Giants Sweep 2012 World Series With Game 4 Win (4 To 3)!!!

Go Giants!!!!
We are ORANGE inside…
Comments and observations:  Okay, as improbable a World Series as can be imagined is now over and the San Francisco Giants are world champions!!  This is the team’s seventh championship (five were won in New York before the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958) and the second in three years.
Although the Giants finished with a better regular season record than Detroit, the Tigers were considered the odds-on favorite to win the Series because they have the best pitcher and the best hitter in baseball.  The problem with this proposition is the pitcher only plays twice in a seven game series and so only gets two opportunities to dominate.  In this case, Detroit’s best pitcher (Verlander) didn’t win his first game and his team never got him to his second appearance (Game 5).  The other side of the proposition is that their best hitter (Cabrera) went cold and their second best hitter (Fielder) was positively frigid.
On the flip side, the Giants best hitter (Posey) had a so-so Series hitting (homered tonight for two runs), but played well as catcher.  The main difference was the rest of the team – particularly the entire pitching staff, starters, relievers and closer – were dominant.  It’s a baseball given that great pitching beats great hitting in the playoffs, and there was nothing in this Series to contradict that truism from Detroit.  I think the second big difference was the home field advantage the Giants had because the National League won the All-Star Game.  This allowed the Giants to open with the first two games at home.  Even disallowing Sandoval’s three home runs in Game 1 (4 RBIs), Verlander did not have a “great” game and Detroit would probably have still lost as the game ended 8 to 3.  Thus began the fall…
Confirming / continuing my math commentary from prior posts, the Giants won game 1.  The winner of game 1 goes on to win the Series 60% of the time.  The Giants won game 2.  The team which starts off the World Series with two wins goes on to win 79% of the time.  The Giants won Game 3.  The team which starts the Series with three wins has won all 24 of the times this has happened.  Twenty-one times the team with three wins has gone on to win the fourth game for a sweep and no team has managed to make it to Game 6 after falling behind by 3-0 in the Series.  While probabilities are not certainties, they do tend to be reliably predictive.
Like most baseball fans, I will have a week or so of “withdrawal” as baseball is now over for the year.  Oh well, I draw comfort from knowing I face the off-season with the S.F. Giants having won the last game of World Series!!
For the last time this year:  Go Giants!!!!  We are ORANGE inside…  Congratulations and we love you!!!
.
On This Day In:
2021	Why We Have So Few Personal Favorites
	I Would Have Liked You Anyway
2020	Why We Must Vote #45 Out
	If You Believe
2019	Sometimes I Still Have Trouble Sleeping
	Public Ridicule For Office Holder
2018	And Flights Of Fancy
	Dodgers Lose 2nd Consecutive World Series!!
2017	By Their Acts Thy Shall Know Them
2016	Remembering
2015	One
2014	Sure Experiments And Demonstrated Arguments
2013	Irrational Complacency
2012	Why Criticize?
	Giants Sweep 2012 World Series With Game 4 Win (4 To 3)!!!
2011	Saying Just Enough
2010	Giants Win Game 2 Shutout of Rangers – 9 to 0!!!

Read Full Post »

Giants Win Game 3 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!!

Go Giants!!!!
We are ORANGE inside…
Comments and observations:  Well, the boys from S.F. now have a historically significant edge in the 2012 World Series.  Despite a tremendous pitching effort by the Detroit #3 pitcher (Anibal Sanchez), Detroit scores no runs and the Giants get their second shutout on the way to a 2 to 0 win and a 3 to 0 lead in the Series.  To put this in perspective, NO team has EVER come back to win the World Series after trailing 3 to 0 in games played.
There are four games left if the Series were to go to the full seven.  To lose at this point, the Giants will have to play .000 ball (lose 4 of 4), while the Tigers will have to play 1.000 ball (win 4 of 4).  To add more perspective, both teams are .500 ball clubs, so a change of this magnitude, while not impossible, is extremely improbable.  The odds are the Giants will win one of the next four and the Series.  Simplistic, but probable.
At this point, the question is can the Giants sweep (win game 4 to close out the Series)?
As mentioned in my prior blogs about the 2012 Series, it is difficult for a team to win three in a row let alone four in a row.  While I certainly want the Giants to sweep, it seems likely that the baseball gods will favor Detroit and the Tigers will win the next game.  If that happens, I would expect the Tigers to wallop the Giants and really run up the score.  At that point, Detroit brings in its best starter for Game 5 and if they can pull out that win, the Series will return to S.F. for the final two games and we have the potential for a Series for the ages.
More likely though, is S.F. starts our best pitcher (Matt Cain) in Game 4 and the Giants close out the Series with a four game sweep.  Four-0 or 4-1, the Giants still take the Series after facing the team with the best pitcher and the best hitter in baseball!!!
Go Giants!!!!
.
On This Day In:
2021	Two Eff’n Right
	Is There A Notion For That Motion?
2020	The Premium Few
	No Sympathy Here
2019	Is That Why Love Hurts?
2018	And Honest Politicians
2017	Maya, Maya
2016	Give Value
2015	Believe In Substitution
2014	Pragmatic Religion
2013	How’s Your View?
2012	Giants Win Game 3 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!!
	Still Haven’t…
	Accidental Me
2011	What Is Your Ratio?
2010	Giants Win Game 1 With 11 Runs Scored – Repeat 11 Runs!!

Read Full Post »

Giants Win Game 2 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!!

Go Giants!!!!
We are ORANGE inside…
Comments and observations:  In a good old fashioned pitching duel, the S.F. Giants come out ahead by playing “small ball” to take a commanding 2 to 0 lead in the 2012 World Series!  The odds now shift from 60% to 79% that the Giants will go on to win the Series.  14 of the last 15 teams to go up by two to zero have gone on to win…
The 60% represents the number of teams who have gone on to win the Series after winning game one.  As stated, 79% of the teams which have taken the first two games have gone on to win it all.  The Giants must now win only 2 out of the next 5 games to win the Series (.400 ball).  The Detroit Tigers must now win 4 out of the next 5 to win the series (.800 ball).  The Tigers entered the Series heavily favored despite having won fewer games in the regular season because they have the best pitcher in baseball (over the last two years) and the first triple-crown batting champion in over 20 years.
As stated in a previous post, it is difficult for any team to win three straight games at this level and at this time of year.  It is even more difficult for a team to win four in a row.  This means it is unlikely the Giants will win the next game, but the main point is to take at least one of the next three in Detroit.  I look for the Tigers to win game three and for S.F. to win game 4.  This will give S.F. a 3 to 1 lead and make game 5 a must win for Detroit, while S.F. will only need to win one game out of the final three.  In any case, it is now impossible for Detroit to close out the series without first coming back to S.F.
Go Giants!!!
.
On This Day In:
2021	A Simple Choice, Really
	Waaaay Before The Movie
2020	I Just Want To Stay Happy
	Fading…
2019	Show Righteousness, Not Fear
2018	Sounds Like Politics, Too
2017	Resist More
	Conservatives Are Not The Enemy
2016	Two Weeks To Go…
2015	Remembering
2014	The Creeping Death Of Civilization
	Orange October (X) – A Blue Morning Turns Into An Orange Evening
2013	License Problem
2012	Giants Win Game 2 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!!
	Adage, n.
	Questions Women Should Ask Before Voting…
2011	What Are You Looking At?

Read Full Post »

Giants Win Game 1 Of The World Series 8 to 3!!!

Go Giants!!!!
We are ORANGE inside…
Comments and observations:  Well, the Giants take game one of the 2012 World Series by a score of 8-3 over Detroit.  Game two is tomorrow, also here in S.F.  The series then shifts to Detroit for the following three games, and wraps up with the last two games (if necessary) back in S.F.  At this point the main thing is to “hold serve” and not lose tomorrow.  That will mean Detroit cannot win the Series at home and even if they are able to sweep the three games there, they’d still have to come back to S.F. to win one of the last two games.
Baseball is a unique / interesting game for me because it is so mathematically predictable (at least during the regular season).  The team with the home field advantage in a series should win because it is more difficult to win on the road than it is at home.  In general, the team with the better season record should win the series, but my cursory review of the last few years (only back to 2006) indicates this isn’t true.  Only four of the last six WS winners had the better regular season record.  In other words, once you’re over .500 for the season, it doesn’t seem to matter much if you’re .599 or 501, as long as you win enough to get into the post-season.  In fact, it seems the most reliable indicator so far (early in a series) is who wins the first game of any given series.  (Hooray for the Giants!!!)  In this case, the odds are about 60%, you’ll go on to win the Series.  Not great odds, and not a tremendous predictor, but it seems to be reliable.
In any case, the Giants now only have to play .500 ball to win the Series (six games left, win three and you win the Series).  Detroit now has to play .666 ball to win the Series (six games left, must win four of next six).  With each game, the odds turn more and more against you…  If the Giants hold serve tomorrow and go 2-0, we will only have to play .400 ball or Detroit will have to play .800 ball to win the Series.  Teams have demonstrated they can do this, but not many.  So the key is now to win tomorrow…
Two other points.  For every baseball fan of any team in a World Series, the first goal is to not get swept – win at least one of the games.  That’s done.  The second point is to not panic.  It is very difficult to win a three game (sweep) series in baseball.  It is even more difficult for a team to win a four game (sweep) series.  This means that even if Detroit does win tomorrow, it is unlikely they’ll be able to win all three games back home because then they will have beaten us four straight.  That implies we will almost certainly win one of the three games in Detroit even if we lose tomorrow’s game.  This in turn means the Series will have to come back to S.F.  My prediction…  if we win tomorrow, the Series goes to five games and S.F. wins 4-1.  If we lose, the Series goes 4-2 and S.F. still wins.
Go GIANTS!!!
.
On This Day In:
2021	Do What You Can
	From The Shadows
2020	Mostly To Just Smell A Few More Roses
	Above The Storm
	R.I.P.: Jerry Jeff Walker
2019	Ought To More Often Than Once
2018	Talking About Egypt, Not The White House
2017	Left Behind
2016	Self-Restraint
2015	In The Midst
2014	Match Book
2013	Disservice And Disingenuous
2012	Giants Win Game 1 Of The World Series 8 to 3!!!
	On Death
2011	The Spirit Of Universal Connectivity
2010	SF Giants Pitchers Witness Protection Program
	Orange Outside (Too) & Fear The Beard
	Non-Taxing Read

Read Full Post »

2012 National League Champions – San Francisco Giants!!

Go Giants!!!!
We are ORANGE inside…
Bring on Detroit!!!
.
On This Day In:
2021	Too Heavy A Burden
	I Don’t Mind At All
2020	Compare, Contrast And Learn
	Some Dreams Do Come True
	Just In Case
2019	Can I Get A Witness?
2018	I’d Still Like To Try It Out
2017	In Every Thing
2016	Future Halo
2015	The Hard Way Every Time
2014	Indispensable Wits
2013	I’d Like To
2012	2012 National League Champions – San Francisco Giants!!
	2nd Viewing – No Change
	Light Shining Out of Darkness
2011	Just Kickin It
	Are These The “Real” Protectors Of America’s Constitution?
2010	Giants Advance To 2010 World Series!!!

Read Full Post »