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

We already knew Matt Cain was perfect

Ask a Giants fan what they think of Matt Cain, and you're likely to get grown men gushing about how great he is. You're likely to hear "hard worker", "he gets the job done and never complains", "he never lets his team down", "he earned that contract".

Matt Cain simply embodies the perfect baseball player-- pitcher or hitter.

It's not possible to be perfect all the time-- we all know that, but Matt Cain is as perfect as one can be-- even without his amazing feat against the Houston Astros on Wednesday, June 14th, 2012.

He flies under the radar too often, while flashier players like Tim Lincecum or East Coast players like Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee steal the spotlight. That's okay with Matt Cain. He doesn't mind.

What makes Matt Cain the perfect ballplayer lies not in his achievement against the Astros, but in his work ethic, his humble nature, his nerves of steel, and his quiet strength-- the type of qualities all true leaders possess. 

There will never be a time where Cain's loyalty, effort, and heart are questioned in public forums like other Giants have been. You know what you're getting from him every time he touches the baseball-- even if he doesn't have his best start and the Giants lose the game. The same cannot be said for everyone.

There is a quiet confidence about him that does not require the accolades and attention of the modern prima donna athlete or celebrity-- a tribute to his upbringing and Southern roots. He's taken his God-given talents and honed them to a point where perfection was not out of the realm of possibility and evidently, achievable. 

As fans, we have fallen a little more in love with Matt Cain every year since he arrived so many years ago. We instantly saw that he was a real talent in his first few years and knew he'd be around for some time. However, it's the fact that he's literally gotten better every single year that is so mindbogglingly impressive. 

How many players consistently get better and more trustworthy by the year? Very few, but Matt Cain is one of those exceptions. Just when we thought we'd seen it all-- an amazing all-star 2010 season with an unholy ERA in the postseason en route to a World Series victory, he followed it up with another stellar 2011 and was rewarded with the richest right-handed contract in history.

Did he rest? Take a break? Exhale? No.

He buckled down even tighter and has helped keep this crazy team we love in the mix, even with glaring holes in the field and in the rotation.

Matt Cain's perfect game is the culmination and pinnacle of all his hard work and dedication. Although many other professionals in baseball or life may put in the same effort and passion, how many of them get to see the fruits of their labor manifested into a literally perfect performance? It's so incredibly rare, that you just have to stop and recognize its amazing beauty-- baseball fan or not.

A perfect game in baseball sometimes happens to imperfect pitchers like Dallas Braden or Phillip Humber-- average players who happen to have had the heavens align at the perfect moment. That's what makes Cain's performance even more special. 

On top of it, Cain accomplished something that not even the great Christy Mathewson and Juan Marichal never could; something that no Giant had ever done in 120 years of trying.

It really is an amazing feat, something I will never forget, and yet another reason why Matt Cain is the perfect baseball player.

Nice win, weird game

That was fairly amazing. I wish I could've been at the yard, but it doesn't matter. It didn't matter if you were with a group of friends, listening on the radio at work, or getting blind drunk with strangers at a bar... We won a World Series game, and we need to win three more. That right there is an absolute rush.

I said in my last post that if the Giants wanted to beat Cliff Lee, it was up to Tim Lincecum. No one could've predicted that Lee would've had such poor command with his fastball and that his offspeed pitches would've been non-existent. The Giants capitalized on Lee's lack of high quality stuff, as good teams do, and that was really the difference.

Lincecum on the other hand, has to be a cause for concern. Since his first start against the Braves in the NLDS, he's been pretty good, but certainly not great. He's been bailed out a couple times, including tonight. As I alluded to on Tuesday, if Cliff Lee is right, Lincecum giving up 4 runs is a near death sentence.



Obviously, you can never rule out these Giants-- we all know that. But without those 7 earned runs of Lee's and that monstrous dong by Uribe allowed by O'Day, the Rangers probably have the lead into the late innings.

I won't say we got lucky, but this is the first time that Cliff Lee has shown any semblance of humanity/mortality, and it was a rather big showing of vulnerability.

This does two things:

1) The Rangers, who have grown accustomed to Lee shutting down teams automatically, have had their noggins shaken up a bit. Their world has not been turned upside down, but it means something. I wouldn't expect Lee to do this again.

2) It gives the Giants a HUGE shot of confidence heading into Game 2 and beyond

Notes & Observations:

-- I said on Tuesday that one of the keys to success was Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez doing a better job of getting on base and setting the table for the rest of the lineup. They did just that, especially Sanchez, who went 4-5 with 3 doubles.

-- Andres Torres & Freddy Sanchez went a combined 5-9 with 4 runs, 3 RBI, and one big HBP. These two did what I told them, and it was huge.

-- Another key I mentioned was Pat Burrell needing to get hot. He is on the ball... and by on the ball, I mean he is just off the ball. He is very close to getting a hold of a couple pitches and I believe big things should happening shortly. He still has a good eye and drew a huge walk off of Cliff Lee to prolong that big inning.

-- Good to see Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo doing well. A 7 run lead is a great time to get your struggling relievers into the game. While Romo and Casilla came out of the game with a confidence boost, the same cannot be said for the totally lost Ramon Ramirez and the up and down Jeremy Affeldt.

-- Everyone knows about Vladimir Guerrero's declining mobility in the field; everyone but Ron Washington apparently. Guerrero is a future hall of famer and has always been one of the most unorthodox, exciting players in the league since he began with Montreal all those years ago.

Personally, I would not have played Guerrero in perhaps the most difficult right field in all of baseball. Vlad's arm is still stronger than hell, but he just can't move anymore. Those years of torment by playing on carpet-covered concrete in Montreal absolutely devastated this man's knees and he has no business playing out there anymore.

What happened out there in Game 1 was beneficial to the Giants, but to see Vlad struggle with routine plays and fumble the ball around was hard to watch. It is most difficult because he has been so good for so long, and his skills are eroding in front of the whole world. The man can still hit the hell out of the ball, but he shouldn't be out in the field. You know it. I know it. He knows it.

David Murphy should play in RF in Game 2. Murphy is an offensive downgrade, but not by a huge margin. He is a decent hitter that adds an element of speed and defense that is more conducive to the National League style of play. He hit .291/.358/.449 this season with 14 steals. You make the call.

-- Great to see Ishikawa and Nate Schierholtz getting big hits and making good plays on defense (other than Ishi's ugly throw).

-- Stay hot Cody Ross. He had a rather pedestrian game for his standards, but it was still 1-5 with a run and RBI. He will never have to buy a drink in this town again.

-- How huge is Juan Uribe? That guy is an amazing, funny little man and I love him. If he's not re-signed to a two year deal this offseason I will fill a mason jar with an unpleasant substance and FedEx it to Brian Sabean.

-- Nice little tidbits here:

-- Heading into the World Series, the Giants have the lowest team ERA since the '01 Cardinals and '01 Diamondbacks.

-- The team that wins Game 1 of the Series wins 61% of the time

-- 6 of the last 7 and 11 of the last 13 Game 1 winners have won the series.

-- Cain against Wilson coming up Thursday night. I would expect our lineup to be the same, going against another lefty. For the Rangers, I would expect lefty David Murphy to play in place of Vlad and hit 7th.

-- It's gonna rain tomorrow. If you're lucky enough to go to the game, bring a poncho with a funny slogan on it. Hopefully that doesn't screw up our game.

You guys like my rally beard? I applied a second coat of Walt Frazier Just For Men. Looks delicious. ---->

Thoughts before Game 1

This is what we've all been waiting for... another chance to finally win a championship.

Not in a million years did anyone expect a Giants-Rangers World Series, and this series is as intriguing and unpredictable as the matchup itself. But, I will see what I can do...

-- Cliff Lee is the best pitcher in baseball right now. He's pitching better than Lincecum, Halladay, Cain, or anyone else that has participated in the playoffs. He is straight filth, and he is more likely to know the lyrics of a Justin Bieber song than he is to walk a guy. That means neither is likely.

Games 1 and 5 will be up to clutch late-inning hitting and Tim Lincecum. Lincecum cannot give up more than 3 runs in either start, because Lee will allow 2 or less. The way to beat Texas in games Lee starts is to A) Get lucky or B) wear him out, take pitches, and beat Texas's inferior bullpen.

-- Josh Hamilton will beat us at some point (or two). The key is to minimize the damage caused by their other two boppers, Nelson Cruz and Vlad Guerrero.

-- Keep the deer off the basepaths. If the speedy Elvis Andrus and the beastly Ian Kinsler draw walks, smack singles, and do their cute little antler thing, we've got problems.

-- Much has been made of Bengie Molina's presence in the Texas clubhouse. Sure he knows signs, tendencies, and our pitchers. It is an advantage for sure. But this is baseball, not the NFL. This isn't a Gruden with Tampa against the Raiders situation.

Molina knows Cain and Lincecum intimately but never really saw Timmy's slider. He doesn't know much about Madison Bumgarner, and was not on the team with Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Cody Ross, Mike Fontenot, and barely saw Buster Posey.

And another point that Chris Ray, the man Molina was traded for, is still on the team. He is not on the active roster, but that doesn't prevent him from sharing signs, tendencies, game plans, and tips on Josh Hamilton, Michael Young and company.

Another point is that everything is on HD video, and advanced scouting departments for each team do nothing but track tendencies.

The Giants will have changed their signs, and Bengie Molina's effect on the series will be minimal. He wont make Lincecum's changeup easier to hit or Brian Wilson's beard any less awesome.

-- Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez need to do a better job of setting the table and Pat Burrell needs to heat up again. He is due.

-- Please God, stay hot Cody Ross...

-- Casilla, Romo, and Ramirez scare the hell out of me. Good thing Jeremy Affeldt appears to be back...

-- Jonathan Sanchez will once again pitch on the road. Homeboy needs to find his control. Another 3 inning meltdown will sink us.

-- The DH thing is a concern. While Vlad Guerrero will probably bumble around in the outfield during the first 2 games in San Francisco, the Gyros will have a dilemma on their hands in Arlington.

Cliff Lee and CJ Wilson are Texas's best pitchers, but both are lefties. Had Ron Washington opted to throw Colby Lewis in Game 2, the Giants would have had to really improvise with their DH situation.

With two righties in Lewis and Tommy Hunter going in Games 3 and 4, it creates an ideal situation for Pablo Sandoval to DH.

Yes, Sandoval is a full-blown retard, but hitting left-handed is his stronger side, and maybe the lack of stress of playing 3rd base will help him.

Pat Burrell makes sense as a DH (possibly in Game 5 against Lee) but the last time he tried that, he hit .211 with 2 HR and was fired by Tampa Bay. He hates it.

-- I know he wont read this, but I'd like to apologize to Bruce Bochy. At points this season, I declared him "unfit to lead". I even wanted him fired. I was wrong Boch.

I disagree and second guess more than half your lineups and in game moves, but you've gotten us to within 4 games of a championship. If you get this done, I will be forever in your debt...

Predictions: Giants will win in 6 games. The torture will continue, but so will the clutch performances at the plate and on the mound for San Francisco. The Rangers have the hottest pitcher on earth and a superior offense in every way. It only seems logical that they'd win.

Unfortunately for them, they've earned a chance to face the most illogical team ever assembled. The Giants aren't supposed to win, and that's precisely why they will.

PS: I dyed my beard jet black in honor of Brian Wilson. I am applying a second coat tomorrow before the game.

If you have not seen my "Giants Win the Pennant" video, you're missing out. In just over 48 hours, it's received nearly 1,200 hits. It's epic, and will get you fired up for the World Series even more than you already are!



The Giants Win the Pennant!
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