SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS (again)!!!!!

Pictured:  The San Francisco Giants celebrate their second World Series championship in three years.

I know, I know.  If there was a time to update the blog, it's after my favorite baseball team wins the World Series.  However, don't take that as meaning I was any less excited about it.

I have to say... it's really, really awesome to see the Giants win another World Series title.  It's really cool to rack up another championship and now be able to say that I have seen my team win two of them.

This year's World Champion San Francisco Giants took a bit of different road than in 2010.  The 2010 version was in a dogfight in the regular season down to the very last day, when they finally beat the San Diego Padres to clinch the division (in one of my all-time favorite games).  That team played some tightly contested playoff games, but never came across an elimination game.

The 2012 version did it differently.  They clinched the West with a win over the Padres again, but it wasn't San Diego that was chasing them.  And it also came with several games to go in the regular season.  The playoffs, however, were not easy with the Giants successfully staving off six elimination games before sweeping the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.

There were so many great moments and games for Giants fans, but I'll focus on a few games that I particularly enjoyed.   Game 5 of the Division Series in Cincinnati is one for the ages for me just because of how intense that bottom of the 9th inning was.  Everything was on the line and Sergio Romo was in to try and close it down.  The Reds, however, had scored one run already to trim what had earlier in the game been a 6-0 deficit to 6-4.  Plus, they had 2 runners on base, meaning a home run would end the Giants' season (I was very aware of this as I watched).

With one out, Romo faced Reds slugger Jay Bruce who just kept fouling off pitch after pitch after pitch.  Just the anticipation for each pitch was beyond intense.  And to have so many fouled off in a row was quite something.  Thankfully Romo got Bruce to fly out to left field and struck out Scott Rolen to end it.

I also really enjoyed Barry Zito erasing the painful ghosts of years past with the Giants by going 7 2/3 shutout innings in Game 5 in St. Louis with Giants trailing the Cardinals 3 games to 1.  I've been a Zito fan for a while; he seems like a good guy and to try his best so it was really awesome to see him pitch so well on such a big stage.  It was also nice to see him outpitch Justin Verlander in Game 1 of the World Series.

Of course Game 4 of the World Series was a joy to watch.  It's less stressful when your team is up 3 games to none, but it's still a game you'd like to see your team win.  In what was a very entertaining back-and-forth game, the Giants pulled it out in 10 innings.  One of my favorite things to see was the joy on Buster Posey's face after strike three was called (of course all the guys wearing orange and black seemed to be pretty happy, too).  That's what it's all about, right there.  All hail the World Champion San Francisco Giants!

American League playoff races

The baseball playoff races are heating up, particularly in the American League, which I will take a look at here.  The Athletics (88-67) have come up with two huge wins the last two nights in Texas against the Rangers (91-64), especially with the Angels (85-69) breathing down their necks.  We're talking two big road wins with the season winding down against the two-time reigning American League Champions.  The A's are just a half-game behind the Orioles (89-67) for the top Wild Card spot.  I don't want to jinx things, but it looks like the A's have what it takes to get to the play-in game.  And don't look now, but if they win tomorrow afternoon against Texas, they may have a chance to make things interesting in the AL West as well.

The Rays (85-70) have won seven straight to remain in the race.  Their saving grace is that they have three games at home against the Orioles next week to close the season.  The Yankees (90-65) aren't out of the woods yet, but the bet here is that they will win the American League East, leaving the A's and Orioles in the play-in game (hard to see Tampa Bay getting a sweep of Baltimore, which is what they may need).  But, there sure are a lot of teams in the chase even at this late juncture. 

Though it should still be interesting to see what happens, I still oppose the second Wild Card being added.  I like that it should be harder to make the playoffs and that the regular season was still a reward.  Although, on the plus side, I think baseball's regular season is still the least watered down in all of sports (though this doesn't make it okay in my book to water it down more).

The AL Central is going down to the wire as well.  The White Sox (82-73) appear to be fading at the wrong time and now trail the Tigers (83-72) by one game after leading the division by a few games not that long ago.  This thing is far from over, but the Sox need to turn it around now.  I think the Tigers now have the momentum, not to mention a talent advantage and will win the division by a slight margin.  Detroit would be a very dangerous team in the playoffs, with Justin Verlander at the top of the rotation and a middle of the lineup that features Miguel Cabrera (still a realistic chance to be the first player to win the Triple Crown since 1967) and Prince Fielder.

24-21

Utah (2-1) defeated #25 BYU (2-1) tonight 24-21 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.  It was one of the craziest finishes to a game I have ever seen.  It was even a little crazy for a Utah-BYU game.  I thought the last minute was a combination of past rivalry games.  You had BYU converting on 4th and long from deep in their own territory.  You had a blocked field goal.  And then after that, you had a field goal bounce off the upright.  It really is amazing that you could have that many things like that happen again.


I think it's fair to say that BYU had a fair shot to win the game and that Utah won it fair and sqaure.  For that I am glad.  I guess that's the main thing at this point.  I am happy for the Utes!

Thoughts on Utah's football opener

I attended the Utah-Northern Colorado game last Thursday evening.  The Utes (1-0) won 41-0. Northern Colorado (0-1) isn't a very good team at all.  Not only are they an FCS (formerly I-AA) team, they went 0-11 last year.  So, there isn't too much that can be gleaned from the game.

That being said, there were a few things that I noticed.  Junior Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn didn't look all that impressive.  Most of the pass patterns looked pretty basic and I'm sure that was largely due to the opponent and not wanting to put too many complex plays on film for future opponents to study.  Wynn made most of those throws, but again they were pretty basic plays.  Wynn's interception on a deep ball was pretty concerning; I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering about his ability to throw it deep. 

For now, though, I think the Utes need to give Wynn the shot to prove he can make the plays necessary to win.  If he can't after a few games, then I think the coaches can re-evaluate.

Senior John White looked solid again at running back and the defense looked stifling.  It's tough to read too much into one game against a very poor opponent.  However, I think White and the defense will again each be very good.  Those will be keys to the season.

The kicker position looks anything but certain at this point.  Senior Coleman Petersen is the returning starter after a shaky finish to last season.  Petersen missed three field goals (including one that would have tied the game with mere seconds to play) in an embarrassing 17-14 home loss to Colorado to end the regular season.  He also barely snuck in the tying extra point late in the 4th quarter against Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl -- a play that nearly gave me a heart attack (thankfully he made it and the Utes went on to win in overtime).

Petersen did not look extremely impressive on Thursday.  He missed an extra point and a chip shot 27 yard field goal.  Right now he simply can't be relied on late in a close game.  I hope he looks better as the season goes on, but at this point I hope the game doesn't come down to his foot.

The competition gets a lot tougher for the Utah this week.  The Utes travel north to Logan to face in-state rival Utah State (1-0) this Friday night.  The start time for that one is 6 p.m. MT.  The game can be seen on ESPN2.  The Utes have won 12 straight over the Aggies, but this appears to be a different Utah State program than in past years.  I expect it will be a competitive game, but the pick here is that the Utes win this one by 7 in what will likely be their last trip to Logan for the foreseeable future.

Matt Cain throws first perfect game in Giants history

Tonight Matt Cain threw the first perfect game in Giants history and just the 22nd in the history of baseball.  This was the first time (as far as I can remember) that I've ever watched a perfect game from start to finish and wow.  You just don't anticipate something like this happening when you turn on a game because, well, this was only the 22nd perfect game ever.

The Giants beat the Houston Astros 10-0 tonight and Cain was awesome right from the start, as you would imagine.  It's always something special to witness something like a no-hitter or a perfect game.  When it's your favorite team -- well, it's hard to use words to describe.  When the game got to the sixth or seventh inning, I had a nervous anxiousness with every pitch that Cain threw.  I wanted this to happen so badly and knew that opportunities like this don't come around every day.

In the 8th or 9th inning, I remarked to my wife that I hadn't been this nervous watching a Giants game since the 2010 World Series run.  The whole thing took on a playoffs sort of feel -- in a sense it was different because each pitch meant so much.  If even one thing were to go wrong -- a walk, a hit batter, an error defensively, and of course a hit -- the perfect game would be no more.  That's what makes it such an amazing achievement.  And I think that's what contributes to players and fans, myself included, being so happy when it does happen.

Of course there were a pair of nice defensive plays made, including an incredible catch by Gregor Blanco.  That just adds to it all.  I feel like I had to at least mention that.  What a great night.  

Cain is one of my favorite players.  In fact, I have a Cain jersey in my closet that I will be wearing tomorrow.  The script couldn't have been better than for a workhorse like Cain to throw the first perfect game in franchise history.  Awesome!

LA Kings on fire; MLB drug policy needs work

Here are some thoughts on what has been going on in sports as of late:

- First off, the Los Angeles Kings are really tearing through the NHL Playoffs.  I'm not sure when the last time they even made the playoffs was and this year they got in as an 8-seed.  Then, they caught fire, first taking care of the Vancouver Canucks, who had the NHL's best regular season record, 4 games to 1.  Then, they swept the 2-seed in the West, the St. Louis Blues.  And now they hold a 2 games to none lead on the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Finals.  I'm not sure how it all went down, but I don't ever remember a team dominating the NHL Playoffs like this before, let alone an 8-seed.

- I thought it was interesting that Major League Baseball recently fired the arbitrator who overturned Ryan Braun's 50 game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs.  To me, and apparently many other people (as evidenced by the boos Braun has been receiving on the road this year), Braun appeared to get off on a technicality.  I thought baseball was getting to the point of being really effective in their drug penalties, but it appears they still have a ways to go.  It doesn't help that another player, Eliezer Alfonzo, just had a 100-game suspension (read: 2nd time offender here) overturned for what appears to be a similar technicality.

If baseball wants to be taken seriously, stuff like this just can't continue to happen.  If a player tests positive, he should be suspended.  Period.  Players should not be able to get off on technicalities such as the ones we have witnessed where the question is when the sealed urine samples were sent to the lab.  I'm no scientist, but it seems to me if the samples remain sealed, then the tests wouldn't be compromised.  Baseball needs to make sure this sort of thing absolutely never happens again.

Granted, the drug-testing policy is a lot better than it has been in the past, but it still isn't where it needs to be.  Along with the above-mentioned changes, MLB needs to lengthen the suspensions.  In my view, this is such a serious problem that a first positive test should warrant suspension for an entire season.  I'm all for a lifetime ban on a second positive test as well, but I suppose you could go three years for a second test and a lifetime ban for a third test, thus maintaining a three strikes and you're out philosophy in baseball.

MLB Picks

First, check out the post below for an update on some Barry Zito happenings today in Denver. Cool stuff. Now, I know the season is a few days old, so sue me if you think I could have gained significant extra gleanings from this, but here are my obligatory baseball picks for 2012:

AL East:
1. Yankees
2. Rays
3. Red Sox
4. Blue Jays
5. Orioles

AL Central:
1. Tigers
2. Royals
3. Indians
4. Twins
5. White Sox

AL West:
1. Rangers
2. Angels
3. Athletics
4. Mariners

AL Wild Cards: Rays, Angels

NL East:
1. Phillies
2. Braves
3. Nationals
4. Marlins
5. Mets

NL Central:
1. Cardinals
2. Reds
3. Brewers
4. Pirates
5. Cubs
6. Astros

NL West:
1. Giants
2. Diamondbacks
3. Dodgers
4. Rockies
5. Padres

NL Wild Cards: Diamondbacks, Reds

Playoff seedings:
AL: Rangers, Yankees, Tigers, Rays (over Angels in Wild Card Game)
NL: Phillies, Cardinals, Giants, Diamondbacks (over Reds in Wild Card Game)

First Round Playoff results:
Rangers over Rays, Tigers over Yankees, Phillies over Diamondbacks, Giants over Cardinals

LCS results:
Rangers over Tigers, Phillies over Giants

World Series:
Rangers over Phillies

So there you have it. I'm on the record now. Hopefully it's all Giants this year, though.

Zito goes the distance in Denver

Pictured: Barry Zito gets a hug from catcher Hector Sanchez after throwing a complete game shutout against the Rockies in Denver on Monday.

Can I just say that I was extremely thrilled to see Giants pitcher Barry Zito throw a complete game shutout today against the Rockies? Nobody could have seen that coming (I don't think Zito could have even seen that even if he expected to pitch well).

Zito has been much maligned since signing a 7 year, $126 million contract prior to the 2007 season. In my view, it hasn't been from lack of heart or effort. Things just haven't gone his way for the most part. It felt good to see him have some success today. I hope it's the start of more good things to come. I've always kind of been a fan of Zito, dating back to his days with the Athletics, so it was a good day for me to see him have some success.

Last night I read a quote from Zito following the Giants getting swept in Arizona to open the season saying something like "I look forward to picking the boys up tomorrow." Notice that the quote wasn't "Hopefully I'll turn it around for the team tomorrow," or "Hopefully I'll be able to give the guys a chance to win." Even as a Zito fan, I thought that his comments were perhaps a bit too optimistic after the struggles he's had the past five seasons since moving across the bay to San Francisco and particularly in light of the rough Spring Training he had. But I also thought it was good that he still has confidence in himself. And today, Zito turned in his best start since putting on the orange and black. Hopefully he'll be able to contribute to this team all season long.