Joe Buck shouted "The Giants win the pennant", and every dedicated baseball fan hearkened back to at least recordings of Bobby Thompson's famous 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' from 1954: "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" This time, it was San Francisco Giants closer Brian "the Beard" Wilson striking out Ryan Howard looking with two on and two out, to set off a wild celebration on the field in the middle of a stone-quiet Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia.
This World Series is truly going to be a baseball purist's dream. Maybe the ratings won't be so great, maybe it won't be played in two of the biggest cities in the country, maybe the most popular, "sexiest" players (Jeter, A-Rod, Rivera, Halladay, Utley, Howard, Rollins) won't be in it, but darn it, it will be played between two teams who earned it. The Texas Rangers finished off the defending World Champion New York Yankees in six games Friday night, and the San Francisco Giants, a ragtag crew of colorful characters who, in late August, were 6 1/2 games out of first place, with barely a prayer of making the postseason, eliminated the class of the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies, in six games just minutes ago.
The Giants won game Six, 3-2, behind an eighth-inning, opposite field home run by third baseman Juan Uribe off Ryan Madson that broke a 2-2 tie that had existed since the third inning. The Giants bullpen pitched seven innings of five-hit, shutout ball, with appearances by starters Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner, after starter Jonathan Sanchez was shaky. And, in the ninth, Wilson walked Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley, but got Howard looking to end it.
Oh, don't worry: there'll be recognizable faces. There's the Freak (Lincecum), with his long hair, boyish looks, and whirling windup. There's Cliff Lee, Postseason Extraodinaire, going in Game 1 for the Rangers, 7-0 and coming off three-consecutive 10-strikeout performances. There's Josh Hamilton, the likely American League MVP, and Vladimir Guerrero, a likely future Hall-of-Famer, making his first career postseason appearance. There's NL Rookie of the Year candidate Buster Posey, a rookie catcher who has ended up batting cleanup for the Giants throughout the playoffs. There's Edgar Renteria, a veteran who ended one World Series ages ago with a walkoff RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the eleventh inning of Game Seven.
The Giants haven't been to the big dance since 2002, when they lost a heartbreaking seven-game series to the Angels (and their MVP was some guy named Bonds). The Rangers have never been-had never even won a playoff series until this year.
The Giants have scored more than four runs just once (6 in Game Four of the NLCS) in the past three weeks; the Rangers beat the Yankees with scores of 7-2, 8-0, 10-3, and 6-1. The Giants had the lowest team ERA over the past month and a half; the Rangers got wins from each of their four starting pitchers in the NLCS.
I've called both teams a motley crew. I've hinted that both teams are underdogs. Both teams are already champions. The Giants are champions of the National League, stealing the crown, first-hand, from the two-time defending league champion Phillies. The Rangers are champions of the American League, stealing the crown from the defending, and all-time champions, the New York Yankees, winners of 27 World Series. The Giants won the NLCS with grit, gut, and guile, often in one-run games of white knuckle intensity. The Rangers waited out the Yankees' starters and repeatedly shellacked a talented bullpen.
It might not be the matchup of the decade. You won't hear the word 'dynasty' uttered within ten feet of this World Series. There won't be huge celebrities. One team is ancient, one has only been around since the '60s. Neither team was expected to win their division. Neither team was expectedt to make the playoffs. Both were underdogs in the LCS.
Well, they're both here. We have to make do with what we have. And boy howdy, it's gonna be great. Game One is Wednesday.
This will be an interesting WS. I am pulling for the Rangers. What do you think, Dan, will the Ranger pitching shut down any Giant hitting? The Rangers have hot bats something the Phillis did not have. Their bats cooled off. I am just happy it is not the normal teams playing.
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