Slaying A God

Going into the 2010 World Series, nobody thought the Giants were going to beat the Rangers. Nobody. Apparently beating the NL favorites in 6 games wasn’t enough. But that was no surprise. The Rangers had a killer lineup and had just scored an ALCS record 38 runs outscoring the Yankees by 19. If their offense didn’t scare you, their starting pitching definitely did. Game 1 starter Cliff Lee was a guy nobody wanted to face. If he were an ice cream flavor he’d be black licorice crunch. So far this postseason he was 3-0 with a .75 era in 24 IP, with 1 walk to 34 strikeouts. Basically the scariest thing imaginable. But the Giants had shown they can take down guys like this. Already in the postseason they beat Derek Lowe twice, Halladay, Hamels, and Roy Oswalt. Lee was just another ace right? Let’s recall what happened in the first World Series game at AT&T Park since 2002.

The Most Important Thing – Defensively

Get out of the first inning! Just like in the NLDS and NLCS, Lincecum was starting Game 1 of the World Series. He definitely had electric stuff, but sometimes it took him an inning to warm up. That was the case tonight. First pitch was a strike. Huge. But he let Elvis Andrus start it with a single, then he walked Michael Young after a long 7 pitch at bat. Things were scary immediately. As I sat in my seat in section 105, I recalled being at the 2002 World Series. I was 18 at the time and thoroughly enjoyed the pounding we put on the Angels in Games 4 and 5, feeling certain we would win 1 of the next 2 games in Anaheim. But Scott Spezio happened and we never had that much anticipated parade down Market Street. After 5 more years of Barry Bonds home run milestones, this was now an entirely different team. Plus I was older and had suffered through some bad years of baseball until now. So this was a very important inning for Lincecum and myself. After the Michael Young walk, I slunk down in my seat and almost couldn’t watch as the soon to be named AL MVP Josh Hamilton strode to the plate.

Lincecum was better than Hamilton in this AB as he got Josh to roll over a little grounder to Huff at first base. We got him out but the runners moved up. There wasn’t much relief because Vladimir Guerrero was next and he promptly drilled a ball of Lincecum that went as an RBI single as Andrus came in to score. Come on, Timmy! Then came the weirdest play I think I have ever witnessed in my life. With one out and runners on 1st and 3rd, Nelson Cruz hit a little tapper that Lincecum pounced on and appeared to have Young held up between 3rd and home. Timmy started to run him back to 3rd, and ran him back, ran him back, ran him back, and that was it… Wait, what? The Freak malfunctioned as he allowed Young to get back to 3rd base without a play and now the bases were loaded with only 1 out. Uribe and Renteria were left standing at 3rd wondering, like all of us, what just happened. Over in section 105 I’m about ready to stab my eyes out with over-cooked garlic fries. The moment must have got to him. Damn. Here comes Kinsler. We needed a miracle. Then on the first pitch Kinsler hits a grounder to Uribe who picks it, steps on 3rd and throws low to Huff but gets him for the double play to end the threat. Talk about a huge sigh of relief. But that was SO important right there. If Kinsler finds a gap and clears the bases, that’s gotta be the ballgame. I realize the Giants did score 11 runs in this game, but think of the momentum the Rangers and Lee would have had after putting up a 5 spot off Timmy in the 1st. It would have been tough as a fan to regain that energy too. So for Lincecum to get out of that inning with only giving up the 1 (and having that mental lapse) was huge! It may have meant a whole new series if that inning goes any longer.

The Most Important Hit

Given all the postseason heroes Giants fans have come to love in the last decade, Andres Torres gets drowned out. He was a spark at the top of that lineup. In postseason games he started in 2010, he went 3-8 (.375) with a walk off the premier pitchers in the league. In Game 1 of the World Series, however, he lead off the game by punching out on 6 pitches, although a good job to make Lee work a little bit. Torres only had 1 hit in this game but it ignited a rally. In the bottom of the 5th the score was tied at 2 and both Lee and Lincecum had found their groove. Each of their last half innings were 3 up, 3 down. But the Giants had made Lee work and he was already at 75 pitches before the 5th inning started. Lincecum lead off and squeezed 5 more pitches out of him before grounding out to short. Enter Andres Torres. He got drilled in his last AB and was seeking some revenge. Looking very hitterish in the box, he must have been looking fastball because he lined the first pitch down the left field line for an easy stand up double.

Lee was laboring. The go ahead run was now on 2nd and Freddy Sanchez was up, who already had 2 doubles in his first 2 at bats! So what does he do? Doubles of course! Torres scores the go ahead run and the Giants end up knocking out Lee and dropping a 6 spot. So even with 1 out, Torres’ double fired up the boys and the flood gates opened, toppling the divine lefty. The fans were losing their minds and AT&T Park was the loudest I had ever heard it, topping Lincecum’s Game 1 start against the Braves. An incredible half inning that will live in Giants lore forever.

Odd Stats

The Rangers did not allow many runs in 2010. Especially not in the postseason. Since May 14, they had only allowed 11 runs or more exactly once. So it was a big deal for them to give up 11. For Cliff Lee, it was weird for him to give up runs in the postseason. But in the regular season, in his 15 starts for Texas, he gave up 48 earned runs in 108.2 innings for a 3.99 ERA (.75 in post). He was sort of the opposite of Clayton Kershaw. Freddy Sanchez had 3 doubles in this game, the first player in World Series history to hit 3 doubles in their first 3 at bats. That makes you wonder when he last hit 3 doubles in a game. You guessed it! On April 13th, 2009 when he was with the Pirates, Freddy went 3-5 with 3 doubles in a 7-0 blow out over Houston. Then he decided to do it again in Game 1 of the World Series. Lincecum started 33 games in 2010, and we can judge these by a stat called Game Score (GSc). To see how GSc is calculated, click here. His highest was 83, lowest 25. In Game 1, he did not have his best stuff as he only struck out 3, walked 2, and allowed 8 hits over 5.2 innings giving him a game score of 38, tied for his 6th lowest in 2010. In those six lowest GSc games, the Giants went 1-5. In fact, when Lincecum tallied a GSc of 53 or lower, the Giants were 1-11. When he scored 54 or higher, the Giants went 20-1. So it was miraculous that they pulled off this Game 1 win with such a start from Timmy. The offense really came through on a tough pitcher. Cliff Lee on the other hand had a GSc of only 28! Tied for his 3rd lowest of the year. Below are his career postseason GSc numbers.

A Great At Bat

The great at bat award goes to a guy who didn’t have many of them in the 2010 postseason, but Pat Burrell wins it tonight. In fact, this was shortly after Torres had the hit of the game in the 5th. After Torres doubled, Freddy doubled, then Buster oddly struck out. So now there were 2 outs with the Giants up 3-2, and Burrell was coming to the plate. He had already struck out twice against Lee and wanted to keep the rally going. This game wasn’t going to end 3-2 so that run out there on 2nd base was huge. Burrell takes the first pitch outside, ball 1. Then ball two. Lee likes to work fast so this at bat was moving quickly. Sitting on a fastball, Burrell fouls the next pitch off Benji’s mask. Good hack. Then a big swing and miss on the 2-1 fastball. Ball 3 was an easy take as the curveball missed badly. Burrell got lucky on the full count pitch as he popped it foul just behind the netting as Molina gave it a look. Another chance. Lee takes a bit here now, processing. Looks in, shakes Molina twice, then they have a talk on the mound amidst boos from the crowd. Lee and Benji talk about it for a moment, then it’s game on. Lee deals a fastball but Burrell spits on it and works a 7 pitch walk. Great at bat right there from a guy who struck out twice in this game. Not only did he get on base but he worked 7 pitches out of Lee who was now over 95 for the game. That walk allowed Cody Ross to single on 4 pitches to score Sanchez and then Huff to single and drive in Ross, knocking out Lee after only 4.2 innings and 104 pitches!

This was the first World Series win at AT&T Park since Game 5 of the 2002 World Series. Since AT&T Park opened through the 2019 season, there have been 10 World Series games played there and the Giants have gone 8-2. That’s some serious home field advantage. As Game 1 was not the pitching duel we thought we would see, Game 5 was. I’ll dive into that one next week.

Another Notable

The last time the Giants scored 6 runs in an inning in a World Series game was the 2nd inning of Game 4 of the 1937 WS against the Yankees.