Today's game and starting pitchers:

NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES:

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS VS. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

St. Louis (Kyle Lohse, 16-3) at San Francisco (Matt Cain, 16-5), 8:07 p.m. ET, FOX

I just realized the Giants have made it all this way without the best hitter in the league, Melky Cabrera.

Cabrera could have been activated some time duing the playoffs, but the Giants said "Stay home".

Man, that took some cajones.

RodeoSchro said:

I just realized the Giants have made it all this way without the best hitter in the league, Melky Cabrera.

Cabrera could have been activated some time duing the playoffs, but the Giants said "Stay home".

Man, that took some cajones.

I don't get why Melky was left off the Giants' postseason roster, but Guillermo Mota who was suspended TWICE for PED use was allowed to play with them.

YEAHHHHH Baybee! Giants are National League Champions and back in the World Series! Whooohooo! MVP Marco Scutaro a.k.a. Scooter. Yeah Cain and Giants team! Kinda trippin that it's raining so hard here. C'mon on over Detroit! We're waiting for ya!

It pains me to say it, but this Giants team is just ridiculous (in a good way).

Surviving SIX fucking elimination games?

All I can say is "LET'S GO TIGERS, LET'S GO!" (clap clap)

NLCS Game 7: SF 9, STL 0

W: Matt Cain (1-1, 2.19 ERA)

L: Kyle Lohse (1-1, 7.04 ERA)

It was fun to watch the game last night. Congrats to San Fran!

Having said that, I hope Detroit wins it all!!

sexton said:

NLCS Game 7: SF 9, STL 0

W: Matt Cain (1-1, 2.19 ERA)

L: Kyle Lohse (1-1, 7.04 ERA)

Thanks for doing these recaps over the years, it's appreciated

I really think this is Detroit's year. Hopefully they'll win it all, even though I like Scutaro.

Tonight on "Costas Tonight" good 'ole Bobby Valentine will be doing his first sitdown interview since being fired, should be interesting!

sexton said:

RodeoSchro said:

I just realized the Giants have made it all this way without the best hitter in the league, Melky Cabrera.

Cabrera could have been activated some time duing the playoffs, but the Giants said "Stay home".

Man, that took some cajones.

I don't get why Melky was left off the Giants' postseason roster, but Guillermo Mota who was suspended TWICE for PED use was allowed to play with them.

I didn't know that. That doesn't sound very consistent.

sexton said:

RodeoSchro said:

I just realized the Giants have made it all this way without the best hitter in the league, Melky Cabrera.

Cabrera could have been activated some time duing the playoffs, but the Giants said "Stay home".

Man, that took some cajones.

I don't get why Melky was left off the Giants' postseason roster, but Guillermo Mota who was suspended TWICE for PED use was allowed to play with them.

The Melky situation is a little more complicated and most folks outside of Giants fandom may not know about it. A couple of weeks before the news broke, a Giants insider/beatwriter actually tweeted that there was a rumor about him using PED. Melky and a couple of other players confronted the writer, and you know it wasn't a pleasant type of way. The writer apologized for the tweet. So when it officially came out, the players felt betrayed by him. On top of that, a few weeks after that came word that Melky or his handlers created a fake website to try to legitimize or cover his tracks about it. Melky lied to the team and never apologized to them directly. He basically bolted and left the team. Melky coming back at this point in time would not only jack up the chemistry that they have now, but he would be a major distraction. Also, who's to say he is in shape now to play.

I even questioned why Mota was allowed to return, but I guess his supposed situation was that he had taken his child's cough medicine and he apologized for it and took the consequences.

funkyslsistah said:

sexton said:

I don't get why Melky was left off the Giants' postseason roster, but Guillermo Mota who was suspended TWICE for PED use was allowed to play with them.

The Melky situation is a little more complicated and most folks outside of Giants fandom may not know about it. A couple of weeks before the news broke, a Giants insider/beatwriter actually tweeted that there was a rumor about him using PED. Melky and a couple of other players confronted the writer, and you know it wasn't a pleasant type of way. The writer apologized for the tweet. So when it officially came out, the players felt betrayed by him. On top of that, a few weeks after that came word that Melky or his handlers created a fake website to try to legitimize or cover his tracks about it. Melky lied to the team and never apologized to them directly. He basically bolted and left the team. Melky coming back at this point in time would not only jack up the chemistry that they have now, but he would be a major distraction. Also, who's to say he is in shape now to play.

I even questioned why Mota was allowed to return, but I guess his supposed situation was that he had taken his child's cough medicine and he apologized for it and took the consequences.

I knew about the website, but not the other stuff. Thanks.

Today's game and starting pitchers:

WORLD SERIES GAME 1:

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS VS. DETROIT TIGERS

Detroit (Justin Verlander, 17-8) at San Francisco (Barry Zito, 15-8), 8:07 p.m. ET, FOX

Pokeno4Money said:

sexton said:

NLCS Game 7: SF 9, STL 0

W: Matt Cain (1-1, 2.19 ERA)

L: Kyle Lohse (1-1, 7.04 ERA)

Thanks for doing these recaps over the years, it's appreciated

I really think this is Detroit's year. Hopefully they'll win it all, even though I like Scutaro.

Tonight on "Costas Tonight" good 'ole Bobby Valentine will be doing his first sitdown interview since being fired, should be interesting!

Thanks, I enjoy making these threads every year.

I read some of the excerpts from Bobby V's interview--same old Bobby.

funkyslsistah said:

Also, who's to say he is in shape now to play.

I don't think it's just a matter of being in shape. Most players coming back from PED use perform poorly not only because they no longer have the benefit of the PED, but also because their confidence becomes shot without it. It happened with Manny, it happened with ARod (even Curt Schilling publicly pointed it out), and it happened with Volquez to name a few.

People will be keeping an eye on the early season performances of guys like Bautista and Pujols. Now that there is preseason HGH testing, their lack of production in April may become a regular occurrence.

Sì Gigantes, 1 up in a tough serie.

WS Game 1: SF 8, DET 3

W: Barry Zito (1-0, 1.59 ERA)

L: Justin Verlander (0-1, 11.25 ERA)

The Tigers were the popular pick to stomp all over the Giants, particularly in this game, but uh, what happened???

sexton said:

WS Game 1: SF 8, DET 3

W: Barry Zito (1-0, 1.59 ERA)

L: Justin Verlander (0-1, 11.25 ERA)

The Tigers were the popular pick to stomp all over the Giants, particularly in this game, but uh, what happened???

I'm no expert, but the losing pitcher has an 11.25 ERA? That's got to be a clue!

NDRU said:

sexton said:

WS Game 1: SF 8, DET 3

W: Barry Zito (1-0, 1.59 ERA)

L: Justin Verlander (0-1, 11.25 ERA)

The Tigers were the popular pick to stomp all over the Giants, particularly in this game, but uh, what happened???

I'm no expert, but the losing pitcher has an 11.25 ERA? That's got to be a clue!

It was a bizarro game:

Last year's CY Young winner Justin Verlander didn't make it to the fifth inning and even gave up a hit to the opposing pitcher.

Barry Zito, while pitching well the last two months or so, was expected to get hammered by the Tigers offense and instead turned into Justin Verlander, shutting the Tigers down for six innings.

Also, Kung Fu Panda did his best Reggie Jackson impersonation hitting three home runs, two off Verlander who again is supposed to be the best pitcher in baseball.

Was there a full moon last night?

Today's game and starting pitchers:

WORLD SERIES GAME 2:

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS VS. DETROIT TIGERS

Detroit (Doug Fister, 10-10) at San Francisco (Madison Bumgarner, 16-11), 8:07 p.m. ET, FOX

sexton said:

NDRU said:

I'm no expert, but the losing pitcher has an 11.25 ERA? That's got to be a clue!

It was a bizarro game:

Last year's CY Young winner Justin Verlander didn't make it to the fifth inning and even gave up a hit to the opposing pitcher.

Barry Zito, while pitching well the last two months or so, was expected to get hammered by the Tigers offense and instead turned into Justin Verlander, shutting the Tigers down for six innings.

Also, Kung Fu Panda did his best Reggie Jackson impersonation hitting three home runs, two off Verlander who again is supposed to be the best pitcher in baseball.

Was there a full moon last night?

So is that his post-season ERA?

NDRU said:

sexton said:

It was a bizarro game:

Last year's CY Young winner Justin Verlander didn't make it to the fifth inning and even gave up a hit to the opposing pitcher.

Barry Zito, while pitching well the last two months or so, was expected to get hammered by the Tigers offense and instead turned into Justin Verlander, shutting the Tigers down for six innings.

Also, Kung Fu Panda did his best Reggie Jackson impersonation hitting three home runs, two off Verlander who again is supposed to be the best pitcher in baseball.

Was there a full moon last night?

So is that his post-season ERA?

No, just his ERA for this series. I should make that more clear somewhere. His postseason ERA this year before last night's game was under 1.00. Crazy.

sexton said:

NDRU said:

So is that his post-season ERA?

No, just his ERA for this series. I should make that more clear somewhere. His postseason ERA this year before last night's game was under 1.00. Crazy.

hmm, so how does he get an era that high if the Giants only scored 8? Baseball is so complicated!

Oh, is it based on if he had pitched 9 innings?

NDRU said:

sexton said:

No, just his ERA for this series. I should make that more clear somewhere. His postseason ERA this year before last night's game was under 1.00. Crazy.

hmm, so how does he get an era that high if the Giants only scored 8? Baseball is so complicated!

Oh, is it based on if he had pitched 9 innings?

Exactly. Earned run average is based on nine innings so even though Verlander gave up only five runs in the four innings he pitched, extrapolated to a full nine-inning game makes his ERA 11.25 for last night. Previously he was averaging like 0.74 runs every nine innings this postseason, but now, after last night's game, his total 2012 postseason ERA climbed to 2.22.

Verlander got Cliff Lee'd

Both got clobbered in WS opener vs Giants.

Both came in with red hot.

WS Game 2: SF 2, DET 0

W: Madison Bumgarner (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

L: Doug Fister (0-1, 1.50 ERA)

The Giants' worst postseason pitcher this year shuts down the Tigers. Amazing.

Today's game and starting pitchers:

WORLD SERIES GAME 3:

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS VS. DETROIT TIGERS

San Francisco (Ryan Vogelsong, 14-9) at Detroit (Anibal Sanchez 9-13), 8:07 p.m. ET, FOX

[Edited 10/27/12 20:45pm]

WS Game 3: SF 2, DET 0

W: Ryan Vogelsong (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

L: Anibal Sanchez (0-1, 2.57 ERA)

I've watched the Tigers all year, so this is nothing surprising to me. They get into streaks and funks.

When they are hitting and pitching, they are lights out, without doubt the best team in baseball.

When they are in a funk like this, they go into major losing streaks.

Wrong timing for this, but they have been on a winning streak for awhile now, since the last month of the regular season. It was about time it came to an end.

The Giants are a pesky, grind-it-out bunch. Buzzsaw.

Today's game and starting pitchers:

WORLD SERIES GAME 4:

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS VS. DETROIT TIGERS

San Francisco (Matt Cain, 16-5) at Detroit (Max Scherzer 16-7), 8:15 p.m. ET, FOX

[Edited 10/28/12 21:06pm]

WS Game 4: SF 4, DET 3

W: Santiago Casilla (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

L: Phil Coke (0-1, 2.70 ERA)