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!

Tough times for the World Champion Giants

When I last posted, the World Champion San Francisco Giants were 61-44 and coming off taking 2 out of 3 from the Phillies (78-42) in Philadelphia. And the Giants had just acquired slugger Carlos Beltran, the premier piece on the trade market, from the New York Mets (59-62). The Giants led the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West by 4 games. Things were looking up.

Now, Beltran is on the Disabled List and the Giants have gone 5-13 since my last post. Their record is 66-57 and they trail Arizona (69-53) by 3.5 games in the West. It doesn't help that the Diamondbacks never seem to lose anymore. The Giants are struggling and need to turn it around soon. Real soon. The schedule is approaching September, and the Giants don't want to be too far out of striking distance.

Beltran is far from the only one hurting right now. Stellar set-up man Sergio Romo is also on the DL, and starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez left tonight's game at the Braves (72-51) with an apparent injury. Nate Schierholtz and Jeff Keppinger also have suffered injuries of some sort and their prognosis for return isn't totally certain. Not to mention, Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez are sidelined for the season. It seems the Giants have had more than their share of bad luck.

Still, all is not lost. It stands to reason that the Diamondbacks have to lose a few games and let's not forget, the Giants were even farther behind the Padres around this time last year. So, there's still hope, even if things are looking bleak right now and it kind of feels like this might not be the year. I'll keep paying attention and hoping for the best.

Ankiel homer sinks Giants in Game 2

The Atlanta Braves defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-4 in 11 innings last night at AT&T Park. Rick Ankiel hit a mammoth home run off reliever Ramon Ramirez into McCovey Cove in the top of the 11th that was the difference in the game. The Giants struck first on a three run home run by Pat Burrell in the 1st and a Matt Cain RBI single in the 2nd to make it 4-0. Cain was superb in 6 2/3 innings, allowing just one unearned run.

The 8th inning, though, is where things fell apart for the Giants. With a 4-1 lead going into the inning, the Giants called on Sergio Romo who promptly gave up back-to-back hits to start the inning. After this development, manager Bruce Bochy called on Brian Wilson for a six out save. Melky Cabrera reached on an error and a run scored putting the score at 4-2 with runners on 1st and 2nd. Following a sacrifice bunt, Alex Gonzalez doubled in the runners from 2nd and 3rd to tie the game at 4.

The Giants had a chance to win it in the bottom of the 10th as they had the bases loaded with one out. However, Buster Posey grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat. I honestly thought Braves 3rd baseman Troy Glaus was going to throw it home to be sure the winning run scored, but he sent it around the horn instead. The throw to second required a bit of a stretch, but Omar Infante did a great job in making the turn. It was a really solid play and the risk proved to be worth it for the Braves.

The bottom line is that the bullpen did not come through for the Giants and that is what matters. I thought Wilson pitched well and he only gave up the one hit to Gonzalez and the runs that scored in the inning were Romo's plus Cabrera who reached on the Pablo Sandoval error. Wilson looked dominant in a shut down 9th so I don't buy the argument that some people are making that Bochy brought him in too soon. The offense had a good start but didn't do much of anything after that and once again was not able to score on the Braves bullpen.

One development to watch is that Braves closer Billy Wagner had to come out of the game in the bottom of the 10th with an oblique injury and manager Bobby Cox has ruled him out for the remainder of the series. So as unfortunate as the injury is, it could prove beneficial as the Giants face the Braves bullpen at the end of games.

The series is tied 1-1 with Game 3 set for tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. MT on TBS. In the other game yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Cincinnati Reds 7-4 to take a 2 games to none lead in their best-of-five series. I didn't watch a whole lot of this game, but from what I gather the Reds defense really let them down and helped provide the Phils with a lot of their runs following the Reds taking an early 4-0 lead. Another thing to remember is that the Phillies don't quit so it's not extremely surprising that they were able to come back to win the game.

Here's the schedule for today's playoff games:

Game 3 -- Tampa Bay Rays (Garza) at Texas Rangers (Lewis), 3 p.m. MT (TBS, Rangers lead series 2-0)
Game 3 -- Minnesota Twins (Duensing) at New York Yankees (Hughes), 6:30 p.m. MT (TBS, Yankees lead series 2-0)