GIANTS WIN IT

 

GIANTS   107-55                   Won more games than any Giants team.

LA             106-56    1 GB       Scherzer set for Wednesday's WC game.

Yesterday

Giants bombarded San Diego, 11-4, to win the division, as you knew they would.

LA kept pace to the very end, sweeping Milwaukee with a 10-3 win.

Today

Giants have four days off to rest and refurbish. The division series opens at Oracle Park on Friday.

Yesterday's Game

Logan Webb made sure of it. The fine young righthander, who's emerged as a star in the making this season, rolled through seven innings of three-hit one-run ball, striking out 8 and earning his 11th win. He also belted a two-run homer in the fifth that put the game into rout status. The Giants' recently-dormant offense smoldered uneasily for three innings, then burst out like a brushfire in the fourth. They sent nine men to the plate: Kris Bryant and Mike Yastrzemski opened with walks, Webb walked to load the bases, and the RBI's then poured in as Tommy LaStella, Wilmer Flores, Buster Posey, and LaMonte Wade brought five across. It was 7-1, an inning later Webb made it 9-1, and Yaz drove in two more in the seventh. Webb gave up three singles to start the eighth, tarnishing his numbers a bit, and Kervin Castro was wild, letting two more score until Jarlin Garcia retired the Ultimate Nemesis, Adam Frazier, to end the frame. Kapler chose Dominic Leone, one of so many unsung Giants heroes this year, to drive the Golden Spike, and he did so in style, striking out Eric Hosmer as his teammates swarmed the field in celebration. 

What else is there to say? Is this the greatest Giants team of all time? This team has won more games than any other in the franchise's 129-year history.  This team has defeated a truly great Dodger team, the defending world champions and eight-time division champions, under almost unbelievable unrelenting pennant-race pressure. This team overcame a slew of injuries to key players and still finished with the best record in baseball, winning more games than any NL team since 1986. What will happen in the postseason is unknown, of course. But today we can say with confidence that in 58 years of baseball fandom, we have never seen a team like the 2021 San Francisco Giants.    

We'll take a couple of days off and return with the regular-season wrapup and postseason preview.