It is the last day of the second month of America’s favorite pastime, baseball, and who’s sitting atop not only in the National League, but in all of Major League Baseball? Why it’s none other than the San Francisco Giants. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you heard right, the team that last year tied for third place in the NL West is standing alone in the number one spot this year. The Giants have been putting on a great show and a great fight to stay on top, but can they make it to the World Series?
It was fifty six years between championships before the Giants would win their next World Series title, 2010. They were the underdogs, the team that all of MLB never had faith in. Maybe Barry Bonds rubbed everyone the wrong way, even the baseball gods, because they finally got that win without him. The following year they lost Buster Posey, the rookie of the year to a home plate collision, and subsequently the chance at a repeat died with the loss of an MVP caliber catcher. Many observers and non-Giants fans began to state that the 2010 win was just a fluke, but the next year they would be back.
Enter 2012, Tim Lincecum may have been struggling compared to his stellar self which acquired two Cy Young awards, but his fellow teammate Matt Cain was nothing but… perfect. On June 13, 2012 Matt Cain threw a perfect game against the Houston Astros. Little did we know this magical evening would be foreshadowing what would be an epic road to the World Series. At the non-waiver trade deadline the Giants acquire Phillies Outfielder, Hunter Pence, the motivational speaker aka the Reverend that would pump the Giants up before the third game of NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds. Yes, the Giants were known as “the comeback kids”, down in both the NLDS and the NLCS then all of a sudden pulling through to make it to the World Series against the Detroit Tigers and their fearsome pitcher Justin Verlander where the Giants swept the series 4-0.
The Giants won their second World Series title in three years? Why yes, yes it was indeed true. The San Francisco Giants started getting some recognition from the media, something every Giants faithful was hoping for.
Then came 2013, the pitching staff began to tank, the team lost speedy Angel Pagan to an atrocious hamstring injury that would knock him out of the lineup from the end of May to September, his absence in the lineup definitely was noticed. (SIA Profile) Now 2013 wasn’t all bad as Tim Lincecum bounced back and threw his first no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. A no-hitter is always something great, but the fact that it was Tim Lincecum made it even greater. Lincecum had been struggling for awhile before that beautiful performance, the team never lost faith in him and neither did San Francisco. The Giants may have not even been close to the postseason in 2013, but at least Lincecum got his no hitter to add to a long list of achievements this young man has under his belt, and proved he could be a strong starter again.
With that abysmal season behind them, the San Francisco Giants enter 2014 with a new attitude and two new additions, Tim Hudson and Michael Morse. Tim Hudson was supposed to be a third or fourth starter, but has pitched like an ace so far. Michael Morse is the home run king/left fielder/first baseman (now that Brandon Belt is on the DL) that the Giants couldn’t imagine how they got by without. With amazing pitching and “never say die” offense it seems that they have the team chemistry that worked so well for them in the past, the past that brought them two World Series titles in three years.
Yes, the Giants are at the top of the MLB standings as we roll into June, and are looking to add another ring this fall. Could they finally shut those non-believers that say their wins were just a fluke made possible by the baseball gods? Hey, it’s an even year after all.
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