2010 Red Sox Highlights

I could probably list 162 highlights of the 2010 season, but will have to settle with these for now:

Daniel Nava’s 1^st pitch grand slam

Darnell McDonald HR in 1^st AB
Darnell McDonald walk off single, same game

Bill Hall pitches 1-2-3 9th inning

Ryan Kalish’s diving somersault catch

Pedroia’s 3 HR Laser Show in COL 5/5 for the night

Big Papi winning the All Star Game Home Run Derby
Mike Lowell’s HR 1^st AB back from DL:

Ryan Kalish grand slam #1

Ryan Kalish grand slam #2

Jed Lowrie 4/4 against the Yankees in NY

Mike Lowell Day

October 3^rd, game #162

Denying Yankees AL East title on last day of the season

Hall/Kalish double steal, and Nava/Kalish double steal- Kalish steals home!

Lackey fans 10 Yanks

Clay Buchholz & Jon Lester- no Cy Young’s but MLB’s best top 2 starters

Adrian Beltre monster season

Victor Martinez has a great season

Terry Francona finishes 4th in AL Manager of the Year Award

Terry Francona finished 4th in AL Manager of the Year Award voting which was announced Wednesday. Passionate Red Sox fans (myself included) hoped that voters would not turn this into a popularity contest and look at what Francona accomplished given that he was managing a AAA team for part of the year and having the daunting challenge of filling out a different line-up card for almost every game of the season. Ron Gardenhire, manager of the AL Central champs Minnesota Twins won the 2011 Award, and finished ahead of the AL Pennant finished second.

Red Sox Nation can take heart in his 4th place finish, as the only managers to finish ahead of him piloted teams to the post-season. Despite making the play-offs, Joe Girardi received 1 third place vote, his only vote. Despite not making the play-offs, Toronto manager Cito Gaston received 1 first place vote, again, his only vote. (Huh? What happened there?)

Am I a Giants ‘pink hat’ fan?

Growing up in RI, of course I became a Red Sox fan early on. Always was, always will be. There were no NL teams up in this corner of the country back then, or now. The Mets were brand new and were sucking swamp water up until ’69. I recall our family making a trip to the Pittsburgh area when I was young. It was there that I made my 1st trip to see a Major League Baseball game at old Forbes Field. The Pirates are a sentimental favorite for that reason. I am left wondering if the Giants were the visiting team that day. Somehow, though, the Giants became my favorite NL team. I never followed them nearly as close as I did and do the Red Sox.

Many years later, I find myself living in Giants country. I still don’t follow them as closely as I do the Sox, but I always hoped that they win it all in the World Series, and that has finally come to pass. I read many Red Sox posts from major media outlets to small blogs. Following the Sox hard and writing for Fenway West leaves little time to follow the Giants anywhere near as much as the Sox. I try and watch every Sox @ A’s game each year. (I root for the A’s unless they are playing the Sox.) Finances such as they are, I am lucky to get to 1 Sox @ A’s game each year, and consider myself extra lucky to have been able to get into a Sox @ Giants game this past season. Finances again limit my cable TV service to the bare bones basic package, limiting my chances of watching Giants games on the tube. (I’m not much of a bar person anymore, unless I’m up on the stage playin’.) I was able to watch most of the Giants run to their 1st World Series championship since 1954, and their 1st ever as the San Francisco Giants. I have almost as much Giants schwag as I do Red Sox, thanks to the Goodwill store.

So I ask our readers, am I a Giants ‘pink hat’ fan?

Back in the motherland

My nephew up in Marblehead, (or should I say 'Mobblehead'?) is getting married this weekend, giving me a good reason to come back east for the 2nd time this year. I'll be passing right through Boston. I just wish he would've gotten married in September when the Season was still going on. Oh well, I will enjoy myself nonetheless. I just hope my father's car makes it up there. Last year I was driving my daughter up to Logan on a rainy day when the driver's side wiper blade fell off! I'll try and get some posts up next week. I'm still sleep deprived hungover from spending all day yesterday in planes, busses, and planes.

A reliever to consider?

The Tampa Bay Rays declined their option on reliever Dan Wheeler today. The Rays had a $4 million option on Wheeler, and a $1 million buyout which they will exercise. The Rays say they are still interested in him for 2011, and he has not ruled out ruling out returning to the Rays.

I found this surprising as Wheeler's $4 million is not out of line with other reliever's salaries after I reviewed a sample of others. Unless you're an elite closer (e.g. Mo, Pap, Brad Lidge, Joe Nathan, Rafael Soriano, Billy Wagner, Brian Wilson), $4 million is not a bad amount for a middle reliever with numbers like Wheeler's- 2010: 3.35 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, Career: 3.84 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

Tampa Bay will be looking to cut expenses. It doesn't look good for the Rays for the near future. Could Wheeler end up in Boston? He is from Rhode Island. I don't know if he has permanently relocated to Florida as did Rocco Baldelli, also from Rhode Island, but he looks good at first glance.

The bullpen will be one area that Theo will be looking to rebuild. Could Dan Wheeler be an addition to the Red Sox bullpen? (It's not as if he was a Yankee.)

Giants win the World Series, Renteria is MVP

Fifty-six years of torture for Giants fans ended tonight in Texas as Tim Lincecum defeated Cliff Lee, THE Cliff Lee, not once, but twice. Lincecum pitched 8 brilliant innings allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks while reaching double digits, 10, in the strikeout column. In the 2010 post-season, Lincecum beat Derek Lowe, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee twice, this after winning Cy Young Awards in 2008 and 2009. Former Red Sox player Edgar Renteria, won the MVP Award, which was clinched for him by hitting a 3 run home run in the 7th inning, which was all that was needed to win the 5th and deciding game. Besides hitting at a .412 clip for the Series he made several defensive brilliant plays in the past 5 games, as well. Manager Bruce Bochy called for several unexpected plays that ended with positive results in this unlikely run for the World Series Championship. Every Giant player that was interviewed after the game gave credit to the team before his own self and performance. Many of the players paid respect to the great Giant players that came before them and never won a World Series in those 56 years.

This is the 1st World Series ever won by the San Francisco Giants, and the 1st World Series Championship for the Giants since the New York Giants won it in 1954. The Chicago Cubs haven't won a World Series in over 100 years. The Giants have now moved to the bottom of that list. The Cleveland Indians have not won a World Series since 1948, while the 2 Texas teams have never won a World Series since those clubs entered Major League Baseball.

Although Edgar Renteria won the MVP Award, and deservedly so, there were many members of this Giants' team who made significant contributions to winning the Series- closer Brian Wilson, lefty specialist and former Red Sox reliever Javier Lopez, Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez  (another former Sox), Juan Uribe, Matt Cain, and Cody Ross, among others.

This 'bunch of castoffs and misfits' fought and scratched and clawed their way to their division title, the NL Pennant, and a World Series Title in an unlikely 5 games. The Giants' pitching staff help the hard hitting Rangers to a sub-.200 batting average, and a total of 10 runs in the 5 games, 2 of those games being shutouts.

Congratulations to the Giants for winning the 2010 World Series!

Giants.com recap and videos

Giants 3 Rangers 1 BOX SCORE

Bumgarner (who?) shuts down Rangers, Giants up 3-1

Madison Bumgarner wasn't even old enough to buy a beer when he made his first Major League appearance on June 26th, coincidentally against the Red Sox. He turned 21 on August 1st, and has become the 4th youngest rookie to win a World Series game, as the Giants opened up the Series lead winning their 3rd game against 1 loss to the Rangers. Bumgarner seemed to have no idea that he was supposed to be a nervous wreck in a game of this importance. This is magnified by the fact that his battery mate Buster Posey is only 23 years old. Bumgarner was totally in command as he threw 106 pitches over 8 innings, allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 6 Rangers. Bumgarner almost denied 2nd base all night to the Rangers. If not for Juan Uribe's bobbled ground ball in the 7th inning, the Rangers would have not landed a runner on 2nd base.

Posey and Bumgarner make up the 1st all-rookie World Series battery since Yogi Berra and Spec Shea in the 1st game of the 1947 World Series. Aubrey Huff and Posey both homered to lead the offense. The Rangers had been shutout only 5 times in the 2010 regular season, and have now been shut out twice in a little over 36 hours by the Giants. The Series continues tomorrow with a rematch of aces- Cliff Lee of the Rangers and Tim Lincecum of the Giants. Lincecum said he's feeling calmer now that he's got 1 World Series game and win in the books. He did win game #1, but it wasn't his best performance. He'll have to be on top of his game tomorrow, as you just know Cliff Lee will make adjustments and will not implode the way he did in the Series opener. In that game, the Giants chased him out of the game before the 5th inning was over.

Giants.com replay and videos

Giants 4 Rangers 0 BOX SCORE