Most important thing San Francisco Giants have or… Why they win

No one component of writing about the San Francisco Giants on Around the Foghorn, strikes as vibrant a note as the depth of insight provided by daily contributions of the readers of this site in the comments section. I generally try to confine matters to the third person and stifle my often child-like enthusiasm for what has been occurring for the Giants with historical success over the past five seasons at least, but when I get solid backing of such substance from knowledgable sources, I not only feel outclassed, I want to share.

I wrote in Sunday’s post that the Giants were in better shape than MLB writers had portrayed, citing such pedantic examples as key personnel returning from injuries and notable re-signings mixed in with the acquisition of Casey McGehee, a player I described as hustling and capable of playing good defense. 

I even included a paragraph covering the Giants’ team approach, ability to play fundamentally-sound ball and, of course, their chemistry. I did an adequate job and readers were in agreement with me.

My article said it well; reader SD Craig said it better: “Cohesive camaraderie.”

At least there were

no “Why do you write this crap?” comments.

May 16, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder Angel Pagan (16) scores during the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

However, reader SD Craig did a far superior job using way fewer words, so I thought I would share it, making her my guest columnist of the day:

“For me, rather than talk about this trade or no-trade, this player or that, or the loss of Pablo, I want to talk about the most important thing the Giants have: Why they win. It’s in the culture of this team.

Cohesive camaraderie: Look deeper than the statistics and you’ll see the reason this scrappy team wins time and again, and the harder the situation to win, the deeper they dig. They play basic, sound, great baseball. They concentrate on sticking to their game plan. I don’t worry about their rivals so much. If we do what we planned to do on the field, that’s our magic.

And Madison Bumgarner said it best after Game 7, when asked if he was worried about the Royals stealing bases. MadBum said, ‘Well, if they can’t get to first base, they can’t steal second.’ This humble , go-get-em man knows what it takes and he doesn’t worry about it. He just does it. The Giants just DO it. When they’re counted out, they come back harder. And I doubt this will change.

This great culture and spirit was instilled in this team back in the 1980’s with the Humm Baby, and they haven’t forgotten. Neither have I .”

These are the exact words in the same order they were presented to me. The only word I added was the last word in the passage.

Reader SD Craig pegged the culture of the Giants club, the work ethic and the cohesive camaraderie, and she addressed the NL West rivals as well, as she concluded by emphasizing how far back this attitude has prevailed.

The level of complexity into which knowledgable fans are willing to delve appears to have no boundaries, and their ability to turn a polished phrase deserves recognition.

“Cohesive camaraderie…look deeper than the stats.”