Pagan Hits a Walk Off Inside-the-Park Home; Giants Win 6-5

It was a long day for the San Francisco Giants but they somehow survived it.

Angel Pagan just after his Walk Off Inside the Park Home Run vs. the Rockies. 5-25-13 (Photo by Ezra Shaw of Getty Images)

The Giants had to fight back from a 4-run deficit against the Colorado Rockies. They did this with 3 runs in the 6th inning and then a 4th run in the 7th. However, the 7th inning should've been more than a tie for the Giants.

With one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, Brandon Crawford hit a ground ball to the 2nd baseman DJ LeMahieu. Brandon Belt sees the grounder and heads for home plate causing LeMahieu to throw home. Belt gets under Yorvit Torrealba's tag just in time. However, home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez called him out despite the fact that Belt's foot hit home plate just before the tag was applied.

Next batter Joaquin Arias pinch hits for the pitcher's spot and flies out to end the inning with the game still tied at 4-4.

The bottom of the 8th comes around with another officiating mistake. With Marco Scutaro on 1st and 1 out, Pablo Sandoval hits a single to left center and, perhaps feeling a bit greedy, Scutaro heads for 3rd base. The throw to 3rd is on time but Scutaro manages to avoid the tag and slide into 3rd safely... except for the fact that home plate umpire Marquez came over and called Scutaro out on a tag that clearly didn't happen.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy goes out to argue about now the 2nd blown call by Marquez and is thrown out of the ball game. Buster Posey then pops out to 2nd to end the inning.

The game heads into extras where Troy Tulowitzki hit a home run to lead off the 10th inning to make it 5-4 for the Rockies. Now the bottom of the 10th comes with Rafael Betancourt coming in to close it out for Colorado.

However, Betancourt walks Brandon Crawford to start the inning and then Guillermo Quiroz pinch hits to just bunt Crawford over to 2nd. Angel Pagan then comes up clutch with a big hit that hits the bottom of the wall in right center. Crawford scores easily and Pagan, chugging along with 3rd base coach Tim Flannery waiving him in, manages to slide head first into home just before the tag.

No way to mess up that play at the plate, Marquez.

Giants win 6-5 in 10 innings on a walk off inside-the-park home run by Angel Pagan. They had to overcome the Rockies and sloppy officiating but the Giants win in one of the spectacular finishes you will see all season.

P.S. Seriously, baseball, you got to something about the umps. Better officiating and instant replay are needed more than ever. The right team somehow won today but that doesn't always happen, does it.

Scutaro and Pagan Stay with Giants

The San Francisco Giants recently were able to keep some parts of their lineup for the foreseeable future. First Angel Pagan was signed to a 4 year deal with the Giants for $40 million. Pagan was initially acquired in a trade before the 2012 season. Then the Giants resigned Marco Scutaro to a 3 year deal worth $20 million. Scutaro was acquired via a trade in the middle of the 2012 season and came through with several clutch hits in the NLCS and a hit that scored what turned out to be the series clinching run in the World Series.

A couple of good deals for the Giants as they look to secure the lineup. I would've thought all the money would be use to make sure the pitching staff stayed intact and up to par. This off season, though, didn't really call for a lot of negotiations with big pitchers. Just Brian Wilson and they let him go in favor of Sergio Romo and the rest of the bullpen that got along without him.

It's fine if the Giants want to make sure their lineup is secure but as long that this doesn't affect the rotation and the bullpen long term. They need to make sure their big bucks still goes to pitching.

GIANTS WIN 2ND WORLD TITLE IN 3 YEARS WITH SWEEP!!!

The San Francisco Giants were dropped from the playoff discussion entirely nationwide when Melky Cabrera got suspended for 50 games and then the Dodgers made a monumental trade to make LA look like the favorite in the NL West. Looks can be deceiving, can't they.

In fact, the Giants made it to the World Series and were beating the Detroit Tigers into the ground with a big game 1 win and then two shutouts to follow. Game 4 was earlier tonight in Detroit and it was close to sweeter end.

The Giants started off the scoring in the 2nd inning with Hunter Pence getting on with a ground rule double and then Brandon Belt hitting him in with a triple to right. The Tigers answered back in the bottom of the 3rd with a 2 run home run by Miguel Cabrera to give them their first lead in any game of the World Series. Buster Posey finally came alive with a 2 run shot of his own in the 6th inning to get the lead back. Delmon Young of the Tigers, however, would tie the game with a solo shot in the bottom half of the 6th. After that, Matt Scherzer and Matt Cain would leave the game to their respective bullpens which caused the game to go into extras.

Top of the 10th came along with Giants DH Ryan Theriot getting a lead off single off of Phil Coke. Brandon Crawford would then sac bunt him over to 2nd base. After Angel Pagan struck out swinging, Marco Scutaro came up with 2 outs and Theriot on 2nd. He delivered a base hit to center with Ryan Theriot sliding into home off the hit. Austin Jackson's throw was not in time.

Sergio Romo then came out to close out game (because we need a beard to end every World Series). He struck out Austin Jackson swinging. He struck out Don Kelly swinging. All that was left was the Triple Crown Winner Miguel Cabrera. STRUCK OUT LOOKING!!!

GIANTS WIN 4-3 IN 10 INNINGS AND SWEEP THE TIGERS IN THE WORLD SERIES!!!

They have done it again. For the 2nd time in three seasons, the San Francisco Giants are World Champions. The amazing season ends in Detroit with champagne for all.

Truly a team effort all season long as there was no one player that had got them there. They had a great rotation, a solid lineup with players all over delivering at different times, and great defense making the difficult look routine. Pablo Sandoval was named MVP of the series for batting .500 throughout the series and the three home runs hit in game 1. He deserves the World Series MVP trophy (and the car) as one of the big guys stepping up in this series.

As for the Tigers, they fall just short again of a title with Jim Leyland as their manager. I did like the Tigers too for eliminating the Yankees but all 'likes' were off for the World Series match up. They still have a solid team and are likely going to be contenders again next season.

The moment goes to the Giants, however, with a 2nd World Series title for San Francisco. It's their 7th World Title overall for the franchise. Congrats to Manager Bruce Bochy and the team he led. They are once again Giants of the World.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Sis.

GIANTS WIN NLCS AND NOW SIGNIN' IN THE RAIN!!!!

It was similar to the NLDS in that the Giants had to win three in a row to move on or be eliminated. They were not deterred... again.

The Cardinals and the Giants went into game 2 with Kyle Lohse and Matt Cain taking the mound for their respective teams. Lohse had been fantastic for the Cards so far this postseason while Cain has been sketchy for the Giants. It seemed that the roles were reversed tonight. Kyle Lohse got lit up by the Giants failing to go beyond the third inning after allowing 2 runs in the first two innings and then leaving the bases loaded with no outs for Joe Kelly. Hunter Pence then came up and hit a double with a broken bat that unloaded the bases for 3 more runs. The Giants would end up scoring two more runs in the inning.

Meanwhile, Matt Cain shut down the Cards. Despite some hits, he was able to leave Cards on base and pitch 5 2/3 shutout baseball before being pulled in the 6th in favor of Jeremy Affeldt. He and the rest of the bullpen did their work pitching the shutout to the Cards. The 9th came with the rain coming down hard throughout. With two outs and two runners in scoring position, Sergio Romo came in for the Giants and got Matt Holliday to pop out to the 2nd baseman and NLCS MVP Marco Scutaro to end the game and the series. Giants shutout the Cards 9-0 in game 7 and win the series 4-3.

THE GIANTS ARE HEADED TO THEIR 2ND WORLD SERIES IN THREE YEARS!!!

The remarkable run continues for the Giants as they get by the Cardinals to now face the Tigers. Marco Scutaro was the man to watch in this series batting .500 with 14 hits (tied LCS record), 4 RBIs, 6 runs, 2 BB, and 3 doubles. Definitely the MVP of the series. The fans had a ball despite the rain coming down in the 9th and so did the Giants players.

Game 1 of the World Series is Wednesday night with the Detroit Tigers vs. the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.

P.S. LET'S GO GIANTS!!!

Ryan Vogelsong and the Giants Force Game 7 in NLCS

The Giants so far have not taken the easy road in this postseason.

In the NLDS vs. the Reds, they fell behind two games and were facing elimination going into Cincy for 3 games. They some how won all three of them and moved on to the next round. They then fell behind the Cardinals 3-1 in the NLCS. They won game 5 in St. Louis with Barry Zito pitching spectacularly. Now in Game 6 it was up to Ryan Vogelsong.

Vogelsong went out there and pitched the game of his career. He pitched 7 innings , striking out 9 (career high), allowing 4 hits, one run, and one walk. Meanwhile, the Giants score 5 runs in the first two innings off Chris Carpenter with Marco Scutaro blowing it open with a 2 run double in the 2nd inning to make it a four run lead. The bullpen for the Giants took over in the 8th inning and closed out the Cardinals to win it 6-1. The series is tied at 3-3 with game 7 tomorrow night.

An absolutely great performance by Ryan Vogelsong who had a quite a journey up to this point. A trip to the World Series is now on the line tomorrow night as Kyle Lohse goes out there for the Cards while the Giants send out Matt Cain.

GIANTS BEAT PADRES AND WIN NL WEST!!!

Clinching a playoff spot is always good news. Getting a division title is better news.

The Giants faced the Padres last night in game 2 of their series at AT&T park. After the Dodgers lost to the Reds earlier that day 6-0, the fans and the players knew that winning this game would mean the NL West would be theirs.

Though the top of the first started off a bit poorly with a run for Padres, the Giants struck back in the bottom of the inning with a couple of sac flies to get the lead 2-1. From there on out, the Giants would not lose control of the game. The Giants did everything to make sure that they sent their fans home especially happy from Marco Scutaro's RBI hits to Pablo Sandoval's amazing catch over the railing. Even Madison Bumgarner, the pitcher, help build the lead with an RBI single in the 2nd inning. The Padres tried to fight back with some runs but the Giants just kept them at bay seemingly answering back to maintain the lead. Giants win their 6th in a row 8-4 and become NL West Division Champs.

What an amazing run for the Giants these last couple of months to get here. The assumption was that the Dodgers new additions in August were going to propel them past into first place. Despite that and SF losing Melky Cabrera to a 50 game PED suspension, the Giants got hot while the Dodgers went cold. A weird turn of events that gives the Giants the NL West and leaves the Dodgers gasping for air 3 games behind for the 2nd NL Wild Card spot.

Congrats Giants. Let's keep this going into October.

P.S. Saw the whole game inside the ballpark and it was amazing. The crowd was electric, the Giants were rocking it, and everybody danced to "Gangnam Style." Dave Flemming is now my favorite broadcaster FYI.