52 Years Waiting

For The San Francisco Giants To Win A World Series! hno:

Alright, let's revisit this. As most of you know, I am passionate about the San Francisco Giants as I grew up playing little league baseball in San Francisco while watching the Seals before the Giants moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958. Our team had a field trip to Candlestick Park when it was under construction and got to throw a ball as far as I could as a little guy.

The San Francisco Giants have played in 3 World Series since arriving. In 1962, they played the New York Yankees. In Game 7, the Giants trailed 1-0 but pinch hitter Matty Alou led off the bottom of the 9th with a bunt single. Yankees starter Ralph Terry struck out Felipe Alou and Chuck Hiller, but Willie Mays doubled to the right-field corner to put the tying and winning runs in scoring position. With Orlando Cepeda waiting on deck, the Yankees chose to pitch to cleanup hitter Willy McCovey with a base open. McCovey lined an 0-1 pitch that Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson speared for the series ending out.

In 1989, the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake rocked the Bay Area on October 17th as Game 3 was set to begin at Candlestick Park. The series was postponed 10 days as a result. Sandwiched around the natural disaster, the Oakland A's dominated the Battle of the Bay sweeping the Series in 4 games.

In 2002, the Giants most recent trip to the World Series was their most gut wrenching. With the Giants leading the Series 3-2 over the Anaheim Angels and holding a 5-0 lead in Game 6 and 8 outs away from their first world championship since moving to San Francisco, Dusty Baker infamously took the ball out of the hands of Russ Ortiz in the 7th inning and handed it to Felix Rodriquez. Scott Spiezio hit a three run homer to send a jolt though the home crowd and begin one of the game's historic comebacks. The Angels rallied to win 6-5 and followed up in Game 7 with a 4-1 win.

So here we are on the brink of Game 1 of the 2010 World Series and I am concerned. If most of you have been following throughout the season and in the playoffs, you no doubt sensed that I honestly believed the Giants had a decent chance of beating both the Braves and Phllies to get here. The Rangers, however, are an unknown to me except for Cliff Lee who is an absolute monster with a 7-0 post season record and a 1.26 ERA. You see, I felt very comfortable with the Giants pitching match-ups against the Phillies, particularly Lincecum against Halladay as the Giants had beaten all three Philly starters during the year. Cliff Lee however, is a different animal. He is a strike thrower, but paints the corners, and is extremely difficult to score on. Lincecum will most likely have to throw a shut-out to match him and Timmy did throw 16 pitches on Saturday in Game 6 against the Phillies. He needs to be at his very best which IMHO is not likely to match Lee. So the ace edge in this series belongs to the Rangers I believe. However, overall, I still feel that the Giants staff, both starters, the bullpen and closer are better then the Rangers staff. Hitting and speed edge goes to the Rangers but there are some interesting twists here as in Games 1,2,6 and 7, the Rangers no longer can use the DH and their pitchers will not only have to hit but Washington will have to manage in a manner he is not familiar with when deciding to leave a pitcher in or take him out. Also, at least in Game 1, Guerrero will try to play right field in a ball park very unique in right center. Washington wants his bat in the line-up to protect Hamilton but not only may he be a liability in the field but how will playing in the field affect how fresh he is when batting. On the other side, the Giants manager Bochy is use to making moves with his pitchers and the Giants should benefit when playing in Texas by adding a 9th bat in the DH position.

So what does this all mean for a lifetime Giants fan?



More Torture!


But we wouldn't have it any other way! Best of luck everyone and enjoy the series! @)

Go Giants! This is our year.......hopefully

GL to ya ted. Personally i am playing texas tonight because i believe it is their best situational match up for the series, but I think SF wins it all, to much pitching. Texas pounded the yankees pitching but I dont think the yankees are nearly as good as SF pitching and situational hitting

Good luck Ted.

I don't know if or what I will be playing in this series, as a Yankee fan I always prefer being beat by the best (so in the case Texas), but having lots of friends in/from the Bay Area leaves me in the middle.

Best of luck to the Giants, OMT...I truely hope you get your WS !!

Good Luck OMT........atleast it's not 102yrs...like my team...:smoking:^<<^:smoking:

Awe Yes OMT. Myself and the gypsy remember the earthquake very well as Al Michaels covered the diaster with much professionalism. I myself was a senior in college at Clemson University while the gypsy was tending bar and hustling Three Card Monte in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Later the gypsy toured with Jimmy Buffett for awhile but that is a different tale that can be told another time. A good General or Sergeant Major would instantly realize this series to be a war with many battles that will be fought. Each battle must be fought one inning at a time and the true test of the character of a player, manager, team is how well they can adapt to the adversity that is presented to them at any given juncture of the battle. If San Fransico can focus on the positives of an adverse situation and keep their composure, then their chances of winning the next critical inning increase substantially. Overcomming adversity will be a key factor in San Fransico's quest at obtaining a World Series Championship. After all the battles are fought and after all the hot dogs and beer have been sold, if you did not crack under the presure of the torture from the enemy, the victory is all the more sweeter. Alot of folks here in SC are rooting for the Giants because most people here favor the National League. You have more people in your corner than you might think. So in just a few short hours, the boyhood dreams of many of these young men will become reality and the final stage is set. All we can say is "Play Ball".

Old Man Ted ends his interesting writeup on how the Giants lost their last three World Series by asking,

"So what does this all mean for a lifetime Giants fan?"

NEXT YEAR BECOME AN A's FAN.

Actually Ted, your writeup brings back lots of memories. I grew up in San Francisco and still live in the Bay Area. I was at Game 6 of the 1962 World Series, won by the Giants 5 -2 after Whitey Ford was pulled after giving up 5 runs in less than fiVe innings. I don't remember how we got tickets but it must have been before scalping got out of hand or I couldn't afford to go.

When the Giants returned home from New York October 11th for Game 6, it was raining and continued to rain for the next 3 days, unusual for SF in mid October.
When the rain finally stopped, they tried to play Game 6th on Oct 15th after three "rain outs". I remember sitting in the stands before the game started watching two helecoppters flying low back and forth over the field using the wind from their propellers to dry the field the best they could. I don't think they even had tarps then because from May through September the average rain totals were less than an inch.

I'm not a Giants fan anymore, becoming an A's fan when they moved here in 1968 playing a more exciting game than SF. They were just four years away from winning three World Series in a row, 1972 -1974. One reason a lot of my friends and myself did not like the Giants was their policy in the early sixties of only televising their 9 games with the Dodgers on, get this, Pay TV. No local free TV.

Now back to the present. You said and I don't disagree "Washington will have to manage in a manner he is not familiar with when deciding to leave a pitcher in or take him out." However, even for managers from the NL, sometimes the best move is no move at all. In other words, does the importance of the games, cause one or both managers to over manage, thus making the manager who doesn't over manage, the one who gives his team a better chance of winning. Making the next question, did Dusty Baker, the NL manager over manage when he removed his starter leading 5-0 in the 6th.

Your writeup has been an enjoyable read, especially the Seals. I remember taking the 22 bus from Marina Jr. High to Seals Stadium to watch the Seals. Do you remember Ted after the games there picking up the seat cushions and after bringing a certain amount of them to the concourse where they rented them, we got a free pass to a future Seals game. I don't remember having Little League growing up but I did play Junior High ball and then also for Lincoln High School although our High School sucked back then.

In any event, good luck rooting for your team and I hope you enjoy the Series. I'm playing Texas tonight because of Lee and the Texas bats, but may pass tomorrow because the pitching matchup does favor SF.

I love the Giants. My God, how I love the Giants. It's unhealthy, in fact. But boy, do I love them.

It's been a long road for all true SF Giants Fans; since $5 dollar tickets at Candlestick, the Battle of the Bay-Earthquake series and the Crumble of 2002. Game 1 tonight, let the TORTURE begin. GO GIANTS!

TED, From an old man of 72yrs old i hope your giants win it all for you,gl.

I heard there is no wind what so ever, and the balls were flying in batting practice. But thats just hearsay at the moment.

Another Life-Long Fan Chiming In

Don't go as far back as you OMT, but grew up in LA as a Giants Fan/Dodges hater. Memories of Bobby Bonds, Tito Fuentes, Chris Speier, then on to Jack Clark, Count Montefusco, on and on. It's been a hell of a ride this year, and with DirecTV Extra Innings, probably the most enjoyable baseball season since I was a kid. Here's to the Giants!

congrats Ted. 1 down for your boys.

Enjoyable read here Ted, hope you're wooping it up out there.

To All Of You

Great to hear from the younger to the older Giants Fans! I'm speechless after tonight's game but will be sharing my thoughts about tomorrow's game as well as the series. One happy man for each win!

@)

Congrats to us and the Giants!!! Go Giants!!

im rooting for the giants!! go giants go! now that game wasn't that torturing at all LOL