By Henry Schulman
The high pop fly floated in the air long enough to contemplate a baseball season, the joyful highs and wrenching lows, the big players who went down and the little ones who stepped up, the moments of ecstasy and the days and weeks of doubt.
The Giants craned their necks to stare at the baseball, gawking as if they expected aliens to burst through the seams. When Pablo Sandoval caught what proved to be a harmless foul ball by Salvador Perez, all of the doubts vanished into a frigid Midwestern night.
Sandoval snatched the ball, fell onto his back like a panda rolling in bamboo and celebrated a 3-2 victory over the Royals that gave the Giants their third World Series championship in five seasons.
The record books will note prominently that this unlikely title for a wild-card team makes the Giants the first National Leaguers since the 1942-46 Cardinals to win three titles in that short a span. However, for the orange and black faithful it will be remembered simply as the Madison Bumgarner World Series.
Bumgarner not only started and won Games 1 and 5, he pitched the final five innings of Game 7, allowing two hits and no runs, to etch his name onto a gilded page in baseball’s overstuffed book of accomplishments.
“To me, it’s historic,” Giants president Larry Baer said in the raucous clubhouse celebration. “We have a great game, 130 years of Giants baseball. I can’t imagine anybody performing at a higher level in this organization.
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“Now we’re talking about Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and all the great Giants in history, and Madison is right there in the conversation with everybody.”
In much less lofty terms, teammate Matt Cain summed up the essence of Bumgarner in this postseason and said, “I don’t think he has a heartbeat.”
Bumgarner was the unanimous choice for World Series MVP after he pitched 21 innings and held the Royals to one run. His 0.43 Series ERA was the lowest for any pitcher with at least 15 innings since Sandy Koufax’s 0.38 for the 1965 Dodgers.
More impressive than any stat was his ability in dominate Game 7 with a 68-pitch performance on two days’ rest and protect a 3-2 lead that Michael Morse provided in the fourth inning when he got enough of a 99-mph fastball from reliever Kelvin Herrera, on an 0-2 pitch, to hit an RBI single to right.
Morse also had one of two sacrifice flies in a two-run second inning against starter Jeremy Guthrie. Brandon Crawford had the other.
Scoring on both Morse RBIs was Pablo Sandoval, who had three hits in what might have been his final game as a Giant and finished with 26 hits in this postseason, a major-league record.
Bumgarner technically earned a save for winner Jeremy Affeldt, who got seven crucial outs in the Giants’ 100th win of the year after Tim Hudson was chased in the second inning after allowing the two tying runs.
Bumgarner spent the first three innings sitting in the bullpen before he rose to get loose at a time of the game that manager Bruce Bochy had envisioned.
“Once I saw him warming up when we had the lead, I knew it was over,” Hudson said. “I knew the big fella was going to get the job done.”
Before the game, Royals manager Ned Yost poked a cage he might have been better served to leave be when he said, “Bumgarner is a great starting pitcher. We’ll see what kind of reliever he is.”
Bumgarner entered in the fifth and allowed a single to his first hitter, Omar Infante, then suffocated the Royals. The Giants needed 15 outs for the championship once he took the mound. Bumgarner got 14 in a row before a crazy play with two outs in the ninth threatened to unravel the inning, game and season.
Alex Gordon hit a ball softly to short center. For a split second it looked like the final out of the World Series, but Gregor Blanco decided to make the conservative play and let it fall rather than dive for it.
The ball got by the defensive specialist anyway and rolled all the way to the wall. As left fielder Juan Perez bobbled it at the track, Gordon raced to third, where coach Mike Jirschele put up a stop sign that he might live to regret. Gordon had a chance to score and tie the game.
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Every stomach on the Giants’ side churned as each man rode an emotional wave as high as a 10-story building.
“I went from, 'He might catch it and we’re going to win,’ to, 'Shoot. It’s going to the wall,’” catcher Buster Posey said.
It was one more does of nausea for the road ... to another parade down Market Street.
“Would we have it any other way?” reliever Javier Lopez asked. “Torture baseball. It’s what we’re known for.”
Santiago Casilla was loose in the bullpen, but Bochy stood still, later saying Perez would have been Bumgarner’s final hitter.
Had Bochy gone to the mound to pull Bumgarner, Affeldt said, “There might have been a fight out there.”
Instead, Bumgarner remained a vision of steel and jammed Perez to get the high pop foul that ended the World Series. As Sandoval rolled on the ground with the ball, Bumgarner got the “Buster hug” that Brian Wilson enjoyed in 2010 and Sergio Romo in 2012.
“We’ve got one of the best closers in the game, who could have come in at any time and slammed the door,” Bumgarner said of Casilla. “I’m thankful for my team believing in me and letting me stay out there.”
Bumgarner sealed a World Series the Giants were supposed to lose after dropping Game 6, because nine straight road teams in seventh games had fallen. The 1979 Pirates were the last to win, a point made repeatedly to Bochy.
The manager dared reporters to tell his players that history was not on their side. In fact, Bochy alluded to it himself in a speech to the team before Game 7. He was the only one to talk.
Joe Panik, who helped save Affeldt with a stunning diving stop and backhand glove flip to Brandon Crawford to start a third-inning double play, related Bochy’s message:
“Listen,” Bochy told the team, “We believe in you. You’ve done it in Pittsburgh. You took two in Washington. You won in St. Louis. There’s no reason we can’t win this on the road. We’re a good road team. Just believe in yourselves because we believe in you.”
After the game, Bochy had a hard time knowing what to believe.
“I’m still numb through all this,” he said, “especially all we had to go through, the ups and downs. We were underdogs in every series. We beat the odds. This is a team of warriors that I’m proud to manage.”
Sandoval snatched the ball, fell onto his back like a panda rolling in bamboo and celebrated a 3-2 victory over the Royals that gave the Giants their third World Series championship in five seasons.
The record books will note prominently that this unlikely title for a wild-card team makes the Giants the first National Leaguers since the 1942-46 Cardinals to win three titles in that short a span. However, for the orange and black faithful it will be remembered simply as the Madison Bumgarner World Series.
Bumgarner not only started and won Games 1 and 5, he pitched the final five innings of Game 7, allowing two hits and no runs, to etch his name onto a gilded page in baseball’s overstuffed book of accomplishments.
“To me, it’s historic,” Giants president Larry Baer said in the raucous clubhouse celebration. “We have a great game, 130 years of Giants baseball. I can’t imagine anybody performing at a higher level in this organization.
“Now we’re talking about Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and all the great Giants in history, and Madison is right there in the conversation with everybody.”In much less lofty terms, teammate Matt Cain summed up the essence of Bumgarner in this postseason and said, “I don’t think he has a heartbeat.”
Bumgarner was the unanimous choice for World Series MVP after he pitched 21 innings and held the Royals to one run. His 0.43 Series ERA was the lowest for any pitcher with at least 15 innings since Sandy Koufax’s 0.38 for the 1965 Dodgers.
More impressive than any stat was his ability in dominate Game 7 with a 68-pitch performance on two days’ rest and protect a 3-2 lead that Michael Morse provided in the fourth inning when he got enough of a 99-mph fastball from reliever Kelvin Herrera, on an 0-2 pitch, to hit an RBI single to right.
Morse also had one of two sacrifice flies in a two-run second inning against starter Jeremy Guthrie. Brandon Crawford had the other.
Scoring on both Morse RBIs was Pablo Sandoval, who had three hits in what might have been his final game as a Giant and finished with 26 hits in this postseason, a major-league record.
Bumgarner technically earned a save for winner Jeremy Affeldt, who got seven crucial outs in the Giants’ 100th win of the year after Tim Hudson was chased in the second inning after allowing the two tying runs.
Bumgarner spent the first three innings sitting in the bullpen before he rose to get loose at a time of the game that manager Bruce Bochy had envisioned.
“Once I saw him warming up when we had the lead, I knew it was over,” Hudson said. “I knew the big fella was going to get the job done.”
Before the game, Royals manager Ned Yost poked a cage he might have been better served to leave be when he said, “Bumgarner is a great starting pitcher. We’ll see what kind of reliever he is.”
Bumgarner entered in the fifth and allowed a single to his first hitter, Omar Infante, then suffocated the Royals. The Giants needed 15 outs for the championship once he took the mound. Bumgarner got 14 in a row before a crazy play with two outs in the ninth threatened to unravel the inning, game and season.
Alex Gordon hit a ball softly to short center. For a split second it looked like the final out of the World Series, but Gregor Blanco decided to make the conservative play and let it fall rather than dive for it.
The ball got by the defensive specialist anyway and rolled all the way to the wall. As left fielder Juan Perez bobbled it at the track, Gordon raced to third, where coach Mike Jirschele put up a stop sign that he might live to regret. Gordon had a chance to score and tie the game.
Every stomach on the Giants’ side churned as each man rode an emotional wave as high as a 10-story building.“I went from, 'He might catch it and we’re going to win,’ to, 'Shoot. It’s going to the wall,’” catcher Buster Posey said.
It was one more does of nausea for the road ... to another parade down Market Street.
“Would we have it any other way?” reliever Javier Lopez asked. “Torture baseball. It’s what we’re known for.”
Santiago Casilla was loose in the bullpen, but Bochy stood still, later saying Perez would have been Bumgarner’s final hitter.
Had Bochy gone to the mound to pull Bumgarner, Affeldt said, “There might have been a fight out there.”
Instead, Bumgarner remained a vision of steel and jammed Perez to get the high pop foul that ended the World Series. As Sandoval rolled on the ground with the ball, Bumgarner got the “Buster hug” that Brian Wilson enjoyed in 2010 and Sergio Romo in 2012.
“We’ve got one of the best closers in the game, who could have come in at any time and slammed the door,” Bumgarner said of Casilla. “I’m thankful for my team believing in me and letting me stay out there.”
Bumgarner sealed a World Series the Giants were supposed to lose after dropping Game 6, because nine straight road teams in seventh games had fallen. The 1979 Pirates were the last to win, a point made repeatedly to Bochy.
The manager dared reporters to tell his players that history was not on their side. In fact, Bochy alluded to it himself in a speech to the team before Game 7. He was the only one to talk.
Joe Panik, who helped save Affeldt with a stunning diving stop and backhand glove flip to Brandon Crawford to start a third-inning double play, related Bochy’s message:
“Listen,” Bochy told the team, “We believe in you. You’ve done it in Pittsburgh. You took two in Washington. You won in St. Louis. There’s no reason we can’t win this on the road. We’re a good road team. Just believe in yourselves because we believe in you.”
After the game, Bochy had a hard time knowing what to believe.
“I’m still numb through all this,” he said, “especially all we had to go through, the ups and downs. We were underdogs in every series. We beat the odds. This is a team of warriors that I’m proud to manage.”
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