Never count out the Cardinals in October — especially after they lose a series opener.
Carlos Beltran hit the last two of the Cardinals' four homers and St. Louis chased an ineffective Jordan Zimmermann early in a 12-4 rout of the Washington Nationals on Monday that tied their NL division series at one game apiece.
"We know this offense has the potential to do this," Cardinals rookie manager Mike Matheny said. "It was nice to see this, and hopefully it becomes contagious and the guys just keep going."
Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso also went deep to help the defending World Series champions build a big lead that compensated for a two-inning start from an ailing Jaime Garcia. Craig hit his fifth career postseason homer and scored three times.
Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche hit consecutive homers in the fifth for the Nationals, who head home for the remainder of the best-of-five series. But the NL East champions are without All-Star ace Stephen Strasburg, shut down for the rest of the season early last month to protect his surgically repaired arm.
Game 3 is Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Park, the first postseason contest in the nation's capital since the original Senators played the New York Giants in the 1933 World Series. Edwin Jackson starts for Washington against longtime Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who made only three starts during the regular season because of injury.
Read More: MLB playoffs: Clutch Cardinals show they cannot be counted out | Deseret News
Never count out the Cardinals in October - especially after they lose a series opener. Carlos Beltran hit the last two of the Cardinals' four homers and St. Louis chased an ineffective Jordan Zimmermann early in a 12-4 rout of the Washington Nationals on Monday that tied their NL division series at one game apiece.
''We know this offense has the potential to do this,'' Cardinals rookie manager Mike Matheny said. ''It was nice to see this, and hopefully it becomes contagious and the guys just keep going.''
Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso also went deep to help the defending World Series champions build a big lead that compensated for a two-inning start from an ailing Jaime Garcia. Craig hit his fifth career postseason homer and scored three times.
Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche hit consecutive homers in the fifth for the Nationals, who head home for the remainder of the best-of-five series. But the NL East champions are without All-Star ace Stephen Strasburg, shut down for the rest of the season early last month to protect his surgically repaired arm.
Game 3 is Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Park, the first postseason contest in the nation's capital since the original Senators played the New York Giants in the 1933 World Series. Edwin Jackson starts for Washington against longtime Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who made only three starts during the regular season because of injury.
''Today, for us, was a must-win game,'' Beltran said.
Read More: Cardinals 12, Nationals 4 - MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN
With the playoffs in full swing, it's time to reflect on the regular season -- before those memories fade away. So, here are my Major League Baseball award predictions.
AL Rookie of the Year
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Mike Trout will win; there's no contest here.
The 21-year-old had one of the greatest rookie seasons ever, leading his league in runs, stolen bases and WAR (wins above replacement, a stat aimed at gauging how many more wins a player gives a team compared to a replacement).
Trout hit .326 and posted a .963 OPS with 30 home runs, 83 RBI and 182 hits. Incredibly gaudy numbers for a guy who made his season debut April 28.
NL Rookie of the Year
A three-dog race that's almost too tight to call.
All-Star pitcher Wade Miley went 16-11 with a 3.33 ERA and 144 strikeouts for the Arizona Diamondbacks (who missed out on the playoffs).
Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper made a splash early but faded over the course of the grueling summer. Still, the 19-year-old finished with a .270 batting average, 22 homers and 59 RBI.
Todd Frazier provided a necessary spark for the postseason-bound Cincinnati Reds, hitting .273 with 19 home runs and 67 RBI.
Intangibles will give Harper a slight edge. He was the flashiest rookie and made national highlights throughout the season -- all while being too young to even drink.
AL Manager of the Year.
Read More: Most MLB awards should be sown up - www-record-bee-com
Already an ace and MVP, Justin Verlander proved to be the Detroit Tigers' ultimate closer, too. Verlander struck out 11 in a four-hitter, pitching Detroit into a second straight AL championship series a day after Jose Valverde failed to hold a ninth-inning lead with a 6-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics in the decisive Game 5 of their division series Thursday night.
Verlander tossed his first career postseason shutout and complete game with a 122-pitch masterpiece.
''He had a look in his eye today,'' manager Jim Leyland said. ''A complete-game look in his eye.''
The Tigers will face either the New York Yankees or Baltimore Orioles, tied at two games apiece heading into Game 5 on Friday night in New York. Game 1 of the ALCS is scheduled for Saturday.
Verlander, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and MVP, was so sharp nobody in the bullpen ever got up to throw. He struck out 22 in his wins on both ends of this nail-biting series.
After squandering two chances to clinch the series, including blowing a two-run ninth-inning lead in Game 4, Leyland left it all up to Verlander just as he said he would.
''I think it's one of those things I expected to go nine innings,'' Verlander said. ''In this situation, in a Game 5, I wanted to go all the way.''
Read More: Tigers 6, Athletics 0 - MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN
Congratulations, Yankees. As a reward for winning a tense, hard-fought American League Division Series in five games over a division rival, you get to play the team that knocked you out of the postseason last year. Oh, by the way, they feature the reigning AL Cy Young and Most Valuable Player Award winner, and the probable 2012 AL MVP as well.
Still, the Yanks posted the AL's best record this year for a reason. A lot of reasons, as a matter of fact. The Tigers certainly present a challenge for them, but far from an insurmountable one. Here are five keys for the AL East champs to win their 41st pennant and advance to yet another World Series.
Get good starts from pitchers not named Sabathia: Before the postseason started, this was clearly the biggest key for New York. It's even more critical now that ace CC Sabathia may not pitch in the series' first three games.
At times during the regular season, rotation depth became a major worry for the Yankees. It's still not a given, but the situation looks good for the moment.
Read More: Five keys for Yankees in ALCS | MLB-com: News
He Yankees will need Alex Rodriguez's bat more than at any other point this postseason with the news that Derek Jeter fractured his left ankle while diving for a ground ball during Saturday's 6-4 loss in 12 innings to the Tigers during Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. Rodriguez, however, is not an option to replace Jeter at shortstop.
"It's just been too long," manager Joe Girardi said of the third baseman's slump.
Girardi pinch-hit for Rodriguez on Saturday for the third time this postseason, replacing him with Eric Chavez in the eighth inning with right-handed reliever Joaquin Benoit on the mound. Rodriguez went 0-for-3 before returning to the bench, hearing familiar boos at Yankee Stadium in the sixth when he swung at and missed a curveball to cap a three-pitch strikeout against starter Doug Fister with runners on second and third. Rodriguez grounded into an inning-ending double play in his second at-bat, helping the 47,122 in attendance forget about his first RBI opportunity, when Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta robbed A-Rod of a hit and his first RBI this postseason.
Rodriguez ripped the first pitch he saw from Fister into the hole between third base and shortstop, but Peralta dove to his right to backhand the ball and fired to second base, narrowly beating Raul Ibanez for a forceout to leave the bases loaded, which the Yankees did two other times in the series opener.
"The first at-bat, he had a good at-bat," Girardi said.
Rodriguez did not speak with the media before or after his return to the starting lineup. Girardi benched Rodriguez for Game 5 of the AL Division Series against Baltimore after pinch-hitting for him in Games 3 and 4. Rodriguez made the final out of a Game 2 loss at Baltimore before Girardi took the bat out of his hands in the ninth and 13th innings, respectively, of the next two games, with the Yankees trailing each time.
Rodriguez is 2-for-19 this postseason with two singles, two walks and a run scored. He has struck out 10 times.
Rodriguez is hitless against right-handed pitchers this postseason after hitting .256 (81-for-317) against them during the regular season. Girardi has a left-handed-hitting option at third base in Chavez, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts after replacing Rodriguez in Game 1 of the ALCS but was 16-for-31 with eight runs scored and five RBIs against Detroit in the regular season.
Girardi will have opportunities to use Chavez in a lefty-righty matchup for the remainder of the series, as Detroit will start a right-handed pitcher in each game, but the manager said before Game 1 that he needs Rodriguez's potential, and that is magnified by Jeter's loss.
"If we want to make some noise," Girardi said, "we need this guy to be Alex."
Without Jeter, Yanks need A-Rod in top form | MLB-com: News
Theoretically, it's still a nine-inning game. The rules haven't changed. In reality, however, modern baseball's best bullpens are credited with "shortening the game."
Usually, the abridgment -- an appropriate term, since we're always talking about the bridge to the closer -- is to six innings, after which the middleman-to-setup-man-to-closer relay seals the deal. If No. 1 is any indication, however, games in the National League Championship Series have been really shortened, to four innings. Following the early departures of both starters on Sunday, both bullpens ruled for 5 1/3 innings.
Cardinals relievers brilliantly allowed two hits while throwing shutout ball.
Giants relievers were even more brilliant: No hits at all.
The teams' 11 relievers set a postseason record for most scoreless appearances in a nine-inning game.
"In these series," said San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy, "the bullpen plays a huge role. It did for them tonight. Their 'pen did a great job. And ours did a great job."
"More or less, just trying to do our job," confirmed lefty Jeremy Affeldt, after contributing a hitless inning to the effort. "Our job is keep the game within striking distance, and that's what we've been doing. It worked it Cincinnati."
It did not work as well Sunday night. The score remained what it had been when Giants relievers went to work, 6-4 in St. Louis' favor -- as noted, because the Cardinals' bullpen did its part in the standoff.
However, turning AT&T Park into an island in this postseason sea of ridiculous comebacks pumped even more confidence into a Giants team that has already proven its resilience.
Prior to the veteran Affeldt, it had been rookie George Kontos and Tim Lincecum, a one-time ace who has become a wild card. After Affeldt, it was Santiago Casilla and Jose Mijares.
Bochy having to use so many arms obviously meant his starter, lefty Madison Bumgarner, was off his game.
"It makes it easier when you get a quality start," Bochy said. "But when it doesn't happen, you try to get through the game and keep it close. We did that."
Casilla and Mijares both struck out two in their one inning, but once again, the most compelling turn was taken by Lincecum, the only one of the five relievers to work two frames.
Those two zeros increased Lincecum's postseason workload to 8 1/3 innings, in which he has allowed three hits and one run -- typically, one start during his 2008-09 NL Cy Young Award-winning seasons.
Except, now it took him three outings. The results have been a dramatic improvement over the regular-season struggles that led to 15 losses and an ERA of 5.18.
Lincecum himself minimized the positive effect regular relief work for the first time has had on his performance, allowing only that "confidence-wise, definitely" he has felt a boost.
Otherwise, as far as the righty's fickle command is concerned, he asserted that it was still a "day-to-day" thing, that even in the bullpen different pitches obeyed differently on different days.
Naturally, Lincecum's familiar success in an unfamiliar role fueled new speculation of his return to the Giants' rotation. And Bochy confirmed a vacancy still existed for Game 4, on Thursday in St. Louis.
"We still have our options there," Bochy said. "[Lincecum] did a great job. We got within two, and he kept us there. He gave us a chance to come back. He's still available if we want in Game 4."
Don't do it, Affeldt appeared to say.
"Obviously, it's Bochy's decision," Affeldt said. "But he's been a great guy for us out of the 'pen. He's been very, very effective. Having him out there has been great. He's been amazing, with his good stuff.
"I think he had a lot to do with us beating the Reds," added Affeldt, referring specifically to the 4 1/3 innings Lincecum had contributed toward the 8-3 victory in Game 4 of the NL Division Series. "He saved the 'pen -- critical, because we have been throwing a lot. Before, we didn't have a guy like that who could save the others. All year, we've pretty much gone with short relievers, so to have a guy available to pick you up ... that was really, really big."
In a sense, the Giants had five guys to pick them up in Game 1, a little shutdown momentum to carry over into Game 2.
"We understand outs are very, very important now, more so than in the regular season," Affeldt said. "Every loss is one game closer to going home."
No-hit relief ensures game within reach for Giants | MLB-com: News
Marco Scutaro drove in two key runs before leaving with an injury and San Francisco defeated reigning champion St. Louis 7-1 to level their Major League Baseball playoff series. The best-of-seven National League Championship Series, deadlocked at 1-1, shifts to St. Louis for three games on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The winners will face either the New York Yankees or Detroit in the World Series.
It was the first home victory of the playoffs for the Giants, who dropped two games at home to Cincinnati in the previous round and the series opener to St. Louis on Sunday.
Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong allowed only one run in seven innings on Monday, scattering four hits while walking two batters and striking out four on a night when San Francisco sluggers pounded out 12 hits and plenty of runs.
"It feels better getting one here rather than going in there down 0-2," said Vogelsong. "They are a great hitting team. I was just making pitches."
San Francisco's Angel Pagan blasted a solo homer in the first inning to open the scoring but the Cardinals equalized in the second when Pete Kozma walked and scored on a double by St. Louis pitcher Chris Carpenter.
San Francisco scored four runs in the fourth inning to seize command, the first of them crossing home plate on a throwing error by Carpenter.
Scutaro added a bases-loaded double to drive in two runs and a fielding error by Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday allowed a third San Francisco run to score on the play, giving the Giants a 5-1 lead.
"Early runs are important," Pagan said. "They tie it up and we put a few more up and that was important."
Scutaro, the Giants' second baseman, was removed from the game and later taken to a hospital for an MRI exam with a left hip injury that he suffered in the first inning on a fielding play when struck by a sliding Holliday.
Scutaro's teammates chose their words carefully when asked if Holliday's slide into Scutaro was an improper play.
"He hurt Scutaro a little bit but we will be coming back in game three and come out playing hard," Pagan said.
Read More: Giants rout Cardinals to level MLB playoff series | Bangkok Post: news
Jason Giambi is aiming to make a quick transition from playing to managing.
The 41-year-old slugger is seeking to become manager of the Colorado Rockies, the Denver Post has reported. Giambi will get an interview but no date has been announced.
Giambi was limited by injuries last season, his 18th in the majors and fourth with Colorado. He had hernia surgery last week but hasn't ruled playing again next season.
Giambi, who has played mainly at first base, is a .280 career hitter with 429 home runs and 1,405 RBI.
Rockies bench coach Tom Runnells already has interviewed for the managerial job that Jim Tracy resigned from after the season.
MLB notes: Jason Giambi aims to run Rockies | Baseball | Sports | Toronto Sun
The Rockies went from having questions about Eric Young Jr. to having to make decisions about him.
Out of Minor League options coming in the Spring Training, Young played his way onto the Major League roster, provided a lift as a pinch-hitter early in the season and -- during a time the Rockies were beset by outfield injuries -- produced big as a starter.
But like too many Rockies, Young's year ended because of an injury, an oblique strain that he suffered on Aug. 19. Still, a season that he finished with a .316 batting average, four home runs and 15 RBIs in 98 games, including 28 starts, is an indication that he is a candidate for increased playing time in 2013.
Between July 31 and Aug. 19, when he received the biggest run of regular playing time in his career, Young started 16 of 19 games and hit .420 with a .459 on-base percentage, with three home runs, five doubles and three stolen bases in four attempts.
"At the time I was disappointed [because of the injury], but everything happens for a reason," Young said. "Coming into camp not sure if I was going to make the team, doing what I did in the pinch-hit role and actually getting a chance to start and doing what I did, I'm proud of the season I had.
"It's something to build on next year. I wanted to come in this year and show that I should get a chance to play. I feel I've done that for the most part, so there are a lot of positives going into next year."
Young said Thursday he has checked out healthy and soon will begin training in Phoenix for what he hopes is another big season. It's already guaranteed to be a big year -- he's getting married in January. On the field, he will again push for a prominent role.
Candidates are numerous. Michael Cuddyer suffered a season-ending oblique injury, himself, but also should be healthy for next season. Tyler Colvin made the most of the playing time the injuries brought him, to the tune of .290 with 18 home runs and 72 RBIs in 136 games. Charlie Blackmon shrugged off a year full of foot injuries to compile a .283 batting average in 42 games.
Left fielder Carlos Gonzalez and center fielder Dexter Fowler are fixtures. Cuddyer, who hit .260 with 16 home runs and 58 RBIs before his injury, and Colvin each can play right field and first base, but the Rockies could have a crowd at first as well. Add Young and the emerging Blackmon to this picture, and it looks crowded.
Young isn't afraid to forge a place for himself. He did well as a pinch-hitter, batting .245 with a .333 on-base percentage, plus 12 runs scored -- tops among National League pinch-hitters. But his work as a starter was even better.
"You want the at-bats," Young said. "At the end of the season you want to say you got 500 at-bats. However I get them, wherever I need to get them, that's fine. As long as I'm getting the at-bats, whether it's a day here or a day there, as long as at the end of the season I got that total number of at-bats, that's all you can really ask for."
The pitching-challenged Rockies could use outfielders as trading pieces. Cuddyer could be attractive to another club, but is in the second year of a three-year, $31.5 million contract. He's also considered a much-needed veteran presence.
Blackmon, 26, could bring interest since he can be sent to the Minors without being exposed to other clubs via waivers. Or, other clubs could inquire about Young, 27, who has unquestioned speed as a base runner and has gone from an awkward former second baseman to a credible outfield defender.
"There are a lot of things to be proud of this season," he said. "I got my name out there, not only within this organization but with a lot of organizations. I'm feeling good going into next year. I'm going to get some playing time. I put myself in a good situation. All I can do now is focus on getting ready for 2013.
"I love it here. This is where it started. I've got a family here. You've got to remember it's a business and you're a commodity. Any way you can help a team by adding or removing players, that's what they're going to do."
Young also will be able to prepare for next season with not as much drama. He began last winter playing in Venezuela but was released after a dispute with his club over a security issue, then he went into the camp with the pressure of proving himself without much of a Major League track record. Now that his rib cage has healed, he can enjoy the offseason and simply prepare.
"I'm basically staying in shape," he said. "I've got a few [teammates'] weddings around here, including my own, so I'm taking care of that. I'll be in Arizona for the bigger part of the offseason, in the sunshine doing stuff outside."
Rockies' Eric Young Jr. plans strong return from injury in 2013 | MLB-com: News
That one of the most powerful hitting teams in Yankees history would put together one of the worst offensive showings ever seen in an American League Championship Series left every member of the proud franchise flattened Thursday in the wake of the Tigers' four-game sweep. General manager Brian Cashman called it "massively disappointing," and he certainly wasn't alone after the Yankees finished a futile ALCS with an 8-1 loss to the Tigers, managing just two hits and striking out 12 times on a day dominated by Detroit in all facets.
The Tigers not only swept the series, but they left Yankees hitters shaking their heads after manager Joe Girardi tried -- and failed -- to shake up the lineup by benching stars Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson after he'd already lost Derek Jeter to a broken left ankle.
That's a whole lot of firepower missing from the normal Yankees attack, one that set a franchise record for home runs (245) in the regular season and finished a close second to Texas for the most runs scored in the Majors.
The Yankees hit just .157 in the four-game ALCS and .188 in their nine-game postseason run. The ALCS average was the second lowest among the 172 teams that have competed in the series since 1969, with only the '69 Twins posting a worse number at .155.
Read More: Yankees' lack of offense of historic proportions | MLB-com: News
San Francisco • The Giants sure are tough to eliminate this postseason.
Barry Zito and the Giants gave themselves at least one more game in the NL championship series with a 5-0 victory Friday in St. Louis that forced Sunday’s Game 6 back at AT&T Park.
Just where the NL West winners want to be with their season on the line — in front of the raucous, orange towel-waving sellout crowd.
"It’s great to be back in San Francisco. There is no tomorrow," Giants right fielder Hunter Pence said. "It’s a unique feeling. It has brought the best out of us."
The wild-card Cardinals traveled out West again for a trip they certainly hoped they wouldn’t have to make. Defending champion St. Louis leads the best-of-seven series 3-2, needing one more win for a World Series return.
St. Louis knows how hard winning the last one can be considering what this Giants team already did during these playoffs: winning three straight on the road at Cincinnati in the division series after falling behind 2-0.
"They’ve been doing this all year. Obviously, the Cincinnati series, here come the Giants," Cardinals third baseman David Freese said. "It’s good for TV, but it’s disappointing in [our] sense."
Game 2 winner Ryan Vogelsong starts for the Giants for the second time this series against Chris Carpenter, who lost that matchup at San Francisco on Monday.
"No question, we want to win it as soon as we can. We wanted to do it last night," Carpenter said Saturday. "But, again, we have to get one win before they get two. We’ll do whatever we can. If it’s not tomorrow night we’ll come in and do it again."
While the Cardinals took a day to rest — Carpenter and a couple of pitchers did play some catch — Pence and most of his team showed up at the ballpark in late afternoon to hit and work out even though manager Bruce Bochy gave his players the day off.
Read More: MLB: Giants refusing to be eliminated | The Salt Lake Tribune
San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum can dodge a line drive, but the two-time Cy Young winner was no match for a cork that nailed him in the face in a postgame celebration caught on television. The bubbly-soaked locker-room scene—where grown men giggle, bound around, and douse each other in champagne and other beverages—has become a staple of MLB playoff celebrations. Fifty years ago, it was a small, impromptu affair. “In my day you got cheap champagne splashed over you,” former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton, author of the exposé Ball Four, says. He recalls that after winning the pennant in 1963, “we slid around in potato salad. Then we had to go to the laundry.”
Chicago White Sox clubhouse manager Vince Fresso explains how things are done now: for home games he buys Pommery in bulk; two bottles per person for a roster and coaching staff of 40. The deeper a trip into the postseason goes, the more wives and friends join in the festivities. For the White Sox’s 2005 championship run, Fresso estimates buying 200 bottles. “No matter how much you get,” he says, “it’s never enough. You always end up using beer.”
Clubhouses even prep for celebrations involving players who’ve battled alcoholism. The Texas Rangers used ginger ale for slugger Josh Hamilton in 2010. This year, the Detroit Tigers showered Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera with nonalcoholic champagne.
With a team one out away from clinching, the buckets of iced booze are wheeled out of hiding and into the expectant team’s plastic-covered locker room. But games are often blown, as the Washington Nationals found out a few weeks ago, and plan B goes into effect. The crew absconds with the bubbly, lugging hundreds of bottles onto the private jets or out of sight, and dismantling protective tarps. Locker rooms are left without any evidence that a celebration was prepped, so as not to upset superstitious players.
Read More: How to Party like the MLB - Newsweek and The Daily Beast
The Detroit Tigers, populated over the years by some of Major League Baseball's (ML😎 most dynamic and colorful players, return to the World Series for the second time in six years looking to end a 28-year title drought.
A charter member of the American League (AL) dating back to 1901, the Tigers have won just four Fall Classic crowns but are peaking along with Detroit's brilliant autumn leaves thanks to a sparkling starting rotation and dangerous lineup.
Led by the towering talents of pitcher Justin Verlander and slugger Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers put an inconsistent campaign behind them down the stretch to overtake the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central division crown.
The Tigers roared back by winning eight of their last 10 regular season games while Chicago lost 11 of their last 15.
Detroit then beat Oakland 3-2 in a best-of-five AL Division Series and swept the top-seeded New York Yankees 4-0 in the AL Championship Series (ALCS) to add the current group's achievements to past glories.
The Tigers were a powerful team in their early days, featuring one of baseball's greatest players in Ty Cobb.
The fiercely combative Cobb led Detroit to three consecutive AL pennants from 1907 but lost each time in the World Series.
Cobb played 22 years in Detroit and still stands first on MLB's all-time career batting average list at .367 and second in hits with 4,191, a total surpassed only by Pete Rose in 1985.
The outfielder so dominated that when the initial Hall of Fame voting took place in 1936 he garnered the most votes, topping Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson among Cooperstown's inaugural class.
Read More: MLB: Tigers look to end 28-year World Series drought | Sports | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere
If the San Francisco Giants are able to claim their second World Series title in three years it is unlikely they will do it the easy way.
Nothing this postseason has gone smoothly for San Francsico.
The Giants have had to overcome six do-or-die games during Major League Baseball's 2012 postseason.
"Finding a way to get it done just makes this so much special," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "We were written off many times. But these guys were relentless in getting it done."
The Giants now find themselves hosting the well-rested Detroit Tigers for the first two games of the best-of-seven Fall Classic beginning Wednesday at AT&T Park.
"They're just another team we have to beat," said Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro, an unlikely hero who went 14-for-28 to win Most Valuable Player honors in the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Few would have thought the Giants would be in this position after losing All-Star game Most Valuable Player Melky Cabrera in August to a drug-related suspension.
San Francisco is in the World Series because of strong pitching, superior defense and a penchant for timely hitting.
San Francisco was eighth in the majors in runs allowed (4.01) and 12th in runs scored (4.43) during the regular season but in the postseason the Giants have kicked it up a notch offensively, scoring 5.89 runs a game while giving up 4.33.
During the regular season, starters Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner each won 16 games, while Barry Zito added 15 and Ryan Vogelsong 14.
For good measure, two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum added 10 wins, although the four-time All-Star is well off the form that made him the NL's top pitcher in 2008-09.
Should the Giants have the lead in the late-going, they will be in good shape with right-hander Sergio Romo, who closed out all four of San Francisco's victories in the NLCS.
While San Francisco went the distance in beating the Cardinals, the Tigers swept the New York Yankees and will have their pitching rotation in perfect form for the series opener.
Zito, a crafty southpaw who was kept off the Giants' postseason roster during their title run in 2010, gets the call in the series opener, facing Detroit ace Justin Verlander.
The Giants cruised to the NL West division crown with a 94-68 record, but had to dig themselves out of an 2-0 hole in the best-of-five NL Division Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
Then came St. Louis, the defending champions who raced to a 3-1 lead in the NLCS before succumbing to the Giants, who outscored the Cardinals 20-1 in the final three games.
The big bat in the Giants' line-up is All-Star catcher Buster Posey, who hit a major league-leading .336 during the regular season but is batting just .178 in the playoffs.
If Posey continues to sputter, burly switch-hitting third baseman Pablo Sandoval, hitting .320 in the postseason, will likely have to pick up the slack.
The Giants are looking for their seventh World Series title, although five of those crowns occurred when the franchise was in New York. Two years ago, the Giants routed the Texas Rangers in five games to win their first title since 1954.
Scutaro, a career .276 hitter, has been on a tear since being acquired from Colorado in a late-July trade for a minor leaguer. In 61 games for the Giants, he hit .362 with 44 runs batted in.
The 36-year-old Venezuelan, who has played for six teams during an 11-year big-league career, is enjoying the moment.
"Just to be part of this team and being in the playoffs and having the opportunity to live this experience for me is unbelievable," he said.
MLB: Giants take rough route to reach the World Series | Sports | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere
Justin Miller was in Suite 62 with his family along the third-base side at AT&T Park on Wednesday night, and he had eight of those "I Stand Up For" placards that you saw fans, players and even umpires holding after the fifth inning of Game 1 at the World Series.
One of them had his name on it, and his mother, Lori, held that one. Half of those eight signs were for his "angel" friends, other boys and girls who lost their fight with cancer. Half of them were for people who are carrying on the fight. Justin had held up the signs with the names of Ben and Preston on them. "They're fighting with me," Justin said.
Justin is 9. He has spent most of his life beating neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system, and you've seen the boy from Aurora, Colo., in the Stand Up To Cancer and MasterCard TV commercial co-starring cancer survivor Jon Lester of the Red Sox.
Don't cry for Justin. He is smiling. He is inspiring. He surprised his mom by surviving fourth grade. He would rather you got involved to make a difference.
Justin is in his sixth year of "research studies," and is cancer-free right now. He stood outside their suite and got his picture taken with "American Idol" winner Phillip Phillips. Justin is the kind of boy Game 1 of this Fall Classic was all about, a face of a fight that has affected so many of us, when a whole stadium rose as one again for a live FOX moment.
Major League Baseball's annual rollout of community initiatives for Games 1-4 of the World Series so began with a focus on SU2C and the overall quest to cure the disease in our lifetimes.
"I think it's really good, because it will help me, my friends and all the other kids that are sick from cancer," Justin said.
Worldwide, a child is diagnosed every three minutes, and in the U.S., one in five children diagnosed with cancer will not survive.
Watching Justin show off his eight SU2C placards, SU2C co-founder Sue Schwartz was beyond moved. That organization, which has grown with Major League Baseball as its founding sponsor, partnered recently with the St. Baldrick's Foundation, a charity dedicated to raising awareness and funds for childhood cancer research, and together they joined up to fund a Pediatric Cancer Dream Team.
That is when Justin's story was told to SU2C, and now he has become a key figure in the fight.
Major League Baseball is doing a very good thing before the start of Game 2 of the World Series by dedicating the evening to veterans of the military who have served our country.
As part of that celebration, Nicholas Kimmel, a corporal in the U.S. Marines Corps, is throwing out the first pitch. Kimmel lost both legs and his left arm while on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was joined by Giants legend Willie Mays, a veteran of the Army who missed most of 1952 and 1953 in MLB while serving in the Korean War.
Former MLB players, managers and broadcasters who served in World War II, including Bobby Doerr, Jerry Coleman and Tommy Lasorda, took part in the pre-game ceremonies. Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Wolff, who also served in World War II, was honored as well.
"We're very proud to use this stage to honor these brave men and women who served our country," said Commissioner Bud Selig. "This is a privilege for all of us."
MLB has raised more than $13 milion for the "Welcome Back Veterans" initiative, helping veterans and military families.
Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera has been named player of the year by the Sporting News.
"He's a great hitter having a great year. He played his best when we needed him to, down the stretch," teammate Justin Verlander told the magazine.
Cabrera finished the regular season with a .330 average, 44 home runs and 139 RBIs, resulting in the majors' first Triple Crown since 1967. His .606 slugging percentage and .999 OPS also led the majors. In addition, he scored 109 runs, hit 40 doubles and posted a .393 on-base percentage.
"He's the best hitter I've ever seen other than (Ted) Williams," Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline said. "He's just amazing. Watch him day in and day out, he very seldom takes a bad swing. To be able to use the whole field the way he does with power ... my goodness."
The award was voted upon by American League and National League players. Angels outfielder Mike Trout was second with 71 votes to Cabrera's 108.
Read More: Tigers ticker: Miguel Cabrera named MLB player of the year by Sporting News | Detroit Tigers | Detroit Free Press | freep-com
With one of the other two living Triple Crown winners in attendance, Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera accepted a trophy Saturday to honor the American League Triple Crown he achieved this season.
Former Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson joined Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig in awarding Cabrera a crown-shaped trophy before Game 3 of the World Series at Comerica Park, with a gold-colored base and a purple-cloth top. The trophy also had a Tigers logo emblazoned on the front and a golden baseball resting on top. Leading the AL with a .330 batting average, 44 home runs and 139 RBIs, Cabrera became the league's first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. A year earlier, Robinson won it.
"I want to congratulate Miguel on his magnificent year and winning the Triple Crown," Selig said. "Hard to believe it was 45 years since Carl Yastrzemski won it, and the year before our friend Frank Robinson. So it's a really momentous year."
Selig later presented the 2012 Hank Aaron Award to Cabrera, recognizing the third baseman for the best overall offensive season in the American League. But first, he and the league took a moment to look back on one of baseball's rarest offensive feats.
"It's not too many people who can have a Triple Crown," said Aaron, who joined Selig for the second half of the presentation. "I look back over my career and I say that was the one thing that I didn't do, but you did it and you did it with grace. And I know the way that I've seen you play that they were not infield hits, they were legitimate hits."
Giants catcher Buster Posey accepted the National League Hank Aaron Award during the same presentation.
In addition to becoming the 12th player in either league to win a Triple Crown since RBIs became an official stat, Cabrera became the first Latin-born player to achieve it.
"I'm very proud," Cabrera said, flanked on either side by Selig and Aaron. "[This is] my biggest day here in baseball."
Miguel Cabrera awarded trophy by Major League Baseball for Triple Crown | MLB-com: News
Smart pitching. Clutch hitting. Sharp fielding. Plus an MVP Panda. All the right elements for a sweet World Series sweep for the San Francisco Giants.
Nearly knocked out in the playoffs time and time again, and finally pressed by the Detroit Tigers in Game 4, Pablo Sandoval and the Giants clinched their second title in three seasons Sunday night.
Marco Scutaro — who else? — delivered one more key hit this October, a go-ahead single with two outs in the 10th inning that lifted the Giants to a 4-3 win.
''Detroit probably didn't know what it was in for,'' Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. ''Our guys had a date with destiny.''
On a night of biting cold, stiff breezes and some rain, the Giants combined the most important elements of championship baseball. After three straight wins that looked relatively easy, they sealed this victory when Sergio Romo got Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to look at strike three for the final out. ''Tonight was a battle,'' Giants star Buster Posey said. ''And I think tonight was a fitting way for us to end it because those guys played hard. They didn't stop, and it's an unbelievable feeling.''
Posey, the only player who was in the starting lineup when San Francisco beat Texas in the 2010 clincher, and the underdog Giants celebrated in the center of the diamond at Comerica Park.
They built toward this party all month, winning six elimination games this postseason. In the clubhouse, they hoisted the trophy, passed it around and shouted the name of each player who held it.
''World Series champions,'' Giants outfielder Hunter Pence hollered.
Benched during the 2010 Series, Sandoval, nicknamed Kung Fu Panda, went 8 for 16, including a three-homer performance in Game 1.
''You learn,'' Sandoval said. ''You learn from everything that happened in your career. … We're working hard to enjoy this moment right now.''
Cabrera delivered the first big hit for Detroit, interrupting San Francisco's run of dominant pitching with a two-run homer that blew over the right-field wall in the third. Posey put the Giants ahead 3-2 with a two-run homer in the sixth and Delmon Young hit a tying home run in the bottom half.
It then became a matchup of bullpens, and the Giants prevailed.
Read More: MLB: San Francisco Giants beat Detroit Tigers, win World Series in four games - MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN
Carlos Beltran hit the last two of the Cardinals' four homers and St. Louis chased an ineffective Jordan Zimmermann early in a 12-4 rout of the Washington Nationals on Monday that tied their NL division series at one game apiece.
"We know this offense has the potential to do this," Cardinals rookie manager Mike Matheny said. "It was nice to see this, and hopefully it becomes contagious and the guys just keep going."
Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso also went deep to help the defending World Series champions build a big lead that compensated for a two-inning start from an ailing Jaime Garcia. Craig hit his fifth career postseason homer and scored three times.
Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche hit consecutive homers in the fifth for the Nationals, who head home for the remainder of the best-of-five series. But the NL East champions are without All-Star ace Stephen Strasburg, shut down for the rest of the season early last month to protect his surgically repaired arm.
Game 3 is Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Park, the first postseason contest in the nation's capital since the original Senators played the New York Giants in the 1933 World Series. Edwin Jackson starts for Washington against longtime Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who made only three starts during the regular season because of injury.
Read More: MLB playoffs: Clutch Cardinals show they cannot be counted out | Deseret News