Culminating a wonderful and improbable season, the San Francisco Giants clinched the championship by winning Game 5 against the mighty Texas Rangers (led by big bopper Josh Hamilton and pitching stalwart Cliff Lee - and managed by Ron Washington, well known in the Northern California as the Oakland A's third base coach/baseball guru for more than a decade) by a score of 3-1. 2010 World Series Most Valuable Player Edgar Renteria, previously one serious tormentor of the Giants as a member of the 1997 World Champion Florida Marlins and 2004 National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals, smacked a three-run homer to seal the deal.
The afterglow is sweet for long-suffering Bay Area fans, as three San Francisco Giants World Series appearances ended in heartbreak. They lost in 1962 to the New York Yankees (and specifically a superb, acrobatic play by second baseman Bobby Richardson to spear a screaming line drive by Hall Of Famer Willie McCovey), got swept a pitching-rich and powerful juggernaut of an Oakland A's team in the 1989 "Bay Bridge" series (quite literally delayed by the Loma Prieta earthquake) and were beaten in humiliating fashion after a 3-2 World Series lead by a combination of timely hitting by the California Angels and a painful Giants pitching meltdown.
And don't get us "orange and black" fans started on the years when the Giants enjoyed superb regular seasons only to either get eliminated during the regular season's final weekend (1982, 1993, 2001, 2004) or lose in the Round One of the playoffs (1971, 1987, 2003). Arguably the mightiest of all the Giants teams, the 1993 squad (103 wins, 59 losses), which featured a lineup led by Barry Bonds, Will Clark and Matt Williams, were edged out on Game 162 by the sole team with a better record in MLB, the 104-58 Atlanta Braves.
Without a doubt, this World Series victory is especially sweet for the many stellar players who have worn the Giants uniform.
To quote the article by John Schlegel regarding today's parade in San Francisco on MLB.COM
"The Giants are getting ready to party like it's 1958.
The parade route taken when the Giants were first welcomed to The City by the Bay will be used once again, this time when the World Series trophy is welcomed to City Hall.
The parade will conclude on the steps of City Hall, where Mayor Gavin Newsom will present the team with the key to the city.
The Giants clinched the first World Series title since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958 with a 3-1 victory over the Rangers on Monday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, with ace Tim Lincecum throwing eight innings and Brian Wilson -- sporting his best "Fear the Beard" facial hair -- sealing the deal in the ninth inning.
No doubt, there will be plenty of beards among the fans on the parade route -- men, women and children. Also, figure on a lot of references on signs to torture, the team's unofficial theme for the year after dozens of close games and agonizing defeats steeled their will to win into the postseason.
They'll be there by the thousands to honor the Freak and the rest of the pitching staff that took the trophy one zero at a time, to cheer Aubrey Huff and his red rally thong, to bask once more in the postseason heroics of World Series MVP Edgar Renteria, Juan Uribe and Cody Ross.
Figure on an orange river flowing through the streets of San Francisco.
The last time San Francisco hosted a sports parade of this magnitude was in 1995, when the city celebrated the fifth Super Bowl title won by the 49ers of the National Football League.
This time, an unlikely mix of homegrown talent, outcasts and misfits will be honored along a parade route in downtown San Francisco, carrying a very special item the city has waited since 1958 to bring home:
The World Series trophy."
To quote the article by John Schlegel regarding today's parade in San Francisco on MLB.COM
"The Giants are getting ready to party like it's 1958.
The parade route taken when the Giants were first welcomed to The City by the Bay will be used once again, this time when the World Series trophy is welcomed to City Hall.
The parade will conclude on the steps of City Hall, where Mayor Gavin Newsom will present the team with the key to the city.
The Giants clinched the first World Series title since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958 with a 3-1 victory over the Rangers on Monday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, with ace Tim Lincecum throwing eight innings and Brian Wilson -- sporting his best "Fear the Beard" facial hair -- sealing the deal in the ninth inning.
No doubt, there will be plenty of beards among the fans on the parade route -- men, women and children. Also, figure on a lot of references on signs to torture, the team's unofficial theme for the year after dozens of close games and agonizing defeats steeled their will to win into the postseason.
They'll be there by the thousands to honor the Freak and the rest of the pitching staff that took the trophy one zero at a time, to cheer Aubrey Huff and his red rally thong, to bask once more in the postseason heroics of World Series MVP Edgar Renteria, Juan Uribe and Cody Ross.
Figure on an orange river flowing through the streets of San Francisco.
The last time San Francisco hosted a sports parade of this magnitude was in 1995, when the city celebrated the fifth Super Bowl title won by the 49ers of the National Football League.
This time, an unlikely mix of homegrown talent, outcasts and misfits will be honored along a parade route in downtown San Francisco, carrying a very special item the city has waited since 1958 to bring home:
The World Series trophy."
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