My Favorite Highlights of SF Giants' 2014 Post Season

source: SFGiants.com
L to R: Madison Bumgarner, Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence

Without a doubt, Madison Bumgarner dominated the 2014 post season. Without him, San Francisco does not get a third World Series title in 5 years.

But the humble Bumgarner will tell you as well as all Giants players and management, they credit their success as a team effort.

For example, 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval batted .366 with 26 hits. Right fielder and media darling Hunter Pence batted .333 with 22 hits. If Bumgarner hadn't overwhelmed with his cyborg like statistics: 52.2 innings pitched, 7 appearances, 6 of them starts (including a complete game shutout), a stingy 1.03 ERA, Pence or Sandoval would have been a shoo-in for World Series or NLCS MVP.

Pitching, defense and "small ball" were the key components for the Giants to capture World Series titles in 2010, 2012, and 2014. In the photo for this blog entry, 3 of the 4 players - Bumgarner, Sandoval, and Posey have played on all 3 championship teams. None are yet at the age of 30. Pence, with 2 World Series rings, is the oldest at 31.

So I'll close out with my favorite highlights of the San Francisco's 2014 post season run to the World Series.

NLCS, Game 5, bottom 9th inning.
Left fielder (natural 1st baseman) Travis Ishikawa hits a 3-run walk-off home run to win the National League pennant. See October 17 blog entry.



World Series, Game 7, top 3rd inning.
Rookie 2nd baseman Joe Panik dives for a smash off Kansas City's Eric Hosmer. Not only does Panik stop the ball, he flips the ball from his glove hand to shortstop Brandon Crawford to force out baserunner Lorenzo Cain. Crawford is then able to relay a strong throw to 1st baseman Brandon Belt. The initial call of safe at 1st base is overturned and changed to a double play. The momentum the Royals had gathered until the double play suddenly ended.



World Series, Game 4, bottom 5th inning.
Giants are down 4-3. Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson makes an awesome diving catch in shallow center field off Giants batter Juan Perez. Hunter Pence, on 3rd base knows Dyson is going to have a hard time making a strong throw to home plate after the diving catch. Pence tags up and scores to tie the game 4-4.



World Series, Game 4, top 6th inning.
Score is tied 4-4. Brandon Belt fields a ground ball hit by Kansas City's Nori Aoki. Belt touches 1st base, then throws to Crawford who relays a strong throw back to Belt to complete the 3-6-3 double play.



Wild Card Elimination Game, top 1st inning.
A do-or-die game and the first playoff game for the Giants, Brandon Crawford's grand slam home run at PNC Park to start the game sets the stage for another successful run to a third World Series title in five years.



Honorable Mention, Michael Morse. NLCS Game 5, bottom 8th inning and World Series Game 7, top 4th inning.
His home run in NLCS Game 5 ties the game at 3-3 versus the St. Louis Cardinals.
His RBI single in World Series Game 7 allows Pablo Sandoval to score and break the 2-2 tie in the top of the 4th inning, ends up being the final score and enables San Francisco to win their third World Series Championship in 5 years.



Special thanks to G4MarchMadness for the terrific YouTube videos.

Quest for Three: Congratulations San Francisco Giants, 2014 World Series Champions

source: posterrevolution.com

And now, 2014.


YES! YES! YES!


You guys rock.

Big, big congratulations to 2014 NLCS and World Series MVP/Stud, Madison Bumgarner, for his outstanding post season efforts.


Bumgarner, along with 7 other Giants active on the 2014 World Series roster were members of the 2010 and 2012 teams.


Jeremy Affeldt
Santiago Casilla
Tim Lincecum
Javier Lopez
Buster Posey
Sergio Romo
Pablo Sandoval

Dynasty? In the age of the 162 game schedule, free agency and wild card playoffs, it's pretty damn close.

A Freakin' Fantastic Outing - Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

image source: SBNation.com

Tonight, Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants pitched his first no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. Final score: Giants 9, Padres 0.

Timmy's no-hitter is the 7th in San Francisco Giants history (15th in franchise history) and the first no-hitter in San Diego's Petco Park. The previous no-hitter was Matt Cain's perfect game on June 13, 2012. Buster Posey caught both games and makes him the first catcher in Giants history to catch 2 no-hitters.

Backed by some terrific defensive plays from right fielder Hunter Pence and 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval, it took Tim 148 pitches to complete his game. He walked 4 and struck out 13 batters.

Here's video of all 27 outs and the on field celebration.



Two Cy Young Awards, 2 World Series Championships and now, a no-hitter. Pretty impressive for someone who just turned 29 last month. Way to go, Timmy. I'm sure your dad Chris couldn't be any prouder.

Buster Posey did more than OK

After yesterday's impressive San Francisco 49ers playoff game versus the Green Bay Packers, it made me reflect for the umpteenth time on the San Francisco Giants 2012 season. To win 6 elimination games in the division and league series and then sweep the World Series. It's something that would be very difficult to repeat.

While deciding on what to write for my latest blog entry, I came across an article San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist John Shea wrote on May 29, 2011 ("After surgery, Buster Posey turns focus to 2012").  The above image contains my comments to Mr. Shea's article.  Remarks in the last paragraph include, "...Buster's going to do fine."

Fast forward to the 2012 season. Buster was more than fine. He broke out above and beyond most people's expectations. He started as the National League catcher in the All-Star game, won a Silver Slugger Award, became the National League's Most Valuable Player and played a HUGE part in capturing the 2012 World Series Championship for the Giants.

Buster: 2 full seasons = 2 World Series Championships.

Can't wait to see what he's going to do next.