Giants Win World Series - Sandoval MVP

Last night, while the Eastern seaboard was bracing for the storm that is supposed to make the storm from "The Perfect Storm" look like a Summer drizzle, the San Francisco Giants were wrapping up the 2012 MLB season in fashion - coming from behind to win Game Four en route to a sweep of the heavily favored Miguel Cabrera/Justin Verlander-led Detroit Tigers in Motown. 

For the Giants, the 2012 World Series victory represents the seventh in the storied history of the Giants franchise, which ranks second among all National League teams (behind the St. Louis Cardinals).  It is also the second championship in the past three seasons for the Giants.

Pablo Sandoval was named World Series MVP.  His tone-setting 3 HR performance in game one - with the Tigers facing reigning AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander - was the defining moment in this one but Sandoval hit .500 for the series and had some key defensive plays at third base so the MVP award was well deserved for the player known as Kung Fu Panda. 

Other key players in this one:
- Marco Scutaro accounted for six of the teams runs in the series while playing a solid second base. 
- Buster Posey was awesome behind the plate and drove in three runs.  Check out the video below to see the incredible catch he made to save a "would be" Lincecum Wild Pitch in Game Three... my apologies for the low quality (couldn't find a high quality video/GIF anywhere).



- Tim Lincecum flourished in his role as long reliever - throwing 4 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out 8.
- Ryan Vogelsong, Barry Zito, Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain tallied 25 1/3 innings while only giving up 4 earned runs... to say that the Giants' starting pitching was great would be an understatement.
- One error in four games for the entire squad; notable contributions defensively from Brandon Crawford and Gregor Blanco.

Bruce Bochy's six year tenure in San Francisco has been extremely successful.  They've won two World Series titles over that span and with the exception of a one-year blip in 2011, the Giants have managed to increase their win total over the prior season every year going back to 2007.  The Giants were largely labeled "overachievers" by fans outside of San Francisco but this win certainly validates them as one of the elite teams in baseball and Bochy as one of the All-Time greats.  With 2,898 wins under his belt, it's safe to say that Bochy will have plenty of Cooperstown support once his career as a manager is over.