Giants fans packed Market Street for the Parade on Wednesday (Photo: Author)
The past two weeks of baseball have been, for me and many of my fellow Giants fans, the most entertaining, enjoyable, and unbelievable of our sports-viewing lives up to this point. I have always played sports, and, as a result, I’ve been given to a particular interest in the sport I am playing above all others. However, though my love for rowing is strong — it remains my current passion — baseball was my first love, and this team, these Giants, have brought back all the best and most positive feelings about the sport from my earliest memories. This is true not only for me, but for much of the Bay Area, as was evident yesterday during the massive celebration and parade held in honor of the World Series Champions. More than 500,000 (estimates have now reached over 1 million) people came out to support the Giants, and, despite the huge crowds (in which I was immersed), there was none of the problems that one typically associates with large urban gatherings. People were just happy. And why not? It was a beautiful, sunny day in the City, and our boys had finally brought home the big one.
The keyword for me, which makes my feelings for this season so strong, is the very word “team.” These Giants were absolutely that: a team in the truest sense of the word. Defying all the odds and the critics who only knew how to look at individual parts, they supported one another through adversity, and fans were witness to a different hero in each game, in every series, playing with the kind of confidence that only comes from knowing all your teammates have your back, no matter what. When you come up to the plate, Aubrey Huff, with two outs in the ninth inning in a game where the Braves have gone ahead with a home run in the bottom of the eighth, and you know that, even if you don’t get the game-tying base hit down the right field line (as you did), every last Giant and Giant fan will be glad that it was you who had the chance to stand in the batter’s box, with the chance to lift the entire Giants nation. And that could be said for every player on the team. All played a part, an active role in each win, alongside a pitching staff that is truly one of the greatest that professional baseball has ever seen.
Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Bumgarner lived up to the hype, with Lincecum solidifying his legend by defeating the ‘unbeatable’ Clif Lee twice, and Matt Cain going the whole of the postseason without allowing an earned run — a stat that deserves far more attention than it has gotten to this point. The bullpen was also fantastic, anchored by Brian Wilson — a beast of a man with a beard that strikes terror into a nation of batters, and who always proves to be a very interesting interview.
This series was the anti-Yankees series. It was a return to the purity of baseball, where four home-grown starting pitchers, along with a home-grown catcher, all under the age of 27 and all with the same team-oriented mentality were able to accomplish what all the $250 million third basemen in the world couldn’t do. It was a blast from the past, and a movement away from the East Coast bias, which is real and which drives true baseball fans crazy as we are treated, throughout the postseason (because, let’s face it, that’s the only time they even so much as mention the Giants), to endless drivel about C.C. Sabathia and the Yankees’ new era ‘Murderers’ Row.’ C.C. Sabathia got an average of more than seven runs of support during the regular season. How did he lose a game? And as far as ‘Murderers’ Row’ goes, well, Texas had the most potent offense without missing Mark Teixeira.
But enough about them — this was all about the Giants, and all about the positive, team-oriented victory that they achieved the right way. The mix of ‘misfits’ out here proved, throughout the postseason, that they were clearly the better team, amassing an 11-4 postseason record, and clinching each series on the road. And yet, one of the only media people to predict anything close to this was KNBR’s own Ralph Barbieri. Maybe that’s because none of the ESPN talking heads actually watches the games out on the West Coast. Let’s face it — they’d probably have to stay up past their bedtime.
It’s a beautiful feeling in the Bay this week. I know I’m enjoying it, and can’t wait for next season’s campaign. In the meantime, I need to tide myself over with some Giants kit that reads ’2010 Worlds Series Champions.’ To sum it all up, let’s just say I agree with Brian Wilson. Rage on, Giants.
And, just in case you’re like me, and you want to watch it one more time…here it is:
Brian Wilson Closes out the World Series, Game 5
