Pablo Sandoval is the World Series MVP and Marco Scutaro delivered another clutch October hit, driving in the series-deciding run in the 10th inning of Game 4. But make no mistake, the Giants won the 2012 World Series the same way they won it two years ago: on the strength of their pitching.
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Madison Bumgarner tweaked his mechanics and nearly replicated his dazzling performance from the 2010 World Series on Thursday, throwing seven scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over the Detroit Tigers at AT&T Park.
The 23-year-old lefty surrendered two hits while fanning eight Tigers batters as the Giants grabbed a commanding 2-0 lead in the World Series. The two hits were the fewest a Giants starter has ever allowed in a World Series game.“What a job he did,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He had great poise out there.”
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Barry Zito’s performance in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series was a good reminder of how inspiring baseball can be.
In a few short weeks, Zito has gone from being The City’s biggest sports goat to an Orange October hero who outdueled baseball’s best pitcher in the first game of the Fall Classic.
Zito followed up last week’s masterpiece in St. Louis with
5²⁄³ innings of one-run baseball in an 8-3 win over the Detroit Tigers at AT&T Park on Wednesday in Game 1 of the World Series.
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Barry Zito was left off of the postseason roster in 2010 and he probably wouldn’t have started Game 5 of the NL Championship Series had Madison Bumgarner not had a rough outing in Game 2. But today, Zito will get the chance to do what every young pitcher dreams about: Start Game 1 of the World Series.
When Zito tosses his first pitch against the Detroit Tigers at AT&T Park, he’ll add another chapter to an incredible redemption story that has seen him go from $126 million goat to team savior.
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Are there any obstacles too big for the Giants to hurdle?
The Giants captured their fifth National League pennant since moving to The City by winning a record six elimination games in the postseason. The team achieved the feat without their All-Star closer and top hitter from the first half of the season. The next test is facing the game’s best pitcher and the first batter to win the Triple Crown in 45 years when the Detroit Tigers travel to AT&T Park for Game 1 of the 2012 World Series tonight.
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Hunter Pence’s rousing speech prior to Game 3 of the NL Division Series in Cincinnati helped propel the Giants into the NL Championship Series. He let his bat do the talking Monday, smacking a decisive two-run double that allowed the Giants to capture their second NL pennant in three years.
Click on the photo to see more.
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Ryan Vogelsong must have wolfed down an extra plate of chicken enchiladas Saturday night, because the Giants right-hander pitched the game of his life in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series on Sunday.
Two days after Barry Zito extended the Giants’ season by throwing 7²⁄³ innings of shutout baseball in St. Louis, Vogelsong took the hill at AT&T Park and forced a deciding Game 7 by tossing a gem of his own in a 6-1 win over the
Cardinals.
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Coach Jeff Tedford was a dead man walking just two weeks ago. His Cal team had slipped to 1-4 after a lethargic 27-17 home loss to Arizona State and the Twitterverse was flooded with pleas for his removal.
But Tedford suddenly has a pulse after back-to-back wins over UCLA and Washington State and an upset against No. 22 Stanford (4-2) in the Big Game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday would give him a full-fledged heartbeat.
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City College of San Francisco is seeking its 21st NorCal Conference football title under coach George Rush this year. But as usual, the Rams will need to get past rival College of San Mateo first.
Despite losing their top passer, rusher and defender from last season, the No. 1 Rams (6-0) appear poised to repeat as California Community College Athletic Association champions. But the quest could be put into jeopardy Saturday if No. 8 San Mateo (5-1) snaps CCSF’s 18-game winning streak at Rams Stadium.
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Ryan Vogelsong notched his first career postseason win Monday providing exactly what the Giants needed: a quality start.
Vogelsong (1-0) threw seven strong innings, allowing four hits and a run en route to a 7-1 Giants win over the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park, tying the best-of-seven NL Championship Series at one game a piece.
“The last thing we wanted to do was go into St. Louis down two games,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
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Is it possible to decline home-field advantage in the postseason?
The suggestion is absurd, of course, but playing at AT&T Park sure isn’t giving the Giants any sort of competitive edge right now. In fact, the Orange and Black actually seem more at home these days when they’re knocking the ball around their opponents’ ballparks. The Giants are now 0-3 at home in the 2012 postseason after Sunday’s 6-4 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
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It only took the A’s 162 games to grab sole possession of first place in the AL West.
The A’s completed one of the most incredible turnarounds in the history of Major League Baseball when they nabbed the division crown from the Texas Rangers earlier this week.
In doing so, the A’s became only the third division winner since the advent of the World Series 109 years ago to spend just a single day in first place.
The New York Giants were the first team to achieve the feat in 1951 and the Minnesota Twins joined them in 2006.
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The 49ers didn’t need to paint the Mona Lisa to beat the New York Jets on the road Sunday. They just needed to return to the formula that worked so well last season: run the ball, stop the run and win the so-called “turnover battle.”
Tape of this week’s 34-0 blowout win won’t be shipped off to the Louvre any time soon. But it was a textbook example of how coach Jim Harbaugh likes to win football games.
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Jim Harbaugh is in Youngstown, Ohio, this week trying to get the 49ers back to form and Andrew Luck is in Indianapolis prepping for his fourth NFL game with the Colts.
Where is Stanford football?
Ranked among the AP’s Top 10 teams in the country where it presided for most of the past two seasons.
Despite the loss of Harbaugh and Luck, the Cardinal is ranked No. 8 heading into its first road game of the season at Washington tonight.
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Cal’s battered offensive line will face another test Saturday when it lines up against the revamped Arizona State defense at Memorial Stadium.
Through four games, the Sun Devils (3-1) are tied for first in the nation with Tulsa for most tackles for a loss (39).
Even more impressive: 14 percent of the team’s tackles this season have come behind the line of scrimmage.This isn’t good news for a Bears offensive line that is allowing an average of four sacks per game (116th in the nation), including nine last week against USC.
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