Regardless of what happens, don't forget that winning the National League Pennant is great. In the old days, it was all about the pennant, followed by a sort of an exhibition game called the World Series. Don't get me wrong, it is not as though World Series Champion didn't mean anything. But it was only when the playoffs expanded and are now a baseball tournament that it has become a World Series or nothing kind of meme. Which is my round-about way of saying, "Great Job, Giants! Way to Go!"
I was holding my breath this morning over the blog comments because of a sort of "don't count those chickens" attitude. Now those little yellow fuckers are hatched and we can celebrate. The game was - let's just say it was not scripted. Madison Bumgarner was ultimately not the hero, nor was Buster Posey (although, if I had to pick any one reason why we won this pennant, I'd have to say that it was because of the sheer force of Buster Posey's will). Instead we had Michael Morse (remember him?). And, of all people, Travis Ishikawa. Travis Ishikawa. Travis Ishikawa. I love that name. And Joe Panik going deep! 3 home runs! The Cardinals are a good team, consistently competitive year in and year out. It is amazing that the pennants have alternated between the Giants and Cardinals for 5 years now. And I would like to thank them personally for beating the doggers. Thank you!
Do managers matter? I think that the closer to the end of the season, and in the playoffs, they do. Thanks, Bruce Bochy! The Royals are a very good team - as anyone who followed the Giants through the season can attest. But the Giants have plenty of time to rest and plan. It will be a whole new ball game come Tuesday.
10 comments:
Fucking awesome. What a great effort by the entire team. THREE home runs! A solo shot, a two-run homer, and a three-run homer. And check out the names: Panik, a rookie; Morse, reduced to a bench role; Ishikawa, dredged off the scrap heap. Morse saved the day with that ridiculous muscle shot.
How about that 9th? Casilla? Affeldt? Amazing. And a great effort by Bumgarner to shut it down after that homer by Cruz. Great pitching, again. So happy that Ishikawa got to be the hero after his flub in left. I was thinking he had yet to be burned out there--he'd held his own and made some plays. And he delivered some serious hits. You could make an argument for MVP.
Boch is a genius.
GO GIANTS!
This game my son had this ominous feeling that the giants would lose. I feeling I sometimes get as a harbinger of some bad things to come in the late innings. This time I told him, I envision the giants fan celebrating tonight, at home in San Francisco. I kept seeing it happened, and then it did. Of course Ishikawa's poor outfield route, may have cost the giants a win, but instead, he made up for it in spades. Now after being the underdogs in Pittsburgh, and against Washington and St.Louis, the giants will be the underdogs again vs. the Royals. According to the national sports experts the giants are lucky, but we know that they are good.
FOUR MORE WINS TO GO! (I bet some of you guys have been annoyed by my countdown, it is looking a lot better now, isn't it?)
All night I was just saying we need to get in their bullpen and as soon as we did, I knew we could do it. Did Wainright run out of gas? It looked like they were going to pull him after 6. I would have left him in til he passed out. And using Wacha for the first time in that situation was rather bold or stupid, depending on how nice you want to be.
Travis Ishikawa is a beautiful name.
Matheny did not use Rosenthal. Can't figure that.
Royals have a great 'pen. Should be interesting.
I like the countdown, Jon.
I was thinking 'Jordan Zimmermann', when Matheny pulled Wainwright. His last 2 innings were his best, he hadn't thrown 100 pitches yet, & what the fuck were they saving him for anyway ... unless something really weird happened, he wasn't going to pitch in Games #6 or 7. Their best chance to even play in a Game #6 was to leave him in. Even though Neshek had been difficult, anything was better than more Wainwright. Sure enough, 2 pitches & whammo!
The Panda-Crawford-Panik play in the 9th was almost as beautiful as the game-winning HR. Panda touching the ball saved a run. Crawford's balletic display was beautiful to watch, let alone highly effective. And, Panik almost got the DP!
I went berserk on the game-winning HR - it left the bat, clearly destined to win the game. That it cleared the fence, too, just added to the joy.
The WS brings together 2 Teams on serious rolls right now. Both grind out runs & have solid pitching - just the way it should be. I favor us, due to our recent re-discovery of the line drive & HR.
Go Giants!!!!!
We are hitting the road on Sunday. Going to be vagabond fans. Games 1 and 2 we'll be in LA. Game 3--on the train. Games 4 and 5 in Chicago. If it goes seven we'll be arriving in Philly that night! I've got my laptop and should be able to post, chime in, etc. Already googling "sports bars"! Certainly watched the Giants over the years in other places but never games of this magnitude. Crazy, wonderful fun. Packing my colors, man.
A solid single would have been enough from Ishi, but the homer sure made it more fun.
Time to brace ourselves for five days of hype. No doubt the Royals will be favorites. We know the Giants will have absolutely no problem with that.
Panik attack! What a great run. Pretty amazing the Giants are doing it with Cain, Pagan and Scutaro out, Lincecum reduced and other injuries here and there. Hudson and Morse look to be rested and ready though, and we get to have some DH action. Royals are a very interesting team, built extremely the same as the Giants. This is going to be a great series.
I love the point about the pennant. The pennant is huge. And the Giants winning it is truly special.
@MOC A road trip for the World Series sounds hella fun!! You guys will have a blast. Especially game #3...on a train?...won't that be like a travelling bar that you can crawl home from? I've never done the train thing so I don't really know but I sure am jealous! Keep us posted.
I've no idea what kind of media or anything will be available as we lumber through the Southern Rockies. You may have to send me text updates, assuming there's coverage!
Yeah, it should be fun. Excited about finding a good spot in Chicago to drink beer and sport my colors and watch the game.
And I will definitely be posting and commenting and blogging and etc. I bought a little camera (amazing: pocket sized, 10 megapixels, 100 bucks) so watch my website and FB for stuff.
http://markcoconnor.com/
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