Washington Nationals rookie Brad Peacock pitched five complete innings, shutting down the New York Mets — and giving the Nationals a 2-0 shutout win (their fourth victory in a row) at Citi Field in New York. Peacock, one of a passel of arms in Washington’s pitching-heavy farm system, threw 94 pitches, 61 of them for strikes in his first start, and his first win, in the major leagues.

“To tell you the truth, I thought I was going to be nervous, but just like my last outing, once I made that first pitch, I was fine,” Peacock said, following the victory. “I made sure I took deep breaths out there. I settled in nicely.” Nats’s skipper Davey Johnson praised the young righty’s approach. “I was real impressed,” Johnson said. “He showed a lot of poise. He didn’t get flustered.”

The Nationals scored their only runs of the game in the top of the 3rd inning on a fielding error from David Wright. With Ian Desmond on first, Ryan Zimmerman was given a free pass, after which Michael Morse and Jayson Werth singled. Desmond and Zimmerman scored in the inning. That was all that Washington would need.

The Washington bullpen was again impressive. Former starter Tom Gorzelanny shut down the Mets in two complete innings, Tyler Clippard registered his 34th hold, and Drew Storen came on in the ninth inning to notch his 37th save. Gorzelanny was particularly effective, and has been so over the last ten games, lowering his ERA from 4.50 to 4.13.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Peacock throws a knuckle curve, though it’s reportedly more of a “spike” curve of the type thrown by Cliff Lee and Dan Haren, than a knuckling curveball that was used by Mike Mussina. But Peacock throws it more regularly than either Lee or Haren. The knuckle curve creator (though there is strong disagreement on this point), was Chicago’s Burt Hooton, back in the early 1970s . . .

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In the end, it really wasn’t that much of a contest. Behind the pitching of righty ace Tim Lincecum and the long ball hitting of veteran shortstop (and series MVP) Edgar Renteria, the San Francisco Giants won the 106th Fall Classic — downing the Texas Rangers 3-1 in the fifth game of the World Series and taking the series four games to one. That the difference was pitching should not come as a surprise. The Giants rode the arms of their best pitchers, while beating Texas ace Cliff Lee twice. Giants’ starters held the hit-heavy Rangers’ line-up to an embarrassingly anemic .167 batting average, with the Rangers’ best hitters unable to unlock the Giants’ best starters. After scoring seven runs in the first game against the Giants, Texas’ bats went quiet in the Fall Classic’s final four games, scoring just five runs in the final 36 innings of the series. “As a competitor, you want to put it on yourself,” Texas third sacker Michael Young said during post-game interviews in the Rangers’ clubhouse. “They threw the ball well, but no matter who is out there, we still feel we’re capable of scoring runs. We just didn’t get it done.”

The same message was given by patch-em-up and let-em-play veteran Edgar Renteria, who manfully stop-gapped the Giants at shortstop, while providing a home run bat that had been silent nearly all season. The crafty and savvy shortstop walked away from the 106th World Series with the MVP, a much deserved reward for a player who spent the year nursing an aching neck and all sorts of tears and pulls to compile a .412 (7 for 17, two home runs, six RBIs) Fall Classic. Renteria, 34 — and in his fifteenth season — hit a three run dinger in the fifth game to notch his place in Giants’ (and baseball) history. “I got confident, looking for one pitch, and if he throws it I’m going to hit it back to the middle,” Renteria said of his home run stroke against Texas ace Cliff Lee. “So he tried to throw the cutter, and the cutter stayed in the middle, and that’s why it went out.” That Renteria would be the player at the center of the Giants’ postgame celebration seemed oddly just: a legendary franchise that boasts some of the greatest players in baseball history now has a new hero — a slap-and-run good-glove defender who plays quietly behind, argubly, the very best pitching staff in baseball. That’s what made the San Franciso Giants the Champions of the World.

The San Francisco Giants are 27 outs from a World Series win, the first since the team moved from New York to the west coast. If Sunday night is any indication, the send-em-to-the-golf-course triumph will come as a result of stellar pitching and situational hitting: Giants specialities that have flummoxed (in turn) the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and now, the Texas Rangers. Madison Bumgarner is the latest example of how the Giants have dominated the series — throwing 8 innings of three hit baseball (106 pitches, 69 strikes) in shutting down a potent Rangers’ offense. Bumgarner was nearly unhittable, becoming the fifth youngest pitcher in baseball history (21 years and 91 days) to start in the Fall Classic. “He was as good as I’ve seen him,” San Francisco catcher Buster Posey said after the win. “He was in and out, really. The first couple of innings he might have yanked a couple of fastballs, but after that he was unreal.”

The Rangers, stymied by San Francisco’s arms (Bumgarner struck out Vlad Guerrero three times and Michael Young twice), will attempt to get back into the series on Monday by sending uber ace Cliff Lee to the mound to face-off against Tim Lincecum. So while a Giants’ win in the Series is far from guaranteed, San Francisco has to be confident that it can do to Lee what it did on Sunday to Tommy Hunter — and last week to the Rangers’ bullpen. And yet, Texas sounded anything but confident. “We still have to find a way to score runs,” Texas third sacker Michael Young (.250 for the series), said after the Bumgarner outing. Young’s view was seconded by Nelson Cruz — who’s hitting a Willie Harris-like .188 against Giants’ pitching: “We need more hits and more people on base.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Not only is San Francisco’s pitching good, it’s home grown. Tim Lincecum was a 2006 (tenth overall) San Francisco draft pick, Matt Cain was selected by the Giants in the first round (25th overall) in 2002, Jonathan Sanchez was picked up by the Gigantes in the 27th round in 2004 and Madison Bumgarner was a Brian Sabean favorite in 2007 — when he was drafted tenth overall. It’s the first home-grown rotation to reach the World Series since 1986, when Boston trotted out Bruce Hurst, Roger Clemens, Oil Can Boyd and Al Nipper to face the New York Mets. The San Francisco model (draft pitching, buy hitting) is followed throughout baseball, but few teams have had as much success in following it as the Giants. The Giants follow two other principles: they don’t dilly dally in moving their best young arms to the majors (Lincecum and Bumgarner each spent two years in the minors), and they don’t trade them for hitting — Sabean pushed aside a proposed Lincecum for Alex Rios deal, turned down a Cain for Prince Fielder deal and spurned numerous suitors (including your Washington Nationals) for Jonathan Sanchez . . .

The Norris Nine? We’ve received a ton of mail from readers following up on our little ditty about proposed Texas Rangers’ nicknames. One reader divided his list into two parts — “old ones” and “new ones.” Among the old: the “Spurs” (an old Dallas-Ft. Worth baseball team), the “Strangers” (a 1970s nickname given the Rangers because of their relocation from D.C.), and the “Hambones” — which is Josh Hamilton’s nickname. Hmmmm. This reader lists as new ones the “Ex-Senators,” the “Re-Arrangers,” and “the Bushies.” This last makes sense, given the prominence of the Bush family, who have found themselves (with Nolan Ryan), in camera range during the Series. But the best nominee from this (anonymous) reader is “The Texas Walkers,” named for the “Walker, Texas Ranger” television series, starring (quick intake of breath) Chuck Norris. This has potential (this reader implies), because it can be morphed into “The Norris Nine” — which has a certain ring. This regular CFG reader (and who isn’t) isn’t the first fan to put the Rangers together with the aging kick boxer. Back in August of 2009, when the Rangers were contending for a Wild Card spot with the Boston Pedroia’s, a Red Sox fan (with entirely too much time on his hands), gave us this . . .

The Texas Rangers broke out of their two game World Series slump, defeating the San Francisco Giants 4-2 in Arlington, Texas on Saturday. The win came on the arm of Colby Lewis, who threw nearly eight innings of five hit ball, giving up only two runs and striking out six. McCovey fans always fear the return of “the torture” — a sudden inability to hit good pitching, and it happened on Saturday. San Francisco fans also got an eyeful from rookie closer Neftali Perez, who struck out two in the San Francisco 9th to notch the save, hitting 99 mph on the gun and setting the suddenly whiff-prone McCoveys down in order. The big blow in the game came from Mitch Moreland, the Rangers’ 2007 17th round draft pick (and Mississippi State afterthought), who is solidifying his spot as a first base regular. After fouling off two Jonathan Sanchez change-ups and two more sliders (and working Sanchez into a tizzy of nine total pitches), Moreland launched a fastball into the right field seats, putting the Rangers up 3-0. It was all Texas would need.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: We’re struggling to come up with a good baseball nickname for the Rangers, and for good reason. After all, it’s not as if the Rangers have a storied history. After moving from D.C. in time for the 1972 season, the Rangers regularly struggled to find pitching. Their best years were ’98 and ’99, under Johnny Oates, when they sported a hit-heavy line-up (Ivan Rodriguez, Will Clark and Juan Gonzalez) and pitchers who could throw well for a year — but not much more. We could call them the Ryans, or even the Hamiltons, but that seems almost too easy. Then too, Ryan pitched for Houston and the Halos for a lot longer than he ever pitched for the Rangers. His best year with Texas was ’89, when he was 16-10. Oddly, the Rangers had trouble hitting in ’89: one of the few years that that has ever happened. After bursting out of the gate in the early-going, the Rangers faded, falling into fourth place and finishing well back in the A.L. West. Their best player was Ruben Sierra, then in the fourth year of a semi-distinguished career . . . and we’re certainly not going to call them the Sierras.

Of course, there’s the old stand-bys: the Lone Stars (ugh), the Gunslingers (ick), or the Cowpokes. The internet is bereft of anything approaching a suggestion — as all the old baseball nicknames (Mutuals, Red Stockings, Eckfords, Knickerbockers and the like) have solid histories associated with established teams. Of course, we could call them the Morons: a name that comes to mind anytime a Washingtonian decides to read a Dallas newspaper (which, admittedly, isn’t that often). Steve Blow’s Dallas Morning News piece on why the Rangers deserve to win the Series, is a case in point. Blow goes on about how the Rangers are a bunch of “regular Joes,” while the Giants are long-haired hand-holders. Or, as he says: “Giants fans sip hot chocolate and wear coats and jackets to games all summer long” (he’s got a point), while the Rangers tough-it-out in “a sweat lodge.”

Blow isn’t kidding — he writes that the Rangers are real Americans (they wear red, white and blue), while the Giants wear “Halloween colors.” He goes on to write that San Francisco’s mayor “reeks of effete.” Blow also puts in a plug for Republican Congressman Joe Barton, while “Madame Pelosi” represents The City by the Bay. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to inject politics into baseball,” Blow writes. “But it’s hard to imagine two places more different facing each other in the World Series – one right, one left.” The response has been viral — the article was posted on Facebook and has occasioned endless responses. And while one Texas reader responds that Blow is writing tongue-in-cheek (“calm down and take your medication”), there’s a tangible sense that Blow speaks for a lot of Rangers’ fans, who view their all-American team as . . . well . . . all-American. Giants fans have responded in kind: “Hey Hopalong Dufus, your article is like everything else in Texas; high hat, tall boots, no cattle” or (better yet): “Things that are bigger in Texas: “Waistlines, execution rates, strip malls, racism, postseason ERA’s.” Actually, Cowpokes isn’t all that bad.

The more you think about the 106th World Series, the more you have to believe that the Texas Rangers are not simply snake bit, they’re actually over matched — or worse: that the real contest to see who’s the best in baseball has already taken place. And the Phillies lost. Fans of the American League will bitterly deny this, arguing that we have yet to see the real Rangers’ line-up, that Cliff Lee will assuredly return to form, that the Lone Stars’ two, three and four hitters will find their rhythm in Arlington. Not a few Texas fans are blaming manager Ron Washington for the flame-out, arguing that he could have kept the Giants close in last night’s 9-0 blowout if he had brought uber closer Neftali Perez in to pitch the 8th. The criticism’s fair, Lookout Landing says, but bringing in Feliz probably wouldn’t have changed the game’s outcome. That true; but the point of the criticism has little to do with Washington’s decision in the eighth inning of last night’s game and more to do with his decision making for the entire series. Which has been questionable.

Washington failed to fill out a line-up capable of hitting in an N.L. pitcher’s park, where long balls fall onto the warning track and hits to the right-center and left-center alleys never die. David Murphy (who has little no power) and Matt Treanor (who is a average poor hitter in the best of times) are fine players who are important pieces in a 162 game season (when regulars have to be rested), but they have no business starting in a seven game do-or-die series for all the marbles — particularly when Vlad Guerrero and Bengie Molina have played a lifetime of games in pressure situations against tough competition. Murphy and Treanor combined for 17 home runs during the 2010 campaign, while Vlad smacked nine dingers and hit .350 against the Gigantes in his career — oh, and accounted for 29 homers in 2010, which is 12 more than Murphy and Treanor combined. Then there’s Molina, who’s not only a fine hitter, but a player who actually knows the opposing rotation: having caught them for 61 games during the regular season. What the hell were these guys doing sitting on the bench? Or, put another way, Ron Washington’s failure didn’t come in the 8th inning of last night’s game, it came when he filled out the line-up card.

The first game of the 2010 World Series wasn’t exactly a pitcher’s duel. The pumped-up Fox Television special of a “classic match-up” between two great pitchers (including one whose post-season numbers were right up there with Sandy Koufax and Christy Mathewson), turned into a sloppy slugfest (six errors, 18 runs and 25 hits) that ranks with some of the worst played games in World Series history. It’s not as if San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy didn’t know it. Bochy all but admitted that the game could have been more cleanly played, but he shrugged philosophically: “We’ll take the win,” he said after the completion of the whirlwind 11-7 tilt. “We were expecting to win,” Ranger Elvis Andrus reflected, “but they played better than us. That’s just the way it is.”

Well, that’s right — the Giants played better than the Rangers. But not by much. While Lee (vying for post-season honors with some of the all-time greats) looked merely human — 4.2 innings, six earned runs — McCovey righty Tim Lincecum pitched like the head-in-the-clouds hippie (5.2 innings, 8 hits, four runs) his detractors criticize him for being: he allowed four hits in the first two innings, gave up a double to the opposing pitcher, and ran a runner back to an unoccupied base. While the post-game Giants touted their dominance over Lee (whose curve just wasn’t working), the truth is that Lincecum looked like he wandered into the game by accident. Then too, you have to believe that without Brian “Beach Boy” Wilson’s shut-em-down appearance (and using him shows you just how desperate Bochy was to finish the game), the contest might have been tied in the 9th — and won by the Texans in the 10th.

There have been plenty of poorly played World Series games (this certainly isn’t the first), and there’s no guarantee that such an indifferently played first contest will mean that this version of “the Fall Classic” won’t be classic. After all, the 1960 Yankees-Pirates series featured two teams with solid rotations who couldn’t pitch a fig when it came to October. The Yankees made the Pirates look silly in three of those games (by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0), but then lost the series on one of baseball’s most exciting moments. That probably won’t happen here, but an 11-7 score is hardly a fair indictation of things to come:  the Giants still boast one of the best staffs in recent post-season history, while the Rangers’ order is capable of putting Mantle-like numbers on the opposing scoreboard. But it’s only a seven game series, and with Cliff Lee’s outing behind them, the Giants have to be optimistic — particularly if they win tonight.

The Year of the Pitcher may well turn into the year of the underdog, with the lowly, no-acount, we-can’t-hit-worth-a-damn San Francisco Giants slaying the pound-em-out hit-heavy Texas Rangers. Really. It could happen. But don’t tell San Francisco Giants fans. McCovey Chronicles is emblamatic of how the team’s followers feel: they can’t quite believe their good fortune, remain puzzled about how a team with three top pitchers (and not a whole lot else) can be playing for all of baseball’s marbles and reminisce about all those San Francisco might-have-beens. The 2000 version of the Giants (who did not get beyond the NLDS), and the 2002 contenders for the title, were far better teams than the 2010 McCoveys (these fans contend) because the current Giants lack the big bat that would make a World Series win a lock. “That 2000 team…man. They were stacked,” McCovey Chronicles notes. True. But they didn’t win the Series.

Back in 2000, J.T. Snow, Jeff Kent, Rich Aurelia, Bill Mueller and (oh yes) Barry Bonds were a near-cinch to lead San Francisco to the promised land. But it didn’t happen (not even close). And the reason it didn’t happen wasn’t because the Giants didn’t have hitting, it’s because the front three of Livan Hernandez, Russ Ortiz and Shawn Estes couldn’t compete with the New York Valentines, who were led into the NLDS by Mike Hampton, Al Leiter, Bobby Jones, Glendon Rusch and a bullpen spearheaded by Armando Benitez — the class of baseball’s closers. The Apples outfield looked mediocre (Derek Bell, Jay Payton and Benny Agbayani — for God’s sake), their infield was filled with holes and, much like the 2010 version of the McCoveys, everyone wondered where the Mets were going to get their runs. They didn’t need to. Even the Mets’ mid-rotation pitchers were better than the Giants’ hitters. In game four of the NLDS (just as an example), Bobby Jones bested the Giants’ line-up, holding the McCoveys to (count ‘em) one hit. Barry Bonds was .176 for the series. The Giants went home and the Mets went on to eat the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.

The temptation here is to compare the 2010 Giants with the 2000 Mets, though comparisons of one team with another in different years is always chancy. Yet, for fans of the McCoveys to reminisce about that “stacked” 2000 team misses the point — their pitching was very average. If that. The 2010 version of the San Francisco Giants is totally different: they are pitching dependent, counting on runs from a handful of slap-and-tickle vets like Andres Torres, Edgar Rentaria and Juan Uribe (the absolutely key Juan Uribe), a couple of bench veterans (Pablo Sandoval and Aaron Rowand) and a rookie whiz (Buster Posey). But forget that. Here’s the true comparison. In 2000, the Valentines rode into the World Series against the Yankees on the strength of their arms: and hit a buzz saw. Why? Because the Empire’s arms (Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez) were damn near unbeatable. So ignore the hitters, and consider this: the 2010 Giants are “stacked” with pitching — and boast the best front three (Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez) in the post-season since the 2000 Yankees made the Mets look silly. Don’t kid yourself. It’s still the year of the pitcher.