Bumgarner is SI's Sportsman of the Year

MEDIA

Sports Illustrated recently named Madison Bumgarner its Sportsman of the Year for 2014 following the pitcher’s masterful and gritty performances throughout the MLB playoffs and World Series.

Since its beginnings in 1954, SI has awarded the annual honor to 16 Major League ballplayers and one team, the 2004 Red Sox. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and then Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were co-recipients in 1998 and 2001, respectively.

Dale Murphy shared the honor in 1987 with a handful of athletes from other sports. In 1979, Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw split the award in a Pittsburgh “We-Are-Family” fashion.

As SI’s Tom Verducci writes in his cover story, Bumgarner, 25, is the third youngest baseball player to be named Sportsman of the Year, behind only Johnny Podres (1955) and Tom Seaver (1969).

Here is the complete list of MLB players to receive SI’s Sportsman of the Year award:

Johnny Podres, 1955; Stan Musial, 1957; Sandy Koufax, 1965; Carl Yastrzemski, 1967; Tom Seaver, 1969; Peter Rose, 1975; Willie Stargell (and Terry Bradshaw), 1979; Dale Murphy (and four athletes from other sports); Orel Hershiser, 1988; Cal Ripken Jr., 1995; Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, 1998; Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, 2001; Boston Red Sox, 2004; Derek Jeter, 2009; and Madison Bumgarner, 2014.

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Blue Jays Are Melking It, Baby!

Don't take my word for this, but trending right now on Twitter is a rumor the Toronto Blue Jays are working to bring Babe Ruth back from the dead to hit clean up, maybe pitch a little, for the 2013 season.

It's not enough, is it, you greedier-than-Trump Blue Jays, that you took advantage of Jeffrey Loria's bat-$#!t crazy ways of running a baseball franchise to secure a trade for nearly all of the Miami Marlins' good players?

Sorry about that. I must have been channeling my inner Brian Cashman.

Ok, where was I?

Who knows at this point if this is a good move or not, but Canada's only team today has reportedly signed Melky Cabrera to a two-year deal with $16 million.

This past season in San Francisco, Cabrera was tearing it up – he was hitting .346 – and was well on his way to securing a lucrative free agent contract. But then, as you know, Cabrera, the All-Star Game's MVP who helped secure home-field advantage for the Giants, was suspended for 50 games after testing positive in August for performance enhancing drugs.

Now, Cabrera is back, but will he have the same motivation to light it up with his bat the way he did in his contract walk year?

We'll see.

In the meantime, ESPN's Buster Olney, after the news of Cabrera's signing broke, Tweeted the Blue Jays' possible lineup for 2013.

Possible Jays' lineup: SS Reyes LF Cabrera RF Bautista DH Encarnacion 3B Lawrie 1B Lind C Arencibia CF Rasmus 2B Izturis/Bonifacio. Speed.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 16, 2012

Olney's lineup does not account for the possibility of the Blue Jays resurrecting Ruth.

Season's Over… Put Another Log on the Fire

Photo: Associated Press

Man, was that great or what?  

What?

Ok, so it wasn't the most compelling World Series ever, but it was baseball in October and the series displayed a lot of reasons – a three-homer game, great plays in the field, a bang-bang play at the plate, sliding catches, solid pitching performances, sluggers named Panda, closers with intense facial hair, unlikely heros, ill-times slumps, great uniforms and cringe-worthy National Anthem renditions – why we love this game.

So take what you will from the Series. I really had no rooting interest (even though at the beginning of the season – yes, the season – I picked the Tigers over the Giants in the Series) and loved every minute of it.

Now, it's on to the off season and hot stove action, which is all the more appropriate given the Frankenstorm that bearing down on the East Coast. (See what happens when baseball season ends? The universe gets turned upside down, and the weather goes all to hell.)

I haven't counted the days yet, but it won't be long before we're getting excited for when – you know what I'm going to say… the four greatest words in February – pitchers and catcher report.

Discover: The San Francisco Panda

Grandpas + Baseball = PB&J

Getty Images

Grandpas and baseball seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly.

My grandpa, or Papaw, as I called him, played a significant role in making me into a baseball fan, beginning way, way back in 1977.

We've heard quite a few baseball stories over the past several days involving grandfathers. Justin Verlander's grandfather confirmed for us this week that his grandson was indeed hooking up with curvy Kate Upton. I bet Justin's grandpa is super proud, and probably is begging  Justin to bring Kate to Thanksgiving dinner.

Tonight we heard another grandfather story from Sergio Romo, who, standing in the dugout during Game 2 of the Word Series, giddily told Joe Buck, Tim McCarver and the millions of us watching the Fox broadcast, about calling his grandpa, a longtime Dodgers fan, on the day he, Romo, was drafted by the Giants.

"Oh, no. Not those guys," the Giants' closer recalled his grandfather saying.

Following the game, after Romo saved the Giants' 2-0 lead over the Tigers, Ken Rosenthal asked Romo what he thought his Dodgers-fan grandfather might be thinking.

"I'm assuming he's wearing his Giants shirts I've given him, orange and black," Romo said. "I'm hoping he's proud of me."

Of course he's proud of you, Sergio.

Back a few years ago, I worked as sports information director at a small college. One day I saw my grandpa wearing the baseball cap of that school, a college with which he otherwise had no connection. I knew then and there he was proud of his goofball grandson.

Today's Lineup – World Series Edition

…or nine stories from around the Majors you may have missed today.

Folks in San Francisco may read this article and start encouraging Jeremy Affeldt to spend more alone time with his wife.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News leads his World Series Game 1 story with this sentence: "In case Yankees fans forgot, this is what a power-hitting third baseman looks like." Dagger!

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press – you know that guy – writes about the Giants' big inning that toppled the Tigers.

MLB will honor surviving World War II ballplayers tonight before Game 2. Great story, that's why it's in the clean-up spot on this lineup!

The Sporting News writer Anthony Witrado says the Giants should have added the Melk Man to their World Series roster.

This Associated Press article breaks down the hairiness of the World Series.

Detroit businesses are readying for World Series games at Comerica Park.

Among notes and "flukes" from the San Francisco Chronicle: Barry Zito is only the fourth pitcher to get a hit of Justin Verlander. Well, ok, but Verlander pitches mostly to American League teams, which, you know, has the designated hitter rule. Just sayin'.

Huffington Post has a collection of World Series quotes for ya.

Panda-monium

Photo: Associated Press

If you were one of those people who thought the Tigers and Justin Verlander would be too much to handle for the slightly light-hitting San Francisco Giants last night… well, I hate to say it, but I told you so.

Oh, wait. I didn't actually write on this blog that I thought the Giants had a great shot in Game 1 because that little-team-that-can from San Francisco is riding a big rail car of momentum.

I admit, I'm not entirely convinced that momentum exists in baseball, but it sure did look like it last night, with the Giants, fresh off dismantling the St. Louis Cardinals with a three-game winning streak… a dominating winning streak, at that.

And you also have to believe the Giants feed off that frenzied AT&T Park crowd, right?

 And if you don't think that's important, ask Justin Verlander, who during a visit to the mound from pitching coach Jeff Jones in the third inning, told Jones all he was doing was getting the "crowd all riled up."

And don't tell me those Tigers weren't rusty. It doesn't matter how many so-called games you play on off days against your instructional team, it's tough to roar like a tiger again after a long lay off. Six days, my friend. Six days!

And then there's Panda! Oh, what a night for Pablo Sandoval.

Three homers in one World Series game, and two off Verlander. Only Babe Ruth (twice), Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols, who did it last year, have pulled off such an accomplishment on the big stage.

Verlander may me dating Kate Upton, but the Panda may get the ring.

Today's Lineup

…or nine stories from around the Majors you may have missed today.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist says Giants fans need a moment to breathe before the World Series begins.

St. Louis Post Dispatch: No finessing Cards' ugly demise

Steven Goldman at Pinstriped Bible – that's one of my favorite blogs, by the way – makes a good argument for the Yankees keeping Swisher over Ichiro.

Justin Verlander's grandfather confirms his grandson is dating Kate Upton, gets media training (or something like that).

The Twins aren't moving fences or planting trees.

The Padres, however, are bringing in the fences at Petco Park.

The World Series will have a Venezuelan accent.

The Rangers are in the mix to sign another pitcher from Japan. This one is 18 years old.

Is the honeymoon over for Kirk Gibson in Arizona?

Three "Pence" Hits and the Cards are Out

At first glance I thought Pete Kozma was slightly out of position.

Then on the replay of the Hunter Pence's three-run, seeing-eye double in the bottom of the third inning, I thought Kozma got a bad read on batted ball and broke the wrong way, toward third, from his short stop position.

Neither of my observations was correct.

As you can see from the 5,000-frames-per-second super-slow-motion replay and the MLB's animated GIFs, Pence's bat hit the ball and broke. The severed portion of Pence's bat slapped the ball twice more, the third time creating a hellacious spin that sliced the ball slice from Kozma's glove.

"The read I got was that it was going to the hole," Kozma said.

Three runs scored on the play – the runner from first went home on center fielder Jon Jay's throwing error – giving the Giants a commanding 5-0 lead over a Cardinals team, whose hitters over the past three games, became very Yankee-esque.

Pence, whom we learned yesterday rides to work 20-mph on a motorized scooter, of course, didn't see or feel the bat break.

"That's in super-slo-mo. I didn't even feel that," Pence noted. "You couldn't see that with your eye. It broke my bat and I thought I had just stayed inside it. I guess fate just found a way."

So, here's a question… and I'm just thinking out loud here, but… if Major League Baseball had a more extensive replay system, and let's say the Cardinals had coaches in the booth or somewhere looking at the Fox broadcast replay, could the Cards' Manager Mike Matheny had then, to borrow terminology and practice from the NFL, tossed a challenging red flag out of the dugout?

I'm all for replay in baseball, but I'm wondering if that's where we eventually want to go with a replay system.

It turns out, as my good friend (ok, I've never, ever met the guy) Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated explains, MLB rules would have upheld Pence's triple-batted ball.

Verducci explains:

Rule 6.05 (h) states that a batter is ruled out and the play is ruled dead with no advancement by the runners when the batters hits a ball a second time in fair territory. But the rule does include a comment specifically to address the circumstance of a broken bat causing a double hit. It states, “if a bat breaks and part of it is in fair territory and is hit by a batted ball or part of it hits a runner or fielder, play shall continue and no interference called.”

Going Back to Cali

No comeback for the Cardinals this Friday night! Barry Zito just made sure of that. The San Francisco Giants' hurler threw 7 2/3 innings of shutout baseball to keep his team alive with a 5-zip win in St. Louis in Game 5 of the NLCS.

Zito also had an RBI in the Giants breakout 4-run fourth inning. Pablo Sandoval, who was 2-for-4 at the plate, hit a solo homer in the top of the 8^th.

Game 6 is Sunday night in San Francisco. The Cardinals lead the best-of-seven series, 3-2.

Wait! You Were Watching Football?

If you were one of those people who chose to watch football over the National League Championship Series Game 4 last night, Kung Fu Panda says shame on you.

UPDATE:

Quote of the Day: My pal Chad in Johnson City, Tenn. – hey, Tim McCarver mentioned the JC on the Fox broadcast last night – asked about the photo above: "Can I get that as a Fathead?"

Tigers Can Rest After Sweeping, But Is That A Good Thing?

If the St. Louis Cardinals fail to wrap up the National League Championship Series in Game 5 tonight, making Sunday the latest the NLCS can end, the inevitable rest vs. rust questions will emerge.

The Detroit Tigers, having swept past the New York Yankees and their slumbering bats in four games, now have five days to wait and prepare for its next contest, Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday.

If the Cards can slay the Giants tonight, then there's no debate. Both teams will have, relatively, the same amount of rest.

However, if the Cardinals are stretched to Sunday, or even a Game 7 on Monday, I'm guessing it will be tough for the Tigers, with more rest than they may need, to re-ignite against the momentum-fueled defending World Series champions, on the road in Busch Stadium, no less.

In 2006, the last time the Tigers advanced to the World Series, they had to wait six games before playing the Cardinals in Fall Classic opener. And you remember what happened to the ferocious Tigers back then, right? That's right. They were ousted in five games.

UPDATE: I thought I heard Tigers' skipper Jim Leyland say in an interview last night that his team would not stay idle "this time" while waiting for the World Series to begin. I assumed he was talking about the long layover during the 2006 series. I tried to find the actual quote this morning, but this "real world" work thing I have going on Monday-Friday started kicking my pants.

Well, I just found out, through Hardballtalk.com, that Leyland was on ESPN Radio with Mike and Mike this morning discussing plans to keep his Tigers sharp.

Leyland said:

"We actually have our instructional league team coming to Detroit and we’re going to play a couple of actual games Sunday and Monday and have a workout Saturday as well. We’re going to have our pitchers throw to hitters and we’re going to have our hitters face live pitching. So hopefully we’ll be a little more prepared this time."

World Series Game 2 Could be a Soaker

It was a beautiful night for baseball in San Francisco last night, at least as far as I could observe by sitting on the comfy couch in my man cave.
Tonight’s Game Two of the World Series, however, may be a have a different feel to fans at AT&T Park – a wet feel.

According to the National Weather Service, a weather system will be approaching the ballpark from the north, just about the same time – 4:57 Pacific – Giants’ starter Matt Cain tosses the first pitch.

Chances of rain are at 30 percent – according to Weather.com – at game time, decreasing to about 10 percent as the game progresses. No heavy rain is expected, so the game should be completed tonight. Temperature at first pitch should be around 63 degrees.

Someone please inform Kristen Lee about the impending rain, so she won't think Giants fans are spitting on her. Thank you.