Jonathan Sanchez fulfilled his promise yesterday, not the verbal guarantee so much as the promise to be a top of the rotation, shut down starter. The bullpen continues its dominant run on a team where the total is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Truly the definition of team. The guys like Casilla, Romo, Ramirez, Lopez, Mota and Ray have allowed Brian Wilson to shine in the closer role. The bullpen as a unit may be the team's MVP, IMO. Everybody fills their role and nobody really has to overextend. The bullpen allows Bochy the flexibility and the confidence to not have to overuse the dominant starters.
Right now, this is a team that is clicking on almost all cylinders. Sabean gets kudos for piecing the roster together economically instead of making one big move. Bochy gets kudos for his patience and steady hand throughout the course of the season. Contract extensions for everybody.
In some ways, the path has been unconventional and at times frustrating. Failures and mistakes in some areas have led to successful moves. But for now the Giants are back in the playoffs and all is right with the world.
This is the Giants first trip back to the playoffs since 2003. That's a long time. This in some ways separates whatever frustrations and ghosts are leftover from the Bonds era and the memory of a Pudge Rodriguez holding onto the ball despite the efforts of a piano-hauling J.T. Snow.
I remember my wife chastising me severely for using some inappropriate language combinations after that game and she asked me why I felt I needed to act that way. It's probably not a good excuse, but I said that the opportunity to get to the World Series is precious and not to be squandered. You never know when you might get another opportunity.
Seven years is a long time to wait. I'm not sure how many more seven year periods I have left to invest in a franchise that already has squandered every other seven year period I have given them as a fan. It is a franchise that has not WON a World Series in my lifetime, although we've been to a couple of them. As Red Sox, White Sox, Cubs fans and Tom Petty well understand - The Waiting is the Hardest Part.
Oh baby don't it feel like heaven right now
Don't it feel like something from a dream
Yeah I've never known nothing quite like this
Don't it feel like tonight might never be again
We know better than to try and pretend
Baby no one coulda ever told me 'bout this
I said yeah yeah
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
I liked the following quotes after the game.
from Yahoo Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-giantsclinch
The Padres lost for only the second time in nine games at AT&T Park this season. They went 12-6 against the Giants overall, winning the first eight meetings.
“We beat them 12 of 18 and that means they played seven games better against the rest of the league,” Gonzalez said. “They beat other teams and we didn’t.”
The important thing to note here is that after going 0-8 vs. the Padres in the first half, this means the Giants went 6-4 in the second half. The Giants, primarily Sabean, made the necessary adjustments and the Padres did not. Case closed.
“Versus the past, when we lived and died with one superstar player, there aren’t any superstars on this team. There might be a couple rising stars,” Sabean said. “Our organization is built on pitching. It’s old-school baseball. We’ve been marching toward this for a while, including holding onto (Jonathan) Sanchez.”
This is a good sign, hopefully it continues. I like old-school baseball.
“IT'S HARD TO DESCRIBE IT IN WORDS. I MEAN, IT'S A GREAT FEELING. BUT THERE ARE GUYS IN HERE THAT I WANTED IT MORE FOR THEM THAN FOR MYSELF.” - Buster Posey, on the Giants' road to the NL West championship
And this too is a solid quote, from a guy who I believe is going to be the cornerstone of this franchise for the next decade. The sense of selflessness and concern for his teammates speaks volumes about the type of leader this kid is going to be.
I like the Giants chances. For now, I see a Giants - Phillies NLCS and hopefully a Rays - Yankees ALCS. Those would be two very exciting, appealing match-ups. If we can have the season end with my predicted Giants - Rays World Series, that would be awesome.
But we shouldn't look too far ahead. The Braves are tough, their rotation of Lowe - Hudson - Hanson is for the most part playoff tested and the Giants rotation, except for Zito who likely will not start, is not. Both teams offenses are virtual mirror images in that they struggle at times to score, sometimes almost painfully. But one of them has to break out and score enough runs or we can't advance the season.
GO GIANTS !!!
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