Bay Bridge Series Recap: City Sweeps Town

Last December, the San Francisco Giants put a limited number of tickets on sale for marquee games in 2011. One of the series they offered was Oakland A's trip to San Francisco in May. Being both far-sighted and a benevolent friend, I quickly realized the perfect Christmas gift for Eric: Giants-A's tickets. We would take in the first of our teams annual battles together.

As it turned out, Eric instead planned a trip to the East Coast for that weekend, thus shunning this harmonious peace offering and leaving me to watch the games alone, a cold shriveled mess.

But did the Gods take notice?

You bet your raptured butt they did. To the tune of 2-1, 3-0 and 5-4. It wasn't exactly the Apocalypse, but it was pretty darn close.

I jest. Eric was bummed to miss the first installment of the Bay Bridge Series and we already have tickets to take in the East Bay edition in late June. But as it turned out, Eric is probably glad he missed the carnage the baseball gods inflicted on his Oakland Atheists. It was not pretty for the Green and Gold and their thousand of fans elephant.

Awesome poster from thecitygraphics.com

This was a big series for both teams -- the Giants hoping to continue the momentum from a two-game sweep of the Doyers, and the A's looking to rebound from two disappointing losses at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.

Greater than that, though, were the bragging rights. Fans in Oakland have likely gotten pretty tired of the 2010 World Series. Tired of the 2010 World Series banners. Of the World Series shirts. Of the World Series bumper stickers, flags, coffee mugs, earrings, nail polish, shoelaces, dog collars, snuggies, road bikes and iPad cases. They're tired of on-field ceremonies, TV commercials and giveaways. They're tired of Raj Mathai.

I forgot about the World Series clock.

But most of all, they're tired of the tens of thousands of Giants die-hards who conveniently popped up on November 2, 2010.

So what did the A's do? Well...

Billy Beane: Man, I can't believe the Giants won the World Series. Let's take out a full page ad in the newspaper congratulating them. That way, later on, they'll think we're friends when in reality we'll go all Scar on them and drop them in a stampede of wildebeests.
Assistant: God, you're so brilliant Billy. Tell me more about the moneyballs. How much are the balls worth exactly?
Billy Beane: They weren't even that good. I mean look at their lineup.
Assistant: Yeah, you could scrap together a lineup like that. And then you could take pictures with Brad Pitt. And no one could tell the differ--
Billy Beane: Jansen! You brilliant SOB!
Assistant: Um, my name's not...
Billy Beane: Dammit Jansen! I've got it! The Giants won the World Series. Let's just become the Giants!

Like middle-aged men reenacting American Revolutionary battles in suburban Pennsylvania, the Oakland A's did their best to recreate the 2010 Giants. They put the focus on their strong young rotation, signed a few aging veterans and under performing utility men and bolstered their bullpen. The same recipe, they hoped, is bound to produce the same delicious results.

Or so they hoped. But this weekend proved something -- the Giants are still the best "crappy team that is somehow good" in baseball! You can't have it! The Giants and A's are like two nerds battling to be the one nerd in school that the cool kids kind of like. There can't be two.  They'll only tolerate one. And this weekend, the Giants kept talking to the pretty girl, while the A's got stuffed in a trash can by O'Doyle.
To be fair to the Oakland A's, it was an incredibly close series. A few inches here or there and the A's could have easily won 2 of 3. Were it not for an incredible diving stop by Freddy Sanchez, the Athletics likely would have taken a 2-1 lead in the 7th and won the game. On Sunday, the A's held a two-run lead in the 8th inning. Saturday's game was the only contest clearly in the Giants' control. Tim Lincecum was on a mission from God.

But as it turned out, Giants fans were treated to three extremely tasty wins over their East Bay Rivals. They now sit at 27-19, a solid 8 games over .500. The first time they reached 8 games over .500 last year was June 13. They have a grizzly few series on the horizon, facing the Marlins, Brewers, Cardinals and Rockies in succession. But regardless of what happens from here on out, use this off day to savor a three game sweep of your cross-town rivals, each game more thrilling than the last.

The Good: Lots
1. The starting pitching was superb. Ryan Vogelsong officially labeled himself "good" with a strong 6 innings, 1 run performance. Jonathan San-CHEZ had another strong outing, making it 3 good starts in a row. Tim Lincecum did ok.

2. Defense: Nate Shierholtz's golden arm produced yet another huge out on Friday. Torres made a spectacular catch on Saturday. Freddy brought the house down with his game-saving play.

2. Offense: I guess 10 runs in 3 games is enough for 3 wins. They're still squandering opportunities to pad leads consistently, but they are getting the hits to win games late. Perhaps most importantly, Buster Posey has raised his batting average to a scorching .281. Freddy Sanchez joins Posey as the only two members of the .280 club.

3. Walk offs: Of the Giants 13 wins at home, 7 have been walk-offs. Furthermore, 7 different players have gotten the game-winning RBI: Rowand, Tejada, Sanchez, Fontenot, Ross, Huff and Burriss. That's very cool.

4. Cool under pressure: Of the Giants' 13 home wins, 11 have been one-run games. The Giants are 11-0 in those games.

The Bad: Jeremy Affeldt
I hate to pick on Affeldt yet again, but he has been perhaps the most consistently poor performer on the team this year. On Sunday, he entered the game with a 2-1 lead and promptly allowed the tying and go-ahead runs after only 7 pitches. He allowed 3 hits and recorded only one out. What's more, he would have allowed the go-ahead and likely winning run to score on Friday were it not for the aforementioned diving stop by Freddy Sanchez. He's given up at least one hit in his last six appearances. During that span he's pitched a total of 4 innings and allowed 10 hits, 2 BB and 6 ER.

The Rant:
To A's fans who wonder how long the Giants are going to milk the 2010 World Series? Don't hold your breath. I'm pretty sure until last season you'd been boasting 1989 for the past, oh I don't know, 21 years. So I don't want to hear it. You're welcome to talk trash, but don't use that one. If you do, Giants fans may go dig those "Got Rings?" signs you had to throw away and add "In The Last 20 years?" to the end of them. The Giants will be touting 2010 until the A's win a World Series. Or until the A's move to Las Vegas and you become Giants fans. Let me know, I have an extra hat.

Song of the Series: The Girl Is Mine
In a never-ending competition for the Girl (Bay Area Bragging Rights), Paul McCartney (the A's) and Michael Jackson (the Giants) square off yet again. Clearly the girl prefers the young, dashing MJ over the boring, wrinkly and British Paul McCartney. If this means that the Giants will also go off the deep end in approximately 10 years, so be it.

Play of the Series:
Freddy saves the game with a spectacular diving stop and throw from his knees:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15021243

Again, to give proper credit to the A's, Play of the Series #2 goes to A's outfielder Ryan Sweeney. His throw on Sunday's final play was nothing short of incredible. I fully believe had Kurt Suzuki caught the ball (no easy task), Ford would have been out. I'm not sure he would have been called out, but when I watch it again, I swear the ball beats Ford to the plate. As soon as Burriss' hit fell in, I assumed the game was over. And I wasn't the only one. Half of the Giants players teams hopped the dugout rail only to realize halfway to home plate, Ford might very well be thrown out. Sweeney deserves major props for just making the play close. And had it been anyone other than the lightning bolt Darren Ford, the runner would have been out by 9 feet:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?c_id=mlb&content_id=15095459&query=game_pk%3D287602

Gag of the Series:
There were a number of questionable umpiring calls in this series. On Friday, an apparent foul tip was ruled a passed ball, allowing the A's a runner on third with only one out in the 7th inning of a tie game. While Freddy's play above prevented it from hurting the Giants, this blown call at first base certainly hurt the A's on Sunday:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15087567

On Deck:
The Giants welcome the Florida Marlins to the cold waters of the Pacific in a rematch of both the 1997 and 2003 NLDS. The Marlins have been one of the more surprising teams in the National League this season, posting a 26-19 record thus far. 5-5 over their last 10 games, the Marlins took a huge hit with the recent injury to Ace Josh Johnson. While the Giants weren't in line to face Johnson anyway, they will have to face an underrated duo in Ricky Nolasco and Anibal Sanchez. Nolasco is 3-0 with a 3.32 ERA, while Sanchez sports a 3-1 record and 3.02 ERA. While the Marlins won't blow you away with their lineup or pitching rotation, their balance is their greatest strength. They rank in the top half of all MLB in Runs, OBP and Slugging and ERA, WHIP and Batting Average Against. The Giants will look to Cain, Bumgarner and Vogelsong to reel in a few more home wins for the Giants.

Given his key contributions to two game winning rallies this weekend, it will be interesting to see how the Giants use Manny Burris in the coming days. Word on the street is he could become the new Mark DeRosa. What exactly that means, I'm not sure, as Burriss is neither injured nor from New Jersey (knock on wood -- for both). He does, however, share DeRosa's versatility. Miguel Tejada of all people looked good this weekend with his glove. Mike Fontenot struggled somewhat. It wouldn't surprise me to see Burriss work his way into the lineup at SS. He would give the Giants a much needed boost of speed at the bottom of the lineup. The key is whether his defensive skills are strong enough to quarterback the Giants' infield.

Nate Shierholtz figures to see more playing time after making 4 game-changing plays in as many games. With Pat Burrell struggling mightily in key at bats, Shierholtz may very well see significant starts in Right as Ross swings to Left Field. Nate's arm, fielding ability and performance in key at bats are all paying huge dividends for Bruce Bochy.