. His previous three were all losing seasons, one of them in which he led the league in losses (17). Even more fascinating, his Giants career is rather abysmal in contrast to his brilliant stint in Oakland. With San Fran, he never had an ERA below 4, and posted a 63-80 record, whilst in Oakland, never had an ERA above 4 and a stellar 102-63. Southpaw Johnathan Sanchez filled in the fourth spot, and as contrasting as his numbers show, he was a solid piece to the rotation. If you just focused on his 4.5 walks per 9 and his league most 96 walks in 2010, you’d think he was walking in runs with an ERA in nearly double digits right? Not only did he lead the league in walks, he led the league in lowest hits per 9 at 6.6. That combination of categories to lead in is simply wild, and if that wasn’t enough, he dropped a 13-9 record and a respectable ERA of 3.07. The crown jewel season of his career. Last, but certainly not least, was 20 year old Madison Bumgarner. The eventual legend to the club heading into his first full season, and while it wasn’t one of his handful of Cy Young candidate performances, he showed the league his strength, keeping the ball in the park (0.9 HR per 9) and painting corners with a 2-seamer (2.1 BB per 9). The cherry on top being an even 3.00 ERA. The kid had arrived.
We’ll all remember closer Brian “The Beard” Wilson for his quirky, spacey personality and dialogue, and some of us (me personally) will remember just how fast he disappeared after his second Tommy John surgery in 2012. Falling off the scene just as quickly as he came onto it. I think we easily forget how good he was (35+ saves in 4 straight seasons) and, that guy, in 2010, was flat out filthy. A mammoth 48 saves with a ridiculous 1.81 ERA, group that with an 11.2 K per 9, and a 0.4 HR per 9, and the Giants were essentially playing 8 inning games in save situations. Facing Wilson down a run with your 3-4-5 due up in 2010? Forget about it, just pack up your stuff. Especially when the postseason rolled around, when it mattered the absolute most, he was lights out. Didn’t allow a single run in 11.2 innings. His supporting cast of setup men, Sergio Romo and Santiago Castilla and their respective ERAs, 2.18 and 1.95, proved to be the backbone of their 2010 success. When it came down to clutch situations, they shut ‘em down, time after time after time.
Alright. Let’s get into what made this season so unique, sparking what would become the most improbable of dynasties. Sit back, and let’s stat drop.
These 2010 San Francisco Giants finished 92-70. 1st in the NL West. Spent a total of 71 days atop the division, and although they were at one point in the season 7.5 back behind 1st, and suffered a 7 game losing streak in June, they were never at any point in the season, below .500. They were always in the thick of it. The second half of the season saw San Francisco pull some serious weight, finishing 45-29, playing especially superb in September with a rock solid 18-8 record during the month, locking down the 2010 NL West title. Remarkably, only one player batted an average over .300, with Buster’s .305, only one player had over 100 runs scored, that being Aubrey’s 100 on the button, and only one player struck out over 100 times, Torres’ 128. No one batted in over 100 runs. Only one pitcher, Todd Wellemeyer, posted an ERA above 5 (5.68), and maybe my favorite stat of the whole article, the entire pitching staff put up a combined 0.8 HR per 9, which in my opinion, is the #1 reason for many reasons why they became World Series champions.
The NLDS saw the Giants facing the Atlanta Braves who finished 2nd in the NL East, positing a 91-71 record, and proved to be a, quoting the great Jim Ross, a “slobberknocker” of a series. San Francisco took the series 3 games to 1, but every game was won by 1 run. The highlight of the series being Tim Lincecums’ fourteen strikeout complete game shutout 1 hitter in Game 1. A gem, no, a diamond of a performance.
The Phillies were next in line in the NLCS, and the club put up a 97 win campaign in 2010, and favorites to represent the NL in the World Series. That was, until the most unlikely of heroes in the form of Cody Ross, who was picked up off waivers by San Fran midseason, showed up in quite a huge way. He would ultimately take home the NLCS MVP, posting a .350 AVG, 3 homers, 3 doubles and a stellar 1.385 OPS. An absolute instant hero taking down the heavily favored Philadelphia in 6 games.
An incredibly deep Texas Rangers squad led by the core of Josh Hamilton (dating pornstars and line driving sports cars), Michael Young, Nelson Cruz and the one and only Vladimir Guerrero found its way to the World Series. Numerous names that would become established names in the bigs scattered the Texas roster. Future star of the team Elvis Andrus, a trio of big power bat first basemen Justin Smoak, and Chris Davis, and Mitch Moreland, cannon-armed outfielder Jeff Francoeur, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, David Murphy, and Neftali Feliz, who dropped 40 saves that year. Also in the squad was former Giants catcher Bengie Molina as well as San Frans’ first baseman in 2009, Ryan Garko.
In what seemed to be a neck and neck matchup that would be destined for a 7 game series, San Francisco had other things in mind. The Giants outscored Texas 20-7 in the first two games, with a 11-7 shootout in Game 1, and a 9-0 drubbing in Game 2, not wasting the luxury of home field advantage. Going back to Texas in Game 3, the Rangers got on the board in the series with a 4-2 victory in what was a cagey affair, giving them a little momentum back. As stated before though, San Fran had other things in mind, especially 20 year old Madison Bumgarner. In what would become his first of many iconic World Series performances, MadBum went 8 innings in Game 4, hurling a 3 hitter, all singles, 6 Ks, and just 2 walks. Single handedly giving San Francisco an ever valuable 3-1 game lead. It was that performance from Madison, a major leaguer that couldn’t even celebrate with champagne legally, that considered it all but over. Game 5 had Tim Linceum in for a 2nd time in the series to bring it home and he did nothing but deliver, tossing 8 innings worth of gold with 10 strikeouts, allowing just 2 singles and only giving up a harmless solo shot to Nelson Cruz. Brian Wilson was called in the 9th in a non-save situation, fittingly having the roster’s unofficial mascot on the mound for the final out that secured the 2010 World Series Title for San Francisco.
Despite the dominant pitching performances from Lincecum and Bumgarner, it was none other than familiar World Series hero Edgar Renteria that took home WS MVP. The Colombian with the World Series winning single in 1997 was a force 13 years later with 7 hits, 6 RBIs, 6 runs scored, 2 bombs, batted .412, and an outstanding OPS of 1.209. A World Series statline of note to address was former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee. who shockingly, was more or less rocked by the champion Giants, who in 11.2 innings, surrendered a staggering 10 runs on 14 hits with an ugly 6.94 ERA, all while still posting a classic Cliff Lee 10 Ks per 9.
Bruce Bochy’s Giants secured the 2010 World Series in a true team effort style. Everyone contributed, no one was more important than the other, and was a great example that baseball is the ultimate team sport. The team was young, talent abound, the future was bright, the magic of the historic San Francisco/New York Giants Baseball Club was alive again.
2012
In just the span of about a year and a half, The 2012 Giants had a bit of a new look. While there were still the familiar Busters, MadBums, and Pablos, nearly the entire lineup featured unfamiliar faces. 2011 saw the introduction of UCLA product and California born Brandon Crawford. Before winning three Gold Gloves and locking down the keystone for the rest of the decade, he instantly won the San Francisco faithful over with a grand slam in his major league debut. 2011 also saw the arrival and departure of two well known former stars, Miguel Tejada and Carlos Beltran. The 2011 season resulted in another missed playoffs by inches, similar to their 2009 season, finishing 86-76 and 2nd in the NL West. The season was overshadowed by Buster Posey’s brutal and now almost famous injury, when Scott Cousins collided with him in a play at the plate, resulting in a fractured fibula, and torn ligaments in his ankle, sidelining Buster for the rest of the season.
By Opening Day in 2012, Buster was back. San Francisco awaited his return with open arms, and he came back with an absolute Georgia peach of a season. Batting from the 3-spot for most of the season, he became the monument the team could lean on. 24 home runs, 103 RBIs, 178 hits (all team highs for the season) and a gorgeous .336 AVG that landed him the years’ batting title and ultimately, taking home the 2012 NL MVP. An admirable comeback year which cemented himself in the hearts of San Fran forever. The only other player in the starting lineup that started in 2010 was the Kung Fu Panda, Pablo Sandoval. The third baseman that generated a .283 AVG, although only playing 108 games all season, missing time due to a broken hand in May.
Ok. Onto the new faces. The outfield was entirely brand new. In center, Angel Pagan came in from the Mets, and the speedy outfielder was an instant success in San Fran. Batting a solid .288 with 95 runs scored on top of it, he was the new top of the order catalyst in the Bay Area, leading the league in triples as well with 15.
In left, 2009 World Series champion Melky Cabrera. Acquired shortly after the 2011 season in a trade with Kansas City, sending Johnathan Sanchez and Alex Verdugo in return for him. The Melk Man had his best, and worst, year of his career. Hitting the ground running he finished the month of May with the most hits in a month in Giants history with 51. His red hot first half continued, and earned himself an invitation to the All-Star Game, garnering the highest amount of votes out of any outfielder that year. He in fact took home the MVP of the game, hitting the only homer of the contest, a two run shot that helped the NL cruise to an 8-0 drubbing. Now, the worst. Not long after the All-Star Game, on August 15th, Melky was popped for PEDs, showing high levels of testosterone, in which he directly admitted to using. The suspension was immediate, ending his 2012 campaign. Up until the suspension, he played in 113 games, led the majors with 159 hits, and left a big ol’ fat .346 AVG. on the table. A number that would have had Melky win the batting title, though, as a personal request out of honor, he asked MLB to remove his eligibility for the award, which in the end went to teammate Buster Posey. He didn’t even receive a World Series ring despite his contributions to the season. The day after the World Series was over, Melky was granted free agency, and his short tenure in San Fran was over. An ugly year that would overshadow Melky’s accomplishments for the rest of his career.
After Melky’s suspension, the at the time 4th outfielder, Gregor Blanco, took over at left field. Long time Giant Nate Schierholtz was traded on deadline day along with Seth Rosin and Tommy Joseph to Philadelphia for 29 year old Hunter Pence. The Texas native would become the everyday right fielder for the next six years and beloved by the cities’ faithful for his numerous clutch moments throughout those years.
2009 draft pick, first baseman Brandon Belt made his debut with the club in 2011 and the position was his heading into his first full season in 2012, and would eventually remain so for the rest of the decade for the Giants. Aubrey Huff was still in the squad in a reduced role as Belt’s backup. 2nd base was a bit of a revolving door in 2012. San Fran brought in former Cub Ryan Theriot, who saw the majority of games at second with 91 games and a handful in right field. The #2 man at second was a 36 year old Marco Scutaro, who arrived via trade from Colorado for Charlie Culberson. The Venezuelan veteran played 61 games for the Giants that year, and absolutely raked, posting a sexy .362 AVG and much needed depth in the middle infield.
In just the first week of the 2012 season, the injury bug bit San Fran, specifically, closer Brian Wilson. A severe elbow injury caused him to appear in only 2 games and derailed the elite closer for the rest of the year. A monumental blow for the club. With his main closer done, manager Bruce Bochy had an interesting decision to make as to who takes the ball in save situations. He had one of the best bullpens in the league, and took advantage of it. Instead of buying a new closer, he used the next man up tactic, in this case, men. A total of five of his bullpen arms recording saves throughout the season, tallying a whopping 52 saves altogether, notably his usual setup men, Castilla and Romo, recording 25 and 14 saves respectively. Jeremy Affeldt also contributed nicely to the dominant bullpen with a 2.70 ERA and a remarkable 1 homer allowed in 63.1 innings. Focusing on Romo for a bit more, his 2012 performance was outstanding. On top of his 14 saves was 23 holds, a microscopic 1.79 ERA, a 0.84 WHIP, and a 10.2 K per 9.
Contrary to the new-faced lineup, the starting rotation was nearly identical to 2010. The only new face was Ryan Vogelsong. Who was in fact drafted by the Giants in the ‘98 Amateur Draft, traded to Pittsburgh for at the time top hurler Jason Schmidt, journeyed around the league for the decade before reuniting with San Fran in the offseason prior to 2011 via free agency. Vogelsong provided a decent contribution, with a 14-9 record and a 3.37 ERA.
Matt Cain was the main man though, and made sure of it. The ace posted a 16-5 record with a great 2.79 ERA/1.04 WHIP, 2 complete game shutouts, and a team leading 193 strikeouts. The up and coming ace Madison Bumgarner gathered 16 wins himself with a 3.37 ERA/1.11 WHIP, making a potent 1-2 punch all season. Interestingly enough, they also went yard a total of 3 times, Cain with one and MadBum with two big-flys.
From 2008 to 2011, it’s arguable there wasn’t a better pitcher in the country than Tim Lincecum. His unique seemingly downhill style windup and delivery generated 2 Cy Youngs, a 2.81 ERA, 62 wins and a K per 9 of an even 10.0 during that span. 2012 was quite vastly different from that dominance. A very uncharacteristic 5.18 ERA, leading the league in losses (15), earned runs (107) and wild pitches 17. Was the rest of the league figuring him out? Was he simply trying too hard? Whatever the case, it marked the end of the dominant run of Tim Lincecum, who would never post an ERA below 4 ever again.
The old man of the rotation, or the whole team for that matter, Barry Zito, held down the 5th spot in the rotation, and while it was a bang average 4.15 ERA and a downright unimpressive 5.6 K per 9, he managed a very solid 15 wins in the 2012 campaign, the first being a complete game shutout against Colorado, and finished the season with 5 straight wins.
Much like the 2010 championship campaign, the first half of the 2012 season was a grind within the division, being primarily a 3 team race between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Arizona. Again, similar to 2010, the second half was all San Fran. At the end of May, they were 7.5 back behind 1st, and by the All-Star break, sat at 46-40. The Giants busted into the 2nd half running, winning the next 9 out of 11, going 37-19 in the months of August and September, and by September 22nd, were 11 games ahead of first. Which also included a Matt Cain Perfect game. They spent 94 days in 1st place, shutting the opponent 14 times, and almost uneventfully running away with the NL West title.
The 2012 NLDS gave San Francisco their first real scare in the “dynasty” era, facing Dusty Baker’s 97 win Cincinnati Reds, featuring slugger Joey Votto and his absurd .474 OBP that season. Game 1 saw up and coming ace Johnny Cueto up against Matt Cain, and the heavyweight matchup was cut short when Cueto was taken out after a third of an inning due to a back issue. The injury forced Dusty Baker to use a full hands on deck approach, successfully so. Matt LeCure came in for the injured starter for an inning and two-thirds of scoreless ball, and #2 starter Mat Latos followed up with 4 innings of work with 4 hits and 1 earned, before turning it over to the bullpen to close out a 5-2 victory over the stifled Giants.
Game 2 was the one that truly had the fans of San Francisco worried. Losing Game 1 meant it was absolutely vital they take Game 2 before heading to Cincinnati for the rest of the series. The matchup was another good one, Bronson Arroyo vs. MadBum, which looked like a pitchers duel, turned into an absolute beatdown. Bronson tossed a 7 inning, one hit gem, while Madison couldn’t get out of the 5th inning, allowing 4 earned on 7 hits. The Reds continued to hit the lights out, even against San Francisco’s top notch bullpen. Doubles from Jay Bruce and Brandon Phllips, on top of a slew of other hits, generated a 5-run 8th, and led Cincinnati to a 9-0 shoutout no one saw coming. The Giants had their backs against the wall, facing elimination, and had to win three straight in The Great American Ballpark in order to survive and advance.
Ryan Vogelsong and Homer Bailey squared off in the ever important Game 3. The Giants needed a quality start from Vogelsong more than ever, and with 3 hits, a walk, and run allowed in just the first inning, San Francisco’s hopes were on a tightrope from the very beginning. Vogelsong settled down, pitched very well into the 5th, before being taken out after 95 pitches, and Bailey lasted into the 7th pitching brilliantly, not allowing another hit after the 3rd. Bailey and Game 2’s starter Arroyo, combined for back to back 7 inning one hitters, an incredible effort. It would stay suspensefully tied 1-1 into extra innings, testing Giants fans blood pressure. The bottom of the 10th came around, and up came platoon man Joaquin Arias, and the pivotal moment came on a ground ball to 8 time Gold Glove winner, Scott Rolen, who, to this day still unbelievably, bobbled the routine grounder, Arias beat the throw, and Posey scored on the play. Romo closed out the bottom of the 10th, and the Giants won the monumental Game 3, arguably the most important game of the Giants dynasty, and would prove to be a major moment in their miraculous run. The Giants also struck out a staggering 16 times in the game.
The Giants would end up not trailing for the rest of the series. Pagan, Blanco, and Sandoval all homered in Game 4, and a combined effort from Zito and Lincecum helped the Giants tie the series up 2-2. In the all or nothing Game 5, San Francisco exploded with a 6-run 5th inning, headlined by Buster Posey’s moonshot grand slam, which led them to the comeback series win, all wins coming in Cincinnati. Even more amazing, the Giants batted a dismal .194 in the series, as well as a team ERA of 4.11 in comparison to Cincinnati’s 3.13.
Next in line was the reigning 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, who had to compete in the first ever one game Wild Card Playoff game against Atlanta in order to make it to the postseason, winning it controversially due to an incorrectly called infield fly rule in which benefited the Cards. Then, defeating Washington in an enticing 5 game series, going the full 5 games.
Both clubs having used their aces in their previous series elimination games, San Fran looked to MadBum in Game 1, and St. Louis chose Lance Lynn to take the mound, who won 18 games in his first full season in the bigs. Both hurlers got hit around, Bumgarner giving up a two run homer in the 2nd to David Freese, and each surrendering 4 runs in the 4th inning and unable to finish that inning, Both bullpens kept each other in check for the rest of the game and it finished 6-4.
Ryan Vogelsong and Chris Carpenter were on tap for Game 2, and the 34 year old Vogelsong had his stuff working, with 7 innings and one run surrendered, generating 40 strikes by contact and changing eye levels with his fastballs with 13 flyball outs, the one run of all places coming from a Chris Carpenter 2 out RBI double. San Francisco’s 7 runs would be more than enough to support Vogelsong’s lights out performance. The series was tied 1-1 and headed to Busch Stadium for the next 3 games.
Both clubs’ aces were rested and poised to face off in a huge Game 3 for the lead in the series. Kyle Lohse was a rock at the top of the rotation in 2012, with a leagues best winning percentage with his 16-3 record, a 2.86 ERA/1.09 WHIP, and a remarkable 1.6 walks per 9. Both him and Matt Cain battled quite well, with Lohse giving up one run off a lone Sandoval RBI single in the top of the 3rd. The Giants lead was short lived, as in the following half inning Matt Carpenter, who replaced Carlos Beltran in the 2nd inning due to an injury, jacked a two run shot off Cain giving the Cards the lead. A sacrifice hit that scored David Freese gave St. Louis a valuable insurance run and forced Cain out of the game. The score would remain so and St. Louis took Game 3 and the series lead
At the time, Game 4 was a must win. San Fran came back against Cincinnati but to face a 3-1 mountain to climb against St. Louis right after, seemed an improbable feat. The game featured another heavyweight matchup between Lincecum and fellow perennial Cy Young candidate Adam Wainwright, and rather than a pitchers’ duel, it was Cardinal outfielders Jon Jay and Matt Holliday that led the way for St. Louis to take that ever so important 3-1 lead, both going 2-5 with 2 RBIs. Hunter Pence jacked a solo shot off Wainwright in the 2nd, but other than that he was the usual silent assassin, tossing 7 innings worth of one run ball. Yet another comeback had to be made by this proven resilient Giants club, and still had one more in St. Louis. Backs truly against the wall, surely they’re done, yes?
By Game 5, the next opponent one of these two clubs would play in the World Series was already known, with Detroit wiping the floor with the Yankees in a 4 game sweep (Yankees had a team batting average of .157 that series and Detroits’ team ERA was a ridiculous 1.38. An absolute drubbing), so all eyes were on the NLCS. Down 3-1, San Francisco had to face Lance Lynn and went with their surprise 15 game winning vet in Barry Zito. Giants fans often refer to this game as “The 126 million dollar game, as a tongue in cheek label referring to Barry Zitos’ expensive contract and average numbers, because he threw it back to 2002 for Game 5. Looking like a pitchers’ duel, until the top of the 4th. Hunter Pence was next, and a freak play of note would occur, grounding it back to Lynn, who threw it to 2nd looking for the inning ending double play and ended up hitting the bag with the throw, sending the ball into the outfield, allowing Scutaro to score easily. Zito would also lay down a beautiful bunt to third and beat the throw, sending Blanco home for a 4-0 lead in the 4th. Lynn would be taken out immediately after. Zito would retire the next 11 Cardinals batters. He would eventually throw 8 shutout innings and a no doubt player of the game. San Fran took an absolutely massive Game 5 in St. Louis. Zitos’ performance to take the series back to the Bay can’t be overlooked. You could say that’s where the dynasty started to crystallize. 3-2. Momentum was created, hope rumbled, and the unimaginable, started to feel possible.
AT&T Park was absolutely rockin’ in the moments heading into Game 6. Vogelsong got the start, and for St. Louis, Chris Carpenter, who would be making his last ever start in baseball. Fascinating stat about the former Cy Young winner, never had a season averaging 8 Ks per 9 or more. Vogelsong though, had Ks in his mind that night. He struck out the side to begin the 1st, and added 2 more in the 2nd, while Carpenter opened the first two innings surrendering 5 runs, and a whopping 54 pitches. The lead gave Vogelsong all the confidence in the world to be aggressive in the zone, actually pitching a no-no into the 5th. His only surrendered run coming in the 6th, Vogelsong would retire the side in the 7th before handing it over to the pen, who shut the Cards down quickly, in a rare postseason game lasting under 3 hours. Vogelsong was nothing short of a force that night with one earned on four hits and a silky smooth nine strikeouts, 3 of them on David Freese. Just like that. Game 7. One earned run in both elimination games. A perfect example of sheer resilience and dominant pitching leading to nothing but success. San Francisco obtained that coveted playoff chemistry high that that one team every year catches that night. That feeling you could take the ‘27 Yankees 7 games. The whole city. The whole fanbase. The whole baseball world really, felt it. Knew it.
To add to the already towering confidence, Bochy had a fresh Matt Cain to throw out there for Game 7, against Kyle Loshe, who, despite his wonderful season, would be pitching his last game for St. Louis, and the Giants lineup would make sure it was not a favorable memory. Before Lohse was able to record an out, a San Francisco run was on the board with a Sandoval sacrifice. In the following inning, the 2nd Giants run came off the bat of who else but Matt Cain, who singled to center and brought Blanco home, making it the third straight game with an RBI from a Giants pitcher. Also, he kept the Cards lineup quiet through three. The bottom of the 3rd would be one of the most famous moments in the San Francisco dynasty. Scutaro led off with a single, Pablo roped a double to left, and Posey walked, loading the bases for Hunter Pence. The nicknamed ‘Captain Underpants’ hit a ground ball that sneaked past Kozma and became a bases clearing double and opened up a 5-0 lead for Matt Cain in Game 7. That was the climax. If Bochy was Red Auerbach, the cigar would have been sparked. The Giants would continue to hit the Cards’ pen around and it would be a final of 9-0. The Giants pitching staff blanked the Cards in a Game 7. Five and two thirds of shutout ball from Cain, and a combined effort of Affeldt, Castilla, Lopez and Romo turned it into a complete game shutout. Fans were celebrating the inevitable ever since the Pence double, and while the neutral fans might have considered it anti-climatic, the pure redemption in the side, was respected and admired by all, and San Francisco would carry the NLCS Title into the 2012 World Series.
Amidst the slew of stats from the series, perhaps most impressive was Marco Scutaro’s incredible batting average of .500 on 14 of 28, and striking out once, making a constant threat on the bases and ultimately earned NLCS MVP honors. Pablo had 6 RBIs on 2 bombs and 2 doubles. The Giants pitching staff allowed just a mere one run in all 3 elimination games, and posted a team WHIP of 1.06 for the series. Simply dominance on the mound. Spotlighting Ryan Vogelsong, some were calling for him to get series MVP, in 14 innings he posted a 1.29 ERA/0.78 WHIP, giving the Cards no shot at putting up any real damage. It was now Detroit, coming off their high of absolutely hammering the Yankees, and the most resilient team of redemption in the millennium, The San Francisco Giants, going head to head in the World Series.
Detroit vs San Francisco. Leyland vs Bochy. A team that dismantled the heavily favored Yankees vs a team that simply won’t be dismantled. 4 World Series titles to the Tigers name vs the Giants 6. Two of the most prestigious clubs in the sports history were to face off in the 108th World Series. It would be the first time since 1988 in which both AL & NL MVPs went head to head in the World Series, in Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey (Kirk Gibson and Jose Canseco). Cabrera having won the AL Triple Crown that season, going 44/139/.330 with 109 runs and 205 hits, a monster in that lineup, that, paired with fellow slugger Prince Fielder (30/108/.313 with a .412 OBP and playing every game in 2012) put Detroit on their bats all year, winning the AL Central. Detroit also had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer as their 1-2 punch, and solid contributions from Rick Porcello and Doug Fister, and Jose Valverde in the closing role, saving 35 games for the club in 2012. Bochy and Leyland would both be managing their 3rd World Series and 2nd with their respective clubs. It had all the background to be one of those seven game series classics, right?
To get right to it, Game 1 could be a Friends episode title, which will go down in history as “The One Where Pablo Hit Three”. The Kung Fu Panda would join Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, and Albert Pujols as the only players to hit three home runs in one World Series game, hitting two of them off of who many consider the best pitcher of the decade in Justin Verlander. The first one coming in the 1st, on an 0-2 count with 2 outs, the second one came in the 3rd inning, but even before the 2nd Pablo bomb, Pagan doubled, Scutaro singled him home before Sandoval launched off, again, all with 2 outs. Barry Zito would play hero once again with 5 and ⅔ innings of one run ball, and drove in another postseason run with his fourth inning single off Verlander to make it 5-0. Zito again making up for his mediocre season numbers in San Francisco with his brilliant 2012 postseason performance, earning every penny of his 7 year $126 mil contract and right into the hearts of the San Fran faithful. Al Alburquerque would replace Verlander in the 5th, but that made no difference to Pablo, taking a low fastball to deep center to make it an historic 3 HR World Series game. AT&T Park fell into complete hysteria.
Zito surrendered his only run to a single off the bat of Miguel Cabrera before being replaced by Lincecum, but not without a standing ovation from the frenzied, jubilant crowd. Valverde would come in to try and keep the deficit at 5, yet a pair of singles from Scutaro and Posey would make it 8-1. Game 1 was all but over. Jhonny Peralta would launch a harmless 2 run shot and the game ended 8-3. 1-0 San Francisco.
To go down 0-2 in the World Series against a team that’s completed back to back series comebacks is one of those insurmountable holes to fall in, so Detroit had to win Game 2 for their sanity’s sake. To everyones’ surprise considering the circumstances, Leyland went Doug Fister in Game 2, rather than 16 game winner Max Scherzer, but Leyland as usual, knows what he’s doing. Doug Fister and opposing pitcher for Game 2, Madison Bumgarner, would both toss a gem of a game in a classic pitchers duel on the games’ biggest stage. Both pitchers would end up tossing 6 innings of shutout baseball. The bottom 7th came quickly, and Hunter Pence led off the inning with a single that would be Doug Fister’s last bit of action, with Drew Smyly taking over after 114 pitches. He would start off by walking Belt, then Blanco would lay down a bunt that he’d reach 1st on, which loaded the bases for Brandon Crawford. Pence would make it home easily scoring the first run of the game, on a double play/sacrifice RBI, and at this point, one run felt like three. Castilla would come in the 8th for the hold and did so successfully. Pence would add a valuable insurance run on a flyball off Octavio Dotel to make it 2-0 and Romo would come in for the save and make it a shutout in Game 2 for the Giants. The series would head into Detroit for the next 3 games, but this Giants squad at this point didn’t give a damn where the games were being played. Bochy’s boys were absolutely rollin’.
Comerica Park had an aura of uneasiness among the Detroit faithful, momentum was tucked deep in San Fran’s corner, and it was up to Anibal Sanchez to settle them down and provide some hope, and one of the already handful of heroes, Ryan Vogelsong, was going to have absolutely none of it. He would toss 5 and ⅔ shutout innings, before handing it over to Lincecum for 2 and ⅓ more innings of no hit ball, before Romo closed it out easily.
From Game 5 of the NLCS to the end of this World Series Game 3, San Francisco’s pitching staff would throw an unbelievable 4 shutouts. An absolutely incredible feat of team dominance. A performance worthy of a pedestal in the realms of the highest accomplishments in the history of the game. A Blanco RBI triple, followed by a single from Crawford brought Blanco home, were the only runs in the game, but it was more than they needed. Detroit demoralized, the Giants one win away from their 2nd title in 3 years, champagne was on ice, you could hear Charles Barkeley himself saying “it’s ova’”.
Game 4 would be a bit unlike the previous 3, it in fact went extra innings featuring an entertaining battle between Cain and Scherzer. It was also quite nasty weather come game time with Hurricane Sandy hours away from reaching the east coast. A rainy, cold temp of 44 degrees with 20 MPH winds, gusts up to 35+. Giants opened up scoring in the 2nd when Brandon Belt tripled to deep right in the corner, bringing Pence home. It was Brandon Belt’s 1st hit of the series. Miguel Cabrera would take the lead in the 3rd, on an opposite field homer that just seemed to carry and carry in that strong wind to right field. It would stay 2-1 til the 6th, when who else but Marco Scutaro singled to leadoff the inning, then Buster unloaded one to left, retaking the lead at 3-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Delmon Young would tie it up with another opposite field blast to tie it. Both bullpens would completely shut each other’s lineups down, Affeldt struck out the side in the 8th, and Phil Coke started off the 9th striking out the side as well, eventually taking it to the 10th. Leyland decided to stick with Coke in the 10th, and the rest was history. Ryan Theriot singled to leadoff, Crawford sac bunted to advance Theriot into scoring position, then, yet again, who else, but Marco Scutaro singled to center to drive in the go ahead run. The importance of Scutaro cannot be stressed enough in this 2012 postseason, after going 14 for 28 in the NLCS, he delivers the eventual World Series winning RBI. Sergio Romo would come in and strike out the side to secure the 2012 World Series, the cherry on top being getting Miguel Cabrera to strikeout looking on a fastball right down the middle to end it.
Down 0-2 against Philadelphia in the NLDS, down 3-1 against St Louis in the NLCS, sweeping the World Series. The 2012 postseason was the ultimate redemption to domination story. Faced 6 elimination games, and each night the hero was always someone else. Detroit was held to a .159 team batting average in the series.
Losing Brian Wilson 2 games into the season. Heading into the season wondering if their young star Buster Posey would even be what they all hoped after his infamous injury in 2011. Losing who would be batting champion Melky Cabrera midseason due to PEDs. they conquered all obstacles thrown at them, and made their 2012 campaign, simply one of the, if not the most incredible title winning campaigns in baseball history. Two titles in three years, and the 2011 season in between, they won 88 games, without Buster, and LA and San Diego winning 90+ games were the only reasons they weren’t able to defend their 2010 title. You gotta have 3 to be really considered a “dynasty”, but the winning trend of the San Francisco Giants from 2009 to 2012 made them without a doubt at the top of the baseball world.
2014
This year felt different from 2010 and 2012. The party on Market Street was over. The city of San Francisco soaked and basked in what the team accomplished, and 2013 was a bit of a struggle. They missed the playoffs that year, going 76-86, lost their top of the order catalyst in Angel Pagan for 3 months, let go of Aubrey Huff and once dominant closer Brian Wilson, 2012 hero Ryan Voglesong had a well below average follow up year, and almost let go at the end of the year before signing a one year deal, though fellow hurler Barry Zito, wasn’t so lucky and was let go, who both posted 5.70+ ERAs, and averaged 10+ hits per 9 in 2013. Not one batter hit .300 for the year, scored 100 runs, nor batted in 100 runs. The rest of the core guys were still there, yet production was down, very down. The mindset and feeling was, maybe they hit their peak? We had incredible success, a decline was bound to happen right? 2 in 3 years? 4 straight winning seasons? Any player, owner, GM, and fan would empty their bank accounts to achieve that. It’s time to just build around Buster and MadBum and just take our expectations down a bit? Yeah, yeah, that’s what’ll happen.
There were positives heading into 2014 though, Hunter Pence was signed on for 5 more years, Lincecum for 2. Veteran ace free agent Tim Hudson signed with San Francisco on a 2 year deal, as well as gritty outfielder Michael Morse on a one year contract. The rest of the crew was still there, Bumgarner was getting better and better, they definitely improved before the 2014 season started. There were though, a slew of new utility guys since 2012. Joaquin Arias, Brandon Hicks, Juan Perez, Ehire Adrianza, were among some of them, although their production was less than desired. There were some new faces that in the future would become quite familiar in the game today. The defense/speed/power combo of Adam Duvall, the scrappy contact hitting Joe Panik, and fellow contact hitting third baseman Matt Duffy, all coming through the ranks of San Francisco’s farm system in Fresno. Reliever Jean Machi was brought up and had a regular role in 2013 with the Giants, and was quite prominent in 2014, to add to what has been the backbone of San Francisco’s success, the bullpen.
The starting rotation was nearly exactly the same, Tim Hudson replacing Zito was the only change in personnel in the starting five. The other change, being that Matt Cain wasn’t the ace anymore, as predictably so, Madison Bumgarner was the Opening Day starter for 2014, and would prove worthy of ace status. MadBum would win 18 games in 2014, posting a 2.98 ERA, 4 complete games, 2 of them shutouts, and averaging 1.8 walks per 9. An efficiency that’s become synonymous with his name. It was once again team pitching as a whole, that defined the Giants success in 2014. With a team ERA of 3.50, a combined HR per 9 of 0.8, and a BB per 9 of 2.4. Every pitcher played an integral part of San Francisco’s return to the 2014 postseason.
It was also, yet again a team effort on the offensive side, rather than just overpowering league leading batting stats. No one had 100 RBIs (Buster drove in 89), No one hit more than 22 HRs (Buster hit 22), and no one really absolutely destroyed the ball all year (Buster led team batting at .311). That’s not to say the rest of the team wasn’t impressive. Hunter Pence would have one of his classic productive seasons, playing every game, crossing the plate 106 times, Clubbing 20 HRs, driving in 74, and slashing a respectable .277, led the team in hits (180), typical Hunter, top of the order catalyst. All in all though, the team hit a subpar .255 average, and a measly .311 team OBP. Proving that no matter how you hit, this game will always be about pitching.
The Giants started the season relatively hot. By the end of May, they were 37-20 and 7 games up in the NL West. On June 8th, they had a 10 game lead in the division, by the end of the month, they only held onto that lead by half a game. In that timeframe they nearly got swept by Washington, swept in a 3 game set by Colorado, both of them in San Francisco, then swept by Chicago in an interleague 2 game series. They would scrape a series win in Arizona, before heading back home to lose a series to the Padres, then swept badly in a 4 game series to the Reds. They went 4-15 in that span. Their lead in the entire month of June would never be bigger than 2, and became a see-saw battle that eventually saw San Francisco 2.5 behind the Dodgers by the end of June. June 25th was the last day San Francisco led the NL West, and even though they would never retake the top spot, they also never dipped below .500. Much like 2010, they were always in it, always in the race. The eventual division winners, the Dodgers, would win every series against the Giants in that 2014 second half, including a 17-0 blowout in San Francisco, in which even pitcher Zack Grienke hit a 2 run bomb. The Giants would eventually finish 6 games behind LA, but their 88 wins would be enough for a spot in the one game Wild Card series against Pittsburgh, who also finished with 88 wins.
The Nationals rolled all year and claimed the best record in the NL with 96 wins, the Dodgers were a strong 2nd in the NL with 94 wins (most saw them World Series favorites), and the Cardinals took the Central with 90 wins. Did they all have a peek in the rear view mirror at San Francisco at the time? Maybe. Maybe not. But what occurred in October 2014 would be etched into the highest realms of modern baseball folklore.
The NL Wild Card game would be one of a handful of pieces of evidence that show that Madison Bumgarner is one of, if not the greatest postseason pitcher in the history of the game. Tension was high as expected in a one game playoff, but someone forgot to tell MadBum. The guy would just casually go out there, in Pittsburgh, and absolutely shut the Bucs out. A four hit, one walk, complete game shutout would single-handedly advance San Fran to the NLDS vs the Nationals. He got plenty of run support anyway, with a Crawford grand slam and 3 RBIs from Brandon Belt, that led the way to an easy 8-0 win. Bumgarner threw 109 pitches and 79 of them were strikes, just pounding the zone with his 2 seam all night. The win granted them a 5 game series with the Washington Nationals in the NLDS. A team, like the Giants, whose biggest strength was their stout pitching (3.03 Team ERA), won 96 games in 2014.
With these two mammoth pitching staffs, a series filled with small ball and pitchers duels was expected, and that’s exactly how it was. In the series 4 games, both teams had a Team ERA below 2.00, and not like 1.98/1.99, 1.60 from the Giants, and 1.23 from Washington. Brandon Belt hit the only Giants home run in the series, Washington struck out 39 times in those four games, and neither team scored more than 10 runs in the entire series. Dominance on the mound.
Game 1 featured Peavy vs. Strasburg, and while both men pitched fairly well, neither made it out of the 6th inning. A pair of RBI singles From Panik and Belt gave a 2-0 lead to San Fran that held for most of the game. Buster would make it 3-0 with another RBI single in the 7th. Washington would counter back in the bottom half with non consecutive home runs from Bryce Harper and Asdrubal Cabrera to add some late inning drama. Romo prevented any damage done in the 8th, and Castilla sat ‘em down quietly in order in the 9th to take the 1-0 lead.
If there was a game in the series that stood out from the rest, it would pretty damn well be this one, Game 2 went 18 innings. One. Eight. To further emphasize the pitching dominating the series headline, the final score was still a meager 2-1…again, San Francisco. Anthony Rendon singled home the first run in the 3rd, and would stay that way until the 9th, showing that starters Tim Hudson and the Nats’ Jordan Zimmerman were, for the most part both locked in. Zimmerman was looking at a complete game shutout and evening the series up one a piece, when he would walk Joe Panik with two outs, which resulted in Manager Matt Wiliams to controversially pull the starter and leave it to Drew Storen to close it out. His first pitch was roped by Posey on a line drive that advanced Panik to 2nd. Pablo Sandoval followed it up with a double to left, scoring Panik easily, Posey was waved around 3rd to take the lead, but was thrown out at home. Romo would set the bottom half down in order to send it to extra innings, and extra innings there were.
For the next 7 innings, both lineups were thoroughly stifled. Most notably, 6 innings of standout relief work from Yusmeiro Petit. From the 12th to the 17th he was on the mound for San Francisco, allowing only one hit, striking out 7, striking out the side in the 14th, shutting down the NL East Champs like it was nothing. Petits effort would not go in vain, as Brandon Belt wanted to go to bed. He finished off an 8 pitch at bat with that lone home run the Giants had all series, to take the lead and would eventually become the winning run in the ballgame. The game lasted 6 hours and 23 minutes, but a 2-0 series lead heading back home to San Francisco, would more than make up for it.
Game 3 would in contrast not even last 3 hours (2:47), MadBum and Doug Fister continued the pitchers duel trend, the game was scoreless til the 7th, when Washington plated 2 on a throwing error from Bumgarner himself. Asdrubal would single home one more, and that would be more than what the Nats needed, as the only Giants run would come in the 9th on a sac fly, the rally fell short, and Washington were on the board in the series and lived to fight for another day.
The Giants would certainly not want to play a Game 5 in Washington after being up 2-0, so this was almost a must-win. Wind was blowing out to the famous McCovey Cove in right pretty hard during the game, So starters Gio Gonzalez and Ryan Vogelsong had to be weary of the weather. The Giants would open the scoring in the 2nd, or rather, Gio himself, walking Blanco with the bases loaded to bring in the first run. Bryce Harper would score all the runs for Washington in this one (had a great series in general, 3 HRs, slugged .882, and an OPS in a whole other atmosphere of 1.251). The very next half inning, Panik and Posey would single back to back, taking pitcher Matt Thornton out of the game. Pence would work out a walk against the next pitcher Aaron Barrett, loading the bases for Pablo Sandoval. The next resulting at-bat would climax the game, and series, as Barrett would quite literally throw the game away, tossing a wild pitch past Ramos that would allow Panik to score the eventual game/series winning run from 3rd easily. Romo and Castilla would bring their usual hammers down in the 8th and 9th, and the Giants would take the series 3-1, and a trip to the NLCS against a familiar playoff foe in the St. Louis Cardinals.
St. Louis would be another division winner that the Giants would take down (obvious spoiler alert), but it wouldn’t be anything less than a dogfight of a series. All 5 games of the 2014 NLCS ended in a save opportunity. Like most playoff series, runs were hard to come by and very valuable. Pence, Belt, Posey, Panik, and Crawford, all hit an average of .235 or worse, and only 4 Cardinals hit above .227, and only 2 of those 4 had over 6 at-bats. The pitching wasn’t “blow you away” kinda numbers. Bumgarner and the Giants bullpen did their usual thing, Petit, Affeldt and Castilla all surrendered no runs over a combined 11.1 innings, and MadBum put up a stingy 1.72 ERA over 15.2 innings. But in the end, this series came down to unsung heroes.
At the beginning of this postseason, and earlier in this article, it was said that perhaps no one was really looking in their rear view mirror at San Francisco in worry, and two weeks later, Madison Bumgarner, the hottest pitcher on the planet, was about to start Game 1 of the NLCS. Wainwright toeing the rubber for St. Louis showed much promise that Game 1 would be another classic playoff pitcher’s duel, and for the most part, it was.
The first inning was eventless, the second, eventful. The Giants were patient with Wainwright, forcing him to work for it and ended up throwing 36 pitches in the half inning. In the midst of it was a leadoff double from Pablo Sandoval, a Pence walk followed, and a Belt single after that left the bases juiced. Crawford struck out, and brought up Travis Ishikawa, getting a rare start. As for the whole unsung heroes thing, that’s where Travis comes into play. He would swing at the first pitch and send a pop fly to shallow left center that dropped in sending Pablo home for the first run of the game. Blanco would reach on an error on a grounder to short that would score Pence, making it 2-0, and an early 2-0 lead is the absolute last thing St. Louis wanted to give to MadBum. Belt would add an early insurance run on a sacrifice fly that scored Posey to make it 3-0. The Giants lineup forced 69 pitches out of Wainwright in just three innings. There would be no further scoring in the game, as Bumgarner would go 7.2 innings of even more shutout baseball, and would have probably gone even longer, but Burce Bochy most likely preferred to save what was left in the tank, throwing 112 pitches in the game. Castilla and Romo, per usual, shut the game down late. If anything were to be taken away from Game 1, it was no longer an argument as to who the best pitcher in the game at that point was.
Game 2 would be the Cards’ only win, and did so in dramatic fashion. Former Triple Crown Cy Young winner Jake Peavy would face off against up and comer Lance Lynn. St. Louis had an early 2-0 lead of their own this time around. San Francisco would get themselves on the board in the next half inning with a pinch hit sacrifice RBI from Juaquin Arias, who pinch hit for Peavy. The former Cy Young winner was pulled after 76 pitches in 4 innings. The Giants would then tie the game shortly in the 6th, on a 2 out single from Hunter Pence. That resulting play would be what took Lynn out of the game, with a respectable 6 hits, 2 earned, over 5 and ⅔ innings. Affeldt sat St. Louis down in order in the 5th and 6th, and in the top 7th, San Francisco would take the lead on a Blanco grounder that squeaked by the right side that brought Crawford home to make it 3-2.
In almost every other scenario, a 3-2 Giants lead in the late innings meant the game was finito, this would be an extremely rare exception. Jean Machi would come in for the hold in the 7th, and it would be yet another pinch hit in this game that would prove vital, when Oscar Taveras would take Machi deep to tie the game, injecting life into the St. Louis crowd. Hunter Stickland would come into the 8th to quiet the place down and end up making it louder, as power bat Matt Adams would launch a go ahead solo shot and just like that, 4-3. Top 9. Trevor Rosenthal in for the save, series tied up right? Wait juuuuust a minute. Things would get a bit wild, (no pun intended), as Rosenthal threw a wild pitch in the dirt that skipped off of Yadier Molina and well into foul ground, and pinch runner Matt Duffy was quick to react, scoring all the way from 2nd on the play to tie the ballgame. Romo would come in, and as sure of a thing as he has been, it wasn’t gonna be that night. The first batter he faced was second baseman Kolten Wong, and Kolten wanted to go home. He would rope a line drive down the right field line that stayed fair and just over the wall to walk off the game. A classic back and forth game to make it a series. 1-1.
Two ‘been there done that’ veterans would take the mound in Game 3 in Tim Hudson and John Lackey, with 43 postseason games between them. Hudson sat ‘em down in order to start the game, Lackey on the other hand seemingly couldn’t get ‘em to take a seat. He sat the first two batters on four pitches, but back to back 2 out singles from Buster and Pablo would bring big RBI bat Hunter Pence up, and on an 0-2 count with 2 away in the inning, he would rope a double to right bringing home Buster, and it wasn’t over. Clearly rattled a bit early, he followed it up by walking Belt on four pitches to load the bases for the unsung hero of the NLCS, Travis Ishikawa. Just like he did in Game 1, he let loose on the first pitch, this time connecting on a bases clearing 3 run double to give San Fran a 4-0 lead in the 1st. In the top 4th, St. Louis would conjure a little 2 out magic of their own, coming off the bat of Game 2 hero Kolten Wong. The young second baseman would triple to deep center, scoring Jon Jay and Matt Holliday easily, closing the deficit to 2. Johnny Peralta would help the Cards’ creep back even more with an RBI single to make it 4-3. Lackey would not surrender another run after his rough 1st, and set up St. Louis for a realistic comeback. Randal Grichuk would clock a game tying home run in the 7th, and would be the one that would take Hudson out of the game. It would stay tied for the rest of the regular 9 innings as both bullpens turned it up a notch.
Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo helped toss a quiet top 10th, and it was up to Cards’ reliever Randy Choate to send it to the 11th. Brandon Crawford would lead the inning off with an 8 pitch walk, representing the winning run. Juan Perez singled to left, putting Crawford very much into scoring position at 2nd. Blanco would follow it up with the bunt heard ‘round the world, as Randy Choate would rush the throw to beat Blanco at 1st, and ended up throwing it away, letting Crawford score the game winning run easily crossing the plate. Not your typical walk off fashion but more than dramatic to say the least. 2-1 Giants, momentum, San Francisco.
Game 4 featured starters Shelby Miller and Ryan Volgelsong, and neither of them produced the start they desired. Both of them started their half innings off with leadoff doubles and a run scored. Vogelsong would surrender yet another early run in the 2nd on an AJ Pierzynski RBI single. Vogelsong would start the 3rd off with 2 straight hits from Adams and Holliday. Peralta would follow by hitting into his 2nd double play of the game in what was already the 3rd inning, but this time, Holliday would score on the play from 3rd making it 3-1. A red hot Kolten Wong would further the punishment on Vogelsong by cranking one deep to extend the lead to 4-1. It was very rare to see a Giants pitcher hit so early and hard, especially in San Francisco. AT&T Park was quiet. The Giants would narrow the deficit to one at 4-3 in the 3rd. Petit came in for Vogelsong early and would fire the crowd up by striking out the side. In fact, the Giants pen would keep St Louis in check for the rest of the game, proving again that it’s been the backbone of this would-be dynasty. The Giants would tie the game in the 6th, when Perez would eventually score on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Blanco to tie the game. Panik would groundout to first right after, but bring Crawford home to take the lead. Buster would add on with an RBI single of his own to extend the lead to 2 at 6-4, and that was it for scoring. Romo and Castilla performed their trademark 8th/9th inning act, and San Francisco would take a beautiful 3-1 lead, with Game 5 still to play at home.
Another Wainwright/Bumgarner heavyweight bout was on schedule for Game 5, Adam went 7 decent innings, Madison with 8 solid of his own. Bumgarner would be the first to surrender a run, when he ran into a bit of trouble in the 3rd. An RBI double off the fire bat of Jon Jay would put the Cards’ ahead. It would not be a long lasting one as Joe Panik would drill a 2 run shot to put the Giants ahead 2-1. Yet, that would be an even shorter lead, as in the next half inning, Bumgarner would toss arguably his worst postseason inning of his life, when Matt Adams took him deep to lead off the inning to tie it, then Tony Cruz would launch another with two outs to take the lead. It wouldn’t be until the bottom of the 8th when the aforementioned unsung heroes would come into play, when of all guys, Mike Morse, pinch hitting for Bumgarner, would hammer a solo shot off Pat Neshek to tie the game three a piece. Castilla and Affeldt would get out of some trouble stranding the bases loaded, and the bottom of the 9th would cap off the topic of the unsung hero. The Giants put two men on for Travis Ishikawa, and the utility man got a fastball in a 2-0 count and would walk it off with a 3 run bomb and punch San Francisco’s ticket to the World Series. For the 3rd time in 5 years, of all players, it was Mike Morse, and Travis Ishikawa, that made it possible for this Giants team to cement themselves as a dynasty.
In a matter of three weeks, the Giants went from having to win a one game playoff just to get into the postseason, to being the favorites to win the World Series. On the other side, the Kansas City Royals were writing quite a Cinderella story of their own, making the postseason for the first time in 28 years, and also had to win the AL one game playoff to make it in. From then on the Royals didn’t lose a game, sweeping Anaheim in the ALDS, then Baltimore in the ALCS. They also swept the Giants earlier in the regular season in an interleague series. Neither team had more than 90 wins in the regular season. It was, in a way, the year of the underdog.
Bumgarner was set to start Game 1, with James Shields going for Kansas City, and from the start, the Giants lineup was all over Shields. Three hits, an RBI double from Pablo, and a two run homer from Pence would give San Francisco, and maybe more importantly, MadBum, a very early 3-0 lead. It wouldn’t be until the bottom of the 7th and a lead stretched to 7-0 in favor of San Francisco, that the only World Series run Bumgarner would ever give up in his career would come, off the bat of a rather harmless Salvador Perez solo shot to make it 7-1. The game would end 7-1 as it would be another classic postseason performance from Bumgarner, but also, every player in the Giants lineup recorded a hit in this one.
The Giants would actually do it again in Game 2, with every Giants hitter recording a hit. This time, a win didn’t follow. Even more intriguing, Gregor Blanco led off the game with a bomb on an 8 pitch at-bat. Kansas City however, would tie it up in the following half inning, and take a 2-1 lead in the 2nd. Belt tied it in the 4th with an RBI, then in the 6th, the cagey feel of the game broke open. The Giants would go through 5 pitchers in the inning, and Kansas City would drop 5 runs in the process. It would stay 7-2 for the rest of the contest, and KC evened up the series.
Game 3 was all about cagey small-ball. No home runs, no runs given up by either bullpen, a lone KC run in the top of the 1st and a pair of runs for both sides in the 6th was all that was. Kansas City took a surprising 2-1 lead in San Francisco that night. Only 3 walks surrendered in the entire game, as Jeremy Guthrie and Tim Hudson battled back and forth for what was both of their first ever World Series starts. It was the first World Series loss for the Giants in San Francisco since 2002/
For the third time in the series, the entire Giants lineup would record a hit in Game 4, with four Giants hitters having multi hit games in this one. Neither Jason Vargas, or Ryan Vogelsong were decent in this one, with Vargas only lasting 4 innings, and Vogelsong was unable to make it out of the 3rd. By the start of the 5th it was 4-2 Kansas City, and AT&T Park at the moment was silent and anxious. The next three innings would fire the San Francisco crowd up, as the Giants lineup would have three straight multi run innings on Kansas City’s bullpen. Two runs the the 6th, three in the 7th, and four in the 8th, would turn the whole game upside down. Hunter Pence leading the way with 3 hits and 3 RBIs would even up the series 2-2.
San Francisco had a fresh Madison Bumgarner ready to go for Game 5, and the best pitcher on the planet at the time would live up to his stature in what would be the biggest game of his career to date, and that’s saying something. MadBum would throw yet another complete game shutout, allowing four hits and striking out 8. He would now have 31 career World Series innings pitched and just one run earned. Numbers that should be held to the highest accomplishments any player has ever produced in the history of the game. Single-handedly giving San Francisco a 3-2 lead in the series, and cementing himself as a San Francisco Giants legend.
The high (and lead) that Madison Bumgarner gave San Francisco was short lived however, as Kansas City would blow Game 6 wide open in the 2nd inning. The Royals would drop a whopping 7 runs on Jake Peavy and Yusemiro Petit in the inning, and Kaufmann Stadium was rockin’, as they were facing elimination heading into the game. Kansas City would add another 3 runs and the late Yordano Ventura and Co. would throw a combined complete game shutout of their own, sending the 2014 World Series to the ever climactic Game 7. With both clubs tossing a complete game shutout for their 3rd win in the series, Game 7 was set up to be an all time classic.
Vet Tim Hudson and Jeremy Guthrie would be the Game 7 starters, and neither were particularly sharp, both surrendering a pair of runs in the 2nd, with Morse and Crawford with a pair of sac flies brought home two, then Mr. Royal Alex Gordon and Omar Infante would tie it. Hudson actually wouldn’t make it out of the 2nd in a disappointing effort. Though in the 4th, playoff hero Mike morse would continue his heroics, as his RBI single to bring home Pablo would be the go ahead, and World Series winning run.
The Giants would not play any games in the last 5 innings. Not going to their reliable bullpen, but turning the ball over to who else but Madison Bumgarner. The eventual World Series MVP would toss another 5 innings of shutout baseball, bringing his career World Series innings pitched to 36, while just surrendering one run. Arguably the most dominant pitching performance since Pedro Martinez in 1999, he would be the main force behind San Francisco’s third World Series title in 5 years, etching the successful span into baseball history as a legitimate dynasty.
Is It A Dynasty?
The 1900’s Cubs. The 1910’s Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics. The 40’s Cardinals. The 70’s Oakland Athletics. And the various Yankee dynasties. The only clubs that have won 3 World Series titles in the same span in which the 2010’s San Francisco Giants obtained their 3 in 5 years. Elite company there.
Did they have the legendary bats those other dynasties had? Did they have a Musial? A Mickey Mantle? A Jeter? Certainly not. Buster Posey was definitely the rock of the lineup throughout, but surely no one in the lineup during that span is a bonafide HOFer. Posey being the closest, and no doubt has the accolades (MVP, batting title, Gold Glove, Rookie of The Year, 4 Silver Sluggers, and throw 3 rings on top of that), also little doubt he was the best catcher in the game at the time. On the other hand, he’s most likely going to finish well under 200 HRs, well under 2000 hits, and very well under 1000 runs, his career postseason numbers all in all isn’t anything impressive, but when you have a trio of rings and a handful of clutch moments, being the anchor of it all? I certainly don’t think Busters’ too concerned whether or not he’s in Cooperstown, Buster knows what he did, San Francisco knows, the baseball community knows. One thing it will be is a helluva interesting conversation amidst the BBWAA about his induction.
The other HOF possibility of the dynasty most people ponder about, being pitcher Madison Bumgarner, is definitely worthy of note. One of the most acknowledged and successful pitchers of the decade, maybe THE greatest postseason pitcher of all time. For much of the 2010’s it was “Kershaw, MadBum, then everyone else”. His 36 career World Series innings pitched with only one run surrendered is mythical. Although, no Cy Young to his name, an NLCS and WS MVPs show where he truly shined, when it mattered most. Will the voters be impressed though, is another question.
So, is this a dynasty? Yes. With theoretically no HOFers. No mind blowing regular season records. It is still an ultimate definition of a true team mentality, the true description of redemption. One of those against all odds Rocky-ish stories. This however was 100% true. The hitters couldn’t do it without great starters, the starters couldn’t do it without the immaculate bullpen. The pen couldn’t do it without legend Bruce Bochy and the staff. They all fed off of each other.
Did it change the game itself? Maybe, maybe not. There has certainly been a distinct change in the importance of the bullpen in the game since the dynasty climaxed, with relievers making a difference more than ever. Quality in depth was a strongpoint for the San Fran dynasty, and although it wasn’t a new thing to see, it was a reminder that even the bench riders can leave fingerprints all over a successful run.
Most importantly, it was a stark reminder to never give up, despite all odds, setbacks, and obstacles. Whether it be losing Brian WIlson, Buster Posey, or Melky Cabrera. Whether it was down 0-2 to Cincinnati, or 3-1 to St. Louis. It never mattered to them. It was redemption hunger, and brotherhood, that made the 2010’s San Francisco Giants, a legitimate, bonafide dynasty in the history of the game.