Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Congrats, San Francisco

I'm happy for a good baseball city that they finally have a World Series champion, even though I'm an American League fan and root for those teams to win, except for the Yankees, of course.  And you have to like that team from a baseball purist standpoint -- great, smart pitching and a bunch of grinders who play fundamentally smart baseball.
So while I was rooting for the Rangers, it doesn't break my heart at all to see the Giants win; and it was a win for the Rangers in many ways and a win for baseball.  While I'm not going to say the Dallas area will or could become a great baseball town like those in the Northeast and Midwest, I think it has the makings of becoming a good baseball town.  It has the population base to draw from and it is a good sports town.  So I expect with this new ownership that they'll be competitive and draw well.  It won't be like the Florida cities who can't draw even when they're winning.
Was I the only one who felt during game 2 that this series was essentially over?  It felt like the Giants were going to continue to pitch great, hit clutch and that the Rangers weren't going to come out of it.  The  Rangers did win game 3 and Cliff Lee seemed back on his game for game 4; but as soon as you could see that Lincecum was also on his game, you knew who was going to end up winning that game.   It was for that reason mostly that for me this series wasn't that interesting.  Some well-played baseball but it never felt close and, therefore, no real excitement and anticipation.
And by the way, what's not to love about Tim Lincecum?
Looking at next year for a second, I think the Giants caught lightning in a bottle.  Their pitching will continue to be great and they have a young superstar catcher, but they're not going to win again without revamping that offense.
Hey Rick, I know you have a soft spot for the Giants similar to mine for the Padres.  I suspect you're happy to see this.

2 comments:

Robyn said...

I hate the Giants. That's why I've been mum on this World Series. I've had a longstanding hatred for them ever since the beanball wars of the early 90s. I remember when Jeff Brantley broke Benito Santiago's arm with a pitch, as well as when Kevin Mitchell charged the mound on Bruce Hurst for throwing at his... foot? Yep. That really happened.

Whatever. It's hockey and football season.

tpubgu said...

While I was sort of blase about the series, my hat goes off to the Giants also for winning it without Barry. (It shows that there is justice in the world.) I was glad that the "big money" teams weren't in it especially the Yank-mes. I'm a NLer now and so I'm glad a NL team won it.

However, I have a good Marine buddy down in TX who has always been a Rangers fan, so I was glad to hear from him when he was on his way to game 3, which they won.