Twenty four hours ago, not a single soul could say they ever witnessed the San Francisco Giants win a World Championship. Not one. There are millions who can say they witnessed the heart wrenching defeat in 2002 or the destruction of the 1989 series, even some who watched the Giants fall in 1964 – but not one could say they watched the San Francisco Giants as World Champions. Well friends, you can thankfully cross that off of your bucket list. Your San Francisco Giants are World Champions. And that can never be taken away…
Stop. Think about that. Really reflect. Think about 1989 and how painful that World Series was. Think about Robb Nen giving every ounce of juice left he had, pitching injured in the 2002 World Series only to come up short and subsequently ruining his career. Think about all the greats who passed through the doors of Candlestick Park and AT&T, only to finish their Giants career void of any World Series Trophy. Like Brian Wilson said after the game, part of this is for them.
Watching the interviews last night after they won, it was such a heartwarming moment. The media has tried to paint these guys as the Major League version of the Bad News Bears and the Giants openly accepted it. A bunch of no named, casted off, over the hill players who came together as a single unit. This wasn’t a collection of All-Star level players. This wasn’t a collection of high priced free agents. This wasn’t a collection of All-Star players who demanded a trade to what the felt would be eventual World Champions (looks at Oswalt and Halladay). This was a patch work of players mixed with some amazing rookies and a few savvy vets who worked together as a team. Every night there was a new hero. Never once did you hear an “I” or a “me” in an interview. And every time somebody asked one of the Giants a question retaining to themselves, you’d always get a “we” answer.
Think about how this season played out for a second…
There were 29 other teams out there that passed on Aubrey Huff earlier this year. Hell, in all actuality, there were 30. We passed on Aubrey Huff. We tried to sign Adam LaRoche until he decided to take less money, for less years, for a last place team. Regret that one, Adam? And then look at the season Huff produced for the Giants. Think about how much of a team player he was, moving all over the field, from right, to left, to first, even to DH in the World Series…doing whatever he could to benefit the team.
Then you have Pat Burrell. Sitting home, wondering if he’d ever get a chance to play professional baseball again. Then to not only get a chance but relish it and have some of the biggest and most important hits all season for the Giants?
What about guys like Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand? We’ve all been hard on them at times. I’ve been even more critical. But never once did they complain. Never once did they become a distraction. They were always ready when the Giants needed them. Sure, maybe they didn’t succeed as the rate we would have prefered, but their effort was never in question.
Having two rookies in Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner not only have fantastic (and somewhat historical) rookie seasons, but to have the spotlight shined on them during this playoff run and embrace it. To watch Buster take control of this pitching staff. To see Madison emerge as a quality starting pitcher at only 21 years of age. To watch Buster deliver clutch moment after clutch moment on both sides of the ball. To watch Madison Bumgarner become the only rookie in Major League history to throw 8 innings of shutout ball in a World Series. What these two kids did was nothing short of amazing.
I could list every player and their contributions to this squad, but, we don’t have that kind of time and frankly, I’m not sure they’d even appreciate it. After all, this is a team.
The Giants are World Series Champions. I still can’t believe it, even though I’ve read it about 500 times and typed it many more.
Congratulations on a wonderful and historic season.
And just because I can’t get enough……..
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2010 MOTHERFUCKIN WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!
/drops mic