Say Hey Champs

How did this happen?

How did a group of misfits and retreads come together and win the World Series?  How did a team self-proclaimed to “torture” their fan base win it all?

via Yahoo Sports

It wasn’t Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou, or Barry Bonds. Rather Cody Ross, Juan Uribe, Aubrey Huff, and Edgar Renteria led the way for this group of castoffs.

9 MVPs, 3 Cy Youngs, and 4 Rookie of the Year winners without a title.  1962.  1989.  2002.  52 years after making the move out west, San Francisco finally captured a championship.

Besides rookie phenom C Buster Posey look at the rest of the 2010 World Series Champions lineup:

Aubrey Huff signed a 1-year $3 million deal on January 12th to be the Giants 1st basemen

Freddie Sanchez was acquired by San Francisco on July 29th, 2009 for P Tim Alderson.

Edgar Renteria joined his 6th different team and signed a 2-year $18.5 million dollar deal in December of 2008.

Juan Uribe signed a 1-year $3.25 million deal in January after making the Giants on a minor league deal in 2009.

Andres Torres signed in January of 2009 after playing just 15 games in the majors since the start of the 2005 season.

Pat Burrell signed a minor league contract on May 29th of this year after being designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Cody Ross was awarded to the Giants on August 21st as a waiver claim in large part to block him from going to the San Diego Padres.

How in the world did this group come together to win it all?

via Yahoo Sports

The pitching was phenomenal.  Tim Lincecum now has two Cy Young awards, a World Series Championship, and a sub 3.00 postseason ERA at the age of 26.  Matt Cain made 3 postseason starts and didn’t allow a single run over 21 and 1/3 innings.  Brian Wilson was brilliant making 10 postseason appearances without allowing an earned run and striking out 16.  Even 21-year old Madison Bumgarner was outstanding going 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA in 4 postseason appearances.

But as dominant as the pitching was it took more for the Giants to capture their first championship since 1954 and the first since moving to San Francisco.

The Giants got hot and took advantage clutch hitting.  After dismantling the Atlanta Braves in the National League Divisional Series, they took down the 2-time defending National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies.  In the World Series, the Giants held the Rangers to a .190 batting average and outscored Texas 29-12.

Somehow they grew into the best team in baseball at the perfect time.

4,755 days after he hit the game winning single in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series with the Marlins, Edgar Renteria did it again on Monday night as his 3-run home run off of Cliff Lee in the 7th was more than enough for the Giants offense.

Renteria didn’t have a single game during the 2010 season in which he had 3 RBIs.  He had hit only 2 home runs since April 27th.  But that is how things were going for the Giants.  Of course the 2010 World Series MVP had 2 separate games in the World Series with a home run and 3 RBIs.

One of the great things about sports is that every once in a while it leaves us scratching our heads dumbfounded by what we just witnessed.  This group of players wasn’t supposed to have the ability to do this.  They didn’t have the talent.  They were dumped by team after team because they simply didn’t fit into the plans it took to win it all.

But for the 2010 San Francisco Giants, the sum of the whole was greater than its individual parts.  This group of 25 men came together as a team and let all of the skeptics know that their opinions didn’t matter.  They had the talent, the desire, and now the hardware and memories to walk together forever as champions.

The torture is finally over in San Francisco.