Posted: 02 Nov 2010 12:31 AM PDT

The beauty of the world champion San Francisco Giants - oh, do those words go well together! - was that heroes kept emerging at the most critical times from the most unexpected spots in the lineup. Pitching ace Tim Lincecum was masterful as usual in Monday night's climactic Game 5, but so was Texas pitcher Cliff Lee, and it was 0-0 in the seventh inning.

Up came Edgar Renteria to assert himself as hero of the day with a three-run homer that put the Giants on their way to their first Series title since they moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958. Seasoned Giants fans, who had seen the team come so close but lose with its great teams of 1962 and 2002, knew not to celebrate until reliever Brian Wilson secured the final out.

The Giants have had many superstars and pennant runs in San Francisco, but no ride quite as magical as this one, delivered by a cast that was unassuming, endearing - and uncanny in the clutch. The fans fed off the players' enthusiasm, and vice versa. The bandwagon filled and the drama built as the team kept coming back from the brink, time and again. By the time the Giants reached the playoffs, AT&T was the place to be, orange was the color of the season, and the exploits of Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Juan Uribe became Topic A in dinner-party conversation everywhere. Rare was the e-mail in recent days that did not end with the cry, "Go Giants!"

This was a championship that can be savored by all who did so much to build the San Francisco Giants tradition (Mays, McCovey, Marichal et al), those who worked so valiantly to save it in the 1990s, and this remarkable group of young players who gave us a season of thrills and, at long last, a World Series with a happy ending.

This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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Marcus Hayes: Bochy, Sabean experiment a World Series success for Giants - Philadelphia Daily News

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 01:57 AM PDT

Posted on Tue, Nov. 2, 2010

ARLINGTON, Texas - It will separate, this alchemy Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy performed.

The charismatic Giants are a happy accident, a compilation of longshots who scorched through the last 6 weeks of the season, then found impossible heroes in October.

With the World Series over, this precious assemblage - a world champion after last night's 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers in Game 5 - won't be worth the cardboard on which the lineup is written.

Sabean knows it, and he approaches the dissolution of the unlikely overachievers he assembled with a terse defensiveness.

Bochy knows it, too. As the manager, he's enjoying just riding herd on his misfits. Bochy called them the Dirty Dozen, which, fittingly, makes him Sergeant Bowren (Richard Jaeckel), and it makes Sabean, the talent collector, Major Reisman (Lee Marvin).

Like Bowren and Reisman, Bochy and Sabean feel no melancholy that this gilded lineup will disintegrate before spring comes again.

"I have not put any thought into that," Bochy said. "I'll let my general manager do all the thinking there. I love these guys . . . how they've coalesced into a group."

They will un-coalesce presently. With mystical adroitness, Sabean turned the leaden personas of Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff, Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe into a lineup that beat the Braves, Phillies and, now, the Rangers.

Your next trick, Major?

"It's 1 year at a time," Sabean said. "Anybody who tells you they have a 3-year plan or a 5-year plan is full of crap."

Fine. So, what about next year?

"We'll address that later," Sabean said.

That's because, for the moment, there is little to address.

The Giants control the first four hitters in last night's lineup, but, after No. 2 hitter Freddy Sanchez and Buster Posey, the hottest catcher in the majors, at No. 3, the lineup loses luster.

Leadoff hitter Andres Torres never played more than 75 major league games before he turned 32 this year, and he managed a .332 on-base percentage batting first. Last night's cleanup hitter? Ross, at 5-10, about 195 pounds. It was his first cleanup job in 4 years; but then, he is lucky to have a job at all after the Marlins waived him in late August.

This was the tip of the spear in clinching Game 5 of the World Series.

The spear was never a fearsome weapon. It featured no hitter with 30 homers or 100 RBI.

While the sum of these parts might be greater than the whole, that doesn't mean the parts can be reassembled.

Uribe launched 24 homers, but he hit .248. Huff hit .290 with 26 homers, so he will want a big raise over his $3 million-plus.

Burrell hit .266 after Tampa tossed him aside, but his postseason slump cost him a start in Game 4 and slotted him seventh last night, and his continued defensive shortcomings persuaded Bochy to make him the designated hitter. Ageless Renteria, who belted a three-run homer last night and won the Most Valuable Player of the World Series, managed only 72 games, and he might retire. Aaron Rowand hit .230 and lost his job in centerfield to Torres.

All could be elsewhere come springtime. That makes this collaborative effort all the more precious.

"Sometimes," explained former Giants manager Felipe Alou, now a front-office adviser, "sometimes a great team is not a bunch of great players."

No; a team is a bunch of competent players who play great.

Where would the Giants be without Burrell's 18 homers?

Where would they be without Uribe, who took over third base in place of the bloated Panda, Pablo Sandoval, or Renteria, who, when healthy, was the team's defensive soul?

Giants win World Series - KABC

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 02:11 AM PDT

ARLINGTON, Texas -- (11/02/10) -- The San Francisco Giants are World Series champions for the first time since 1954 when the franchise was known as the New York Giants.

Edgar Renteria's three-run home run and Tim Lincecum's stellar pitching gave the Giants the title after San Francisco closed out Texas 3-1 to win the series in five games.

Lincecum shut down the Rangers on three hits, striking out 10 in his eight innings. The only Texas run came on a home run by Nelson Cruz in the seventh.

Lincecum outdueled Texas ace Cliff Lee for the second time in the series. It was a scoreless pitcher's duel for six innings before Renteria connected in the top of the seventh. Lincecum and closer Brian Wilson made it hold up to give San Francisco its first World Series crown since the Giants moved there in 1958.

Giants GM Brian Sabean says this World Series victory "buried a lot of bones -- '62, '89, 2002," ticking off San Francisco's three previous losing World Series appearances.

Pitching is the reason San Francisco won. The Rangers, one of baseball's highest-scoring teams in the regular season, managed just five runs over the final four games. Texas hit just .190 in the five games.

Giants shortstop Edgar Renteria, who hit two go-ahead home runs in the World Series, is the 2010 World Series Most Valuable Player. Renteria's hit the game-winning home runs in Games 2 and 5 of the Giants' World Series victories.

Renteria is the fourth player to have two game-winning home runs in a World Series. The 35-year-old veteran joins Yankees' greats Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Yogi Berra in that category of World Series heroes.

Renteria hit .412 during the series. He had two home runs and drove in six runs. He also had three homers and 22 RBIs during the regular season.

World Series heroics are nothing new for Renteria. He also delivered the hit that won the 1997 World Series for the Florida marlins.

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Tags:

texas rangers, san francisco giants, world series, mlb

Heroes Series

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

“SF Giants: So many World Series heroes - San Francisco Gate” plus 2 more

“SF Giants: So many World Series heroes - San Francisco Gate” plus 2 more

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