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!

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.

NL West and Wild Card tight heading down stretch

My San Francisco Giants (82-64) are a half-game back of the San Diego Padres (82-63) for the lead in the National League West and a half-game back of the Atlanta Braves (83-64) in the Wild Card chase. A win tonight in the series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers (72-74) at AT&T Park at 8:15 p.m. MT on mlb.tv would put the Giants in a dead heat with the Braves. The Padres are losing on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals (74-70) by a score of 2-0 in the 6th inning and if they lose the Giants could move into sole possession of first place with a victory tonight.

The Colorado Rockies (80-66) are 2.5 games back in the West and Wild Card races as of this moment and have just been cooled off by losing 2 of 3 at home to the Padres following a ten game win streak. Thankfully the Rockies are headed on the road (starting with a three game series at Chavez Ravine against the Dodgers this weekend) where they are just 29-42.

The Giants have been playing some good baseball as of late, particularly taking 3 of 4 in San Diego last weekend. Tuesday night was a tough 1-0 loss to the Dodgers on an unearned run; Barry Zito pitched well enough to win. Matt Cain was outstanding through 7 last night and the offense finally came to life with a pinch-hit double by Travis Ishikawa in the bottom of the 7th. Pinch-runner Emmanuel Burriss came around to score from third on a clutch two-out single by Mike Fotenot to give the Giants the lead. They added a run in the 8th and went on to win 2-1. A win would be big tonight for the Giants -- they have been chasing for a while and after tonight they could be in the position of being the ones being chased in the West. Jonathan Sanchez starts for the Giants and Ted Lilly goes for the Dodgers.

One of my favorite players in all of baseball, Giants center fielder Andres Torres, had an emergency appendectomy early Sunday morning and will be out for at least a week or two from when it happened. Torres really has been the spark-plug at the top of the lineup this season for the Giants so hopefully he isn't out too long and can fully recover in a relatively short amount of time. It's just a tough break, there isn't really anything you can do about that, but at least the appendix didn't burst before they removed it. I'm hoping to see Torres back realistically in about a week and a half.

NL West is tight going down the stretch

The San Francisco Giants (78-61) won their fourth straight game last night, dropping the Arizona Diamondbacks (56-83) 6-3 in Phoenix. Tim Lincecum was dominant for six innings before giving up a few runs in the 7th. I think he's going to be dynamite down the stretch. I was also glad to see Aubrey Huff hit his 23rd home run in the first inning last night as he's been scuffling of late. The offense is looking pretty good. Now we just have to hope Barry Zito can regain the form he had earlier in the season. He starts tonight at Arizona at 7:40 p.m. MT on Fox Sports Arizona.

The Giants trail the San Diego Padres (78-59) by one game in the NL West and the Atlanta Braves (79-60) by one game in the Wild Card. The Braves fell out of first place for the first time since the end of May last night after losing to the Pirates (47-91) and the Phillies (80-60) taking advantage with a win over the Marlins (70-68). The Padres have won the past two nights against the Dodgers (69-70) following a ten game losing streak. Last night, though, San Diego had to call on closer Heath Bell for a five out save, so hopefully at least that tires him out a little bit in advance of the big four game series at Petco Park with the Giants this weekend. It looks like the Padres are starting to feel the pressure of the pennant race. Just one more game and then it's time for the big series which I'm pretty excited for.

Starting pitching struggling for Giants

The Giants (71-59) have lost the last two nights at home to the Diamondbacks (52-78) behind poor starting pitching from Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito. Zito in particular had a rough week. I feel for him, he really seems to put it all out there when he pitches. But the fact is that the starting pitching just has to be better or this team just isn't going anywhere. Bruce Bochy said as much after the game and even had a closed-door meeting with his starting pitchers, in which I can only imagine that he gave a sever chastisement that Zito said was deserved. Matt Cain goes tomorrow and he actually did have a solid start on Monday against the Reds (74-55) so hopefully he can build on that starting tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. MT.

The Giants trail the Phillies (72-57) by 1.5 games in the Wild Card chase and the Padres (76-52), who have dropped to in a row to the Phils, by 6 games in the National League West. The Wild Card in particular is very much in reach and even the divisional race isn't totally out of hand. There's a lot of baseball to be played and I think the Giants will at least make things interesting down the stretch.

In Washington D.C. tonight, Nationals (55-75) out fielder Nyjer Morgan went out of his way to bump into Cardinals (69-58) catcher Bryan Anderson as Morgan was crossing home plate to score. Anderson wasn't even blocking the plate and Morgan went out of his way to bump into him. Just a very unsportsmanlike play. That sort of thing is totally uncalled for. Morgan just seems like a total head case to me. The Nats defeated the Cards 14-5 in the game.