Ladies And Gentlemen, Your 2012 World Series Champions

Tonight, with Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. and baseball fans across the country hunkered down for a huge Game Four of the 2012 World Series, the Tigers tried to make a stand and put themselves on a course to try and be the first team to ever overcome a 3 - 0 hole to win the World Series. It was a tall order, and it wasn’t meant to be, as the Giants came away with a ten inning victory that gave them their second World Series championship in as many years.

Detroit finally got a little more of that offense that they’d been missing, as Triple Crown King Miguel Cabrera came alive with a two-run homer in the third inning that gave the Tigers the lead. After the Giants had pulled ahead, Delmon Young tied things up with a solo shot. These were the big hits that Detroit missed in the first three games. But when they finally broke through, it wasn’t enough.

Max Scherzer pitched well and kept his team in the game. He gave up three runs in 6.1 innings of work, but he struck out eight and pitched out of a couple of jams. The bullpen, namely Drew Smyly, Octavio Dotel, and Phill Coke, kept things in check. Outside of Game One, Detroit’s pitching was stellar in the series, and it was good again. Phil Coke struck out the side in the ninth for the second straight game but came back out to pitch the tenth when the game went into extras. And San Francisco was able to get to him. Ryan Theriot singled, and he advanced on a Brendan Crawford sacrifice bunt. Marco Scutaro continued to cement his place as one of the most important mid-season acquisitions in MLB history by singling in Theriot.

It was really more of the same for the Giants. Great pitching, timely hitting, including a two-run homer from NL MVP favorite Buster Posey in the sixth. Matt Cain gave his team seven innings of three-run ball, and Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, and Sergio Romo closed things out from there. San Francisco closed out the season with a magnificent seven-game winning struck that ended with the claiming of another title.

Much will now be written about Cabrera and his relative disappearance in the World Series. He had three hits in 13 at-bats, and while the two-run home run in Game Four was key, his overall performance in the series fell far short of what fans have come to expect. Prince Fielder wasn’t any better. He was hitless tonight and 1 for 18 in the series. These two were obviously a huge force for the Tigers in the regular season but couldn’t make anything happen in the most important games of the year.

The Giants really seemed to come out of nowhere this year and were able to ride great pitching from the edge of elimination to a World Series championship. There’s a lot to be said for that, but for now, we’ll leave it at: Congratulations, San Francisco!

But also screw you for ending baseball season when we all could have had three more games after this one.