Like Morse, just enjoy the ride

There's really something to be said for being able to totally relax and enjoy what's going on around you. It's the way you feel on vacation, the way you feel when you gaze out at something beautiful with nowhere to be; your phone only making an appearance to take a picture because there's no service anyway.


It's an odd feeling-- almost surreal when it happens. But it just feels right.


That's the way I'm feeling when watching the Giants these days-- like I don't have a friggin care in the world and nowhere to be.

That's how good they've been.



Hell, even ESPN has noticed. That's how good they've been.

It's been awhile since my last post, partly because there's been no controversy, barely any conflict or poor decisions being made. It almost seems... do I dare say... easy.


In that last post, I wrote that the Giants would be alright without Brandon Belt. Not only have they been alright, they've hit some sort of zone, that can only be enhanced by Belty's return in a couple weeks.


It's difficult to even imagine that they'll be regaining another bat with superb defense when the current lineup has been so successful.


So much of that success can be attributed to Mike Morse and everything he does. He's played an admirable first base and left field, has absolutely raked the ball, and you can just tell, has had a huge impact on the Giants' clubhouse. He's having fun playing baseball and I'm having fun watching him.


It's unfortunate that he's only on a one year deal, because whatever magic Mike has brought to the clubhouse (see what I did there?) and to the lineup, I don't want it to end. Pay the man immediately.


Currently Morse ranks in the top 20 in all of MLB in HR, RBI, Slugging %, and OPS-- something this team has needed for years and years. Curiously though, for you Saberjerks, Morse is only a 0.9 WAR.


See, this is why I have a problem with that stat. It's not an end all be all, and there's exceptions to the rule. I won't go off on a huge tangent, but to say that Mike Morse has only been worth one extra win to this team is beyond absurd. He's been a shot of adrenaline into this lineup and a shot of tequila in the clubhouse. Plus he did this on Stan Lee / Superheroes Night. Hulk status.

 

There of course have been others that have been amazing additions this season-- most notably the ageless Tim Hudson, who has pitched like a Cy Young candidate. However, there's one other guy that has essentially been an addition that I'd like to talk about.

Ryan Vogelsong.

Is he an addition? You betcha. Yah. *Fargo voice*

He may not be a new face around these parts, but Vogey's resurgence to an effective, chainsaw-angry member of the rotation has been huge, especially due to Cain's uneven season and Lincecum, well... being Lincecum.

Vogey currently sports a 3.39 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, with 7 of his 12 starts have been "quality".

His starts have been such a far cry from what we all expected from him, that's it's just gravy. I can't say for sure that he'll be able to keep this up all season, but his efforts have been absolutely huge so far. You could even argue he's been more helpful to the cause than Matt Cain, which is crazy. If Vogey keeps this up, even remotely close to what he's done thus far, the Giants' rotation will outperform expectations all season.

Outperforming expectations has been the name of the game so far, and it's just been plain fun to watch. Posey and Panda have hit rough patches this year at different times, but they've evened out. The Giants keep winning. Pence had a rough start. They win anyway. Belt goes down? No problem. Cain on the DL? Whatever. Buster and Pagan need days off? Oh well, they win without them. Blanco gets some starts? He's a catalyst all the sudden.

It's just insanity.

It's remarkable too how Bruce Bochy has been able to work guys in and out of the lineup lately without much consequence in the win column. It all just works out... and believe me, I've noticed.

Right after Lincecum gave up that first HR to Granderson:

That brings me back to my opening paragraph. You just need to sit back and enjoy the scenery. 21 games over .500 on June 8th is crazy, and it been thoroughly fun.

Part of my ability to just sit back and enjoy this is because we have those two big trophies from 2010 and 2012. Just as the second trophy validated the first, this great start is on its way to validating those other years.

When we won that 2nd World Series, it felt different than the first one. The first one was insane... even with a commanding series lead over Texas, it was gut-wrenching and nail-biting until that final out. With the second one, a feeling a confidence swept over me after we won the first two games. Because even if something bad happened and they blew it, we'd always have 2010. I was able to drink and joke with people against the Tigers without having to get a referral to a cardiologist. It was just plain more fun.

Now, back in an even year, those first two trophies are the Fort Knox full of gold bars that backs up this 2014 currency. I'm able to enjoy it more because I still feel like we're playing with house money. And that my friends, is priceless.

Coaching staff the real MVPs

Forget your Poseys, Pandas, and Scutaros for a second.

I know it's hard, but just try not to think of individual performances for a second and transport yourself back to the beginning of the season.

Think about what you wanted this team's goals to be-- both for each player and collectively.

All we wanted was Pagan and Cabrera (sorry) to be better than 4th outfielders. We wanted Brandon Crawford to play good defense, and if he hit his weight, we'd be thrilled.

We wanted Brandon Belt to get playing time and to learn how to hit with any kind of consistency. We fought amongst each other all season as to whether he should be sent down-- whether he had the mental makeup to deal with his situation.

We didn't think Hector Sanchez was ready to catch a big league pitching staff coming out of Spring Training. He was too raw, we were told. Joaquin Arias was a random infielder who we knew very little about. He impressed in Spring, and with the injury to Freddy Sanchez, he made the team and never looked back. He made the final play of Matt Cain's perfect game and has racked up clutch hits.

With Brian Wilson shelved very early on, Santiago Casilla stepped up until the all-star break, closing out games with authority. Now that's Sergio Romo's job-- something he's never done before.

We PRAYED that Buster Posey would be able to play 100 games and thought 15 HR and 70 RBI with a .280 avg. would've been a great comeback story. We all know how that turned out.

Look at our starting pitchers. We expected ZERO from Barry Zito. Many of us, including me, just said eat the guy's contract and get someone-- ANYONE in here other than him to be the 5th starter.

When it became apparent that there was something dreadfully wrong with Tim Lincecum, the staff never gave up on him or his season. They continued to cart him out there, always treating him with the respect and waaayyyyy-tooooo-long rope earned by being a two-time Cy Young winner.

They worked with him, watched tape, talked to his dad-- anything that would get their ace back to some semblance of respectability. He seems to have found that respectability as a reliever of all things.

Vogelsong and Bumgarner had incredible first halves, but tailed off badly after the all-star break.

Now look at them. Shutdown baseball in the playoffs-- seemingly out of nowhere.

Pablo Sandoval, still not up to required fitness standards, struggled at times this season-- frustrating all involved. Instead of rehabbing his hamate bone, he was out until all hours in a Santa Cruz resort getting into trouble. He fell in and out of his old ways at the plate; impressing sometimes, maddening us in others.

Now look at him.


We don't see what goes on behind the scenes or on the practice field, but it's clear that this coaching staff constantly spins thread into gold on their baseball loom. It's unbelievable.

Remember when we led the league in errors in the early season? Remember that game in Houston when we had all absolutely HAD it with Crawford and his errors? Seems like a long time ago.

Now? His coaches and his hard work have molded him into a Gold Glove candidate who hit .248-- higher than the .235 we were praying for.

He hit .204 last year.

So much tangible improvement by so many players during the season didn't happen by accident. So many in-game moves and questionable lineup moves by Bochy have turned to gold seemingly every time.

When we all scorned George Kontos for constantly allowing his inherited runners to score, and demanded to know why Bochy continued to cart him out there during similar situations, we got our answer when he came into huge situations in the NLDS, and up until his last two outings, has shut it down.

Gardy the bullpen guru.

The entire coaching staff has left an indelible mark on this 2012 season, something that I can only compare to 2010's magic or perhaps even the turnaround by the 49ers from 2010 to 2011.

Mark Gardner in the bullpen has overcome the loss of our closer and the entrance of new players like Jose Mijares and the aforementioned Kontos. He got Casilla back on track after he'd seemingly lost everything in July. He has managed to keep this bullpen together when it seemingly was running out of steam during the dog days.

Dave Righetti is a magician. Overseeing the entire pitching staff while it regressed and befuddled all, Rags managed to keep it between the lines. Look at the job he's done with Barry Zito! Absolutely incredible.

Rags, the miracle worker.

Look what he's done with Vogelsong and Bumgarner for God's sake! Vogey is our #1 and Bumgarner just threw 7 scoreless in the World Series after being left for dead. He turned a guy struggling to keep his 2012 postseason ERA under 15.00 into a World Series hero in a matter of a week.

As for Bochy? What more can I say. He's just unbelievable.

I've likened him to a big oil tanker at sea. It takes him forever to get moving, and even longer to change course. Sometimes that's a good thing though.

If he made every little knee-jerk decision we demanded of him on Twitter, Crawford, Belt, and Kontos would probably be in AAA, and God knows what would be happening with Lincecum and Zito.

I know I'm gushing like a schoolgirl here, but this staff needed this kind of recognition. Ron Wotus, Tim Flannery, and Shawon Dunston invisibly tutoring the infielders, Will Clark handing out pointers during BP, Billy Hayes down there in the bullpen teaching Hector Sanchez how to catch Tim Lincecum-- it just goes on and on...

Bam Bam and Belty.

Bam Bam Meulens? Another miracle worker.

We couldn't hit last year worth a damn, and newly acquired players like Pagan, Scutaro, Pence, and a healthy Posey have definitely helped that tremendously. BUT, one cannot discount the work put in with young guys like Crawford and Belt-- seemingly lost at the plate. You have Pagan beasting around since early August and Posey contending for the MVP while we annihilate the Cardinals and Tigers in back to back games.

Kudos Bam Bam. Seriously.

I know I've rambled here. I can't help it. Every time I thought of one example of great coaching, another jumped out at me. If the Giants do indeed win two more games this season and manage to accomplish this crazy feat of winning it all twice in three years, it will be due in great part to the magnificence of this group of men assembled as the Giants' coaching staff.

Expecting the unexpected

Completely unbelievable. 

It's not torture, and it's not surprise. It's just completely unbelievable.

I warned you to expect the unexpected. The unexpected is now an understatement.

What we all witnessed in Game 1 was the same thing we all witnessed in Game 7-- complete and utter domination of a team that was expected to take care of the Giants like a garden hose rinsing dirt off a walkway.

You know it's a good thing when 22 of 27 ESPN "experts" pick the Tigers to romp all over the Orange & Black. It's also a great thing when the best pitcher in the game is tagged for 5 ER and is reduced to an ungracious little jerk who all but blamed a mound visit by pitching coach Todd Jones for Pablo Sandoval's second HR.

That's what this team does to people.

They take reigning World Champs, defending AL Cy Young/MVPs, and every expert's darlings, and completely take them by storm.

You could clearly see the shock of the faces of the Tigers both during and after the game. It was a collective, "What the F--- just happened?"

Not only were they handled by a suddenly dominant Barry Zito (crazy right?), but they were demoralized by Panda's historic 3 HRs, and countless dinks and drives by Scutaro, Pagan, and even Zeets himself. Then you have a wicked Freak Lincecum roaring out of the bullpen and throwing a flawless two and a third. I'm a Giants fan who's seen or heard almost every game this year, and even I last night was saying, "WTF just happened?"

I don't know how they're doing this, but they are.

It's a long series, and Detroit will win a game or two before it's all said and done, but it's extremely difficult not to get ahead of ourselves here. I don't see the resilience or heart in the Tigers that I see in our guys, but they're certainly capable of taking the lumber to us at some point and shutting us down with Anibal Sanchez.

What we all saw last night was an incredible show of Ruthian (or Sandovalian) proportions with a side of epic #RallyZito action. Simply inexplicable, but fact.

In Game 2, the Giants send to the mound Madison Bumgarner, who has been more bum than MadBum in the playoffs. If Bochy and Rags say they've fixed his mechanical issue, who am I to judge? These two, along with the rest of the coaching staff have combined to create nothing but magic. Let's just hope Bumgarner is fixed better than Jose Valverde was fixed.

Game 2 starter Doug Fister is from Merced and grew up a Gyros fan. He's going to be fired up and hasn't pitched in nearly two weeks. People can debate the layoff factor all they want, but it's going to hurt the sinkerballer tonight. Like Verlander before him, the Fistmeister is going to be overamped and rusty.

He's likely not going to give up any HRs, but I'll bet you anything the Giants tee off on him, executing a veritable laser show that would make Pink Floyd jealous.

I have to say, I am enjoying this World Series so much more than 2010. Even though we killed the Rangers and it was incomparably exciting, it was still nerve-wracking and completely emotionally exhausting. I feel like this time around, we're all able to take it all in better. Especially after our Game 1 romp, I think I'm able to look around (so to speak) and really revel in the moment without the neurosis and paranoia that came along with the Torture.

Regardless, we don't know what tomorrow holds, so enjoy this Giants fans! You never know if you'll be back!

That old familiar feeling

This feels weird. Don't you think?

It feels right, but it feels weird.

How the hell did we get here? This wasn't supposed to happen, but it has. It's feels familiar, but it's just plain crazy. I don't know how to describe it, but the way I'm feeling is almost like I'm jetlagged or stoned off of prescription pills like after one of my knee surgeries.

Truthfully, I can't believe we're here, and it seems like the Giants have somehow managed to capture lightning in a bottle twice in three years. It's a phenomenon like fog or sourdough bread-- something virtually unique to this place and this team. It's something truly that lacks logic; of course logic and the lack thereof being the ongoing theme of this team in this postseason.

The Game 7 show we all witnessed was completely unexpected, but embraced by all, as if that 9th inning downpour was made of nothing but condensed water vapor and destiny itself.

Perhaps rather than logic or non-logic, the theme of this postseason should be to expect the unexpected.

The previous two opponents the Giants faced were capable and talented. One outperformed us all season, and the other was the reigning champs-- seemingly peaking in the same manner in which they did last year. I knew (and predicted) that each series would go the distance. Of course I had no idea why or how they'd go to 5 and 7 games respectively, but I just had that feeling.

To me, this upcoming series with the Tigers has a different feel. They are certainly more offensively talented. They have two guys in Fielder and Cabrera that scare the living hell out of me. They have an ace (with a capital 'A') in Justin Verlander, that could potentially pitch 3 games.

Justin Verlander is capable of shutting us out 3 times and then leaving the clubhouse with Kate Upton on his arm. That's how good he is.

Right now, we have 3 reliable starting pitchers and one of them is Game 1 starter Barry Zito.

The Tigers have a spontaneously combusted Jose Valverde removed from the closer's role and defensive liabilities.

You can break down this matchup however you want, but all you'll get is right back to where you started.

I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like the stars are aligning for us once again. Naturally I could be wrong, but just like 2010, there's just an 'it'  factor about this team that cannot be ignored.

Just like 2010, the Rangers were better than us on paper-- laden with sluggers and Cliff Lee. I see almost a mirror image of Texas in the 2012 Detroit Tigers.

I'm no expert, and I watched less than 10 Tiger games all season, but that's basically what I've gathered.

All I'm saying is it's happened once under similar circumstances, with a similar hodgepodge of players-- a veritable David/Goliath story. Why couldn't it happen again?

Prediction: Giants in 6