Nirvana… Again

Nearly two years ago to the day I wrote the first Nirvana piece. That piece started out… “In the grand scheme of things a championship in sports means nothing, and the life of one person is also rendered insignificant when placed in the context of the world. But I gotta tell you, in this corner of the sphere that we all inhabit, there have been few things that can rival what has occurred over the last 24 hours.” And it happened, again…

For the second time in three years the San Francisco Giants were triumphant in the World Series. For a team that moved to California in 1958, legions of Bay Area fans lived through the decades of defeat. Now, they have been able to bask in the glow of greatness twice in three years. Words escape me to describe what it feels like to witness the triumph yet again. OK, maybe they don’t (you know me so well). Here are some interesting factoids from their run of excellence.

The Giants won their 7th championship, and for those that think Giants fans are used to winning remember that the team has been in existence for 130 years.

The Giants became the first NL team to win two championships in three years since the Big Red Machine won in back-to-back years in 1975-76. In fact, they are only the 5th NL team, ever, to do it (Cubs 1907-08, NY Giants 1921-22, Cardinals ’44 and ’46, Dodgers ’63 and ’65).

The Giants are the 5th team in history to win the World Series after finishing last in baseball in homers.

The Giants led the Tigers for 56-straight innings before Miguel Cabrera’s HR in the 3rd inning of Game 4. It was the second longest streak in post-season history.

Over the last seven games of the playoffs the Giants team ERA was 0.98. The starters ERA was much higher… 0.99.

Giants relievers pitched 11.2 innings in the World Series allowing two hits, two runs and striking out 17.

Tim Lincecum threw five games out of the bullpen in the playoffs and over those 13 innings he posted a 0.69 ERA while striking out 17 batters.

Buster Posey hit only .200 in the playoffs, but in the three series clinching games Posey drove in six runs while hitting two homers.

Pablo Sandoval won the World Series MVP Award as he hit .500 with three homers. Only three other men have reached both of those totals in a World Series – Babe Ruth (1928), Lou Gehrig (1928, 1932) and Hideki Matsui (2009). He still needs to lose about 45 lbs, but there is no disputing that the man can hit.

Marco Scutaro, nicknamed “The Blockbuster” by his teammates (cause he was the blockbuster addition of the trade deadline), had about as impressive four month run you will ever see from a non-elite player. Scutaro hit .362 with the Giants over 61 games and tied Derek Jeter for the major league lead with 88 hits in that time. Scutaro then went on to hit .500 in the Giants 7-game victory over the Cardinals in the NLCS, and over his last 11 playoff games he had at least two hits eight times. Fittingly it was his hit in the 10th inning that led to the Giants’ World Series victory.

By Ray Flowers

Halloween & Cardinals World Champs

  Today is the day that the veil between the living the dead is the thinnest, it’s All Hallow’s Eve. There’s candy for the kids an eye candy for the adults, but generally people are unaware just what they are celebrating on Halloween. One of the best authors on the subject, David Skal, can be seen here giving a little rundown on the history of the holiday. Hopefully you will get a chance to explore the wonderful holiday that allows you to be someone else (at different points on my weekend long celebration, I was Night Owl of Watchmen fame, The Dark Knight and Captain America – I rocked it with the shield).

Here are a few movie selections if you’re looking for something to watch tonight.

Frankenstein – The iconic Universal film starring Boris Karloff as the Monster. The definitive version of the Mary Shelley’s masterpiece is timeless even though it’s from 1931. The 1935 sequel, Bride of Frankenstein, is equally interesting with plenty of dark humor, and some even consider it the superior film.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre – It’s never been equaled for the raw emotional intensity that it evokes. Tobe Hooper’s classic is as creepy an unsettling as any story that’s ever been put to celluloid.

Trick R’ Treat – A wonderful compilation of stories that include a psychotic pumpkin, a female werewolf striptease, and just a little bit of the history of the holiday’s traditions mixed in.

Halloween – Often imitated by never duplicated, this 1978 classic from John Carpenter is “the father” of slasher films. Virtually every horror movie you have ever seen borrows something from this classic about the unstoppable force that is Michael Myers.

Now to baseball…

The Cardinals won their 11th World Series title, the second most in baseball history to the Yankees who have a whopping total of 27 championships. Here are some other facts from the Cardinals improbable run.

The Cards are only the second team to be one strike from elimination who were able to win the title. The other time it happened was the Mets in 1986.

There have only been six teams since 1969 to be 10 or more games out of the playoffs on August 1st and still make the playoffs. The only other team from this group to win the title, other than the Cardinals of course who were at one point 10.5 games behind the Braves, was the Mets’ miracle bunch from 1969.

Lance Berkman finished off his first season in St. Louis in grand style. Berkman hit .432 in the Series, an in the playoffs he batted .312 with a .413 OBP for the Cards (his regular season numbers were eerily close at .301 and .412).

Chris Carpenter won Game 7 and is now 7-0 in his career in home starts in the playoffs. He was 4-0 overall in the 2011 playoffs and his nine career playoff wins are the most of any active hurler.

Allen Craig was a star in the playoffs, especially in the World Series. In Games 1 &2 he had pinch hit RBI singles off of Alexi Ogando to put the Cards in the lead. He also hit three homers with a 1.154 OPS in the Series.

David Freese was named the World Series MVP. He finished the 2011 playoffs with 21 RBI, the most in the history of the game. Of course the extra playoff rounds help push his numbers past some of the “old timers,” but still, you have to be impressed when anyone averages more than an RBI an outing in the playoffs.

Albert Pujols had that massive outing in Game 3 in which he had five hits (three homers), six RBI and four runs scored. In the other six games of the World Series Pujols had all of one hit in 19 at-bats. He still hit .353 with a 1.155 OPS over the course of the playoffs.

And it wouldn’t be a post season wrap up if I didn’t mention the Rangers and their woes. The club from Texas became the first team since the Braves in 1991-92 to lose in the World Series in back-to-back seasons. Oh, and one more little diddy. The Rangers dropped Games 6 & 7, the first time that they had lost back-to-back games since August.

By Ray Flowers

World Series: Game 7

The Cardinals were, not once but twice, one out from elimination on Thursday night, but both times they rallied for one of the most dramatic endings to a game in World Series history. As a result of their 10-9 victory in the 11th inning over the Rangers, the scene is set for Game 7 tonight at 8:05 PM EDT. Here are some random thoughts about everything playoffs.

This was just the third time in the history of the World Series that a team came back from being one out from elimination. The 1986 Mets accomplished the feat. Some of you will remember that contest. I will venture to guess though that not a single person reading this piece will remember the other time it occurred. It was before the Vietnam War. It predated World War II. My goodness, it was even before World War I. The other time it happened was when the 1911 Giants pulled off the trick.

The Cardinals have won more Game 7′s in the World Series than any other team. They have gone 7-3 in their 10 chances.

Speaking of World Series titles, most know the Yankees lead the way with 27 championships since 1903. How many of you realized that the Cardinals are second on that list with 10? Speaking of championships, the Rangers are one of eight teams that have yet to taste World Series triumph (Rockies, Astros, Brewers, Padres, Mariners, Ray and Nationals). Amongst those clubs, none has been a team longer than the Rangers who are one year older than the Astros.

There were 393 pitches thrown in Game 7.

Neftali Feliz had not blown a save chance in 17 postseason appearances heading into Game 6.

David Freese is just killing it this postseason. Besides hitting .393 with a .448 OBP, he’s also sporting a Bondsian 1.235 OPS. Freese has gone deep five times and hit seven triples in just 17 games as he has plated 19 runners. Oh, and that walk-off homer from last night was just the fifth in a Game 6 or Game 7 in the history of the World Series (the last to pull off the trick was Joe Carter in 1993 for the Blue Jays). You would be hard pressed to find a more productive postseason in the history of the game.

Nelson Cruz has an injured groin, but he’s expected to play in Game 7. He’s tied Barry Bonds (2002) and Carlos Beltran (2004) for most homers in a single postseason with eight. Speaking of a wonderful run in the playoffs, Cruz has those eight homers and 16 RBI in 16 postseason games. He’s only batting .241, but he does have a 1.023 OPS for the Rangers.

Josh Hamilton is all beat up. A 30 homer threat every year, it took him 61 at-bats to hit his first postseason home run in Game 6. Hamilton has been a shell of his powerful self this postseason (.273/.292/.409).

To close… did you actually count out the Cardinals last night? You do remember that they came back from a 10.5 game deficit to overtake the Braves for the NL Wild Card, right?

By Ray Flowers

The End of Baseball?

“And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him; and they were given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the Earth.”
- The beginning of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation (by the way everyone, there is no “S” in the title of that work).

To transition this verse over to the world of baseball, are the Yankees “Death” and the Red Sox “Hades?”

The Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez. Because of tax related issues, the club has a deal in place with Gonzalez (wink, wink) for a reported 7-years and $154 million (the announcement will have to wait until April. Oh, and I’m not buying Gonzalez saying earlier today that there is no deal in place).

Was that all the spending the Red Sox engaged in this week? Why of course not. They went out and added Carl Crawford on a deal that is being reported as a 7-years, $142 million (thanks to Jayson Werth for driving that price up – he can expect a huge flat screen TV under his tree from Mr. Crawford).

So, in the span of mere days, the Red Sox invested nearly $300 million in two players.

The Yankees? They have remained relatively quiet so far, a shock to be sure, but it’s only a matter of time before they land their man – Cliff Lee – on a deal that is expected to grow to well over $130 million (potentially as high as $150). Oh wait, I almost forgot. The Yankees did invest over $80 million to retain all-time greats Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, so it’s not like they have completely sat out the offseason party.

Welcome to the world of 21st century baseball folks.

This should come as no surprise though. According to ESPN, and I’ll get back to them in a moment, the Yankees payroll in 2010 was $206,738,389. No other team in baseball was over the $160,913,333 that the – you guessed it – Red Sox spent. In fact, they were the only teams in baseball over $150 million. Moreover, only eight teams in baseball, including the aforementioned Yanks and Sox, spent $100 million as the World Champion San Francisco Giants just missed joining the group at just slightly over $98.5 million.

Need something to talk about at your companies holiday party? If you add up the payrolls of the four lowest paying teams in 2010 – the Pirates, Padres, Diamondbacks and Athletics – you would just barely move past the Red Sox team salary at $172,424,366 – some $34 million short of the Yankees outlay.

You need some more data to share when the spiked eggnog starts to wear out? If we average out the prospective deals of Crawford and Gonzalez we end up with an annual salary for the duo of about $42.3 million. That’s more than either the Pirates or Padres spent on their entire teams in 2010.

I think you get the point.

I’m a free market guy, an ideas such as income redistribution that are often floated by people in our government disgust me. However, will you permit me to be a bit of a hypocrite here? Thank you.

Baseball has to do something to rectify this situation. You simply can’t have one team spending, literally, five times as much as others. How in the world can there be any competitive balance in such a world? Speaking of that, the real shock in all of this might be how in the world the Yankees or Red Sox don’t win the World Series every year given their financial commitments. Am I in favor of a salary cap? It hurts me to type this, but I think baseball has to move in that direction. It might be beneficial to not only have a cap, but also to have some kind of flooring like the NHL does. In truth, I would be in favor of there being a flooring more than an upper echelon limit that would impede teams from improving their club. Revenue sharing and the like could be brought into play, but whatever decisions are made, something must be done.

And this brings me back to ESPN. How are they culpable? Have you tried to watch your hometown team on ESPN lately? Unless you live in New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Chicago, ESPN doesn’t admit that you exist. Ever watch Sportscenter, or as I have dubbed it “Yankees – Red Sox television?” A whole generation of kids who don’t live in those cities are never exposed to any other clubs. Have 95 percent of people in the United States ever seen the wondrous Andrew McCutchen play? Does anyone outside of California realize that the Athletics had the best starting pitching in the American League last season? By focusing so heavily on the “big” markets, ESPN is effectively telling people, tangentially, that the other teams don’t matter. So, is anyone surprised that the Giants and Rangers World Series was the lowest rated Series in television history? I mean, for goodness sakes, it’s not like San Francisco isn’t a huge media market. Moreover, the Rangers had never won the World Series while the Giants hadn’t won since 1954, so there is no reason the baseball universe shouldn’t have been riveted by the matchup.

Baseball isn’t broken by any means, but the path they are currently on will one day end up in ruins. Before The Four Horseman come to wreak havoc on the land, hopefully the powers that be in baseball will avert the disaster by policing themselves a bit better to ensure the ultimately survival of the whole sport, and not just the well being of teams that play their home games in two cities.

By Ray Flowers

Nirvana

In the grand scheme of things a championship in sports means nothing, and the life of one person is also rendered insignificant when placed in the context of the world. But I gotta tell you, in this corner of the sphere that we all inhabit, there have been few things that can rival what has occurred over the last 24 hours.

I’ve never been married or ever welcomed a child into this world, so I don’t have that frame of reference to draw upon, but I can tell you this – in the pantheon of events that have shaped my life, this event ranks near the top of the list.

Willie May, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, Barry Bonds – some of the greatest players ever to done a uniform – were never able to bring a World Championship to San Francisco. In more recent years players such as Jeff Leonard, Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, John Burkett, John Beck and Jeff Kent were also unable to bring the World Series trophy home to San Francisco.

On Monday night, November 1st, 2010, that all changed.

The names will likely be forgotten in a few years if you aren’t a Giants fan. Honestly, some of the players might not even be at the forefront of your mind right now (Sergio Romo, Travis Ishikawa, Javier Lopez, Jeremy Affeldt, Mike Fontenot, Nate Schierholtz), but isn’t that the wonder of baseball? The sport is more than one great player leading a team to victory through sheer will and determination. The grind of six months of a regular season an another month for the playoffs offers the chance for numerous players to make history or to step to the fore at a moments notice. Cody Ross? I mean seriously, unless you were a Marlins’ fan or a fantasy baseball addict, did you even know who he was prior to the postseason? Edgar Renteria? Wasn’t he washed up and heading off into retirement after the worst season of his career (.276-3-22)? My goodness, he didn’t even start the first five games of the playoffs for the Giants. But that was the beauty of the 2010 Giants. They may not have been a team filled with “names,” but they had timely hitting, excellent work behind the bench by Bruce Bochy, and some of the best pitching the game has seen in this century.

As for me, the day after is surreal. For every year of my life that I have consciously been aware of the game of baseball, I have lived and died with the Giants. I’ve lost sleep worrying about games, I’ve skipped out on dates with pretty ladies to watch games, and I’ve nearly given myself an ulcer with each gut wrenching failure I have endured along with the club. So when Brian Wilson threw that final strike last night, what was my response? Did I jump up and down? Did I scream at the top of my lungs? Did I get plowed to the point that I forgot my own name? The truth is I didn’t do any of those things. Instead, I looked over to my parents, both of whom who have been there right with me nearly every step of the way, and simply smiled and said “wow.”

It may not have been a celebration for the ages in the Flowers’ household, but I can tell you this – other than those major life events, like my parents wedding, my brother and I being born, my brother having two wonderful children of his own, it was one of the happiest moments of our lives.

Thank you San Francisco Giants. It was a long time in coming, but as I’ve written before, it was all worth it as I can now walk down the street, #1 finger held high in the air, with a huge smile on my face. We, and yes I’m including myself and all the Giants’ fans in the world, WE are World Champions.

By Ray Flowers

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

World Series Numbers

The only numbers that really matters are 2 and 0, as in the Giants 2-0 lead over the Rangers, but that isn’t going to stop me from relaying a whole host of numbers that have come to light in the 2010 World Series.

* There have been 106 World Series match-ups, and this is the 52nd time that a team has taken a 2-0 Series lead. Of the 51 previous times it occurred, the team with the 2-0 lead has won 40 times – a winning percentage of 78.4 percent. The last seven teams to go ahead 2-0 have won the Series, and 13 of the last 14 (Atlanta came back in 1996). This is the fourth time that the Giants have led a Series 2-0, and they won each of the previous three times (1922, 1933 and 1954).

* Matt Cain is a star (note to East Coasters, he has been for a while now, he didn’t just all of a sudden get good). Cain is one of only four pitchers in history to post 20 or more scoreless innings in a single postseason. Here are the others: Christy Mathewson (27 IP), Waite Hoyt (27 IP), Kenny Rogers (23 IP) and Carl Hubbell (20.0). Some more Cain knowledge. Cain is the 8th starting pitcher in postseason history who has not allowed an earned run in 3-straight starts. Cain is the fourth pitcher out of that group to do so in his first three postseason starts. Only one pitcher has ever gone 4-straight – Whitey Ford in 1960-61.

* Elvis Andrus and Nelson Cruz both lost their playoff hitting streaks in Game 2 at 12 games. They had become the 4th and 5th players to compile a 12-game hitting streak to open up their playoff careers. The record is 15-straight by Marquis Grissom in 1995-96.

* The Giants, going all the way back to the New York vintage, have won 47 World Series games. The only two teams with more victories are the Yankees (134) and the Cardinals (52).

* FOUR: The number of starters the Giants have used through the playoffs, and each one of them is homegrown – Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner, That makes the Giants the first team since the 1986 Red Sox to have a 4-man World Series rotation of entirely homegrown hurlers (Roger Clemens, Bruce Hurst, Oil Can Boyd and Al Nipper).

* The Giants don’t score seven runs very often, they were held to six or fewer runs in 141 of their previous 172 games before Game 2, but when they do score seven runs they hardly ever lose (they are 29-4). Speaking of scoring runs, here are some other amazingly relevant facts.

The Giants went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position in Game 2 and are now 13-for-26 in the Series.

Each of the Giants runs, all 20 of them, have come with two outs.

The Giants have scored more runs in their last 12 innings (19) than they did in winning the NLCS (17).

The Giants have scored nine runs in back-to-back World Series games, only the ninth time a team has done that in Series history.

* The heart of the Rangers lineup has been held in check. Michael Young (1-for-8), Josh Hamilton (1-for-8) and Nelson Cruz (1-for-9) are hitting a combined .120 through two games.

* Edgar Renteria, who is playing with a torn left biceps, has played 63 games at shortstop in the playoffs, second in baseball history to the 147 games of Derek Jeter. Oh, and after producing three RBI in Game 2 Renteria now has one 3-RBI game this season.

* Cliff Lee had never allowed more than three extra base hits in any playoff game. In Game 1 he allowed three doubles to Freddy Sanchez.

* TWO: The number of catchers in World Series history who have hit third in the lineup. Yogi Berra did it for the Yankees in 1947, and Buster Posey is currently doing it for the Giants.

By Ray Flowers

World Series: Giants vs. Rangers

With the 2010 World Series set to start today I will go through the lineups of the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers to see which club has the advantage.

Oh, and if you are in search of that link for the NL Rookie of the Year, well, there you go.

By Ray Flowers