The 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants

What a long, tortuous season for Giants fans and players everywhere. All the offensive struggles, the close losses, and a title that has eluded the Giants franchise since their move out west are history now. To think about all the great players that the Giants fans watched and adored over the years, it is pretty insane to imagine that this group of misfits and castoffs succeeded in bringing Giants fans what they’ve desired for over half a century. It’s also pretty amazing that this group of players just accomplished what WIllie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Will Clark, Matt Williams, Rod Beck, Robb Nen, and Barry Bonds could not. After the earthquake in ’89 and the let-down in ’02, this 2010 World Series victory is just that much more fulfilling as a life-long Giants fan.

The San Francisco Giants are finally World Series Champions! Picture courtesy of wegotthiscovered.com

Let’s take a look back at the Giants wild run to the 2010 World Series with one of the most unusual lineups in history. The Giants opened up the 2010 season in Houston with a 5-2 victory over the Astros. Take a look at the opening day lineup for the Giants (in batting order): Aaron Rowand-CF, Edgar Renteria-SS, Pablo Sandoval-3B, Aubrey Huff- 1B, Mark DeRosa-LF, Bengie Molina-C, John Bowker- RF, Juan Uribe- 2B, and Tim Lincecum- P. Almost half the lineup wasn’t starting come playoff time. The Giants’ starting rotation looked a little like this (in rotation order): Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Todd Wellenmeyer.  Some of these starters are a far cry from what the Giants ended the season with; so where did players like Cody Ross, Buster Posey, Pat Burrell, Andres Torres, Freddy Sanchez, and Madisom Bumgarner come from?

Cody Ross was placed on waivers by the Florida Marlins before joining the Giants on August 21, 2010 via a waiver claim that was mostly in part to the Giants trying to prevent the San Diego Padres from getting Ross’ services. Buster Posey was called up on May 29, 2010 and primarily played first-base until Bengie Molina was traded to the Rangers. Following the trade, Posey was promoted to starting catcher on June 30th, and he has never looked back. Pat Burrell was released by the Tampa Bay Rays on May 19th and the Giants promptly signed him to take the spot vacated by Posey on May 29th. Andres Torres is a career journeyman who has been with six teams in his eight yearlong career. Torres was signed back in January of ’09 but only become a starter this year when Aaron Rowand suffered an injury. Freddy Sanchez was traded from Pittsburgh to San Francisco on July 29, 2009 but was placed on the disabled list less than a month later; hee started the 2010 season on the DL but was able to claim the starting 2B job with strong defensive play and timely hitting. Madison Bumgarner is a 21 year-old rookie who was called up on June 26th to take over Todd Wellenmeyer. With all the activity during the regular season, the Giants roster was never set in stone. Despite the many transactions this team was able to come together and gel as a “team” in every sense of the word.

Now that we know where these key cogs came from, let’s look at the struggles this team faced during this long road to the World Series. To Be Continued…

This is just an opinion…so please Pardon My Bias.