Tim Hudson's 1st World Series Ring of 16-Year Career Rests on His Own Shoulder

It took 16 seasons and pretty close to 500 major league appearances for Tim Hudson to finally get a chance to pitch in the World Series. 

It's taken just a couple of days, however, for the chance to win the World Series to land in his own right hand.

The San Francisco Giants could have wrapped up their third championship in five seasons Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, but the Kansas City Royals wouldn't have it. They rebounded from consecutive losses in San Francisco to win a 10-0 laugher in Game 6, tying up the Fall Classic and setting up a decisive Game 7 Wednesday night.

For what it's worth, history is against the Giants. As ESPN Stats & Info noted, the last nine World Series Game 7's have been won by the home team. The juju is on the Royals' side.

But Bruce Bochy isn't panicking. Despite some speculation that the Giants skipper might start unstoppable playoff force Madison Bumgarner on just two days' rest, Bochy confirmed after Game 6 (to Newsday's Erik Boland, among others) that Hudson is his guy to oppose fellow veteran right-hander Jeremy Guthrie in Game 7.

Bay Area News Group editor Bud Geracie notes the 39-year-old sinkerballer will make some World Series history as soon as he steps on the mound:

Hudson may be up there in years, but his extensive track record says he can handle the job. He's pitched to a 3.45 ERA over 3,003 innings in the major leagues, quietly making him one of the 20 most accomplished right-handers ever by adjusted ERA+.

Of course, it took all of those innings plus over 50 more in the postseason for Hudson to finally get to the World Series. As much as anyone's, his career is a testament to how pitching on baseball's ultimate stage is more of a privilege than a right.

No need to tell him that. Hudson recently told Albert Chen of Sports Illustrated that he thought during his early years with the Oakland A's he wouldn't have to wait long to make it to the World Series. But then he realized...

MARK J. TERRILL/Associated Press

"Then your career goes along, with missed opportunities and falling short in the postseason, and it starts to sink in that maybe you'll never make it to the big dance," he said. "And you realize just how hard it is."

When his first chance to pitch in the World Series finally came in Game 3 at AT&T Park, Hudson didn't exactly disappoint. In allowing three earned runs on four hits in five and two-thirds innings, he pitched well enough to pace the Giants to a win.

But that didn't happen. Three runs were all the Royals needed, as Guthrie's strong pitching was backed by excellent relief work en route to a 3-2 Royals win.

The Giants will surely take it if Hudson authors a performance similar to his Game 3 effort Wednesday night. After all, ESPN's Jim Bowden is right in thinking the Giants likely aren't planning on a complete game from Hudson:

As far as Hudson must be concerned, however, what happened in Game 3 was a reminder that "good enough" isn't always good enough. He'll have a much better shot at his first ring if he's at his best.

That, fortunately, is not asking too much.

Hudson's first season with the Giants has mostly been a success. Before he hit a wall in September, he had a 2.90 ERA in 26 starts through the end of August. Since then, he's largely pitched well in October.

Hudson began his postseason with seven-and-a-third innings of one-run ball in Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals. And though the St. Louis Cardinals tagged him for four runs in six-and-a-third innings in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, the fourth run is as much on Bochy for leaving Hudson in too long.

More recently, Hudson's Game 3 performance was marred by a difficult beginning and a shaky end. In between, however, was a stretch where he collected 13 straight outs between the top of the second and the top of the sixth.

It was in that stretch that Hudson really looked like his vintage self, getting nine outs on eight ground balls (one was a double play) while masterfully hitting his spots.

"When he's down in the zone, he's going to get the ground balls," said lefty reliever Javier Lopez afterward, via Steve Kroner of the San Francisco Chronicle. "He's going to keep our defense active. That's something that makes him great. It was nice to see vintage Tim Hudson in the postseason."

More so than simply staying down in the zone, though, the real key for Hudson in his dominant stretch was not giving hitters anything to square up, particularly in recording three straight 1-2-3 innings between the third and the fifth.

Courtesy of Brooks Baseball, check out where he was spotting his pitches against left-handed batters:

Image courtesy of BrooksBaseball.net (h/t Baseball Prospectus)

Everything was away, away, away. And sure enough, he was doing the same against right-handed batters:

Image courtesy of BrooksBaseball.net (h/t Baseball Prospectus)

This is what Hudson looks like when he's at his best. And if he can do this from start to finish in Game 7, the Royals are going to have a very tough time putting runs on the board against him.

There are two guys who will help the Royals against Hudson, however.

After they were absent from Kansas City's lineup in San Francisco, this time Hudson will have to face right fielder Nori Aoki and designated hitter Billy Butler. In addition to two of the better hitters the Royals have, they're guys who can handle ground-ball pitchers on a team that doesn't feature many of them.

As such, Hudson being his best self from the start Wednesday may not be just a perfectly welcome possibility for the Giants. It may be a necessity. 

And that's without even mentioning that, oh yeah, it's a Game 7. Hudson's latest challenge will go down in baseball's ultimate pressure cooker, a setting where ordinary players can become heroes and extraordinary players can become legends.

We know that Hudson is an extraordinary player. Wednesday night, we'll find out if he's up to the task of becoming legendary.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.  

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