subject: The Rangers offense just never found its groove in the World Series: [print this page] The Rangers offense just never found its groove in the World Series:
They moved West in 1958 and had tried ever since to escape a sort of big league Alcatraz -- the place where teams get stuck for decades as also-rans. The Red Sox and White Sox got free, not so the Cubs and Indians.
So clang the cable car bells. Loudly, too. Baseball's best play by the Bay.
Exactly when these Giants turned into world beaters is hard to say. Trailing San Diego by 7 games in the NL West on July 4, they meandered in the wild-card race until the stretch run, winning the division and finishing 92-70.
Come the playoffs, they became dangerous. Any well-armed team is. Start with Matt Cain -- three postseason starts, a 0.00 ERA. Throw in Lincecum, the two-time Cy Young winner. Add Madison Bumgarner, the 21-year-old rookie who helped blank Texas in Game 4.
"This doesn't make sense. You don't realize it. It's something that's surreal. But that's what we are, World Series champs," Cain said.
San Francisco posted a trio of one-run wins in the opening round that sent Atlanta manager Bobby Cox into retirement, then stopped the two-time defending NL champion Phillies in the championship series. Those wins, like this one, came on the road.
In the Year of the Pitcher, the World Series proved the oldest adage in the game: Good pitching stops good hitting, every time. Lincecum and the team with the best ERA in the big leagues completely shut down Josh Hamilton and the club with the majors' top batting average.
Texas hit just .190 in the five games and was outscored 29-12.
"They beat us soundly," manager Ron Washington said. "They deserve it."
Texas became the latest Series newcomer to make a quick exit. Houston (2005) and Colorado (2007) got swept in their first appearances, Tampa Bay (2008) stuck around for just five games. The AL champion Rangers became the first team since 1966 to get shut out twice in a World Series, with big hitters Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero and Cruz left taking half-swings or flailing wildly.
Hamilton, the probable AL MVP, went 2 for 20 with one RBI.
"We just got cold at the wrong time with the bats," he said.
The Rangers' franchise wrapped up its 50th season overall, in good hands with Nolan Ryan as president and part-owner. If only Big Tex could teach his team to hit, too.
By the final out, Ryan sat there glumly as did the team's No. 1 fan, former President George W. Bush.
The Giants won their sixth title overall, joining the likes of Christy Mathewson, Mel Ott and John McGraw as champs. They also helped ease the gloating that blew from across the Bay, where the Oakland Athletics won three straight crowns in the mid-1970s and swept the Giants in the earthquake-interrupted 1989 Series.
The Giants are tied with their longtime rivals, the Dodgers, for fifth-most Series titles. The Yankees lead with 27, followed by the Cardinals (10), Athletics (9) and Red Sox (7).
San Francisco had come close before. Future Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda, Mays, McCovey and Marichal lost to the Yankees 1-0 in Game 7 in 1962. In 2002, Bonds & Co. led the Angels 5-0 in the seventh inning of Game 6 before letting that lead and Game 7 slip away.
Many years ago, one swing of the bat prompted a call that resonates throughout Giants history and beyond.
"The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" announcer Russ Hodges shouted over and over after Bobby Thomson launched "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" in 1951.
Time to redo that cry: The Giants win the Series! The Giants win the Series! The Giants win the Series!They moved West in 1958 and had tried ever since to escape a sort of big league Alcatraz -- the place where teams get stuck for decades as also-rans. The Red Sox and White Sox got free, not so the Cubs and Indians.
So clang the cable car bells. Loudly, too. Baseball's best play by the Bay.
Exactly when these Giants turned into world beaters is hard to say. Trailing San Diego by 7 games in the NL West on July 4, they meandered in the wild-card race until the stretch run, winning the division and finishing 92-70.
Come the playoffs, they became dangerous. Any well-armed team is. Start with Matt Cain -- three postseason starts, a 0.00 ERA. Throw in Lincecum, the two-time Cy Young winner. Add Madison Bumgarner, the 21-year-old rookie who helped blank Texas in Game 4.
"This doesn't make sense. You don't realize it. It's something that's surreal. But that's what we are, World Series champs," Cain said.
San Francisco posted a trio of one-run wins in the opening round that sent Atlanta manager Bobby Cox into retirement, then stopped the two-time defending NL champion Phillies in the championship series. Those wins, like this one, came on the road.
In the Year of the Pitcher, the World Series proved the oldest adage in the game: Good pitching stops good hitting, every time. Lincecum and the team with the best ERA in the big leagues completely shut down Josh Hamilton and the club with the majors' top batting average.
Texas hit just .190 in the five games and was outscored 29-12.
"They beat us soundly," manager Ron Washington said. "They deserve it."
Texas became the latest Series newcomer to make a quick exit. Houston (2005) and Colorado (2007) got swept in their first appearances, Tampa Bay (2008) stuck around for just five games. The AL champion Rangers became the first team since 1966 to get shut out twice in a World Series, with big hitters Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero and Cruz left taking half-swings or flailing wildly.
Hamilton, the probable AL MVP, went 2 for 20 with one RBI.
"We just got cold at the wrong time with the bats," he said.
The Rangers' franchise wrapped up its 50th season overall, in good hands with Nolan Ryan as president and part-owner nfl jersey. If only Big Tex could teach his team to hit, too.
By the final out, Ryan sat there glumly as did the team's No. 1 fan, former President George W. Bush.
The Giants won their sixth title overall, joining the likes of Christy Mathewson, Mel Ott and John McGraw as champs. They also helped ease the gloating that blew from across the Bay, where the Oakland Athletics won three straight crowns in the mid-1970s and swept the Giants in the earthquake-interrupted 1989 Series mlb jerseys .
The Giants are tied with their longtime rivals, the Dodgers, for fifth-most Series titles. The Yankees lead with 27, followed by the Cardinals (10), Athletics (9) and Red Sox (7).
San Francisco had come close before. Future Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda, Mays, McCovey and Marichal lost to the Yankees 1-0 in Game 7 in 1962. In 2002, Bonds & Co. led the Angels 5-0 in the seventh inning of Game 6 before letting that lead and Game 7 slip away.
Many years ago, one swing of the bat prompted a call that resonates throughout Giants history and beyond.
"The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win nfl jersey the pennant!" announcer Russ Hodges shouted over and over after Bobby Thomson launched "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" in 1951.
Time to redo that cry: The Giants win the Series! The Giants win the Series! The Giants win the Series!
