Giants take 2-0 World Series lead

Pictured: The Giants celebrate after taking a 2 games to none lead in the 2010 World Series.

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Texas Rangers 9-0 tonight at AT&T Park in San Francisco to take a 2 games to 0 lead in the 2010 World Series. Matt Cain pitched 7 2/3 innings and still has yet to allow an earned run all postseason. He's been lights out. Edgar Renteria broke a scoreless tie in the middle innings with a solo home run once again proving he is a clutch player. Juan Uribe singled in another run later on. The floodgates really opened in the 8th inning against the Rangers bullpen which surrendered 7 runs in the inning, all after there were initially two outs and nobody on base. I said going into the series that the Rangers bullpen was weaker than that of the Giants and so far it has proven true.

The Giants' pitching staff has continued to throw well and tonight the old saying that good pitching beats good hitting was true. People have been hyping up the Rangers' offense, but I don't think they fully grasped what a great pitching staff the Giants have. That's been the recipe for success all year long, along with some timely hitting. The Giants have a lot of intangibles on this team as well and seem to have a real family atmosphere that is conducive to winning. Their offensive numbers may not blow you away, but it seems like so many times this year when the team has needed a hit, they have gotten that hit. Same thing with getting big outs and so forth when those have been needed. That can't always be put into statistics. Take tonight, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and only one out in the 6th inning with the Giants clinging to a 1-0 lead. The Rangers don't even have to get a base hit to score with less than two outs. Cain induced a harmless pop up and then ended the threat with a fly out. No harm, no foul and the Giants went on to the win.

I thought Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson pitched a pretty good game himself, but just was outdueled by Cain. As I mentioned, things didn't really unravel substantially for Texas until the 8th inning with the bullpen already in the game.

The series now shifts to Texas. Game 3 is Saturday and note that the start time is an hour earlier, first pitch is scheduled for 4:57 p.m. MT from Arlington, TX. The game will be broadcast on FOX. Let's go Giants! Keep this thing rolling!

Giants win Game 1 of World Series; Game 2 tomorrow

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)

The Giants win the pennant!

Pictured: The San Francisco Giants celebrate their fourth pennant since moving west.

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 tonight to win the National League pennant! Those words just sound great! Awesome!!! I am so excited! This is what it's all about! The Giants are going to the World Series! Wow this feels great!

The Giants beat the Phillies 4 games to 2 to win the National League Championship Series. Brian Wilson got Ryan Howard looking for strike three on a full count with two outs and runners at first and second. As FOX announcer Joe Buck said, that was about as intense as a baseball game could be. You have one of the best closers in the game throwing to one of the best hitters in the game with the winning run on base, two outs and a full count with a trip to the World Series on the line. I'm just glad that Wilson came through and sent the Giants to the Fall Classic. I don't think it's totally sunk in yet, but it's just an amazing feeling.

Juan Uribe hit the game-winning home run with a solo shot off Ryan Madson in the 8th inning to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. Uribe has had a good year with the power numbers and it makes me happy to see him come through. That home run will be long remembered among Giants fans. Good, good stuff.

Jonathan Sanchez struggled in this one, giving up 2 runs in the first inning and couldn't find the strike zone. Sanchez hit Chase Utley with a pitch in the third inning and Utley tossed the ball back to him under-handed. Sanchez took exception to this and the benches cleared. It was kind of fun to see the benches clear (there wasn't a fight) and to see guys on both sides show so much emotion for their teams. That proved to be the last hitter that Sanchez faced as he left with two runners on and nobody out. Jeremy Affeldt got out of that inning unscathed and threw two innings in total. Madison Bumgarner pitched two scoreless innings as well. Javier Lopez threw an inning of his own (he's been simply great for the Giants this season) and Tim Lincecum even came in in relief and recorded an out. Lincecum allowed a couple of runners to get on in the eighth and Brian Wilson came in and got out of that and then finished the save in the ninth. The bullpen threw seven scoreless innings in total -- simply awesome in a playoff game.

Cody Ross was named NLCS MVP and to me this was really an obvious choice. He was the Giants' most productive player, particularly on offense, for the entire series. I'm happy for him. I'd say that's a pretty good for a guy the Florida Marlins simply gave away on a waiver claim this year.

The World Series gets under way on Wednesday at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX. It will be the Texas Rangers at the San Francisco Giants for Game 1 at AT&T Park. Game 2 is set for the same time on Thursday night. I'm excited the Giants have home field advantage. This should be awesome. Go Giants!

Giants win Game 4

Just a quick post tonight, but I have to say I am really excited about the Giants beating the Phillies 6-5 to go up 3 games to 1 in the series. Game 5 is tomorrow in San Francisco at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX. I'll be watching. You should be too. Juan Uribe hit a walk-off sacrifice fly tonight. Resiliency is the word that comes to mind when describing tonight's win and that's not the first time this year I've used that word. Great win, the Giants should shoot for closing it out tomorrow night. They seem like a really tight-knit group that keeps grinding it out. It's been a fun year. Let's hope it gets even more fun. Go Giants!

Giants now in virtual tie

The San Francisco Giants (80-62) defeated the San Diego Padres (79-61) 1-0 tonight to move into a virtual tie atop the National League West and take the first two games of the four game series at Petco Park. The only run scored on a fielder's choice in the seventh inning as Aubrey Huff took home on a ground ball to third. The Padres tried to turn an inning-ending double play, but pinch runner Nate Schierholtz had an impressive take out slide at second and Juan Uribe was just able to beat the relay to first allowing Huff to score. The Giants' pitching was great all night (although Jonathan Sanchez had a lot of walks he was able to pitch around them) and Brian Wilson was able to lock things down with a five out save. Wilson was again very impressive and I feel lucky to have such a great closer on my favorite team.

The Colorado Rockies (77-64) defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks (57-84) 13-4 in Denver to win their 8th straight game. They now trail the Padres and Giants by 2.5 games in the West. I'm getting really sick of the Rockies winning. Somebody start beating them. Please.

The Giants and Padres resume the series at 2:10 p.m. MT on FOX Saturday afternoon. Madison Bumgarner goes for the Giants and Tim Stauffer gets the start for the Padres. Hopefully the Giants can take sole possession of first place.

In other baseball news, Blue Jays (72-69) out fielder Jose Bautista hit two more home runs tonight and now has a Major League leading 46 on the year. He's having a monster year at the plate and it's really impressive to see. The Blue Jays are a fun team to watch and I feel like with a little more pitching and experience they could make some noise next year. The Rays (85-55) won the game 9-8 in Toronto tonight despite Bautista's homers and that combined with the Yankees (87-54) losing 6-5 in 13 innings to the Rangers (78-63) pulled Tampa Bay within 1.5 games in the AL East.