MLB 2010: The Giants Won the Pennant!!! The Giants Won the Pennant!!!

While it may lack the drama of the 1951 Giants victory where Bobby Thompson's shot heard around the world prepared the New York Giants versus their arch rival Brooklyn Dodgers, this year's National League championship is a noteworthy accomplishment.

The Giants poured it on during the stretch run as the San Diego Padres faded and the Colorado Rockies attempted to get a run of their own going, but with solid pitching ad timely offense, the Giants prevailed to win the National League West. They eliminated the well-motivated, Atlanta Braves in the first round and then took on the Philadephia Phillies, 3 time consecutive NL East champs, NL champs for the past two seasons, and World Champions in 2008, arguably the strongest franchise in baseball in recent years. That the Giants, not known for a powerful offense could beat a rotation with Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels, showed a team well-prepared to move on to the World Series with lots of credit deserving round the team. Ironically, last years' World Series contestants, the Yankees and the Phillies both fell in similar fashion, bowing in in six games with one of each team's greatest hitters at bat with two out in the 9th going away quietly on a called 3rd strike.

The Giants last appeared in the Fall Classic in 2002 during the controversial Barry Bonds era losing to the Los Angeles Angels. Their last World Championship, their 5th came in 1954 against the Cleveland Indian team that won an astonishing 111 games in the regular season.

Former Oriole, Aubrey Huff demonstrated his value in the stretch run and playoffs and while never seeing the Orioles as winners during his tenure in Baltimore, he'll be representing the orange and black in the World Series, the orange and black of the San Francisco Giants.

The World Series opens Wednesday night in San Francisco pitting one of baseball's earliest teams who started play in 1883 against a team that has never played in the World Series. The initial hype will no doubt be about the pitching face off between Cliff Lee for the Rangers and Tim Lincecum for the Giants. While Fox might be unhappy that this series does not provide the ratings potential of a Philadelphia/New York match up, it does match the largest state in population, California, versus the state second in population, Texas.

A new generation of baseball heroes is about the perform on the big stage. We wish them well.



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