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.

Giants Win The Pennant! Giants Win The Pennant! The San Francisco Giants are the champions of the National League, edging the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 in the sixth game of the NLCS. The Giants depended on timely hitting and an it’s-all-over-but-the-shouting bullpen to seal the victory, their first since 2002. Over at MLB Network, all world commentator Harold Reynolds called it “one of the greatest upsets in sports history” — a statement that many in the Phillies’ dugout might agree with. After all, the Giants had to win against the most fearsome front three in the majors, and had to close out the season in a ballpark whose fans are ferocious (and even nasty) partisans. But for those who have watched the Fightin’ Phillies in 2010, this NLCS ended like the tolling of a bell, with Philadelphia doing the predictable — fighting for hits with men on base, playing indifferent defense and gingerly skirting a bullpen that has only one he-won’t-ever-choke reliever. Still . . . it’s not so much that the Giants won, it’s that the Phillies lost. Right?

Not exactly. For where the Phillies were weak (hitting with runners in scoring position), the Giants were strong — slapping out 13 hits (13!) against Philadelphia’s best-under-pressure arm and throwing five relievers (Affeldt, Bumgarner, Lopez, Lincecum and Wilson) who held the Phillies to five hits and no runs in eight innings of work. The McCoveys dodged bullet after bullet, while Phillies’ fans waited vainly for their South Philly Nine to put the Gigantes away. It never happened: because the Broad Street Bashers were anything but. Through six games they failed to hit when they needed to. Get this: Philadelphia actually outscored San Francisco in the series, 20-19. But so what? The Giants won the closest, toughest games — while Philly failed to score when it counted. Roughly translated, here’s what the final box score meant: the Giants outhit the Phillies (a .244 BA for the series vs. the Pathetics .216), outpitched the Phillies (Lopez and Wilson virtually skunked Ashburn bats) and out-clutched the Phillies (Cody Ross hit .350, Juan Uribe tallied two GWRBIs).

Philadelphia fans bemoan this years Puzzling Phillies, arguing that at key moments in the 2010 campaign, their team’s bats went inexplicably silent. But in this case, there’s nothing inexplicable about it: the Phillies ran into San Francisco’s bullpen. The Giants will face the Texas Rangers, in San Francisco, starting on Wednesday.

The pitching of Colby Lewis and the hitting of Vladimir Guerrero and Nelson Cruz powered the Texas Rangers to a 6-1 ALCS triumph over the New York Yankees — sending the Arlington Nine to their first-ever world series. Lewis was nearly flawless in eight innings of work, giving up just three hits in eight innings, while striking out seven. A Vlad Guerrero double and Nelson Cruz home run accounted for five of the six Rangers’ runs. Josh Hamilton, who went 7 for 20 in the series, won the ALCS MVP award. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter summed up the problems the Empire had in defeating the Rangers: “They overall played better,” he said. “They pitched better, they hit better, they just outplayed us. That’s just the bottom line. They were a lot better than us these six games.” The Rangers’ clinching win was emblamatic of the Yankees’ problems: the New Yorkers were shut down by Rangers’ pitching, going 8 for 53 with runners in scoring position in the six game series.

The Rangers, built for the post season by G.M. Jon Daniels, are much like the patched together San Francisco Giants — picked to contend in the A.L. West, Daniels traded for and signed a mix of down-and-out pitchers (Lewis came from Japan) and on-their-last-legs hitters (Guerrero was cut loose from the Angels). But the key to the Rangers success was the mid-season trade for fireballer Cliff Lee, who arrived from Seattle in a trade for four Rangers minor leaguers, including uber prospect Justin Smoak. The recriminations have already started in New York, with Yankee G.M. Brian Cashman taking the blame for his failure to land Lee, whom New York writers cite as the one obstacle that stood between the Yankees and their 28th world championship. Texas will start Lee on Wednesday against the winner of the Philadelphia-San Francisco series.

Can The Giants Beat Roy Oswalt? One of the more memorable games of the Nationals’ 2010 campaign took place back in May in Houston — when the Nationals faced-off against the Astros during an early season road trip. While the Nationals were playing well, there were signs the team was beginning to struggle: the Anacostia Nine had just dropped two of three to the Friars, after dropping two of three in San Francisco. Nationals’ hitters were desperate to get their bats going. Ironically, it was Roy Oswalt who gave them the opportunity. In one of the more lopsided wins of their disappointing season, the Nats plated 14 runs against the ‘Stros, while lighting up Oswalt, who was ejected in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes. Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn were the heroes, accounting for eight RBIs in the victory. But the key to the triumph was Oswalt’s in-game implosion, the result of a tight strike zone. The lesson seems obvious: to beat Oswalt you have to get to him early — which will be a challenge for the light hitting San Francisco line-up.

Texas lefty Cliff Lee should know: Washington is a great place to settle down and raise your kids, a wonderful city filled with monuments and parks and good restaurants. As for the high cost of living, the Lerners should be able to take care of that. While free agency is still a long ways off, on Monday night in New York, Cliff Lee showed why he’s not only the premier free agent pitcher for 2011, but the best southpaw in baseball. In eight innings of work, Lee gave up just two hits, struck out 13 and held the Yankees scoreless over eight innings in hurling the Texas Rangers into a 2-1 game lead in the ALCS. “Awesome,” Texas outfielder Nelson Cruz said. “It’s unbelievable … he’s pitching at the highest level possible.” Lee threw 122 pitches, 82 of them for strikes, in taming the Yankee line-up. This was no fluke — Lee struck out Derek Jeter three times and Mark Teixeira twice and was so dominating that Rangers’ hitters were almost a sidelight. Still, the Rangers accounted for eight runs in routing the Empire, as Josh Hamilton (2-5, two RBIs) and Michael Young (3-5, .400 in the post season) showed why they’re among the most dangerous hitters in baseball. “This is one of those games you try to forget about as soon as possible,” Yankee captain Jeter said after the Texas win.

The Texas Rangers will face the New York Yankees for the A.L. Championship, thanks to the pitching of starting lefty Cliff Lee. Lee pitched nine complete innings, giving up just six hits in the Rangers’ 5-1 victory. Lee has been the difference in the post-season — continuing a trend that has seen dominant post-season performances from starters across the major leagues. “I expected to have success,” Lee said, following the victory. “I expected to pitch well. I just didn’t necessarily expect to allow one run and go nine innings.” Lee did not walk a batter and struck out 11. Lee’s performance puts an exclamation point to the trade that sent Rangers’ prospect Justin Smoak and three minor leaguers to the Seattle Mariners for the lefty — whose presence on the Rangers’ mound was the final piece for a team that had (until Tuesday), never won a post-season playoff series.

And We’re Back: CFG’s short post-season hiatus is over, thanks to the end of nearly two weeks of travels to exotic and faraway destinations — and (then too), it’s damned hard to ignore a post-season match-up that will feature two of the game’s best pitchers (Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay) in a classic face-off at “the Bank” in Philly. The early, anecdotal, line on the Philadelphia-San Francisco series gives the Ponies the edge, if only slightly: they feature a homer-heavy line-up, while the Giants have struggled for runs. But don’t bet against the Giants, whose run-producing capabilities increased sharply with the arrival of Buster Posey. And you  have to wonder whether the tussle in Philadelphia will fuel the competitive edge of a player like Pat Burrell, a former first round pick of the Phillies, who seems suddenly comfortable in a Giants uniform. While the Giants are justly proud of knocking off the Atlanta Braves, their post-season numbers are sobering: they plated only 11 runs against an anemic Braves’ line-up. They’ll have to do a lot better than that to beat the Phillies. Everyone talks about the heart-stopping triumverate of Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez, but the key to the series may well come down to whether Buster Posey, Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff can hit Philly pitching.

Braves’ righty Derek Lowe pitched like he had when he was with the Dodgers (or maybe it was the Red Sox) last night, blanking the Washington Nationals in a 4-0 win at Turner Field in Atlanta. Lowe’s gem overawed the punchless Nats and Washington rookie Yunesky Maya, who balked twice in the second inning. While Maya snapped back to provide a solid outing, Lowe was the night’s story. Lowe scattered eight Nats’ hits over eight innings, striking out twelve. “That’s about the best game that I’ve pitched in a long time,” Lowe said after the victory. “It was just one of those days where kind of everything clicked.” But it didn’t click for the Nationals, who showed just how vulnerable they are to good pitching. The twelve strike outs included four by Ian Desmond and two each from Roger Bernadina, Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse.

Maya’s balks in the second inning showed that the Nats’ new Cuban righthander has yet to master the pressure of the major leagues, with Maya saying he “rushed” his pitches in order to keep himself out of a big inning. The Nats didn’t argue with the calls: “No explanation needed. He balked,” skipper Jim Riggleman told the press. “He just flinched a little bit. … There was a little indecision … and instead of stepping off, he balked.” Despite the problems, Maya pitched well — and set a pattern that began with his first outing against the Mets: after initial shakiness, Maya settles down and pitches steadily the rest of the way. As he did in Atlanta: after the second he pitched four complete innings, with his game totals showing a command on the strike zone (90 pitches, 58 strikes) and a certain yen for inducing ground balls (ten in all). In the end, the problem for the Nats in their sixth loss in a row wasn’t Maya, it was Lowe.

Pick Me Out A Winner Bobby: Back on this day in 2003 — when the Washington Nationals were the Montreal Expos and playing to non-existent crowds in Olympic Stadium –Vladimir Guerrero hit for the cycle (what was called “Le Carrousel” in Montreal). It should not have been a surprise. Guerrero has to be the best bad ball hitter in baseball, and perhaps the best ever if you don’t count Yogi Berra. But what was surprising about Guerrero’s feat was that it came at the hands of lefty Tom Glavine, then pitching for the Mets. After toiling away for the Angels for six seasons, Guerrero has had a revival in Texas, which signed him as a free agent in the off season. The 2004 MVP is having a banner year (.305, 26 HRs) for the Rangers, who now lead the White Elephants by eight in the A.L. East.

Despite his revival, you have to wonder just how many years Guerrero has left. He hit what looked like a sure double the other night against the Yankees, but it was a stretch — and as  he rounded first, grimacing, you could tell he wasn’t going to make it. Guerrero’s knees are gone and he struggles to stay in shape. If Guerrero had another four seasons he might reach the 500 home run mark, but it seems unlikely he’ll get the opportunity. While Guerrero has been relatively healthy this year, he was on the disabled list five times during the ’09 campaign. When he came into the league in 1993 (signed by Montreal as an amateur free agent), he didn’t have to worry too much about preparation: he was a natural athlete with a beautiful swing who didn’t need to stretch scratch hits into doubles. He loped. But not anymore. Now he spends an hour before every game icing whatever ails — this week it’s his shin. “I try to keep playing as best as I can and stay away from injuries,” he recently told a Dallas reporter.

Oddly, the key to Guerrero’s health may well be Josh Hamilton, who can sub for Vlad as the team’s DH. The problem is that Hamilton is suffering from his own aches and pains — and is still in-and-out of the line-up with some torn up ribs, the result of a meeting with an outfield fence in Minnesota. Maybe it’s not such a bad problem if you’re running away with your division, but having two great players with nearly chronic problems (Hamilton’s knee and his ribs, Guerrero’s knee and his shin) is causing headaches for Rangers’ skipper Ron Washington. While the Rangers began to pull away in the A.L West in August, they went the entire month without their full line-up, and Rangers’ fans are concerned that their team is an injury away from seeing their post-season slip away. They should stop whining: the toast of Arlington just swept the Yankees (6-5. 7-6, 4-1), with the gimpy and iced-up Guerrero going 16 for 31 over his last seven games.