The 2010 San Francisco Giants have been labeled more times than a re-gifted toaster. Called “misfits” and “castoffs”; 
their manager even refers to them as “the dirty dozen.” One Philadelphia writer called them a bunch of “rodeo clowns” but their most enduring title will surely be National League Champions.
The Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies to win the NLCS and they only needed six games to do it. This battle ended with an epic 3-2 win in Philly. In the end, a series dominated by starting pitching, was decided by the bullpens and one clutch hit.
Juan Uribe waved his magic wand again, this time in the 8th inning when he drilled a Ryan Madson slider just over the right-field wall at Citizen’s Bank Park to momentarily silence the raucous Philly faithful.
The Giants relied on their strength, pitching, that included relief appearances by Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner to hold the Phillies’ potent offense to eight hits and strand 11 runners.
None were more critical than the pair left on when Brian Wilson painted a knee-high strike past one of the game’s best run producers, Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, on a 3-2 pitch to end the series. That pitch muted one of MLB’s most hostile venues as the Giants stormed the field, celebrating the franchises’ fourth NL Pennant since moving west.
“I knew I was going to throw everything at them,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “This is a huge game. To go into a Game 7, you knew the momentum would be on their side. We were going to do all we could to win.”
Uribe, a journeyman infielder who was just 3-for-27 in the postseason, was the hero for the second time in three games.
Getting off to a shaky start, Giants’ starter Jonathan Sanchez gave up two runs in the first then after a game-tying rally in the third, the lefty again struggled. After a meeting from pitching coach Dave Righetti, Sanchez hit Chase Utely with a pitch in the back. After the two exchanged words, the benches cleared. Bochy then elected to remove the over-hyped Sanchez, and Jeremy Affeldt put out the fire just minutes after the altercation.
The Giants who were 7 ½ games out of first place early in July, whose GM has been fired millions of times by sports-talk callers and bloggers, and whose collection of “castoffs” weren’t good enough for anyone else, found a way to dispatch of the two-time reining NL champion Phillies, grab the pennant and hoist the Warren C. Giles trophy.
Another cast-off, Cody Ross stood soaked in champagne, holding his NLCS MVP Trophy after the game, “I could never imagine being in a situation like this,” said Ross. “I’m just going to cherish it. This is a special time for me. I felt like a 10-year-old kid. I was screaming, running and jumping as high as I could.”
Going into the World Series match-up against the Texas Rangers, these Giants have a legitimate chance to jump to that final rung on the ladder.
Used with permission of the author.
Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.
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