We may never meet another quirky group, quite like the 2010 San Francisco Giants
It was refreshing tuning into the 2010 World Series and getting to know a whole new cast of characters. And not one of them got hit with a cream pie along the way.
While the commissioner’s office, couldn’t have been too thrilled that a team from New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles wasn’t in this year’s Fall Classic, which lead to some of the lowest TV ratings ever.
I for one feel that this was a very watch able series. If the Yankees or Red Sox had been in it, something that has happened in nine of the last 15 seasons, the ratings would have been higher – something not surprising, given the millions of Yankees and Red Sox fans – but interest would have been lower.
How many times do we have to have these two teams forced down our throats on ESPN or FOX, before we fall to our collective knees and cry uncle?
No, this was enjoyable to watch, given the fact that most of the stars that made up this series where virtual unknowns outside of their own markets.
Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum is the two-time defending N.L. Cy Young award winner but how many of you had actually sat down and watched him pitch an entire start? The same holds true for the other two excellent starters in the World Champion’s rotation, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner. These are three of the best young starters in the game and now we’ve all seen just how good they are.
And which of you knew anything about Brian Wilson? San Fran’s quirky yet effective closer. I guess that’s what happens when the majority of their games are played, when the majority of us in the Eastern Time zone, have already hit the sleep buttons on our remotes.
As the playoffs rolled along, it was very easy to root for teams like the Giants and Rangers. Neither team had been picked by the pre-season prognosticators to do anything noteworthy this season. I like to keep my preview magazines every spring to see just how wrong the so-called experts were.
The Sporting News had the Yankees and Phillies facing off for the whole enchilada this season, with the Rangers and Giants both finishing third in their respective West divisions. The same prediction was in Lindy’s Baseball, who had the Phillies hooking up with the Red Sox. So much for the best laid plans of those in the know.
The Giants woke up on the Tuesday morning –if they went to bed at all– knowing that they had vanquished the Rangers in five games, due to dominant pitching and a line-up made up of self-proclaimed misfits and rejects.
Top playoff home run hitter Cody Ross, was waived by the Marlins in late August. Juan Uribe, who had several key hits in the post-season, was signed prior to the 2009 season for the meagre sum of just $1 million.
World Series MVP Edgar Renteria, played in just 72 games due to injuries this season, but came through when it was needed most – again. He became the first player in Major League history to drive in the winning runs, in two World Series-clinching games, having also done it 13 years earlier to give the Marlins the 1997 title.
Then there was Aubrey Huff, a solid veteran hitter who had begun his career back in the bad days as a (Devil) Ray and then kicking around with equally inept teams in Houston, Baltimore and Detroit. He didn’t sign with the Giants until mid-January and then went on to lead his new team in home runs in the regular season.
Really, the only everyday player that has a star next to his name was rookie catcher Buster Posey. Posey didn’t arrive for full-time work until late May but when all was said and done, he coaxed the Giants’ great pitchers to their first World Series title since 1954.
After moving to San Francisco prior to the 1958 season, they failed in their three World Series appearances by the Bay, losing in 1962 to the Yankees, 1989 to the Athletics and 2002 to the Angels. All three of those failures were mentioned by the victorious 2010 team. They dedicated their championships to the likes of Juan Marichal and Willie McCovey, Hall of Famers who never got to taste the sweetness of championship champagne.
Will the Giants and their ragtag crew get to defend their unimaginable title? That’s hard to say.
But for one month in 2010 they were the best in the game, something that can never be taken away.
Baseball fans everywhere, got to know these west coasters a helluva lot better than the usual suspects from the east who have "bought" their way to titles.
Oh, and by the way, its 150 days and counting until Opening Day 2011. Seems like the season just ended, didn’t it?
