Pictured: Juan Uribe (5) rounds the bases after his 3 run home run in the 5th inning of Game 1 of the World Series.The San Francisco Giants defeated the Texas Rangers 11-7 tonight in Game 1 of the World Series at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The Giants were led by 3 doubles and 3 RBIs from Freddy Sanchez, who like many Giants was making his World Series debut. The really big blow came in a six run 5th inning when Juan Uribe hit a three-run home run to put the Giants up 8-2 at that point. Aubrey Huff had a solid night with an RBI and Buster Posey, Cody Ross, Nate Schierholtz and Travis Ishikawa came up with RBIs as well.
The Giants got to Cliff Lee tonight, proving that he is not invincible. I think it is ridiculous that some people were saying that Games 1 and 5 were automatic Rangers wins simply because Lee was pitching. Maybe now the Giants will get a little more respect. You would have thought getting to the World Series would command some amount of respect in itself. It's even more silly to say that when Lee was scheduled to face Tim Lincecum (who has won the last two National League Cy Young awards as many people seem to have forgotten) in both of those games. Lincecum wasn't exactly lights out tonight, but he was better than Lee. Now I didn't think that the Giants would get 7 runs off of Lee, but I didn't think he was unbeatable either. You never know what's going to happen in baseball and it's hard to think that this particular Giants team won't put up some kind of fight.
Bengie Molina, who was traded from San Francisco to the Rangers in July, got a loud ovation during pre-game introductions. I thought that was a really awesome thing to see. Molina meant a lot to the Giants for the 3 1/2 seasons he was here and seems to be a really good guy. I hope he doesn't do too well in this series because I want the Giants to win, but I still like the guy and would have applauded too if I was there.
Vladimir Guerrero had a pair of defensive miscues in the 8th inning in right field for the Rangers. He is normally the Texas DH but was in the field in a National League park so that the Rangers could have his bat in the lineup. He still has a strong arm, but his knees just aren't what they used to be and that's why he's been primarily a DH. I feel bad for the guy as he used to be one of the top right fielders in the game, particularly from his days with the Montreal Expos. I don't think his mistakes had an influence in the outcome of the game, but did help the margin to be a bit more comfortable at the end for the Giants. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy the Giants won and will take it.
The Giants bullpen was a little shaky, particularly in the 9th inning in which Ramon Ramirez, Jeremy Affedlt and Brian Wilson all allowed baserunners to get on as the Rangers scored 3 runs in the frame. Bruce Bochy downplayed it after the game saying he was glad he could get those guys some work in so that they wouldn't be too rusty. I think there is something to that as nobody had pitched since the Giants clinched the NLCS last Saturday. Affedlt was a huge part in that Game 6 win and Wilson has had a good postseason and particularly a very strong NLCS. I think the Giants' bullpen will pitch well in the remainder of the series.
Here's the particulars for Game 2 of the World Series tomorrow night:
Game 2 -- Texas Rangers (Wilson) at San Francisco Giants (Cain), 5:57 p.m. MT (FOX, Giants lead series 1-0)
Go Giants!
ReplyDelete