San Francisco Giants Win in 10th to Sweep Tigers, Win World Series
By Josh Hill
For the second time in a three year period the San Francisco Giants, those misfits from the Bay Area, are champions of the baseball world. After fighting back from a 2-1 hole, the Giants took the game to the 10th inning but still managed to stun the crowd in Detroit and take the World Series in a 4-0 sweep o the Tigers.
Twice this postseason the Giants had their backs up against the wall facing elimination, and both times they used their ace pitching, smart hitting and Bay Area swagger to fight back and keep the dream alive. Game 4 of the World Series wasn’t a blow out win, but it wasn’t a battle the Giants hadn’t fought before this postseason.
“Tonight was a battle,” Giants catcher Buster Posey said. “And I think tonight was a fitting way for us to end it because those guys played hard. They didn’t stop, and it’s an unbelievable feeling.”
Miguel Cabrera finally showed up for the Tigers when he blasted a two run shot in the third inning to give the Tigers what felt like their first lead of the World Series. Posey brought the Giants back into it before Delmon Young tied things up in the sixth. Although they led twice, there was still the feeling that the Giants were fighting from behind in this one.
But with ace Matt Cain on the mound the Giants were never really out of it. With things all tied up in extras, none other than Marco Scutaro, a hero from the NLDS, hit in the go-ahead run in the away half of the inning. Sergio Romo got Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to stare his way into the offseason, blowing a third strike past him that Cabrera didn’t even attempt to hit.
One of the bigger stories in the series will be how despite having Justin Verlander and a solid staff, the Tigers were out-pitched by Matt Cain and the Giants.
“When pitching is your strength, you want a good defense,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That shows up every day. … Hitting sometimes, it comes and goes. But as long as you can stay in more games, the better chance you have of winning them, and that’s how we play.”
But the biggest story will how the Tigers bats went flatter than four day old soda pop when things started to matter. After clubbing their way through the American League, the Tigers posted the third worst batting average in World Series history with a miserable .159 average despite having big bats like Prince Fielder and the aforementioned Cabrera.
Only the 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers and 1969 Baltimore Orioles posted worse batting averages than the 2012 Tigers did this Series.
This is the second World Series in the last 10 years that has seen the Tigers and manager Jim Leyland on the wrong side of history. But with Verlander, Prince, Cabrera and the raw sting of defeat the Tigers will likely be in a position to avenge this Seires loss in the years to come.
But for now, the Giants are showing baseball that you don’t need to spend huge in free agency to win a title. Their most high profile offseason acquisition was Melky Cabrera and he wasn’t even on the postseason roster. A large amount of the 2010 World Series team was still intact on this roster, and most came up with the Giants through their system like Tim Lincecum, Sergio Romo, Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Crawford to name just a few.
The Giants earned this. They blew up the best pitcher in baseball, quieted a powerful lineup and never stopped believing they were the best team in baseball.
So many teams like the Minnesota Twins have tried to build a dynasty from within, but none have been able to perfect it recently. But the Giants are playing throwback baseball by winning with the roster they have and while many experts have picked the Tigers to have a dynasty, the Giants are proving they already have one.