Aubrey Huff, a World Series Champion and a Great San Francisco Giant

No need for a game recap as all Giants fans were watching as the San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers in Game 5 and won their first World Series since they were known as the New York Giants.  So I thought I would talk about something more interesting.  Maybe it's a bit too sentimental but after waiting for so long to have a World Series title in San Francisco that is all I got, sentiment.

If a picture is worth a thousand words then this says it all.  The rookie catcher embracing the 11-year veteran who had never played in one playoff game in his entire career.

In any other year, the story would be about how Buster Posey was called up in May, took the starting catching job, caught the best pitching staff in baseball, and hit .305 in 108 games.  Oh and possibly won the Rookie of the Year.

But not this year.

Call me sentimental but the story has to be about an 11-year veteran, who had never been to the playoffs. 

Aubrey Huff is that veteran.  Prior to this year he had spent almost his entire career in the AL East playing for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Baltimore Orioles.  Always looking up at the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees in the standings and never having a chance to play a meaningful game in September. 

Coming off of his worst season in 2009 with the Detroit Tigers, he had no job offers and no calls until the San Francisco Giants signed him on January 10th at a minscul one-year, $3 million.  The lowest salary he had earned since 2004. 

He was signed with the hopes that they would get the Aubrey Huff of 2008, when he was an offensive machine hitting .304 with 32 homeruns and 108 RBIs.  They were hoping that 2009 was an anomoly and they got their wish.  Huff batted .290 with 26 homeruns and 86 RBIs and played the best defense of his entire career.  Huff was everything the Giants asked for and more.  He was a veteran on and off the field and a great clubhouse guy and now is a World Series Champion.

NLCS: Giants Beat Phillies in Bottom of 9th, Take 3-1 Series Lead

And all they need is one more.

That is one more win and the San Francisco Giants will have won the pennant and will be on their way to the World Series for the first time since 2002.

The San Francisco Giants have a 3-1 series lead in the NLCS over the Philadelphia Phillies and have a chance to close it out tonight with a win.

The Giants will send their ace Tim Lincecum on the mound to face the Phillies ace, Roy Halladay.

But that's tonight, and we should talk about last night. But where do we start? It’s has to start with Bruce Bochy. Bochy, has been making all the right moves all post-season and even when they are questionable or unconventional they are working. The key example is his decision to start Pablo Sandoval yesterday and give Uribe the day off.

Sandoval who has been a huge disappointment all year might have redeemed himself last night and yes, Panda hats are back in. The Giants saw a completely different Sandoval last night, that was not the impatient Sandoval who swung and pitches in the dirt and five feet over his head. That was 2009-Sandoval, who hit .330. In the bottom of the 6th, Sandoval came up with Pat Burrell and Cody Ross on base. He hit a two-run double into the left-center gap and gave the Giants back the lead.

Sandoval wasn’t the only hero; we can’t forget Brian Sabean’s best acquisition, Buster Posey.  Posey was great tonight and showed some of his old shortstop skills in the fifth inning. Shane Victorino hit a single up the middle to Aaron Rowand who came up throwing to throw out Carlos Ruiz at home.  The ball came in low and bounced just in front of home plate and Posey picked it out of the ground, just like a shortstop would on a throw from a catcher on a steal, and tagged out Ruiz.

But, that wasn't Posey's only contribution.  He brought his stick to the game also.  Prior to Wednesday’s game he had been in a small slump in this series with just one hit in 12 at-bats but that all changed last night. Posey broke a Giants rookie record by getting four hits in one game in which he saved the best for last. In the bottom of the 9th inning, with Aubrey Huff on first, he hit a single to right field off of Roy Oswalt that allowed Huff to get to third.

That brought up Juan Uribe. Uribe who has been dealing with a wrist injury has been definitely struggling. Manager Bruce Bochy, decided to bring Uribe in on a double switch in the top of the ninth inning and it was Uribe’s turn to become the hero. In the top of the ninth, he made an incredible play to throw out Ross Gload. Then in the bottom of the ninth, it was his chance on offense.

With a 1-2 count against Roy Oswalt, Uribe hit a ball in the air to Ben Francisco. Immediately, the “jazz hands” came out like he just hit a walk-off homerun. But it was a routine can of corn that allowed Huff to tag up and score from third and the Giants won.

As the Giants so often say, “there’s magic inside.”

NL Division Series Game 1: Giants 1, Braves 0

Who says playoff experience is important? Tim Lincecum, who has no playoff experience, just pitched arguably the best game of his career in his first playoff game.

Again, no playoff experience.

Lincecum’s line was 9 innings, 2 hits, 14 strikeouts, and 1 walk. The 14 strikeouts were the most by a pitcher since 2000 when Roger Clemens had 15 strikeouts. The 14 strikeouts is also a Giants postseason record.

Again, no playoff experience.

I harp on the playoff experience because ever blogger and writer has made a mention of how the San Francisco Giants do not have a lot of players with said playoff experience and that could likely be a cause of their failure. Well they are right; the Giants have ten players of their 25 on the postseason roster who have played in the postseason. Interestingly enough, the players who made an impact in the game tonight, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, and Cody Ross, do not have any playoff experience.

Buster Posey went 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored, and a stolen base. Although, the stolen base was not really a stolen base, it still counts if he is called safe. The run scored was the only run that the Giants scored and it happened on Cody Ross’ RBI single past third baseman Omar Infante’s glove.

That one run was all Tim Lincecum needed to win the game. He was dealing all game and except for the two doubles, Omar Infante’s double in the first inning and Brian McCann’s double in the seventh, Lincecum was mowing the Atlanta Braves hitters down with his slider and his changeup and still rearing back with his low 90’s fastball all the way until the end of the game. Lincecum’s last pitch, a fastball, checked in at 93 MPH.

The one question that was discussed on Twitter between some Giants fans and bloggers was whether Bruce Bochy should have pulled Lincecum out after the 8th inning or let him keep going like he did. Personally, I thought that he should have pulled him out since he was over 100 pitches and just in case you needed him on short rest. With the bullpen throwing the way they have been, especially Brian Wilson, my thought is that you save Lincecum for another day.

One of the other arguments was that you keep your best pitcher in the game because it only takes one mistake to tie the game up. It is true that Lincecum is the Giants best pitcher but he is just as likely to give up that one run with the fatigue that he had as the Giants bullpen is to give up the run.

Either way it worked out for tonight. We can review the situation again if the Giants need to bring Timmy back on short rest. Hopefully, they won’t.

The Giants are back at it tomorrow with Matt Cain on the mound, another player with no playoff experience, and then head to Atlanta for two games.

Giants finally beat the Padres!!!!

Who knew it.  The Giants can actually beat the Padres, they are now 2-8 against the Friars this year.  

The good news is that the Giants managed to hang in there against Mat Latos, despite the home plate umpire doing his best to screw the Giants.  

Latos, who by the way may be a jerk, but no doubt is legit.  He is going to be a big pain in the ass for the Giants in the years to come.  This season, against the Giants, he has a 0.96 ERA.  in four starts and that includes today's game.

Back to the home plate umpire.  I'm not sure if he is from San Diego but he may of called the worst game I've seen all season.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, he called out Andres Torres on a third strike that was so far off the plate.  It had to be at least a foot outside.  If Torres would have been hitting left-handed it would of hit him.  As you can see from the screenshot of my MLB app from my iPhone that actually none of the strikes were actually strikes.

Either way, the Giants overcame the questionable calls and won the game with his legs.  After catching eleven innings, Buster Posey got a lead off double in the bottom of the 11th and then Pablo Sandoval got his second intentional walk of the game.  Then Juan Uribe came up and hit a single that allowed the hustling Posey to score from second.  GAME OVER!!

Monday’s Giants lineup

Zito takes the mound against the Marlins. Buster will look to continue his hitting streak and make tonight 19 games in a row.

Torres CF
Renteria SS
Huff RF
Posey C
Uribe 3B
Burrell LF
Ishikawa 1B
Sanchez 2B
Zito P

Hottest team in the Majors

Heating up in July
Is there a hotter team is baseball than the San Francisco Giants right now?
If you answered no, then you are correct.  In their last 20 games the Giants are 16-4 and since July 3^rd are posting a .789 winning percentage since that date.

The reason?  Well the Giants offense has brought their bats and used them.  As we all said if the Giants could score 4 or more runs a game then they could make it to the playoffs.  Well they have done one better.
The Giants lead the Majors with 119 runs in July, which is about 5.7 per game.



Trivia of the day
When was the last time the Giants led the Majors in run scored for a single month? (Answer after the jump)


Road warriors
Now a pessimist could argue they have played the likes of Arizona, Milwaukee, and Washington but they also beat the Mets and the hated Dodgers.  But all the other teams in the National League play them on the road and yet there are only three teams with a winning record on the road.  One of those three is the Giants and the other two are the Reds and Padres.
The Giants road record is 28-25.