Dear Mom,
Can I just say that this surfeit of baseball goodness in San Francisco is not inducing indigestion. Your favorite baseball team just won the World Series for the 2nd time in 3 years, sweeping the Detroit Tigers and engraving several records into the sacred baseball book of statistics in the process.
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And they did it playing National League small ball; solid pitching, fantastic defense, and work the count hitting. Two years ago when they won the 2010 Championship, I said you would have loved the team of misfits that beat the Texas Rangers, San Francisco-style: Halloween colors, rally thong, mascara-ed beard, & a 2-time Cy Young winner called The Freak.
I think that this 2012 team would have won your heart, too. So old school, playing for each other, just trying to keep their season alive for one more game, they came from behind in both division play-offs, peaking perfectly into the Championships and upsetting all ESPN's East Coast sports casters, writers, prognosticators, pundits, experts and basically everyone but the fan base in San Francisco.
There are so many highlights of Fall Ball that it's difficult to pick just a sample:
* Giants become the first team to win 3-in-a-row on the road to snatch the best of 5 NL West Division series from Van's Cincinnati Reds and Giants' former manager and all around good guy, Dusty Baker.
* Pennant Race: Giants come back again, down 3-1 against the St. Louis Cardinals they force a 7th game, winning at home in a rout 9-0 that was finished in a rain storm
* Giants spank the Detroit Tigers and their AL MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander and Triple Crown slugger Miguel Cabrera in their home game Series opener 8-3.
* The win is the first time they're ahead in the play-offs and a chubby Venezuelan nicknamed Panda etches his name in the record books next to Ruth, Reggie Jackson, and Pujols for his 3 home runs in 1 series game (actually he went 4 for 4). Pablo Sandoval hardly played in the 2010 Championship, he was so overweight and out-of-shape.
* Barry Zito, the $126 million dud the Giants brought over the Bay Bridge became the lucky starter in the late and post season, whose must-win Game 5 NL Division shut-out win sparked the Giants to take the Pennant and gave him the starter position in Game 1 of the World Series.
* Giants catcher (and future Hall of Famer) with the great baseball name of Buster Posey won NL MVP after sitting out most of 2011 with severe leg injuries from a bad collision at home plate. PS - he and Bumgarner were rookie starters in the 2010 Championship season.
* Giants 2-time Cy Young winner Tim "The Freak" Lincecum burnished a not-so-stellar season by coming out of the bull pen in the post season as a reliever, getting partial credit for the 4 shut-outs the Giants bestowed on their post season opponents with a 0.69 ERA in five postseason relief appearances, allowing one run in 13 innings with 17 strikeouts and two walks.
Okay, I have to stop now and get ready for bed. To sum up the season, the Giants got contributions from everyone whenever they needed it. They played as a team and peaked perfectly down the stretch.
It really was a fairy tale ending to a nail-biting, head-scratching, jaw-dropping post season.
Bottom of the 10th inning, Giants leading 4-3 with 2 outs, Detroit's Triple Crown Winner Cabrera (who'd hit a go-ahead 2-run homer earlier in the game) strikes out looking.
Game over. The Giants are the 2012 Champions. I am so proud of this team.
Love,
Gay
PS - the Giants were the first professional team to do an anti-homophobia "It Gets Better" video, encouraging Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual young people to have hope in the face of bullying and anti-gay violence.
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