Your 2010 Giants are 3-1 in World Series: No Leeway for Rangers Please

Bumgarner-Posey:  What is a battery for the Giants for the next six seasons?

And to think some Giants fans howled about how the Giants should have brought both of them up earlier, or even to start the season, but by keeping them in the minors, it not only allowed them to figure out how to improve themselves, it allows the Giants to control them for the next six seasons instead of the next five.  Together, they have put the Giants at the brink of finally winning a World Series in San Francisco.

Wow, what a game for Bumgarner!  He did it with a curveball that he was working on in spring training.  He did it with a 94 MPH fastball that was AWOL in spring training (many had written him off as an elite prospect, dropping him down in the prospect ranks).  He shut out a potent Rangers offense, particularly at home, who were only shut out at home once during the regular season, on August 28th, by A's Dallas Braden.  And he only turned 21 recently, he is the second-youngest pitcher in World Series history with at least eight shutout innings and the fourth youngest to win a World Series game, and the FIRST rookie in World Series history to throw eight shutout innings (got that from Baggarly's report on the game).  Fifth youngest pitcher to ever start a World Series game and the youngest since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981, and he had 22 first-pitch strikes in 28 batters.  Also, according to this MLB article:

"Bumgarner's eight scoreless innings made him the youngest rookie pitcher (21 years old, 91 days) in World Series history to make a scoreless start of six innings or more, and overall, he is only the seventh rookie to make a start of that kind -- the first since Les Straker pitched six scoreless innings in Game 3 of the 1987 World Series for the Minnesota Twins at the age of 28."

Moreover, he struck out VLAD THE IMPALER Guerrero, the guy the Rangers wanted in their lineup so much against the Giants that they stuck him out in RF in game 1 to get his offense in there, three times, and the only other time in his career that Vlad struck out three times vs. a left-handed starting pitcher in regular season was against Al Leiter on June 16, 1998, in other words, not even once in a blue moon, once every dozen years!  Keith Law tweeted that he loved seeing MadBum throw breaking ball for strikes, noting that left-handers who can do that will work for a long, long time in the MLB.

In post-game interview, he noted that he used his changeup a lot more than he usually does.  I think that is a sign of Posey trying to change up Bumgarner's repertoire in order to counter Molina's knowledge of Bumgarner.  And thus he probably has been doing that this whole series.  So far, so good.

And Posey, man, what a home run!  I knew it was a deep fly, but it didn't seem like it would go out, but it just kept going and going and going, and then before you knew it, it was out of here, almost dead centerfield, thanks to one of his "patented backspin shots" (quote from Baggarly's column).  He became the youngest catcher to hit a homer in the World Series since Johnny Bench in 1970.  While the game was pretty much in hand by that point, that was still an important run, 4-0 is a pretty sizable lead, 3-0 is only two bloop hits or walks away from the tying run coming up to the plate.

Baggarly reported that Bumgarner-Posey became the first all-rookie battery to start a World Series game since Spec Shea and Yogi Berra for the Yankees in the 1947 World Series.  "With the young pitching this team has and Buster behind the plate, this team has a chance to do something special for quite some time," said Huff.

And what about the Huff Papi?  He and his red thong went red-ass on a pitch from Hunter and he hit it deep in the heart of Texas, where the red-necks roam, for a 2-0 lead that proved enough for Bumgarner and the Giants to win with.  The red thong is now 30-14, a .682 winning percentage, which over a whole season would result in 110 wins.  He finally hit his first post-season homer (and thus also first World Series homer; great timing!) and he did it in the park/city that he roamed when he was a kid growing up in Texas and idolizing Nolan Ryan (he went to games at the old and new parks).  And he got all of that pitch, it was a no-doubter.

Got to give Renteria some love for his play during the playoffs and especially during the World Series, he's even gotten an article too.  From the way he's been playing, it is like he's found the Fountain of Youth somewhere;  Krukow said that it was from the adrenaline of playing in the playoffs, that has given Renteria a boost.  If the Giants do seal the deal and win the World Series, to me, Renteria would have earned his entire $18.5M with his play and veteran leadership during these playoffs, including his hitting in the World Series and his simple tip to Cody Ross about what he was doing wrong at the plate, which is a reason for Ross's hot hitting during the playoffs (had his 10 playoff game hitting streak ended yesterday; I think 11 is the record, from what I recall from the TV broadcast of the game).

Also have to mention Andres Torres 3-hit game as well, which led to two runs:  one he scored on Huff's homer, the other when he drove in Renteria.  He has finally either recovered from his surgery and/or nerves from playing in his first MLB playoffs, and in any case, has been an offensive catalyst up top the lineup.  He, along with Franchez, Huff, Ross, and Renteria have been providing enough offense to get the Giants to the precipice of their first World Series championship.

Lastly, the Giants are only the third team in MLB history to pitch 4 shutouts in one postseason, including one other historic Giants team and one influenced by current Giants:  Christy Mathewson-led 1905 NY Giants and the 1998 Yankees, which had key players scouted and drafted/signed by Brian Sabean when he worked for the Yankees.

I'll end with a quote of Brian Sabean (captured aptly by Andy Baggarly, who ended with this), when asked for perspective on Bumgarner's performance:  "Can't.  I have a lump in my throat. I can't even talk, that was so amazing."  Amen to that, amen to that.

Game 5:  Lee vs. Lincecum

I've covered this for Game 1:  two great pitchers, mano-a-mano.  Neither pitched particularly that well in that start, though at least Lincecum calmed down enough to pitch effectively enough.  This game should be the game everyone expected in Game 1, a tight pitchers' duel.  Lee should be good because he don't usually have two lousy games in a row.  

Lincecum for much the same reason, but also because he's usually suffered from nerves whenever the game was important for some reason, like first game of season, etc., though he was great for his first start of the playoffs, but there was not a lot of pressure for that, 0-0 for first game.  This being his second World Series start, I expect his mind to be more locked down, though nerves might still creep in the early innings, as it is still, after all, the World Series.  But he should also be pitching much better too, and may the best man win.  

Giants Thoughts

I'm thinking that Bochy will keep the same lineup, except that he has said that Burrell would start in LF in Game 5, so Schierholtz would be out.  

I was so impressed that Bochy went with both Schierholtz and Ishikawa to start Game 4.  Gutsy call on two reserves who haven't started in ages.  Though they did not do anything offensively, Ishikawa looked good around 1B and Schierholtz being in RF meant that Ross was in LF, and he got to a lot of balls that Burrell either wouldn't or would have had trouble with or getting to.  

That was the right call yesterday.  Hunter had not pitched well all through the playoffs.  He didn't last past the 5th in any game.  Offense should happen with or without Schierholtz and Ishikawa, giving the Giants the advantage since we had Bumgarner going for us.  However, if the defense gives anything to the Rangers, they might be able to create runs and negate that advantage.  So Bochy relied on his starting pitchers and fielding defense to keep the Ranger's scoring down, while the Giants offense takes care of Hunter enough to win the game.

The Giants only need to win one of the next three games to win the World Series;  the Rangers must win them all to win the World Series.  The Giants haven't lost three in a row since late August, and by the same team since early August (D-gers).  Only 6 teams out of 44 have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series, the last one being the KC Royals in 1985.  So the odds look pretty good for the Giants (though, still, roughly 15% of teams have come back from 3-1 deficit).

However, as Cain noted, "But there's 27 outs, and that's a lot of baseball left."  That's a theme repeated over and over again by any of the Giants interviewed before or after each game, about how they take nothing for granted, sure, they are in great position, but the Rangers are a good team (else they wouldn't be here too) and they approach each game as if the other team was ahead, and not the other way around.  I am gratified and heartened to hear them talk this way, as you never know until you seal the deal and win the four games you need.  They are taking nothing for granted, something Bumgarner noted in an interview, because you never know if you will ever be in this position again.

According to reports, Bochy has not discussed changing his pitching plans regarding Sanchez in Game 7 yet, despite Righetti's concerns over Sanchez's reduced velocity.  And pooh-poohed the thought of bringing in Zito for an injured Sanchez, noting that Jonathan isn't injured or receiving any treatment.  And any injury replacement would have to be approved by the league officials.  

2010's:  The Decade of the Giants

"With the young pitching this team has and Buster behind the plate, this team has a chance to do something special for quite some time," said Huff.  

I've been saying this for a couple of years now:  this will be the decade known for the Giants.  I was sure of that then, I'm surer of it now.  I've said this because I think that they will be in the playoffs nearly every season and making a number of World Series with the core that they have.  I thought it would be pushing it to say that they would make it this season, so they are ahead of the schedule that I had envisioned, but, you know, I'm OK with that.  :^)  

Look at who we have control over and to when, all at minimum because the Giants could always sign them to extensions for more years:

• Lincecum:  2013
• Cain:  2012
• Sanchez:  2013
• Bumgarner:  2016
• Wilson:  2013
• Posey:  2016
• Sandoval:  2014

With pitching like that - and more playoff experienced too - the Giants should be dominating great MLB hitters and lineups for years to come.  I have no doubt that the Giants will eventually sign Lincecum and Cain to contracts that extend into at least to 2015, Wilson probably, Sanchez maybe too if they got enough money:  Rowand's $12M off books in 2013, Zito's $20M off in 2014, Renteria's $10M off in 2011, DeRosa and Franchez $6M in 2012, Huff probably re-signed to $6M for 2011 and 2012, Burrell says he's willing to come back as bench player in 2011, maybe re-sign Uribe too, or go with young SS, Brandon Crawford, whose bat is suspect, but his defense is suppose to be pretty good. Heck, I would be OK signing Renteria to $1M to be MI-utility off the bench, but he would probably pass on that, he was already thinking of retirement and going into business.

Before the season, one thought was that the Giants would ideally acquire Carl Crawford as a free agent this off-season to become our lead-off hitter and offensive sparkplug.  I haven't gone through the numbers, but while it would be great to have him as our starting LF, I'm worried that the big contract he would demand and get might make it hard to keep our core together in the mid-2010's unless there is a plan for the Giants to acquire additional investments.  Plus, the emergence of Andres Torres make that need less acute.

As I noted above, the Giants have been 30-14 with the red thong, a .681 pace that would result in a 110 win season if continued.  While that seems like a lot to hope for in 2011 and would be a pace that maybe one team in any decade could achieve, that winning percentage was actually a SLOWING of the Giants pace of winning during the Posey era.  From the time Molina was traded on July 1st and Posey took his first start as the Giants starting catcher, the team has gone 52-23 (and that includes them losing his first game as starting catcher), a .693 winning percentage, which over a full season would result in a 112 win season.  

While I would never predict such a win total for any particular season, it would not surprise me if they did it at some point in the 2010's nor that they did it multiple times.  We will have both Bumgarner and Posey for a full season going forward, plus both should be able to push up their production over time as they mature and develop and become more experienced.  Jonathan Sanchez too should be even more consistent.  Lincecum too, I think he'll revert back to his Cy Young winning form of the past two seasons going forward.  And I truly believe that Sandoval will revert to his 2009 form once his personal problems become less onerous (divorce, child custody, mother's near-death).

Of course, injuries could put a huge hamper on this.  That's why the Giants need to keep all the pitchers, because if one goes down, you will have the three plus Zito and then you bring up someone or hire a rental.  Having three great starters is still a great situation to be in, hence why you don't go trading them away.  

Giants Gauntlet

It will be the Giants Gauntlet of Lincecum, Zito, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner for the next few years.  Zito would be the weak link, but he could be the #2 starter for any number of teams, who would be happy to have him.  Just like there are lineups where there is no rest for the pitcher, our rotation will provide no rest for opposing hitters, no obvious weakness where the other team could hope to bash against.  Oh, you avoided twice-Cy Young winner Lincecum, oops, you get to face Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner.  You miss Cain?  BAM, see how you like Sanchez, Bumgarner, Lincecum.  And the way Bumgarner is growing and developing, teams might soon be happy that they missed him and got Lincecum, Zito, Cain.

Showing how rare this is, the Giants playoff rotation of Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner is the first since the 1986 Red Sox.  And we should have them for years together.  And they should only get better as a group.

This is the rotation I've been talking about for years now, people would ask me when the Giants should trade a pitcher and while I'm not against trading any of our starters, just on the principle that there ARE offers that you can't refuse, I don't expect to trade any of them because I doubt any team would give me what I would want in return for them.  People have been undervaluing Cain and Sanchez for years, but hopefully this glorious gallop towards the World Series championship over the past two months has shown the value of keeping both of them on our team, and how any of the players contemplated as equal value for them (Alex Rios, Prince Fielder, Jorge Cantu, Cory Hart) were not really.

With a pitching rotation like this, the offense does not have to do much in order for the team to win the 90-95 games necessary to win the NL West division each season.  People don't realize how powerful an advantage it is to have pitchers like this on your staff.  Huge advantage.  That is why you don't want to trade any of them, while it might be tempting to do so to boost your offense, by trading, you just made your pitching that much worse, so all you are hoping to do is break even in the trade, and if the player you trade for declines (see Prince Fielder in 2010 after many wanted to trade Cain for him in 2009), then your team declines along with him.

I don't see any being traded unless we couldn't afford them (Neukom:  work on that!!!  Or maybe the A's can help with that in exchange for South Bay rights) or if they don't want to sign extensions with us at a fair salary.  I don't see the latter happening, the players all seem to love playing for the Giants.  

But should that happen, hopefully Sabean will trade him before his last contract year and get us some great prospects, meanwhile, hopefully we will be able to bring up Zach Wheeler, or maybe Eric Surkamp, and any of the nice pitchers we picked up in the 2011 draft who look interesting at the moment.  

With the team looking good as perennial pennant contenders, we'll be having lousy first round draft picks for a long time, so the only way to pick up good prospects would be trading a young stud pitcher under some control to a team needing that one great starter.  I use the Haren example of what the Giants should shoot for, that was a great package of quality and quantity.  That would be the catalyst for continuing being successful in the second half of the 2010's, plus a key free agent signing here and there.

Which brings me back to Carl Crawford.  It is rare when you can sign such a great player at a young age.  He'll only be 29 next season.  He would be an improvement over Torres at leadoff because he can steal so many bases, and would allow us to field lineup of Crawford, Franchez, Torres, Huff, Posey (or Posey, Huff vs. LHP), Ross, Sandoval, plus SS (which would probably allow us to start Brandon Crawford at SS).  If Neukom can make the money work so that we still can keep our starting pitchers into the mid-2010's, then I would be happy with that.  

Your 2010 Giants are 2-1 in the World Series: MadBum Must Hunt Down Rangers

Well, couldn't expect to sweep them, though Ralph was going on and on about that happening on KNBR on Friday.  Got to tip the cap to Lewis for delivering, while Sanchez apparently is tiring due to the number of innings he has thrown.  Game 7's starter is now uncertain.

This is why I wanted the Giants to put Zito on the playoff roster, in case he might be needed.  I thought Bumgarner would be the one who would be fatigued, though.  Still, with Sanchez in question for Game 7, it could either become a bullpen game or the Giants might decide to go to Lincecum for as long as he can go, since he would have pitched Game 5 and would have had two days rest and thus on the day of Game 7, that would be his normal throwing day anyway.  It could be much like Game 6 in the NLCS, with pitchers pitching in.

Also uncertain is the lineup for Game 4.  Burrell is in a deep slump now and has not delivered in any of the World Series games he has started in.  And Sandoval did not deliver in Game 3, he looked like he was pressing again, unfortunately.  He is also a question mark as well.  With a RHP up in game 4 in Hunter, the Giants might go with Schierholtz in the outfield, Ishikawa at 1B, and Huff at DH, or at least one of those changes.  Given how lousy Hunter has been, I would be OK with making all these changes and see how it works, but Bochy don't like to make a lot of changes, so we'll see.

Don't know why the media is so down.  It just dawned on me that perhaps it is the media's fault that the general fan has been so down on the Giants.  One game lost and "the Giants stumble" is the headline on the Mercury.  No wonder some fans are suicidal about the Giants, like lemmings they follow the mood of the headline.

The Giants are still up 2-1.  They are one of the better teams in the majors on the road, and they have been especially good once Posey was named the starting catcher, they were actually among the poorer teams mid-season, but they not only rose and got better, they ended up one of the top teams on the road.

Having a great rotation does not mean that you run roughshod over every team and sweep them, though that will happen on occasion.  It means that you will outlast most teams in the long run.  It means that you will win 2 out of every 3, or so, in most series.  It means that you have faith in what the team has demonstrated it can do for half a season now:  play winning baseball.

Of course, it would help if we have more hitters other than maybe Cody Ross and Andres Torres hitting regularly.   It would be nice if Burrell stepped up, but sometimes the best hitters are slumping now (Barry Bonds was considered a poor playoff performer until 2002).  However, the two I've been hoping could step up are Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval.  Sandoval froze in the spotlight again last night, but I don't totally blame him, he hasn't been starting regularly lately.  And it would have been nice if Posey had hit that foul ball last night for a homer.

I would also be OK with moving Huff to LF to replace Burrell, give him a day to get his mind off playoffs, start Ishikawa at 1B, and give Sandoval another chance at DH.  We need to get Sandoval or Burrell heated up to improve our chances of scoring runs.  Sitting down Burrell while giving Sandoval another chance could help with getting them started.  And, unfortunately, we don't have any better alternatives, I think.

Plus, I think Ishikawa is ready for his chance at spotlight, he has hit well enough since May of 2009, both starting and mostly sitting and waiting for his chances.  Lucky for the Giants but bad for Ishikawa, both Huff and Burrell came through and hit as well as they could be expected to during the season.  Hopefully he can rise to the occasion, or rather that he can be calm for the occasion, he has said previously that when he thought too much about the situation, it would mess up his swing mechanics, but when he can leave it all up to God, that's when he's swinging freely.

Game 4:  Hunter vs. Bumgarner

I still like the Giants chances against Hunter.  Lewis is a very good pitcher, he will have good well-pitched games most of the time.  Had the Giants continued to rack up the pitches (he had over 30 after two innings pitched), they could have got him out earlier and got into the middle relievers and do more damage perhaps, as they did in Games 1 and 2.  But can't expect every game to be like Games 1 and 2.

I think Bumgarner will be able to deliver a better game than Sanchez, but for how much longer?  He was tiring in his prior start too, and he had 9 days of rest for that one too.  It might be another bullpen game with Bumgarner going 5, then get one inning from four relievers.

In any case, Hunter has had horrible starts all through the playoffs so far.  Don't really see him improving and suddenly performing well on the big World Series stage, when he could not do it on the smaller stages in less critical situations.  Meanwhile, Bumgarner appears to be an assassin with ice cold water going through his veins.  He's going to be a monster for us in the playoffs in future years, teamed up with Lincecum and Cain.  I would have to say that the Giants chances are good for winning the game and getting to 3-1.  But, as the saying goes, that's why they play the games, you just never know.

Go Giants!

Your 2010 Giants are 2-0 in the World Series: Walking to Texas, Rangers

Wow, that was a nail-biter up until the fateful bottom of the 8th with two outs, then came the most improbable offensive sequence I've ever experienced (and I've experienced comebacks from the 70's to today).  To all those who complained about Sabean getting experienced veterans and Bochy playing experienced veterans:  this is why you get them, so that you don't have to go to your young inexperienced players with the game on the line like the Rangers did (had to?) with Derek Holland and Mark Lowe, and then watch the game get out of hand like that, so quickly (really, it took 12 balls mixed with one strike for Washington to figure out that Holland didn't have it?).

Matt Cain, wow, what a great gutsy game, what a great performance during the playoffs.  I have received or seen many statements/questions regarding Matt Cain over the years:

• Trade Matt Cain, he's a loser
• Trade Matt Cain for Alex Rios
• Trade Matt Cain for Prince Fielder
• We have Lincecum, why not trade Matt Cain
• Martin, when do we have enough pitchers to start trading them for hitters

I think most can now see why we kept Matt Cain.  With this performance he has joined a small group (now 5) of pitchers in MLB history who have pitched 20 or more innings during the playoffs and not given up an earned run (ExtraBaggs).  Among them are other Giants:  Christy Mathewson (Big 6) in 1905 World Series and Carl Hubbell (King Carl) in 1933 World Series.  It was also tweeted by Jeff Fletcher (and reported by Baggerly) that Cain is just one of four pitchers in the majors today with 200+ innings and a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the past four seasons.  The others are Dan Haren, CC Sabathia, and Roy Halladay.

Incredibly, he's only 26 YO and yet is the longest tenured Giants player, loves being a Giant (he never had a childhood team), his wife is from here, they have a home here, and we have him signed to 2012.  Hopefully we can get him signed for 2013-15 too, this off season, but probably not until we get to one year left.  But not that I'm worried that he would leave us, just more worried that he might price himself out of our budget.

And I made a mistake in wanting to start Matt Cain in game 1 and Lincecum in game 2, in order to give Lincecum another day of rest.  I see that now, clearly.  Just think of the scenarios, considering that Lincecum has a history of being too amped up in new pressure situations.  If he does well enough and the Giants defeat Lee, then great, but if Lincecum should lose to Lee - and there was a strong possibility of that given how good Lee had been previously - we would have steady, ice in veins Matt Cain starting in game 2 to tie up the series.   If it had been reversed as I had wanted, should Lee outduel Cain in game 1 and the Giants lose, then we have Lincecum up in game 2, and we would be unsure whether he'll be ready or if he'll be amped up (looking at his game 1 results, he was amped up).  Bochy did the right thing starting Lincecum first, then going with Cain.  Another in a long line of good decisions by Bochy that I've been trying to illuminate here.

Edgar Renteria sure came through tonight.  His homer gave Cain the lead the Giants would never relinquish.  His hit in the 8th made the game out of reach, a laugher.  His offense won the game for the Giants today, and his defense again was good.  He has found his fountain of youth here in the World Series, the playoffs really, and if this is it for him, he is going out with a big bang.  Should the Giants be fortunate enough to win the World Series, I would say that Edgar earned his $18M contract with what he has done in the playoffs.

And, as it apparently is in these playoffs, Co-Dy! again delivers, this time scoring two runs while getting on base three times.  And in this World Series, Uribe again delivers, a key single to put the Giants up 2-0, then a key walk (of all things) to drive in another run.  He's done enough to be the MVP so far, but Renteria probably is closest to that right now.  Really, as it has been all year, all playoffs, it is the team that is the MVP, each game had another player chip in something critical to win the game, whether a hit, walk, or great catch/play, or a great pitch.

Game 3:  Colby Lewis vs. Sanchez

Obviously, great position for the Giants, and that sets up Sanchez to have a great game.  Sanchez, in his first two starts early in the series, pitched two 5 PQS games, great DOM starts.  He obviously faltered in his third start, but that was a must win game for the Giants really (which again Bochy nailed it, and managed like it; must win because didn't want to get to elimination game in game 7 in Philly) and when he was amped (innings 1 and 3) he was horrible, but when he had calmed down (inning 2), he was fine, shut them down 1-2-3.  This game, being early and the Giants up 2-0, is not a must win, but probably needs to be managed like it is because if they lose, its 2-1 and Rangers back in it, but if they win, it's 3-0 and Giants can smell the champagne.

Still, as far as Sanchez is concerned, there will be minimal pressure, relatively, other than it is his first World Series and it will be in hostile environs.   He will probably be jittery in the first inning, but Posey will settle him down for the rest of his start.  He should be OK, as long as he don't feel like he HAS to win the game.

Meanwhile, Lewis is in the must win, of all must wins (see below on teams up 2-0 for why).  The thing is that he did well in a similar situation, at home, in game 6 vs. the Yankees.  Not must win, true, but like the Giants, if you lose, then you are back to 3-3 and need to fight for it in game 7.  So not a true must win, but pretty close.  He also pitched very well down the stretch, he had a great September after a so-so August.  He did not, however, pitch that well in his first two playoff starts; he was OK though, both were 3 PQS starts.  He was not as dominating at home as on the road, but he was still good, better than Sanchez.

But that's over a season, and now we have a Sanchez who has been dominating since late August vs. a Lewis who has been dominating since late August too.  Should be a great game, tough game (though game 1 should have been that, and game 2 was until bottom of 8th, and the Giants supposedly had no offense).  Have to give slight edge to Texas for being home team and for Lewis being better over the whole season, but basically I would say it is a coin-flip.

PQS Shows Giants Fading

However, a bad trend is that the Giants' starters have been fading in terms of performance since game 4 of the NLCS.  The first 7 playoff starts by the Giants were DOM starts (either 4 or 5 PQS), but since then, three have been DIS starts (0 or 1 PQS) and only one (Lincecum in game 5) was a DOM (Cain last night did not earn a DOM start, he did not strike out enough guys; though he would have earned one more point if he had given up one less walk).

And now in two games against Texas, we have had two non-DOM starts in SF, and now we have three games in hitter-happy Texas, one of the worse hitter-skewed parks in the majors, up there with Colorado.  Sanchez will have to step up big time to win there, but he has the stuff to do it, that is why he is starting there, he strikes out a lot, and the less balls in play, the better the results.

Giants Thoughts

The series is not over yet, not by a long shot.  Most teams up 2-0 do end up winning, but a good portion of them go on to lose too (The Hardball Times had a great article researching teams up 2-0 and what happened afterward).  In fact, most 2-0 teams that end up losing game 3, basically it is a whole new start to the series, for the most part, for the down team (down team 11-16 in series after winning third game, so it is still good for up team, just not like winning game 3).  For the up team to ensure winning the World Series, they pretty much need to win game 3 (hence why I said what I said above for Colby Lewis).

Though if the rumor I've seen is correct that the Rangers are not going to pitch Lee on short rest (that is, reportedly, he has refused to pitch on short rest), that means Hunter is pitching game 4, which should give us the advantage there and thus not as imperative to win game 3.

As long as Sanchez approaches this as a gimme start since we are up 2-0, I think he'll be OK.  If someone is quoting him these stats on 2-0 teams, he's probably going to be very amped up, and he might still be anyway, it is the World Series.  But given his prior playoff starts and his clincher over SD on last day, I would bet that he'll be OK eventually and the damage will be minimal, at worse.  He probably wouldn't have lasted only 2 IP in that last start if he didn't get on base and get his adrenaline going.  It will be fascinating to see how he handles things, remember, when he is on, he has no-hit double-digit K ability.

The good thing is that the Giants offense has put it in the heads of the Texas pitchers that they should ignore what they might have been told about their offense.  If you give up runners, the Giants will scratch and claw their way to score a run.  This is really nothing new, they were like that during the season too, either scoring a little or a lot, depending on how many of the guys were hot hitters.  The offense is clearly something to be worried about.

Plus, Texas' homepark favors RH batters, and Sanchez, Posey, Burrell, Ross, and Uribe are RHB.  Plus Aubrey Huff has hit well in their park before:

I	Split	PA	AB	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip
	TEX-AmeriquestFd	150	132	37	4	6	23	3	0	15	11	.280	.353	.447	.800	.265

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/29/2010.

And if you'll notice, his BABIP there is low, lower than his career .293 BABIP, suggesting he might be due for better hitting there.  True, the ballpark hurts LH batter's batting average but not to such a large degree, only slightly.

Still, Lewis could deliver a gem and make it a very tough game to win.  But the Giants have seemed to specialize in winning these types of tough games during the season and now during the playoffs.  And particularly if they can get into the bullpen early by taking pitches against Lewis, it won't matter if Lewis pitches a great game if the bullpen blows it for them after he is taken out.

And the bullpen has to be shaken that the Giants have beaten them up like that, and so easily and so much.  That is probably where the Giants are able to pull out their wins the most during this year, when it becomes a battle of the bullpens.  And Washington did not catch on that it was critical in the 8th to bring in Perez before the Giants scored any more runs, something that Bochy would have done, knowing that the closer would have Friday to rest his arm, at minimum, so bullpen management is not a forte of his or his coaching staff (and clearly not sabers, who would know this saber-theory on closer usage when leverage is highest).

Lineup In Texas:  What and Who DH's?

The lineup will probably will be the same order for the most part but Huff will take his spot batting 3rd back and push everyone down one spot.  Sandoval might be a DH, Ishikawa too, with two RHP coming up next.  I would think they would go with Sandoval in game 3 to see how he does, and if he hits well, he'll get game 4, else Ishikawa would get game 4.  In any case, whoever is DH is probably batting 8th or 9th, unless the Giants instead start Sandoval at 1B and DH Huff instead.

I hope the Giants do that.  Huff has DH before and handled it well, he hit basically his career batting line.  Some people can't handle DH-ing, as Burrell showed.  The World Series is not a place to experiment and find out if Sandoval or Ishikawa can DH.  Use the guy who has shown that he can handle it well, use Huff as DH.

Breaking news is that Pablo is the DH.  Thinking more about it, probably no difference defense-wise between the two, but could be big difference offensively if Sandoval struggles with the role, as Burrell did.  Not all players take to DH-ing, some struggle with sitting around in-between innings and staying ready.

But with Lewis pitching, it might have been better to go with the defensive upgrade with Ishikawa at 1B and Huff at DH, now that I'm thinking more about it.  People don't think much of Ishikawa, but he's an OK hitter overall (just not good compared to other 1B; but his defense makes huge difference, I think) and think he would be OK starting.  We will see how this works out, but I think the better move, if you are using Sandoval, is to start him at 1B and Huff at DH.

For game 5, if there is one, I would still DH Huff and use Sandoval at 1B, even though it is a LHP Cliff Lee.  Ideally, probably would play Burrell at 1B and use Rowand in the OF, but Burrell has not played at 1B in a long time and undoubtedly is not that great defensively there either, while Sandoval was OK defensively playing there last season.  In any case, Huff should be DH the whole series, and see who sticks at 1B, just because he's familiar with and comfortable with DHing.  .

Other Thoughts

With the two wins, the Giants ensure that Texas cannot clinch in Texas, if they come back, then the series would return to SF.  The Giants could win in Texas, but if they return back here, they will be in MUST WIN situations for every game in SF.   Hopefully the Giants close it down in Texas and we don't have to return home for games.

That is the ideal situation, and would require them to win 2 of 3 in Texas.  Remember, the Giants have not lost any series, home or road, in the playoffs so far, and I think only twice in the past two months, since the end of August (Milwaukee and San Diego), out of 15 home and road series.  They have been tested every which way for two months now, taking on good pitchers and average, and are 29-14 since then (29-13 in the Red Thong era;  will Huff continue wearing this next season or will it have lost its mojo?).  That is basically a win two out of three streak, which is what they need to do in Texas.  Last road series they lost was on August 22nd, over two months ago.

Your 2010 Giants are 1-0 in the World Series

Wow, what a game!

Started out bad, in that Lincecum seemed all over the place, but he did what the great pitchers do, limit the damage so I wasn't stressing too badly.  Meanwhile, while Lee was giving up no runs, I did not feel like he was the overpowering pitcher everyone was raving about, I thought it was a matter of time before the Giants started stringing hits together.  But I never thought that they would do that the extent that they did!

Then the way they came back, reminded me of Game 3 in 2002's World Series when the Giants roared back after the Angel's battered our pitchers and the Giants took the lead - only to lose in the end...  So while I don't like using the closer so early generally, this gets back to what I've been saying about Bochy understanding the do or die element that exists in these series but that other managers (koff! Dusty) did not seem to get.  Just get the win, worry about tomorrow when it becomes today.

And really, with all the days off between cities plus the rest before the series after the NLCS, Wilson should be OK just from a regular usage basis.  In addition, Wilson says that he is capable of pitching everyday - and remember, he has regularly pitched 1+ inning saves - so if he puts in 0.2 inning on Wednesday, he can put in 1.0 inning on Thursday and not really pitch more than usual.  Then he rests his arm on Friday before we go to Texas.

And the offense!?! How exciting that Freddy Sanchez and Aubrey Huff had the great games they had!  Both their bats were starting to wake up at the end of the NLCS and now they are fully awake. Also Torres got on twice and scored two runs, having our top two guys getting on base really got the offense going.  Cody Ross, of course, had to get a clutch hit and contribute a run.  And Juan Uribe appears to be waking up as well, hitting a 3-run homer that proved to the margin that made the game a real laugher still, and homering in his second game in a row.  Appears Phillies woke up Juan by hitting him in Game 6.  That reminds me of Rich Aurilia in the 2002 playoffs, his bat woke when he was buzzed or hit by pitch.

Luckily, given how well Ogando pitched, the Rangers didn't go to him instead of O'Day, else Uribe might not have gotten his 3-run homer.  Hopefully the Giants can score enough to keep Ogando on the bench, as well as Neftali Feliz.

Hopefully, Lincecum was only tight, but he has pitched more innings than he ever did before, plus technically was pitching on short rest because of his relief stint in Game 6 of the NLCS.  We will probably need him at his best in the next start if we hope to win, can't expect to beat up on Lee again.  Though, if Cain is able to win today, Lee might be pitching in Game 4 instead.

With this win, the Giants continue an amazing feat (blogged on by the peerless Andy Baggarly in his ExtraBaggs blog):  "the Giants haven't trailed in a postseason series yet.  They won their third consecutive Game 1.  For all their torture, they still haven't played a true elimination game in 2010."  And that's because their 162nd game wasn't an elimination game, they were going to play more games, for if they had lost, then all those damn tie-breaker games would have been put in motion.  That was a huge win for the Giants, huge game by Jonathan Sanchez.

Baggarly also noted:  "But tonight's victory was important in a few other respects, too.  It was their 100th win of the season, which is something few teams get to claim.  It also was Bruce Bochy's first World Series victory as a manager.  If you've forgotten, Bochy's San Diego Padres were swept by the Yankees in 1998."

Last Baggarly note:  Tim Lincecum was allowed to wear his lucky, sweat-stained hat that he has worn since he joined the Giants, almost every game if I recall right.  He had to allow a World Series patch to be stitched on the side, though, hope that doesn't destroy the hat when he tries to remove it for future use, or maybe if the Giants win the World Series, he'll finally retire that cap and start with a new cap?

Lastly, I will note that Aubrey Huff's Red Thong has made the cover of today's Wall Street Journal, for those of you who subscribe.  He and his thong are the subjects of the WSJ's famous "Middle Column" series of off-beat human interest stories.  I'll bet he's proud of that!

Game 2:  CJ Wilson vs. Cain

Wow, wonder if Ranger's manager Washington now regrets doing this?  Put his third best pitcher up in a must win situation on the road.  He appears to have been guided by how each pitcher has done during this season by ERA, but as I noted with my PQS analysis, it actually has been the reverse.  It was just some random luck involving DIS starts that bloated their ERA, which really involves luck regarding when the manager takes out the starter and whether his reliever is able to prevent his runners from scoring, and whether his fielders are good or not (like how Vlad didn't get to a lot of balls, or handle them well, but didn't get an error awarded).

But as shut down as Cain has been for us so far, obviously the cautionary tale is yesterday's game by Cliff Lee:  no pitcher is untouched forever if he gets enough starts.  The good news is that Cain has not pitched in a long time.  Unlike Lincecum, he has not had to pitch in more than one game in any series yet and has gotten a lot of rest in-between starts.  Of course, all of our pitchers are pitching waaay beyond the innings that they ever did before, so I'm glad that Bochy has gone with the quick hook on them, which keeps the work load on their bodies minimized.

And if Torres, Sanchez and Huff's bats are waking up, that is good news for the offense, as there will be a steady supply of runners on base for Posey, Burrell, Ross, and Uribe.  Luckily, as I noted, Wilson is good but not really great.  And he might be tiring, he had two well pitched games to start the playoffs, but had a disaster start in his last game.

I would also note that this is his first season starting in a long time, he had been their closer for years, so not only is he beyond his innings like the other starters, but he was way over already during the regular season.  However, I would note that among the Ranger's starters, Wilson was probably the best in delivering DOM starts the last two months of the season, so he obviously conditioned his body well during the off-season in order to start this season.

Still, Cain has been very consistent all season long, and was even better than Wilson the last two months, though I would note that Cain faltered in the first game in the San Diego series with a DIS start.  Still, before that he had a string of 9 consecutive DOM starts, 13 of 14 DOM starts, almost half the season, that is extremely dominating, to say the least.  At least Cain had his hiccup during the regular season and has continued to do well in the playoffs, with a lot of rest.  It really looks good for the Giants in this game, though if Wilson is on his game, it will be another tight nail-biter, but still, Cain, like the Giants have been doing all season and all playoffs, probably will give up just a little less runs.  Hopefully the bullpen can hold it this time.

Go Giants!

Your 2010 Giants are IN THE WORLD SERIES!

The Giants have made it to World Series for the fourth time in San Francisco franchise history:  the opposing teams have fallen to the Giants Gauntlet of Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner.  They have been the underdog in every series.  So it is appropriate that they are the underdog again.

The Rangers have a powerful offense that will bring the Giants Gauntlet to its knees, or so they say.  Cliff Lee will shut down the Giants anemic offense, the pundits say.  Josh Hamilton will conquer the Giants pitchers, as will Nelson Cruz.  The Giants have no chance if you believe the hype (and Vegas betting line).

Let's touch on those beliefs.

Ranger's Awesome Offense

Do you believe a lineup of 9 Bengie Molina's is a great offense?  Does a .719 OPS scare you?  That's Molina's OPS since he joined the Giants.  Didn't think so.

Here is the Rangers' road numbers:  .265/.324/.391/.716.  Yeah, not so world beating afterall, huh?  And that was against all their opponents, against the AL average pitchers overall, not the MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL LEADING rotation that the Giants sport right now.  So it would be logical that they should not even hit that.

And remember, the Giants overall pitching numbers are diminished by Wellemeyer's stats while he was keeping Bumgarner's spot warm and, well, Barry Zito's good but not great stats. Here are some of the Ranger's key road numbers:

Hamilton: .327/.382/.512/.894
Moreland: .244/.330/.500/.830
Cruz: .267/.324/480/.805
Guerrero: .284/.336/.461/.796
Murphy: .294/.367/.413/.780
Francoeur: .270/.328/.405/.733 (includes time with Mets)
Cantu: .271/.313/.417/.729 (includes time with Marlins)
Ramirez: .192/.371/.346/.718
Kinsler: .257/.322/.388/.710 (most overrated player since Hank Blalock)
Molina: .267/.313/.395/.708 (only time with Rangers)
Young: .260/.299/.380/.679
Andrus: .268/.354/.292/.646
Borbon: .269/.302/.340/.641

That is the thing people don't realize, the Rangers aren't as good as their overall numbers look because their homepark is one of the most hitter's oriented parks in the majors, except for Colorado.  Their record on the road is 39-42 and they averaged 4.41 runs scored on the road.  With the DH too: assuming roughly equal contributions, that drops their offense to around 4 runs scored on average when they are playing in SF, which they will be doing for 2 to 4 games.  And it goes down even more if they don't have Vlad in their lineup, which Washington, the Ranger's manager, said will be in 1 of the 2 games in SF to start.

And remember, good scoring teams and bad, the Giants have kept opposing teams to 3 runs or less in 29 out of their last 36 games.  However, I will note the cloud in the coffee:  the Phillies did score 4 runs or more in 3 out of the 6 games we played, so the Giants were only 3-3 in keeping the Phillies from scoring more than 3 runs.

Cliff Lee is, wait for it:  Legendary

And he has been in the playoffs.  Still, the Giants have not been daunted or wowed by every great pitcher this season.  Many pitchers yielded to the Giants offense.

Halladay had a great start to his Phillies career and the Giants were the first team to score more than 2 runs on him as a Philly when they scored 5 runs.  And the Giants were the only team to do that in his first 9 starts, one of two teams in his first 13 starts.  In all, only 5 teams scored 5 runs or more off Halladay in the 2010 season, out of 33 starts, and the Giants were one of them.

And, of course, Halladay again after he no-hit the high octane offense that the Reds had in the playoffs, nobody gave the Giants a chance (negative hits?) and still gave up 4 runs to the Giants, and the Giants won again.  Heck, as @JeffFletcherAOL tweeted, "The #Phillies had averaged 6.0 runs per game over their 9 games before the #NLCS, 5.4 over 19G; 5.5 over 34 G."  From what I calculated, the Phillies only averaged 3.3 runs per game against the Giants.

In addition, Ubaldo Jimenez had his great run with the Rockies earlier this season, but then the Giants scored 7 runs off of him, when he was 14-1 at that time.  Then there was Lincecum outdueling Roy Oswalt three straight times when he was at Houston.  Still, the offense had to score enough off Oswalt to enable Lincecum to win.

The Giants have been challenged by great pitchers all season long, and while they didn't always get the upper hand on all of them and win, it wasn't like they lost every time either, and in fact, beat a fair number of great pitchers along the way, even when it looked like he would shut down the Giants offense.  They have risen to the challenge enough times to get us to the World Series.  They were the little engine who could.

And while Lee has been dominating in the playoffs, and very good during the season, he was not great every time he pitched during the season, so it is not likely that he will continue this forever.  His DOM%, in fact, is roughly that of Lincecum or Cain this season.  They were equals during the season (Lee had 64% DOM during the season, 60% on the road; both Lincecum and Cain were in the 60's too).  He was not perfect and, in fact, in his last 7 starts of the 2010 season, he only had 2 DOM starts.  At some point, his adrenaline will run out and he'll return to his normal goodness, not this greatness.

Josh Hamilton is Da Man

And he has been in the playoffs.  But before we anoint him the next Barry Bonds of 2002, I would note that the Barry Bonds of 2002 was not enough, that Giants team did not win the World Series on the back of his amazing playoff performance.  The rest of the lineup was his kryptonite and they could not score enough, the Angel's pitching shut down the Giants TEAM offense the rest of the way.

And as I have been saying for years now, the best hitters can be neutralized by the best pitchers.  And the Giants have four pitchers who are capable of being the best pitchers around.  And they were and have been since September began.  And as I've been noting, Hamilton could hit 3 homers in a game and they would still lose 4-3 if the Giants pitchers shut down the rest of the Ranger's offense.  Because it takes a team to score a lot of runs, and the best pitchers can shut down a team.  And, as noted, the Giants have four of the best around.

Four of the Best Starting Pitchers Around

And that is the key to the Giants winning the World Series, and has been their key to winning the NLDS and NLCS to get to the World Series:  having more depth in the rotation than any other team.  Sure, the other team might have, say, Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels, but we have three equals in Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, and then you get to the fourth starter and Bumgarner beats anybody's fourth starter.

The Rangers are no different, and in fact, their rotation is a little easier to tackle.  While Lee had a 64% DOM in 2010 and Lewis 66%, Wilson only had a 45% and Hunter a lousy 18%.  Cain had 67%, Lincecum 61%, Sanchez 48% and Bumgarner 50%.  And it has been even higher for the Giants since September began.  The Ranger's starters were all mediocre in September except for Lewis, and during the playoffs, only Lee has been consistently dominating, both Wilson and Lewis had average performances mostly, and Hunter has been horrible, not sure why they don't start Holland or someone else.

Starter's Matchups For Each Game

Since the teams have not faced each other much in their history, and not at all in 2010, there are no data on how pitchers have done on the road except maybe very old data, involving players no longer here.  Like the Giants having a 15-7 historic edge and have won the last 7 overall and the last 11 in SF, or that the Giants are lifetime 12-2 in SF against TX (3-0 in 2009), 3-5 in Texas.

When it all came down to it, had to have Lincecum face off with Lee in the first game, despite his relief appearance in Game 6.  He didn't really pitch that much, facing only 3 batters, and it was his day to throw anyway.  If no changes are made, they will also meet in Game 5 as well.  Should be a battle of the titans and I think they will split the two.

That then leaves Cain to start game 2.  Bochy has chosen to position Cain to pitch at home against the Phillies and Rangers and that makes a lot of sense because both parks are hitters parks, which a flyball pitcher like Cain probably shouldn't be started at, as many have said (including Jerry Oscodar has been tweeting to me :^), though I would note that a lot of those flyballs are weak popflies.  I think the more important decision was  not positioning Cain to pitch at home (which he does for games 2 and 6), but rather Sanchez on the road for game 3.

Sanchez, even when trying to figure things out in prior seasons, struck out batters at a near league-leading rate  and he has continued to do so this season.  If the hitters are striking out, they definitely aren't hitting the ball out of the park or doing damage otherwise.  Plus, Sanchez led the staff in ERA in September and delivered in the last game of the season when the Giants needed it.  Hopefully he is over his playoff jitters and isn't so amped up, and his performance will be more like his 2nd inning in game 6 and less like 1st and 3rd.

And this is where the Rangers made a tactical error as well, I believe, by starting Wilson in game 2 and Lewis in game 3.  Lewis was much better during the season than Wilson.  And while this makes sense because Wilson's road ERA is much better (2.91 vs. home 3.70) and Lewis' home ERA is much better (3.08 vs. road 4.82), this is not reflected in their PQS DOM analysis.  Wilson was about equal but still worse on the road with 43% DOM (47% DOM at home) and Lewis was much worse at home (57% DOM vs. road 72% DOM).  It was random luck that their ERAs turned out the way it did.  And that is the pattern earlier in the playoffs, all of Lewis' starts have been at home, while Lee and Wilson has gotten almost all the road starts (Hunter got the other).

So while it is possible that Cain and Wilson will split, I think that there is a strong possibility that Cain will outpitch Wilson in both games 2 and 6, and the Giants win both.  As dominating Lee has been, and he has been very extremely dominating, Cain has done his normal under the radar good work:  13.2 IP, 9 hits and 5 walks, 11 strikeouts, 0 ER.

Then there is Dirty vs. Colby Lewis in games 3 and 7.  Lewis has pitched great in the playoffs, but his BABIP has been low and he has walked a ton of batters.  And as I noted, he has been good but not great at home in terms of PQS, he has been more average than he was on the road, as his road number was inflated greatly by one bad disaster start.  Sanchez has been his usual wild self in the playoffs, but generally has pitched well and more importantly, been managed well by Bochy, taking him out when he was losing it big time, and handing over to the bullpen.  Given that factor, I would put the two of the equal, but Lewis clearly would have the edge normally.

Lastly, in game 4 we have Bumgarner vs. Hunter.  Should not be close.  Bumgarner has been aces for the most part and the moment he falters, Bochy would bring in the bullpen.  Hunter has been pretty bad all season and even worse during the playoffs.  He has been slightly better at home in terms of DOM (27% vs. 9% on road and most DIS starts on road), but that is a pretty bad DOM no matter how you slice it.  The only good point is that he at least doesn't have that many DIS starts in Arlington.  Should be a Giants win here.

And that is how the Giants have been winning series since September started, if one of our starters don't get you, the next one will.  There will be THE crack in the other team's rotation, whether it be Blanton or now Hunter.  Because the Giants Gauntlet has been pretty much non-stop since Sabean got Lincecum cracking in late August.

And if the Giants are in such good position that the Rangers feel the need to pitch Lee in Game 4 against Bumgarner, then we got Lincecum vs. Wilson (at home), Cain vs. Lewis (on the road), and Sanchez vs. Lee (on the road), but all hands will be on deck again for Game 7.  That could be tight, but if the Giants are in good position, I would think they would be in better position after Lincecum takes on Wilson (Cain vs. Lewis is a toss-up).  I don't see the Giants moving Lincecum up to Game 4 unless we are down 0-3.

Giants Thoughts

I like the Giants chances to win the World Series.  Unfortunately, in baseball, unlike football or basketball, there is a lot of randomness that is part of the game:  each pitch being called ball or strike, each swing whiffing or connecting, each batted ball being converted to an out or a hit, and the string of all these leading to no-hits or batting practice.  But with our rotation, the Giants have a great chance of winning, particularly if they are facing Hunter in game 4.

Our offense, too, has been just enough all season.  And that is not torturous, torture is LOSING by a thin margin all season long, like we used to in the 70's and 80's, beating good teams but then playing down to the level of the bad teams and losing to them.  The team has been just fine as they have been winning

I think the hitters were starting to heat up near the end of the NLCS, if we can get Torres, Sanchez, Huff, Posey, and Sandoval hitting like that plus Ross continuing to hit like he has, Burrell too, though it would be nice if he heated up too.  I think they will look better in Texas, playing in an extreme hitter's park, maybe that will perk up their confidence.

Most of all, I think the Giants bullpen, which has been outstanding for a long time, will be the difference maker - again - in this series, along with the #4 starter matchup (assuming MadBum vs. Hunter).

And the reason they will be is because Bochy has been a master the past two months in knowing when to take out the starter before it gets too ugly, bringing in the bullpen, and then the bullpen shuts down the other team.  And with most starters going 6-7 innings normally, the bullpen is usually well rested and able to do such things.  Plus he has an "all hands on deck" strategy for the end games, where starters are expected to pitch in an inning or two.  Bochy understands how important each game is and plays to win each game, then worry about the next game.  And the team has been playing like this since September started, so it is pretty much old hat to most of them now.

DH Thoughts

I had been going all over with my thoughts on this.  I thought maybe Ishikawa could play 1B against RHP while Huff DH's, or even Schierholtz could start and Burrell could DH.  I also thought about having Sandoval DH as well, because I want his bat in there, I think he's going to hit well in the World Series.

But Burrell was released by Rays for being unable to DH.  And I found out that Huff has been around his career norms as a DH, batting .278/.335/.482/.816 as DH, which is around his career numbers.  Then it came to me:  Sandoval has played good defense at 1B previously, why not start him at 1B while Huff DH's, something he has successfully done in the past.

By the time we get to game 5 where Lee is a LHP, we could have Rowand DH.  Though if Sandoval is hitting well at that point, I would be OK with him starting 1B all three games and Huff DH.  I think a big key to winning the World Series (I know, duh!) is Sandoval and/or Posey heating up and hitting like they are capable of.  Both showed signs of coming out of it in the NLCS, Posey with his 4-hit game, Sandoval with his 7-pitch walk, then hits in games after that.

Lineup

Bochy is a creature of habit, or really of "if it is working, don't mess with it", so it will probably be similar to the last game in Philly:

1. Torres CF
2. Sanchez 2B
3. Huff 1B
4. Posey C
5. Burrell LF
6. Ross RF
7. Uribe 3B
8. Renteria SS

Given that we are up against Lee, Bochy will probably favor defensive prowess and thus Renteria over Sandoval, plus Sandoval has been sitting vs. LHP for the most part late in the season.  Pablo might get the start in Game 2 if Renteria don't hit so well in Game 1.  Rowand would start in CF if Torres is still suffering effects of his injury, but so far, so good.

Go Giants!