2010 World Series: Rangers vs. Giants
 

I just thought it would be cool to start a thread with a running discussion on the world series. The media is predicting very low ratings, but it should be a great series for baseball fans.

To start, what are your predictions?

I'm predicting Rangers in 6 games, maybe even 5. The Rangers look like they can match the Giants in every category, but have far superior hitting.

Giants in six...but my prediction is from the heart. Rangers are a better team.

Rangers
 

I think the Rangers are superior in every category. Better ace, better rotation, better offense, better bullpen, better closer, they run like crazy and all the outfielders have guns.

Rangers in 5.

when is game 1? seriously.

Rob,

Game one is tomorrow night (Wed.). First pitch is scheduled for 7:57 PM eastern time.

Cy

Contrarian
 

I'll be the contrarian and go with the Giants in 7. I like the Giants top three starters in aggregate better than the Rangers...and Brian Wilson is a stud and a little more seasoned than Feliz, so I'll go with the good pitching beats good hitting theory.

I ordered a flu bug for the Ranger clubhouse from i-fluenza.com

Hopefully, it arrives in time.

Giants in 6. Partially from the heart, not totally abandoning the mind. In my mind, it really only comes down to whether the Giants pitching can stop the Rangers hitting. This is the best rotation, 1-4, that the Rangers have seen in October. If they can shut down the Ranger hitters, they'll win ugly like they have all year.

I like the Giants in 6 since they beat the team that I thought was the team to beat, the Phillies.

All of the above correct. But Giants have the Ex-Cub Factor working in their favor. San Fran in an anxiety-ridden seven games, three blow-out losses, four one run wins. Keep the tranquility pills handy and Humm Baby.

lol!

I'll play along
 

I really don't care because I would like to see either team win it, but I'll go Rangers in 6. Obviously it all rides on the Giants pitching, which is great. But, I think the Rangers will score enough to win it.

my prediction......Rangers
 

Rangers bats and pitching will beat the same of the Giants.

Rangers in 6.

David,
You crack me up.
JimB

Go Giants
 

Giants in 6. I think the Giants pitching is better and they will scratch out enough runs to win. As with Halladay, Lincecum beats Cliff Lee tomorrow.

No predictions, just a fervent hope that my Giants finally win one.

Semi-interesting side note to the Series: Wasn't Giants at Texas the first matchup after MLB introduced inter-league play?

sanchez/bumgarner was effective against the phils' lefty lineup...that's not gonna be the case with the rangers besides hamilton.

rangers in 6...unless lincecum can win 3 games and blow out his elbow.

The absolute worst part of this series for me will be having to listen to Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. Compared to the Giants announcers who did all the games during the regular season (Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow), I think McCarver and Buck are awful.

Agreed.

In this year of the Cowboys and Texas Longhorn debacles, if the Rangers don't win the whole state will go in to mourning.

Even though Huff will touch second base on a game winning hit, Posey will not be confused by a pop-up and Panda will not have a ground ball hit a pebble and bounce over his head, the Giants are still cursed. Rangers in 5. Sorry Matty and Muggsy.
C.J. Wilson is a lot better than most people think and this "Cliff Lee light" will win 1, maybe 2 games in the Series. That's my bold prediction. :cool:

Rangers in 5.

If my UCLA guys can beat Texas in football, then I think it's the year for my
Giants to finally win the big one. They make me a nervous wreck, but Giants
in 7 close games. Also, I agree about Buck and McCarver being terrible - but
I kind of like to hear some of the stupid things McCarver says. My kids love
to go to www.shutuptimmccarver.com and read his quotes.

game one
 

Giants win in six. Pitching almost always prevails in the post-season. Besides Lee, I'm not a believer in the Texas staff.

On a side note, everyone's favorite dunderhead Bud Selig announced today that there were not enough teams in the playoffs and wants to have 2 maybe 4 more added in 2012. Geez, the guy has been horrible and his used car salesman mentality (no offense to car salesmen on the board) shows a real inane attitude toward the history of the game. He doesn't want to trim the season back to 154 games but wants best of 7 series in the LDS. I guess they'll be playing almost to Thanksgiving. Can you imagine if Minnesota and Colorado make the WS in 2012. BRRRRRRRR.
Hey Selig, your ineptitude is showing once again. Please retire and do us all a favor. :cool:

$15/mil a year to not rock the boat, keep on the traditional course and shun changes...stay within 4-5 bonehead decisions a year...no one would walk away from that job.

I want the Giants to win...just like Mad Dog Russo :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM_8AQwk4gY

I am going w/ the Rangers in 5 games.

Gott'a go with SF.

This is the very first time I have ever favored a NL team (other than the Phils) in my entire life !!!

Sf in 6

Texas Rangers all the way
 

The ghost of Horace Stoneham's "regrets" will continue to haunt the Giants. They should have never left Coogan's Bluff (NYC).

Besides, wherever Cliff Lee goes, success follows him.


TED Z

You can tune into KNBR 680 to get krukow, kuiper and dave fleming calling the game. Just turn the volume on your TV all the way down.

Giants
 

Pitching beats hitting. SF in 6. I root for the A.L. though (unless Boston is in).

My Prediction
 

Giants in 6.

Lincecum will add a WS MVP to his 2 CY awards.

Kruk and Kuip are worth the MLB TV package alone (unless you happen to live in the Bay Area).

SF
 

SF
a. in 7 (more games the merrier)
b. west coast team
c. that Texas manager pulled a pitcher in the middle of a no-no:mad:

True, add John Miller and Dave Fleming on the radio side too when KnK are on the tube, a great crew

It would be neat if they brought in Hank Greenwald to do an inning (assuming he's up to it). One of the highlights of my "career" as a baseball fan was listening to HG on the radio doing the Giants day games whilst at work during my stint as a land surveyor in Palo Alto in the '80's. He was definitely a thinking man's announcer.

Me and Hank Greenwald (on radio at left elbow), 1985
http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_...Surveyor-1.jpg

Hank was awesome. Very laid-back, conversational, wry style. As much as people like John Miller, I'll always prefer Hank.

A big fan of Hank (and Lon Simmons) also, what do you think of his kid at Fresno. Assuming you've heard him.

.

I always liked Hank Greenwald as well. His son sounds just like him. He did some Giants games this year. The tv and radio crew in SF is top notch esp Kruk and Kuip.

Great game last night! I can't believe that Cliff Lee is human. Looked like he couldn't locate his curveball, and kept throwing fastballs. Still, I think pulling him that early was a mistake given the Rangers' suspect bullpen.

I hear what you are saying, but I don't think Washington had a choice. Lee was up to 104 pitches and he didn't even get through 5 innings.

How about that Freddy Sanchez??

The final score was a complete surprise. I'm sure a 2-1 game was anticipated, so of course an 11-7 game was not expected. Lee was throwing batting practice to a weak hitting team, and Sanchez's three doubles were of course a highlight. And what happened to Lincecum in that first inning rundown? How could he forget to throw to third? He was lucky to get a double play with the bases loaded; they could have easily knocked him out that inning.

I still stick with Giants in 6.:)

Rundown
 

Barry,
I totally agree about that Lincecum rundown in the first inning. I am a huge Giants and Lincecum fan but I thought he looked like a deer in the headlights that first inning. I played college and minor league baseball (a pitcher) and I have never seen a pitcher forget to throw the ball to the infielder when he has someone in a rundown. For me, that was the most amazing play of the game. Of course, no one seems to be talking about it here in SF this morning. Go Giants!

I know David. I have no idea what he was thinking when he held the ball. At first I thought maybe two runners ended up at third, so one of them would have been out and no throw would be needed. Then when I realized it was a routine rundown I was in disbelief. I think he may have been really nervous, and he did not get off to a good start. They were hitting him hard from the opening bell.

The Rangers better hope CJ is on or this Series could be over soon. Vlady in right field reminded me of Willie Mays in the outfield in his last year as a Met. Sad. :(

I remember being at the park for a bbq with a bunch of friends when I was in my teens and we played a pickup game of baseball (similar to game 1 of the WS, right? haha). I was playing shortstop, there was a runner on 2nd base, and a groundball was hit to me. I fielded it, looked the runner back to 2nd, had what seemed like 1/2 hour to throw to first base, but I just kinda froze. No idea why, but I didn't throw the ball. No explanation.

Who knows, maybe if Lincecum had thrown the ball, it would've went over the fielders head and scored the runner. Karma or something.

Yuck
 

I thought it was a poorly played game. Six physical errors and some mental boners too. Looked more like a March matchup in Scottsdale than a World Series contest between baseball's supposed best (or even best at the time). I hope it was just opening game nerves, jitters or whatever for teams unfamiliar with the stage, and it was somewhat entertaining from a novelty sort of standpoint, but I was underwhelmed. I hope it gets better soon.

I've always liked Vlad. It was painful watching him in right -- though he still has the rifle arm. But I know he can still do some serious damage with his bat, so as a Giants fan I'm not ready to mourn his diminished skill set quite yet.

As for Lincecum's rundown gaffe, it was the first inning of the first game of the World Series, Timmy was really amped up, and the previous hitter, Vlad, had just ricocheted a line drive off his foot. Combine those factors with the realization that Lincecum is from somewhere beyond Neptune, and I can see how he might make a mental gaffe. Doubt he would have made the same mistake were it the 5th inning. I'm not justifying the mistake, just saying I was little less surprised than others when it happened.

You all are aware of Mr. L's off field "issues", of course he is gonna forget to throw the ball from time to time! My wife thought I was watching a scence from Dazed and Confused the first time she saw him pitch. Mitchy, Mitchy, Mitchy keeps running through my head!

Not the best played game ever, but I had a good time watching,

Bob

Some simple fact that many overlook on Giants and Rangers

Giants hit 21 more extra base hits than Rangers did this year (16 more doubles, 5 more triples, and the same HRs)

They did this playing home games in a pitchers ball park while the Rangers hit in a hitters ball park

They did this with No DH and their pitchers batting roughly 10% of the time.

They did this w/o Burrell, Posey, Ross, Guillen, etc, fora good % of the season.

If you reduce the Rangers to a NL team by removing their DH stats (57 Extra base hits, .300 average), then the Giants will have a team batting average very close to what the Rangers had, but the Giants would hit over 75 more extra base hits, and a far higher slugging %

And they call SF "The Hitless Wonders" haha :)

PS also take in the fact that the Giants pitching staff in last 8-9 weeks have put up numbers that rival some of the best in Baseballs History.

Underdog? .... I love it!

Wow. Good stuff, Frank. Never would have guessed it.

Here was Lincecum's post-game reaction to that rundown play in the first inning:

"I had a little bit of a brain fart there," Lincecum admitted afterward.

A friend just forwarded this to me. Safe to say the Giants have more than their fair share of prankster/free spirits on this team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ckloLGOgVo&feature=fvsr


* apparently, "the machine" is Pat Burrell.

Got Lucky...
 

I got lucky and had some great seats last night...
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z228/andypcl/game001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

^ Wow, great pic, thanks for posting.

Holland just walked three straight batters on 13 pitches! Wasting a great effort by Wilson the starter. The Texas bullpen is looking awful so far this series.

I figured it wasn't the Rangers night when Kinsler's ball bounced off the top of the fence and back onto the field...and then N. Cruz popped up with the tying runner on 3rd...and to top it off...the Giants never known for drawing walks get a bunch in one inning...;)

Nice picture. I'm a Dodgers fan so... Well, you know.

I do have some fond memories of that park. My father lived a couple of blocks from there for about 5 or 6 years in the Clock Tower Lofts. Interestingly enough, the Clock Tower building housed Schmidt Lithography. I didn't know what Obaks were back then. I was surprised to find out they printed cards there.

Anyway, go Rangers. :mad: :confused:

I thought the Giants lacked batting game?

For a team that can't score any runs the Giants are starting to look like Murderer's Row. What's going on here? I know they haven't won anything yet- if you're a Giants fan think Game 6 of the 2002 Series- but you have to be feeling awfully good right about now!

Go Giants!

Great photo, Andy. Thanks for posting. And an excellent vantage point. I've seen one game there, it's a nice ball park. The Giants are a real force. I'd like to see Renteria continue with what he's done, and for him to be the MVP of the Series.

Game 6
 

Glad you guys liked the pic. I'm really torn because as a Giants fan I'd love to see this end as quickly as possible but I've got two tickets in hand for game 6. I guess I'm kinda hoping Texas wins 2 of 3 down there so I can get back for what could even be a clincher.

I've been to some really cool sporting events but the energy inside the park is just crazy. I won't even try to explain what's going on outside the park! If I get back to 6, I'll post some shots of Willie Mays plaza and the craziness in the cove.

Andy- I know how you feel. Of course if you're a fan you want to see them win four straight; but if they could clinch it in game six you would be a witness. A question: why was Pat Burrell's name on those banners? It stretches most of the length of the left field stands.

Now that I look at it again I guess you shot the image at the moment his name was announced. It looked to me like a long red banner but now I can see it's part of an electronic scoreboard.

With all the talk in this WS about pitch counts and Nolan Ryan's philosophy, I thought this would be of interest, from the Sporting Life, circa 1916:

Game 1
 

Hi Barry,

Yes, that's an electronic scoreboard and unfortunately it was never used for game statistics. Throughout the entire game it rotated MLB's advertisers.

I don't mean to clog up the thread with pics but even back in March I had hope for these guys. Here's a few I snapped in Scottsdale and one more where they ended up.

Rowand leading off against the Brewers with Zito totally unaware of his 2010 fate! Another of Will Clark tossing a baseball to a kid.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z228/andypcl/springtraining.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z228/andypcl/zito.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z228/andypcl/clark.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z228/andypcl/game003.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Great pics Andy- and it is interesting how Barry Zito has become a forgotten man. The Giants invested a zillion dollars in him and he's been a near total flop. That they could get this far without the pitcher who was supposed to be their ace makes it that much more amazing.

The way the Rangers have been playing they probably watched this video one too many times :rolleyes:.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB2nq...eature=related

Great video Bob. It's from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and is an outtake from the film. And check out Brian Jones!

Sad so many of these people left us way too early, Cass Elliott, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, etc.
Barry, Linsecum looks like he would have fit right in at Monterey :)

And yet Keith "Rasputin" Richards turns 67 later this year.

Great pics, I made it out to about 10 games this year, no postseason unfortunately, keep it up boys!

I had the same thought Bob. At one point in the clip Mama Cass, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Brian Jones were shown back to back and all four died way too young.:(

World Series Humpf !
 

Great pictures Andy and nice comments from others too. NOBODY has offered me tix to the series so I will be in front of the TV as usual. I hope it goes 6 games for you and do not worry about me being home.

Oh by the way Andy is my son !

Mark (sealmark)

Barry and Bob
 

While we are reminiscing "rock".....let's not forget Buddy Holly, J P Richardson, and Richie Valens.
Their untimely deaths on Feb 3, 1959 stunned the music world.

And, the terribly tragic ending of Marvin Gaye.

Speaking about Mama Cass, I couldn't keep my eyes off Michelle Phillips when I was young. And,
she still looks great at age 66.


TED Z

You weren't the only one, Ted.

Ted- Michelle Phillips is the only survivor of the Mamas and Papas....and see you in a few hours.:)

Lewis having great postseason for Texas, Giants lean on rookie southpaw tomorrow, lets get back on track Gigantes!

If you're a long time Giants fan you hope for the best but expect the worst.

One Down, 2 to go
 

I'll be i nthe same seats in the Upper Deck for the next 2 nights :)

It was amazing with the energy in the ballpark last night. That's what baseball is all about

Rich