Baseball Between Us

I’m heading to San Francisco on Wednesday to cover the Giants victory parade. Woo-hoo! It’s their second celebration in three years – and the Giants now have more World Series championships this century than even the New York Yankees, who have just one from 2009. In fact the only team that matches the Giants legacy of two titles this century is the Boston Red Sox, who won it all in 2004 and 2007.

Of course, if you go back in time, the stats look a little different:

World Series Winners

The New York Yankees are of course the top team overall, with 27 world championships. No other team has even half that amount. The St. Louis Cardinals are second with 11 titles; the Boston Red Sox are in third place with 7 championships.

The New York Giants are in 4th place with 5 titles, while the San Francisco Giants are near the bottom with just two (2010 and 2012). But if you combine SF and NY championships, then the Giants, as a franchise, have won it all 7 times.

I’ll capture some pictures from the Giants parade on Wednesday and post them for you to see!

The Giants have all the Mojo going. And here’s another omen that this may not be the Year of the Tiger. Because even the offspring of Ty Cobb, perhaps the most famous Tiger of them all, are rooting for the Giants.

Turns out Herschel Cobb, the grandson of the Detroit outfielder with a lifetime .367 batting average, is an avid Giants fan. Herschel Cobb is 69 years old now and grew up in California, where he’s been rooting for the Giants since he was a kid.

Cobb, who lives in Menlo Park, goes to about a dozen games each year at AT&T Park. And for the World Series, he is actively cheering on the Giants to beat the team his grandfather played on back in the Roaring Twenties.  Check out this article in the Detroit News:

Detroit News

Cobb hit over .400 three times and will always be known for sliding spikes up, hoping to draw blood from opposing players. He intimidated his opponents and his teammates, who hated him. But he is a baseball legend – just check out his lifetime stats here.

Ty Cobb Bio

I wonder what he’d think of his grandson openly rooting against his team. Good thing Herschel Cobb is not playing third base.

The San Francisco Giants shut out the Detroit Tigers 2-0 Thursday night, taking a 2-0 lead in the best of seven World Series. The Giants got superlative pitching from 23-year old Madison Bumgarner, who pitched seven scoreless innings, while striking out eight Tigers:

MadBum Fans Eight

The G-Men also showed outstanding defense — check out this throw from left fielder Gregor Blanco — and the relay from Marco Scutaro to nail Prince Fielder at the plate:

Fielder Out At The Plate

The Giants have got to be feeling pretty good about having two victories under their belt, considering Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain have yet to pitch. Teams taking a 2-0 lead have gone on to become world champs 79% of the time. But before San Francisco can pop the champagne consider this: Ten teams have come back to win it all, after losing the first two games of a seven game series. They are:

* 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers over the New York Yankees

* 1956 New York Yankees over the Brooklyn Dodgers

* 1958 New York Yankees over the Milwaukee Braves

* 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers over the Minnesota Twins

* 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates over the Baltimore Orioles

* 1978 New York Yankees over the Los Angeles Dodgers ( I was at Yankee Stadium to see the Bronx Bombers win Game 5 by a score of 12-2).

The other teams to comeback from a 2-0 deficit are:

* 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers over the New York Yankees

* 1985 Kansas City Royals over the St. Louis Cardinals

* 1986 New York Mets over the Boston Red Sox

* 1996 New York Yankees over the Atlanta Braves

So don’t celebrate yet Giants fans. There’s still a lot of baseball left to go.

And anything can happen.

In Game 1 of the World Series Wednesday night, Pablo Sandoval and the San Francisco Giants crushed Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers 8-3. It was a significant victory for the Giants who discovered the Tiger ace is only human, especially against their secret weapon, Sandoval the Panda Bear.

Sandoval hit three towering home runs against the Tigers in leading the Giants to victory:

Sandoval Hits The Trifecta

In so doing, Sandoval became just the fourth player in Major League history to hit three home runs in a World Series game. The other three are legendary players: Albert Pujols, Reggie Jackson and some guy named Ruth.

Meanwhile, the Giants have taken a 1-0 lead in the World Series. It’s worth noting that the team winning Game 1 has gone on to become the World Series champ 62% of the time.

It’s blue collar Michigan vs. California cool.

Meat and potatoes Detroit vs. Sushi San Francisco.

The Detroit Tigers play  San Francisco Giants in the first World Series match up between these two teams ever. The Tigers have won four World Series ( 1935, 1945, 1968, 1984), while San Francisco has one title (2010).

This year, The Tigers have superior starting pitching while the Giants have the better bullpen. Both teams are evenly matched, but the Giants have home field advantage.

Momentum favors the Giants since they have won 6 straight elimination games (three against the Cardinals, three against the Reds) and the Series starts (and potentially ends) in San Francisco, where there is no designated hitter. Where will the Tigers put Delmon Young?

The Tigers swept the Yankees 4-0, while the Giants had to go seven games to beat the Cardinals. On three previous occasions, the team that played seven league championship games easily beat the team that played just four.

However, the Tigers have a well-rested Justin Verlander, who could pitch Game One, Game Four and Game Seven, if necessary. Verlander was virtually unhittable this postseason, going 3-0 with a 0.74 ERA. The reigning strike out king also K’d 25 hitters in 24 and 1/3 innings.

Of course the Giants have Matt “Perfect Game” Cain and a rejuvenated Barry Zito, who will start Game One.

Offensively, it’s Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder for the Tigers, vs. MVP Buster Posey and Marvelous Marco Scutaro for the Giants.

I think this Series will go seven games. And if Verlander’s on the mound for the Tigers, I’m not betting against them.

Ryan Vogelsong fanned a season-high nine batters in beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Sunday night: Vogelsong Strikes Out 9

San Francisco will host Game 7 Monday night, although there is rain in the forecast. In all of post-season play, only 11 of 76 teams have won a series, after trailing three games to one. The last two in the National League to do so were the Marlins in 2003 and the Atlanta Braves in 1996. The 1979 Pirates did it in the World Series against the Orioles.

Why are the Giants doing so well? One reason is they have stayed healthy, especially their pitching rotation. In 2012, the Giants starting five (Cain, Lincecum, Bumgarner, Vogelsong and Zito) missed only two starts. That’s significant because only one team, the 2003 Seattle Mariners, actually made it through the season without any of the starting five leaving the rotation.

In other words staying on the mound, instead of on the Disabled List, has enabled the Giants to stay competitive.

And going into Game 7, it’s Matt Cain on the mound for the Giants vs. Kyle Lohse for the Cards. Lohse is a Northern California native. He was born in Chico and played ball for Hamilton Union High School in Hamilton City, California. Lohse is one of the few Native Americans in Major League Baseball and is a member of the Nomlaki tribe.

Barry Zito used 115 pitches, his longest outing of the 2012 season, to defeat St. Louis on Friday, shutting out the Cardinals 5-0. Zito pitched 7 and 2/3 solid innings, thanks to some solid defense:

Pence With A Web Gem In Right

The Giants victory helped guarantee a Game 6 in San Francisco on Sunday.

San Francisco is hoping to defy the odds by winning the next two games. Only six teams out of 33 have ever advanced to the Wold Series after being down three games to one in the League Championship Series. That means the Giants have about an 18% chance to win the National League pennant, historically speaking.

The most recent team to come back from a 3 games to 1 deficit was the Miami (then Florida) Marlins, who won three elimination games in a row against the Cubs in 2003. The Atlanta Braves generated the same magic in 1996 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

And of course this postseason, the Giants did win three in a row to capture the best of five National League Division series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Hey anything can happen in baseball. It’s a game that is, as Yogi Berra once said, “90% physical. The other half is mental.”

It really boiled down to just one pitch:

Carpenter Builds A Lead

In the 2nd inning, Matt Carpenter hit a two-run bomb to lift the Cardinals to a 2-1 lead over the Giants – a lead they would never relinquish. Ironically, Carpenter wasn’t even supposed to play in Game 3, but he replaced outfielder Carlos Beltran, who suffered a knee injury. Carpenter is something of a Giants killer whenever Matt Cain is on the mound. He is 4-4 against Cain lifetime.

For the Giants, there’s hope in Tim Lincecum, the likely Game 4 starter.

But there is this sobering statistic: Since 1985, teams that take a 2-1 lead in the National League Championship Series have advanced to the World Series 16 out of 21 times. Overall, in best of seven postseason series tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has won 60 out of 83 times, a winning percentage of 72%.

Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander beat the Yankees 2-1 Tuesday night, proving again why he is the best pitcher in baseball. Verlander threw eight shutout innings before New York’s Eduardo Nunez led off the 9th with a solo home run. The home run ended Verlander’s string of 23 consecutive scoreless innings in postseason play. Nunez’s shot over the left field fence allowed the Yankees to avoid what would have been their first ever back-to-back shutouts in postseason play.

Nunez Goes Yard In Ninth

Verlander gave up just three hits in leading his team to victory and a commanding 3-0 advantage in the best of seven series. If there’s any doubt about Verlander’s dominance, consider this: he led the Major Leagues with 239 strikeouts this season.

And coming in second on that list is Max Scherzer with 231. Scherzer will be on the mound for Detroit in Game 4 on Wednesday, in what should be a stellar matchup with the Yankees ace, C.C. Sabathia.

The San Francisco Giants beat one of the best pitchers in baseball Monday night, winning 7-1 over Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Giants and Cards are now locked at 1-game a piece. Still, it’s too early to declare the Cardinals dead as some of the San Francisco faithful have already done:

Redbirds Are Deadbirds

Game 2 started well for the Giants, with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 1st by Angel Pagan:

Pagan Goes Deep

In the 8th inning, Ryan Theriot hit a two-run single to left giving the Giants a 7-1 lead they never relinquished.

Giants Make It 7-1

Theriot was playing for the stellar infielder. Marco Scuturo, who was injured by Matt Holliday in an aggressive slide into second base.

Scutaro Shaken Up

But Scutaro got his revenge in the 4th innning:

Scutaro Delivers

Scutaro left after 5 innings and was heading to the x-ray room for a closer look at his ailing left hip.

But the Giants played brilliantly behind starter Ryan Vogelsong, who pitched seven strong innings, giving up just one run on four hits.

Now it’s on to St. Louis for Game 3 on Wednesday.