October 31, 2012
^ o rtla n h (©hacruer
Page 9
World
Series
Sweep
San Francisco
manager calls
it ‘destiny’
(AP) -- Kung Fu Panda, The
Freak, The Beard and all their
seed-throwing buddies are on top
of baseball - again.
They may be under the radar,
unappreciated and unexpected.
But they're unassailable, the win
ner of two World Series titles in
the last three years.
Their sweep of the Detroit Ti
gers, completed Sunday night with
a 4-3, 10-inning win, was simply
historic.
No National League team had
swept a World Series since the
1990 Cincinnati Reds.
No NL team had won twice in
a three-year span since the Big
Red Machine in 1975-76.
"I'm numb, really, the fact that
we've won two World Series in
the last three years," Giants man
ager Bruce Bochy said. "This will
sink in, but right now, I'm kind of
speechless on that."
This happens in the NL only
slightly more often than appear
ances of Haley's Comet. They are
just the fifth NL team to accom
plish the feat since the 1907-08
Chicago Cubs, joining the 1921-
22 New York Giants, the St. Louis
Cardinals of '44 and '46, the Los
Angeles Dodgers of '63 and '65,
and that Big Red Machine.
And these Giants did it with
small ball, becoming only the fifth
big league team - and the first
San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval holds the World Series MVP trophy after his team defeated the Detroit Tigers
Sunday in Game 4 to win the MLB World Series baseball championship in Detroit, Mich.
since the 1982 Cardinals - to win
the title after finishing dead last in
home runs during the regular sea
son.
"Our guys had a date with
destiny," Giants general manager
Brian Sabean said.
Marco Scutaro delivered one
more key hit this October, a go-
ahead single with two outs in the
10th inning against Phil Coke.
On a Detroit night of biting
cold, stiff breezes and some rain,
the Giants sealed the title when
Sergio Romo got Triple Crown
winner Miguel Cabrera to look at
strike three for the final out.
"Tonight was a battle," said
Giants catcher Buster Posey, the
NL batting champion. "And I think
tonight was a fitting way for us to
end it because those guys played
hard. They didn't stop, and it's an
unbelievable feeling."
Posey, the only player in the
starting lineup when San Fran
cisco win the 2010 clincher at
Texas, celebrated with his team
m ates in the center o f the
Comerica Park diamond. In the
clubhouse, they hoisted the tro
phy, passed it around and shouted
the name of each player who held
it,
"World Series champions!"
hollered outfielder Hunter Pence,
who started the pregame seed
tossing ritual.
Pablo Sandoval, nicknamed
Kung Fu Panda, was benched for
most of the 2010 Series and then
went 8 for 16 this year, including
a three-homer performance in
Game 1, to win MVP honors.
"I was ready for the moment,"
he said. "I was waiting for the
opportunity to be in the playoffs
again."
Cabrera delivered the first big
hit for Detroit, interrupting San
Francisco's run of dominant pitch
ing with a two-run, wind-blown
homer over the right-field wall in
the third.
Posey put the Giants ahead 3-
2 with a two-run homer in the
sixth and Delmon Young hit a
tying home run in the bottom half.
San Francisco then won a battle
of bullpens.
Ryan Theriot led off the 10th
with a single against Phil Coke,
moved up on Brandon Crawford's
sacrifice and scored on a shallow
single by Scutaro, the MVP of the
NL championship series. Center
fielder Austin Jackson made a
throw home, to no avail.
"We were very adamant that
PSU Basketball Opens Season
Portland State opens its schedule with
an exhibition game on Friday, Nov. 2
against Concordia. The game will be
the second in a doubleheader with the
Viking women at the PSU Stott Center.
The women's game begins at 6 p.m.
with the men tipping off at 8:05 p.m.
The PSU men are led by fourth-year
Head Coach Tyler Geving whose team
had a 17-15 finish last year, 10-6 and
third place in the Big Sky Conference. •
Geving has two returning starters and
eight returning letter winners on his
roster.
The Vikings begin their counting pre
season schedule on Friday, Nov. 9,
hosting Pacific. It will also be a double-
header with the women and tip off at
8:05 p.m.
Big Sky Conference play opens at
home against Idaho State on Dec. 20.
PSU follows on Dec. 22 by hosting
Weber State. That begins an expanded
20-^ame Big Sky schedule.
we have to step on their throats,"
Giants pitcher Barry Zito said.
"We saw what they did to New
York."
Santiago Casilla got one out in
the ninth for the win. Romo struck
out the side in the bottom of the
10th for his third save of the
Series.
The Giants finished the month
with seven straight wins and their
seventh Series championship.
They handed the Tigers their sev
enth straight World Series loss
dating to 2006.
"O bviously, there was no
doubt about it," Tigers manager
Jim L ey lan d said . "It was
freaky. I w ould have never
guessed we would have swept
the Yankees and I would have
never guessed the Giants would
have swept us."
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