Your 2010 Giants Won the NL West

I know, old news.  I was off to LA-LA Land for the Land de Disney and, best laid plans of PC and man, I thought I would be able to post from there, but the wireless connection there was slower than phone modem, I was barely able to read about Saturday's and Sunday's results using MLB.com's narrowbandwidth content, let along try to post anything.

Giants Win 2010 NL Western Division Title

Who would have thunk that one in spring training?  And that Jonathan Sanchez would be the one to win the clincher with a good game?  And that Posey would be homering in it too?  If that and his guidance of the pitching staff to end the season on such a high note don't win him the Rookie of the Year award, I don't know what will.

What I did know was that the Giants had a good staff, particularly with Sanchez developing further and Bumgarner taking his place on that staff to make it a great rotation.  I just didn't know how historically good it would be, with its great run of 18 straight games of 3 runs or less, best in the modern era of baseball (post-1920).  But as I've been saying for the past two seasons, with a pitching staff as good as the Giants, we won't need much of an offense to reach 90+ wins.  And 90+ wins usually puts you right in the mix of things for the playoffs and the division title.

Giants Play Braves In First Round of Playoffs

Not only that, but the Giants knock the Poseur Pouty Padres out of the playoffs with their win over them on Sunday, creating the best scenario for the Giants in the playoffs:  Giants play host to stagnant Braves while the Phillies and Reds knock each other silly.  Both the Padres and Braves fell back to the pack and both came close to being pushed out of the playoffs.   That plus home advantage should give the Giants a great chance to beat the Braves in the first round.

Meanwhile, hopefully the Reds would take down the Phillies (harder now that Halladay pitched a NO-HITTER against the Reds in their first game) and set up a great match with Dusty's Reds against the Giants, as the Phillies are a tough team.  Still, the Giants took on the Phillies and beat Halladay, plus gave Oswalt a lot of losses this season as well as beating Hamels too.  And was real close to winning the season's series, settling for a split.  So the Giants should give a good series with the Phillies as well as the Reds, should they make the second round of the playoffs.

2010 Giants

So many highlights, but I'll mention the top ones, in my opinion:

• Pitching Rotation:  superlatives are lacking, but the good news is that it is just beginning and we control them for at least the next couple of seasons, if not more.  They all deserve shoutouts for one thing or another during the season.
• Closer:  Wilson ties Shooter's team record of 48 saves, and I thought he had no chance of tying when I saw speculation on that.
• Bullpen:  was out of this world in September, just like rotation, should be key in playoffs, I think and they are well rested.
• Posey:  ROY or bust!
• Torres:  Willie Mac award winner saved our bacon and season.
• Huff:  Comeback award?
• Burrell:  Co-comeback award?