Major League Baseball

Giants reach playoffs without a Bonds-like star

Published Oct. 4, 2010 10:47 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez have never been to the playoffs in a combined 20 major league seasons. Pat Burrell and Jose Guillen were let go by their former clubs this year only to make good on second chances.

The San Francisco Giants reached the playoffs without anything close to a superstar, a far cry from the last time they advanced behind home run king Barry Bonds.

This team's run has been refreshing for all involved, from second-year managing partner Bill Neukom to general manager Brian Sabean. It's taken creativity, especially by skipper Bruce Bochy, to end a six-year playoff drought.

''I think it's kind of a lesson in Baseball 101, in some cases humility in that A, we don't have a superstar and B, we really don't have a team of stars and C, we've got enough talent, whether young or old or experienced with people who have won the World Series and also depth,'' Sabean said. ''It's truly a team that knows that on each given day they've each got to do their job and somebody will step up and help us win a game.''

It took them until the final day to do it. The Giants beat the San Diego Padres 3-0 on Sunday in their third attempt to clinch the club's first division crown and playoff berth since 2003.

San Francisco opens the division series at home Thursday night against the wild-card Atlanta Braves.

''It's a credit to the guys. It's a credit to the organization and the makeup of the group,'' said Burrell, who signed a minor league deal May 29 and began at Triple-A Fresno. ''No. 1, if everyone has the same goal, which is to win, then it's really easy for everyone to get along.''

San Francisco's roster looks totally different than it did when players reported to spring training back in February. There's Burrell in left field, Guillen in right and rookie catcher Buster Posey behind the plate. None of them were around on opening day for the Giants (92-70).

Same goes for newcomers Mike Fontenot and Cody Ross on the bench, and Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez in the bullpen. All the changes made by Sabean in recent months - some certainly looked at as risky from the outside - made this work for the Giants.

''These guys have done such a great job with the roles they've played,'' Bochy said. ''It's made us a different club. I'm grateful Brian went out and got these guys.''

Seven players hit 13 or more home runs. Aaron Rowand added 11 homers and he lost his starting job in center field to Andres Torres midway through the season. Torres, who spent more than a decade in the minor leagues and was passed up on by a handful of other teams, emerged as a reliable leadoff man and defender. He also showed some determination, returning from a Sept. 12 emergency appendectomy after missing only 11 games. Nobody expected him back.

Giants pitchers struck out a majors-leading 1,331 batters, and All-Star closer Brian Wilson led the big leagues with 48 saves. Ace Tim Lincecum overcame a career-worst five-start skid in August only to pitch well down the stretch. He will go Game 1 on Thursday.

Balance and depth - and its staple starting pitching - is what got the Giants this far.

''Sabes did a great job,'' new Arizona Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers said. ''Look at some of the guys he cherry picked, people who had been given up on. Huff, Torres, (Juan) Uribe, Burrell. He pieced it together really well. It seems like a different guy does it every night. It's different than Giant teams of the past - Matt Williams, Barry Bonds. This year it's kind of a cast of characters and they all find a way to contribute.''

Sabean points to how the team came together in a difficult stretch that could have turned into a downward spiral. The Giants had a seven-game losing streak in late June and early July. San Francisco handled Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez on July 3 at Coors Field to end the skid, but still dropped three of four to Colorado. After that, the Giants swept a four-game series at Milwaukee and took two of three in Washington to go into the All-Star break on a strong note. The Giants won four of their first five series after the break, splitting a four-game set with Florida.

''If you check our record on the road going back to that trip and going forward, they're road warriors,'' Sabean said. ''They're able to go on the road and win and have gotten used to playing close games and low-scoring games. That's empowering because those games themselves are a lot like playoff games. Anything or everything can hinge on not making a play or not making a pitch or guys getting a base hit.''

Later, San Francisco was aided by San Diego's 10-game losing streak from Aug. 26 to Sept. 5.

Neukom, in his signature suspenders and bow tie, was a sounding board the whole way for Sabean as the Giants' brass made decisions, such as the one to sign Burrell following his release by Tampa Bay and then call him up after a short stint in the minors. Burrell hit 18 home runs for the Giants and his presence in the heart of the order helped make up for Pablo Sandoval's down year.

Neukom has been a fixture behind the cage during batting practice, chatting up Bochy and players. Huff, another new face this season, patted the owner on the shoulder one day last week and Ross came by to shake hands and say hello.

Neukom credits Sabean and his staff for thinking outside the box on several acquisitions. Take Guillen, long considered a distraction and clubhouse problem in his other stops around the league. He has fit in nicely with San Francisco.

''You could say he was aggressive, you could say he was nimble, you could say he was never satisfied, never complacent,'' Neukom said of his GM. ''It's a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week radar system, constantly watching other players, looking at statistics, looking at our team. The sun never sets on the process of trying to put together the best possible roster we can.''

It's taken the veterans like Burrell, Uribe and Rowand - all of whom have won World Series rings elsewhere - to provide guidance to some of the younger players in the clubhouse who hadn't previously been through a pennant race.

''We don't have a star but we have a team,'' Sandoval said.

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Major League Baseball