Facing elimination again, the Giants came out swinging. Got a saving relief appearance from Tim Lincecum, too.
Angel Pagan led off the game with a home run, Gregor Blanco and Pablo Sandoval connected later and the Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 on Wednesday, evening their NL Division Series at 2-2. Read More
Joaquin Arias hit a grounder toward third base and took off, covering those 90 feet in a blink as a full-to-capacity ballpark went silent with angst.
Which would get there first, the infielder or the ball? Who would win the decisive playoff dash?
“That’s the fastest I’ve ever run to first,” Arias said.
Fast enough to extend the Giants’ season one more day. Read More
The Giants players each used one phrase repeatedly following Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds that put them in an 0-2 hole in the best-of-five series.
“We don’t really have a choice,” catcher and MVP candidate Buster Posey said. “Our backs are against the wall. We’ve got to go out, fight, scrap and claw until the end.” Read More
Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker received a standing ovation when introduced to the crowd at AT&T Park before Saturday’s playoff opener. Baker managed the Giants from 1993 to 2002, finishing his run here with a trip to the World Series.
Baker said he still has fond memories of making the move from Candlestick Park to the shores of McCovey Cove before the 2000 season. Read More
Ten years after Darren Baker nearly got run over at home plate when he wandered into the World Series action, he's still not old enough to be a bat boy.
The 13 1/2-year-old son of Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker is just fine with that, because these days he's a second baseman who appreciates watching the games to learn. He does plan to be bat boy for a few games in 2013 after turning the required 14 on Feb. 11. Read More
Perfection is virtually unobtainable in any endeavor; even the most pure of moments can be dissected to the point that a blemish, however small, could be found by the most cynical of cynics.
Case in point: A friend of mine, who considers baseball an exercise in tedium, scoffed at the notion of Matt Cain’s masterpiece at AT&T Park on Wednesday as a perfect game.
“A perfect game,” he spat with a straight face, “would be 27 first-pitch outs or 27 three-pitch strikeouts.” Read More
When Buster Posey scored the run that would win the game for the San Francisco Giants in Game 4 of the National League Division Series, Edgar Posada screamed.
“We’ve got this,” 30-year-old Posada said. Read More
It was a game that had the Atlanta Braves reaching for pitches, and the media reaching for comparisons. If it wasn’t the finest game Tim Linececum ever has pitched for the Giants, it no question was the most important he ever pitched.
This was what the Giants needed in their first postseason game in seven years: A sellout crowd of 43,936 at AT&T dressed in orange and black and unbelievably raucous, and Lincecum throwing fastballs and change-ups to near perfection. Read More
Giants fans hoping to watch the National League Championship Series at AT&T Park will have to search hard for tickets.Tickets for the next round — should the Giants beat the Atlanta Braves in the NL Division Series — sold at a rate of 1,000 per minute. Roughly 20 minutes after going on sale, the 20,000 tickets available for the NLCS were sold out. Just like the NLDS that starts Thursday, the Giants had 5,000 tickets available for all potential NLCS home games. Read More
