World Series: Oh So Close

I’ve been a San Francisco Giants fan my whole life, an I mean my whole life. Born and raised in the Bay Area, I was taught to respect my elders, be a good person, eat my vegetables, and to hate the Dodgers. Hopefully I have made my parents proud.

However, at the same time, it’s been a long road. There have been wonderful high’s along the way, but at the same time it’s the failures that stick with you. My first World Series experience was in 1989, but on October 17, at 5:04 PM, the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck and delayed the Series for over a week (unlike many that claim they were there, I actually was). The A’s eventually trounced the Giants four games to none.

In 2002 the Giants, powered by Barry Bonds at the height of his powers (he hit .370 with 46 homers and a 1.381 OPS), took on the Angels in the World Series. A mere eight outs away from a World Championship (the Angels were down by a score of 0-5 in Game 6), the Giants proceeded to fall in Game 6 and then to lose Game 7 by the score of 4-1.

And that’s it. In my lifetime, those are the only two times the Giants had been in the World Series prior to this year. In fact, the Giants had only been in the World Series one other time since moving to San Francisco in 1958 losing to the Yankees in 1962 in, you guessed it, seven games. That’s right, the San Francisco Giants have never won the World Series, but all that stands between them and ending the third longest World Series drought in baseball is a mere victory (the Cubs last won in 1908, they also won in 1907, and the Indians in 1948 who ironically fell to the Giants in ’54).

So what will I do tonight when Game 5 is played? I will probably be watching the game at my parents house. I know, most people would think I would be a sports bar or somewhere with beer and rowdy fans, but I’ve been “in this” with my parents for my whole life, so I couldn’t think of a better place to celebrate if the Giants were to win. Of course, that wouldn’t preclude me from going out after the game and getting so bombed that I can’t work on Tuesday.

I’ve been asked – ‘Ray, you have tickets for Game 6, don’t you want the Giants to win the Series in front of you?’ I couldn’t think of much in life that would make me happier than being able to attend a Series clinching win, but after waiting my whole life to be able to lift that #1 finger and chant “We’re number #1,” I could care less if I actually see the game in person or not — I just want the win no matter how/when it comes.

Bumgarner Makes History

Before signing off, here is some Madison Bumgarner love courtesy of Jayson Stark of ESPN.

Just 21 years old, Bumgarner turned in one of the better pitched World Series games in recent memory in Game 4 (8 IP, three hits, two walks, six strikeouts and no runs). His outing was much more than a merely terrific outing though – it was a historic performance.

* This was the fourth time a Giants pitcher had throw seven shutout innings while allowing four or fewer hits this postseason. No other team has ever been able to do that (four such outings in one postseason).

* There have only been three pitchers in World Series history, younger than Bumgarner, who have won a game.

20 yrs, 316 days – Bullet Joe Bush
20 yrs, 356 days – Fernando Valenzuela
20 yrs, 356 days – Jim Palmer
21 yrs, 91 days – Bumgarner

* Bumgarner was just the second rookie, ever, to toss at least eight shutout innings in a World Series game. The other was Palmer in 1966 when he shutout the Dodgers.

* Bumgarner is the only rookie pitcher in World Series history to throw six or more shutout innings in a World Series game.

By the way, Bumgarner is the Giants fourth starter.

By Ray Flowers

Commonalities Wanted

There’s no theme whatsoever to my article today. I just threw everything into a hopper and wrote about the names that fell out. Oh don’t worry, it’s really insightful stuff, there just isn’t a common thread to tie everything together.

Coco Crisp has been activated by the A’s. He hit .590 with five RBI during his rehab work in the minors signaling that his body might finally be right, finally. Still, there are about seven outfielders with the A’s club, so it remains to be seen if he will have a spot in the daily lineup, especially since his skills are so similar to those of Rajai Davis.

Mark DeRosa’s season is over as he will need surgery to repair his injured wrist. In the first year of a $12 million two year contract, DeRosa gave the Giants all of one homer, 10 RBI and 93 at-bats. That’s almost as bad an investment as The Bachelor’s Jake Pavelka made in his lady friend, Vienna Girardi. Oh stop acting like you don’t watch the show – we all know you do.

Josh Hamilton is back, and it appears that he is better than ever before. Josh is hitting .337, has a 16 game hitting streak, and is sporting a .981 OPS. Back in his “breakout” 2008 effort he hit .304 with a .901 OPS. He’s frighteningly talented.

Trevor Hoffman has been awful for most of the year, everyone knows that. However, he has improved tremendously of late and appears on the cusp of reclaiming his 9th inning role. “We kind of talked about that several times today,” manager Ken Macha said. “We’ll see how some things go. That is two good outings in a row, so I’ll talk to him [Thursday] and see how he’s feeling about himself.” If you are a John Axford owner you’ll want to hold on, but make sure Hoffman isn’t on waivers if you play in a deep league.

Jamie Moyer is almost old enough to join AARP as he is 47 years old. Amazingly, he has stuck around long enough to pile up 265 victories. That total places him 10th all-time in victories by a lefty, an it’s also one behind the immortal Bob Feller and three behind Jim Palmer. Need some more info about just how amazing Moyer’s career has been? Since turning 30 he has won 231 games, the sixth most ever from that age to the end of a player’s career. To put that win total in perspective, Roy Oswalt has 142 victories, Tim Hudson 155 and Roy Halladay 156 — in their entire careers.

Buster Posey, everyone’s darling when he was called up, has hit the skids of late with a mere .186 average and a .524 OPS over his last 43 at-bats. His average is still shade over .300 at .303, but his .421 SLG is a pretty pathetic number for a first sacker (the NL average for the position is .458). I know it borders on heresy in some corners, but Posey really needs to pick it up or he could start to lose playing time (he isn’t in the lineup on Tuesday night as Pablo Sandoval is at first with Juan Uribe at third).

Mike Stanton, who I spoke of yesterday in my Around the Horn, June 21st video, deserves to be mentioned again. Here is, in written word, what I spoke of yesterday; you simply cannot have success in the big leagues if you strikeout more than 40 percent of the time. I know it’s a miniscule sample size we’re breaking down with the talented Fish, but 19 whiffs in 43 at-bats gives him a K-rate of 44.2 percent. Chris Davis, basically demoted to the minor because he whiffs too often, owns a K-rate of 34.7 percent in his career. Other noted purveyors of the strikeout follow with their career K-rates in parenthesis: Ryan Howard (32.3), Adam Dunn (32.4), Mark Reynolds (38.2) and Jack Cust (39.1). As you can tell from that list you can be mighty successful in the bigs even if you pile up copious amounts of strikeouts, but if Stanton wants to make his mark this season he’s gonna have to knock like 10 percentage points off his current rate.

By Ray Flowers