Giants clinch the NL West

For some reason, I couldn't believe last night's division clinching-game marked only the 9th time the Giants have won their division since they moved to San Francisco. I felt so spoiled. Nine division titles in 54 years is not a bad percentage when you think about how many Pirates, Royals, Cubs, and Dodgers* fans there are. Those fans would kill to have the division-winning success the Giants have had, especially in the last couple decades.

* I had to take at least one shot at the Dodgers.

Hell, I bet many Giants fans think nine division titles is a huge amount, especially if they became fans before this century. I truly became a fan in 2001. Bonds' chase for one of the most sacred records* in sports grabbed me like I was a skinny-dipper in Cap Cod. I was in attendance for his 71st and 72nd home runs, and there was no going back after that. I might not even be a sports fan if not for Bonds and the Giants' success from 2001-2004.

* Forever asterisked

I've been alive for almost half of the Giants division titles, so my perspective on the Giants' success is a little skewed. Right now, I'm very happy the Giants didn't follow the 2011 script but this season won't be completely satisfying unless it ends with a parade. For much older fans than me, winning this division has to be more meaningful. I've seen how hard it is to win a division, but I've got nothing on the guys and gals who grew up rooting for Mays, McCovey, Perry, Clark, and all the other pre-2000 legends. To enjoy this crown as much as I should, I have to think about the torture these older fans have gone through.

And man, this was a really awesome season. Even more awesome than the 2010 regular season because this team didn't feel the need to give their fans as many heart attacks.

Let's recap. Wilson's gone, season over. Casilla's actually not much worse than Wilson. Nevermind, everyone's closing! Melky's the savior? Melky's the savior! Melky's a traitor. Posey's back! Posey's really back!! WTF Lincecum?? Perfect Cain. Vogelsong is gonna win the Cy Youn... oh, wait. Pence is the bat we needed! Wait, Scutaro is the bat we needed? Pagan sucks. Pay that man! Crawford is worthless. You know who should win the NL Gold Glove at shortstop? Just play Belt everyday dammit! Dodgers need to share their pixie dust. Dodgers need to share their money. LOL Dodgers. So the offense is going to carry the Giants to the playoffs now?

What a season.

Now, that doesn't mean we shouldn't expect anything less than a World Championship. Same goes for Nats and Orioles fans. A World title is the only goal a fan should have no matter how much success their team has had in their history.

But we can worry about that next week. Let's celebrate the division title right now and enjoy watching Emmanuel Burriss attempt to get that seemingly unattainable extra-base hit.

New Bleacher Report article

I just finished writing an article on Bleacher Report, saying who I think should win the AL and NL MVPs and who the runner-ups should be.

Buster Posey is obviously on this list, or else I wouldn't be posting this here. I'm not that much of a shameless plugger of my work.

That being said, I'm not going to spoil anything, so click on the damn URL! That's an order!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1335667-top-5-nl-and-al-mvp-candidates-for-2012

Well that was exciting!

So many things happened in this game, I'm gonna have to use a bullet-point format so that my thoughts don't get all jumbled in incoherent paragraphs.

Let's go in chronological order:

• Posey and Pence got AT&T'd hard in that first inning. Thankfully, their homers-in-any-other-ballpark still flew over Justin Upton's head and still resulted in four runs. No way the Giants would blow that 4-0 lead...
• Zito looked really good for four innings, then not so much. I'm done analyzing him. He's a fifth starter. He'll have good outings, he'll have bad outings, and he'll have outings like today where he's good and bad. Cash your chips and be happy you left the casino with a sub-5 ERA from Zeets.
• Guillermo Mota pitched exactly 2 innings since coming back from his 100-game (repeat: 100-game suspension) before he came into today's game. Add the fact that there are now extra bullpen arms because the roster expanded to 40 players and there is absolutely no reason Bochy should have put Mota in this game. A two-run lead in the 6th inning is a high-leverage situation, so why on Earth would you put a guy in who has barely pitched in four months with Goldschmidt and Montero due up? And don't use the excuse that other relievers were tired. Anybody would have been better than Mota in that situation, besides maybe Brad Penny. Bochy has made plenty of smart decisions -- like using a closer-by-committee -- but then completely misuses his bullpen in games like this. I don't get it.
• Kontos, Penny, and Loux were equally as bad as Mota. Kontos gave up two RBI singles after replacing Mota, while Penny and Loux somehow only gave up one run (a good example of how incomplete ERA is as a stat). The 6th though 8th innings involved some of the worst relief pitching I've seen from the Giants in years.
• The Giants always have a "Singalong Inning" in the middle of the 8th, usually with Journey's "Lights" playing if they're winning or "Don't Stop Believin'" if they're losing. The crowd sings along (hence the inning's name), which usually feels cheesy and forced, unless it's a World Series game. Well, as I explained in my last post, the Giants have been pretty hard to watch the last few games I've attended, and hearing "Don't Stop Believin'" every time I went to AT&T was starting to really get on my nerves. I was this close to leaving in the 7th inning just to avoid hearing that stupid song one more time.
• Good thing I sucked it up and stayed. It felt pretty hopeless down 8-5 with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 8th, but some the bottom of the order provided some unexpected magic. Hector Sanchez and Brandon Crawford hit back-to-back doubles, making it 8-6. Brandon Belt then hit an RBI single. Angel Pagan struck out, but getting the score to 8-7 definitely re-energized the crowd ("Don't Stop Believin'" certainly didn't, at least not in my mind).
• Oh, I forgot to mention it was Star Wars day at the Park. Tons of people were in Star Wars costumes, everything on the jumbotron was Star Wars themed, it was silly and fun. When the Giants came up to bat, the pictures of the batters' faces shown on the jumbotron had Jedi hoods over their heads. Guess which Giant looked the goofiest. Here's a hint.
• Jean Machi, welcome to the big club.
• Top 9, Marco Scutaro hit a lead-off double (foreshadowing...). After Pablo grounded out, Mr. Unclutch Posey stepped up to the plate. As he so often does, Posey battled and worked the count to 2-2 before scorching a game-tying double past the third-baseman. Great piece of hitting. Can we now shoot down this "Posey isn't clutch" narrative before it has a chance to become an actual thing?
• Sergio Romo: One of the best relievers in baseball.
• Look, I'm glad Brett Pill's bunt ended up working out but people need to stop gushing over it. Aubrey Huff was lauded for his bunt in Game 5 of the World Series that was subsequently followed that inning by Edgar Renteria's huge home run, and I'm not denying that Pill or Huff were unselfish. But bunts are bad plays unless you're an awful hitter or a pitcher. Pill isn't a very good hitter but he's not awful and he's got power, yet he eliminated any chance of a hit in order to move the runner over. For every bunt that results in a run, there are several that result in nothing. I love that Pill's bunt resulted in a run, but I don't like that people actually think sacrifice bunting from powerful position players is a good play.
• Scutaro delivers again! This guy has been so money since he became a Giant. Pence's struggles have been totally neutralized by Scutaro. As bad as I feel for Freddy Sanchez, Scutaro is making his absence pretty easy to handle.