The San Francisco Giants shocked the world on Monday night when they defeated the Texas Rangers 3-1 in a pitcher’s duel, which pitted two former Cy Young Award winners, Cliff Lee of the Rangers and Tim Lincecum of the Giants, against one another.
Game five was not the first time these two pitchers met up in the series. They also met up in the first game of the series in which the San Francisco line-up knocked Lee off of his post season pedestal and gave the Giants hope that they could bring the city of San Francisco their first World Series Championship.
Despite Lee’s colossal meltdown in game one, it was not Texas’s pitching that was the story of the World Series; rather, it was the pitching of the San Francisco Giants. Tim Lincecum led the Giants’ pitching staff, only giving up one run against the Rangers in game five, clinching the championship for the Giants. Despite his dominance, it was not only Lincecum who set up this championship. Starter Matt Cain pitched a flawless game two, leading the Giants to a† 9-0 victory while Madison Bumgardner also pitched a shutout game four as San Francisco defeated the Rangers 4-0.
This young pitching staff dominated the Rangers’ powerhouse offense and controlled the series from the start of game one. Although Lincecum may not have had a spectacular outing, giving up four runs, he bested Cliff Lee in game one and proved that he could compete on baseball’s biggest stage.
With outstanding run support from World Series MVP Edgar Renteria, who clinched the Giants’ championship with a three run homer off of Lee in the seventh inning of game five, it comes as no surprise that the Giants were able to defeat the Rangers in just five games.
The Giants offense was relentless early in the series scoring a total of 20 runs in the first two games. Despite this impressive burst of offensive power it was clear when closer Brian Wilson sealed the deal for the Giants by striking out the Ranger’s Nelson Cruz that the Giants’ pitching was the key to victory in the 2010 World Series.