San Francisco Giants Defeat San Diego Padres, Win NL West

It took the San Francisco Giants until the 162nd game to do it, but they clinched their first National League West crown since 2003.

The Giants defeated the San Diego Padres 3-0 on Sunday and that crazy three-team playoff scenario between the Braves, Giants, and Padres that everyone wanted to see will just have to wait for another year. The Giants victory also clinched a playoff birth for the Braves.

The Giants got a bend-but-don’t-break pitching performance from Jonathan Sanchez and some solid hitting from Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey to secure the victory. The real story of this game however, was the Giants’ bullpen.

Santiago Casilla, Ramon Ramirez, Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo, and Brian Wilson were flat-out awesome on Sunday. The biggest AB of the game came in the top of the seventh inning.

With two-on and two-out, Giants manager Bruce Bochy summoned Ramirez out of the bullpen to face Miguel Tejada. It was a classic at-bat. The count went to 3-2 and after a couple of foul balls, Ramirez blew a pitch by Tejada to get out of the inning.

It was clutch pitching not only because it got the Giants out of the jam, but it left Adrian Gonzalez standing on the on-deck circle. If anyone deserved a save for the Giants’ win on Sunday, it was Ramirez.

As for the Padres, asking to sweep the Giants at AT&T Park was a lot to ask. In the end, it was the one thing that held the Padres back all season that once again let them down — their offense.

The baseball gods will only allow a team to win so many games 2-1 or 3-2 during the coarse of a season. It’s pretty clear what the Padres need to work on in the offseason.

The Giants will play the Braves in the NLDS.

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