<p>I am in love with the entire Giants roster and cannot wait for Wednesday. Go Timmeth, go, you cutie.</p>
<p>So well deserved; they play as a team. They try to support each other’s strengths, compensate for each other’s weaknesses, and try to learn from each other.</p>
<p>XO</p>
<p>I should have added: I must put in a plug for the Phillies Manager, who was gracious and honest in defeat.</p>
<p>As an admittedly biased Giants fan, I am hugely excited. I have already won a wager which premised that I would win $100 if the Giants won the National League and forfeit $20 if the NL was secured by one of the three additional contenders. However, I’ve agreed to a “double-or-nothing” type of situation in which I am willing to relinquish my earnings in the event of their defeat but double my winnings in the case of a World Series win.</p>
<p>The Giants unquestionably have the better rotation. The quad of Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner is a far better pitching cast than Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis, and whoever the fourth guy is. I’d prefer to see Bochy flip the rotation to what it was in the regular season, though – starting Cain before Sanchez as tactical maneuver given that the former has a better track record at home and the exchange would ensure that both of his starts (Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 6) would be at home.</p>
<p>The Giants also have a far superior bullpen and they clearly demonstrated their merit by pitching seven scoreless innings against the Phillies after the Sanchez meltdown to close out the NLCS. They don’t possess a single dud on the relief pitching roster aside from Santiago Casilla (who bungled Game 2 and almost squandered Game 4). </p>
<p>Admittedly, though, the Rangers clearly have the better offense with four highly adept offensive threats and five if Cain or Lincecum is pitching. Three of the Giants’ hitters are fairly decent sluggers (Huff, Posey, and Uribe). Torres and Ross are more sporadic in their hitting patterns. Renteria’s hitting incompetency is a source of discomfiture for any Giants fan (I’d suspect that his batting average in the postseason is something near .070) and is essentially an automatic out unless he somehow manages to immediately atone for his offensive ineptitude. (In Game 6, he adopted the new strategy of releasing the bat on the follow-thru to hopefully revitalize any degree of batting competence that he initially had.) </p>
<p>Overall, I think the Rangers superiority in offense supersedes that of the Giants in pitching. I still believe that the Giants will win in six, due to home-field advantage and uniformly better pitching but only if the offense can continue to muster some clutch hits. But mostly, I think they’ll win because of my ardent fandom and purported promise of a rather significant monetary reward. Of course, I’ve already announced where my bias lies so that opinion might not have much significance in the way of objectivity since, like every sports fanatic, my emotions certainly are not detached from this series.</p>
<p>mifune, I love your enthusiasm. I have no idea whether my Rangers can pull this out, but they are a great team with (finally) strong pitching, strong hitting, excellent base-running and wonderful mgmt.</p>
<p>I’m a little worried about the no-DH thing, but, thankfully, our pitchers have a little experience at the plate. Really, really looking forward to this series.</p>
<p>Wow, mifune, you need to go work at MLB Network.</p>
<p>I have no expectations of the Rangers winning the World Series. Just being there is amazing; anything else is gravy. :)</p>
<p>Nrds, I hope they’re hungrier than you and I are!</p>
<p>^^^^^^Ha ha! I imagine they are.:)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You probably should; the Rangers are the clear favorites and I would sincerely doubt that too many analysts or pundits outside the Bay Area have pegged the Giants to actually prevail in this series. If you go on ESPN.com, out of a dozen “insiders,” the consensus is that the Rangers will win.</p>
<p>Moreover, if you plug the relevant statistics into a match-up simulator like AccuScore, it has Texas winning 57% of the time, which almost perfectly correlates to Texas winning the series in seven. However, statistics and imitation software don’t play the actual games. If statistics supposedly dictated results, Buster Douglas would never have knocked out Mike Tyson and the U.S. certainly wouldn’t have won the hockey gold in 1980. And perhaps to a greater extent than any of America’s four major sports, baseball is a completely erratic game, particularly when the sport is played at a high level of talent. Teams like the Pirates (one of the worst baseball squads in recent memory) could easily sweep the Phillies (objectively the best team in the league heading into the postseason) on any given weekend. </p>
<p>In my opinion, the first game is essentially a toss-up. Cliff Lee might be the better postseason pitcher statistics-wise (not to mention his status as the media’s darling) and even if it’s assumed that he’s better than Lincecum in terms of overall talent, that advantage is clearly erased given that Game 1 is played at AT&T Park. (The Rangers are 0-9 in the complex.) If the Giants win the first game, and take the second as they should with Cain pitching, the Rangers will have already burrowed themselves in a 2-0 deficit. But the first two games will most likely be split. </p>
<p>Regarding location, the San Francisco ballpark really is a quite sizable advantage for the Giants. In right field, you need to cover the gap in order to prevent triples, and long-range hits (primarily by left-handed batters) carom rather unconventionally off the wall. Of the hits that I’ve seen, opposing right-fielders make dolts of themselves attempting to defend the area. And given that the two leagues are so insulated (interleague play is sparse), the Rangers certainly won’t be well acquainted with that aspect of the ballpark. If Texas’ managing was smart, it would relegate Guerrero to pinch-hitting duties on the road in favor of a more uptempo-ed fielder, which would, in turn, solve the DH issue.</p>
<p>Of course, there is the standard charge that the Giants can’t possibly win because of the incessantly bedeviling issue of run support for their pitching. Although San Francisco often has difficulty getting players on base and advancing them to convert runs, their most likely offensive threat is the long ball. While the Giants truly do not have any high-profile hitters, they can hit anywhere from 1 to 8 in the order. In fact, the Giants have hit more home runs from the 7 and 8 spots than any other team in the National League. The Giants have the weaker offense – that’s indisputable – but their bats are always inclined to ascend to the level of competition, just as they did against the Phillies. </p>
<p>Some interesting statistics:
[ul]
[li]Twelve of the last thirteen teams that have taken Game 1 of the World Series have proceeded to win the series. (The exception was last years’ Yankees.)</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Teams in the NL who have won the NLCS on the road and subsequently possess home-field advantage in the World Series (as the Giants have this year) are 11-0 in the WS.</p>[/li]
<p>[*]The Giants have won seven playoff games. Six of them have been by one run. [/ul]</p>
<p>I think the most interesting fact I’ve read about the WS is that Bengie Molina gets a ring no matter who wins–don’t think that’s ever happened before.</p>
<p>mifune, you are such a great data geek. I love it.</p>
<p>Sitting in a daylong mtg and all I can think about is tonight’s game!!!</p>
<p>ETA:
If the Rangers are favored, it’s only because of the East Coast media bias – If they beat the untouchable Yankees, they must be superhuman.</p>
<p>Wow, mifune, you really have a handle on all this.</p>
<p>I just catch a game now and then. With our history, it never paid to get too emotionally invested. :)</p>
<p>I just catch a game now and then. With our history, it never paid to get too emotionally invested.</p>
<p>Mariners fan here- sigh.</p>
<p>It’ll be Giants in 7
should be a good series.
[Larry</a> Stone | Rangers and Giants in World Series is cruel Seattle joke | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/larrystone/2013265564_stone27.html]Larry”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/larrystone/2013265564_stone27.html)</p>
<p>ek, didn’t know Seattle’s history with Licecum. Ouch. It’s a bit like watching Texeira and A-Rod succeed with the Yankees after years with the hapless Rangers.</p>
<p>I was so happy to see the Rangers beat the Yankees, after ARod and Texeira left them for greener (literally) pastures. Texeira was very community minded with the Rangers, and I was surprised to see him “sell out”, but I’m sure that had a lot to do with his agent, who also represents ARod.</p>
<p>As for Seattle, on our trip there this summer, a tour guide asked the Mariners fans to raise their hands. We did, even though we’re from Louisiana, because we love Ichiro. I am hoping to one day get to see him play. </p>
<p>Excited for tonight’s game. Lee versus Lincecum. What a matchup!</p>
<p>Hey, Rangers fans, at least it’s not a no-hitter!</p>
<p>Lee clearly struggled in the third. The Rangers are very fortunate that that offensive spurt was limited to two runs.</p>
<p>I’m watching, but so far haven’t decided which team I am cheering for. Maybe I’m just looking at hotties.</p>
<p>Although Uribe eventually struck out, that was a tremendous at-bat (ten pitches, six foul balls). Through 3-2/3, Lee has already accumulated 72 pitches. It appears as though he will have a short outing.</p>
<p>gloworm, may I submit for your approval tomorrow night’s starting pitcher, CJ Wilson: [Google</a> Image Result for <a href=“■■■■■■■■■■■■■”>http://cjwilson.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/cjmohawk31_2.jpg](<a href=“http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cjwilson.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/cjmohawk31_2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cjwilson.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/05/medic.html&usg=__mURNfFyY041WFD8EBA2cH6w0AWw=&h=480&w=640&sz=40&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=cfiXoQHZFEjyyM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCJ%2BWilson%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1020%26bih%3D399%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=719&ei=Y9PITJ3mBISlnQfMxuynAw&oei=CdPITInREMGC8gacmaSxDw&esq=5&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&tx=61&ty=65]Google”>http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cjwilson.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/cjmohawk31_2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cjwilson.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/05/medic.html&usg=__mURNfFyY041WFD8EBA2cH6w0AWw=&h=480&w=640&sz=40&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=cfiXoQHZFEjyyM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCJ%2BWilson%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1020%26bih%3D399%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=719&ei=Y9PITJ3mBISlnQfMxuynAw&oei=CdPITInREMGC8gacmaSxDw&esq=5&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&tx=61&ty=65)</a></p>
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