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