The Giants franchise was one of the most dominating teams at the start of the World Series era. That was all in New York though, and mostly before the emergence of the Yankees. In 1958, the Giants moved west and set themselves up in San Francisco. While they did win a pennant within five years, they were ultimately overshadowed and never quite were able to create a sustained run of winning like they did in the 1920's.
By 2010 the Giants had achieved just 3 pennants and no titles yet, but they had bult themselves a team ready to challenge. Their ace, Tim "The Freak" Lincecum, was coming off back-to-back Cy Young seasons; and on the offensive side, early in the year they would call up rookie Catcher Buster Posey who would immediately get started leading the team to greatness.
Manager Bruce Bochy was guiding the team for the 4th season, the previous three had seen him trending the team upwards, finishing 5th, then 4th and finally 3rd heading into this year. The season saw the Giants fighting the San Diego Padres for the division lead down to the final series of the year that saw the two teams square off.
The Padres would win the first two games of the series, forcing the Giants to need to win the final game of the season to lock up their playoff berth. The Giants would win it to claim the NL West with a 92-70 record, 2 games better than the Padres. To make things even more bitter for the Padres, the Atlanta Braves finished the year at 91-71, claiming the Wild Card by 1 game. The Giants winning prevented a messy 3-way tie for two different playoff spots.
The Giants would open the postseason against those same Atlanta Braves. Tim Lincecum set the tone in his Game 1 1-0 Shutout victory as the Giants would go on to take the series 3-1. For the NLCS, the Giants would have to get by the 2-time defending NL champion Philadelphia Phillies. Lincecum would once again help the Giants start off strong as they would ultimately knock off the Phillies 4-2 and giving the NL a new rep in the fall classic.
For the World Series the Giants would face a Texas Rangers team making their World Series debut. San Fran would take a 2-0 series lead after 11-7 and 9-0 wins. The Rangers would strike back at home in Game 3, the Giants would counter with a 4-0 shutout in Game 4. Game 5 saw a rematch of aces from Game 1 as Lincecum battle Cliff Lee. Lincecum was able to hand a lead to the bullpen, and Brian Wilson made it hold up as he nailed down the Save and brought the World Series title to San Francisco for the first time ever, but certainly not the last time...
Lincecum may not have put up the back-to-back Cy Young award numbers from 2008-9, but the all star was still tossing ace-level stuff. His 16 Wins would lead the staff and his 231 Strikeouts led the NL, which when you factor in his 212.2 Innings, that gave him a 9.8 Strikeouts Per 9 Innings, which was the best mark in baseball. He would win Game 1 of every playoff series for the Giants, as well as the clinching Game 5 of the World Series.
The Freak had some solid backup in the rotation with Cain and Sanchez. Each had 13 Wins as their respective 3.14 and 3.07 ERAs would pace the full time rotation guys. Cain would add a couple wins with his performance in the NLCS Game 3 and World Series Game 2.
Remaining rotation pitchers, including a Madison Bumgarner who would give a taste of future playoff heroics with his NLDS Game 4 victory and later on his 8 shutout innings during his World Series Game 4 win.
"Fear the Beard" began in 2010 as Wilson starting growing his iconic facial hair during the postseason run. He'd lead baseball with 48 Saves and make the all star team. He'd keep the Saves rolling into October with 2 against the Braves in the NLDS and 3 against the Phillies in the NLCS (and a Win in the Game 4 walk off). He'd only have 1 Save situation in the World Series, converting the Game 5 clincher, but he made his presence in Game 1, shutting the door on a 9th inning Texas rally.
Bullpen and other pitchers for the Giants. Future Closer Sergio Romo was setting up for Wilson in 2010, and he even lucked out for a Win the the NLDS. Javier Lopez was also the winning pitcher for the pennant clinching NLCS Game 6.
Posey started a 1st Base for a while before being given the starting job at Catcher. His .305 Average made him the only regular hitting above .300. He had no equal among NL rookies as he dominated the Rookie of the Year voting.
The offensive heart of the champion Giants, Huff would pace the lineup with 26 Home Runs, 86 RBI, 165 Hits and 100 Runs. He'd finish in the top 10 for MVP with 7th place, the closest he'd ever get.
Cody Ross was a waiver wire pickup in August and the Giants plugged him in the lineup for the playoffs and benefited from the results. In the NLCS, he hit 3 Home Runs and won the NLCS MVP award. Not bad for a guy the Giants really only grabbed just to keep him out of San Diego during the critical stretch run.
The rest of the lineup. Apologies to Pat Burrell fans, he did indeed play the outfield mainly, but
the Bot thinks otherwise.
Bench, role players and other pickups. Bengie Molina started the season as the regular Catcher, but the emergence of Posey made him expendable, so he was traded to Texas (for the above Chris Ray). When the Giants and Rangers clinched their pennants, it made him guaranteed to get a WS ring from the winning team, a rare accomplishment. So while teams that lose the WS consider their league title ring (yes, WS losers get a less prestigious ring) a consolation prize, Molina got the ultimate consolation prize where the team that traded him away and later beat him still gave him a ring.
Edgar Renteria played off the bench most of the season, but with Pablo Sandoval's benching in the NLCS, it created a spot in the lineup at Shortstop. Renteria made the most of it in the World Series as he hit 2 Home Runs in the series including the 3-run shot in Game 5 that put the Giants up for good. That homer gave him 2 game winning hits to clinch a WS in his career (he hit the walk off single in 1997 for the Marlins) making him the 1st non-Yankee to accomplish that feat.
