Frontpage Features

BY SCREAMIN BILL LEEMAN

Cliff Who?  Josh Who?  

In a astounding and outstanding pounding, the Giants batters RAKED Cliff Lee and an assortment of relievers last night in a fourteen-hit attack that left the Texans in stunned silence, and whipped the already frenzied San Franciscans into a complete lather.

Cliff Lee, who was touted as invincible by the media, was chased in the fifth inning after giving up eight hits and seven runs to our little 'Band of Misfits.'

As Nolan Ryan observed silently and stoically from his box seat, the night belonged to the home team.

The Giants, who rarely score more than one run in a game, let alone an inning, scored six in the fifth to send a perplexed Cliff Lee staggering back to his bench.

Our gang of "Ragtags" took it to the Texans without let-up.   They were still pounding out hits and scoring runs in the eighth.   By the top of the ninth inning, the score stood at a lopsided eleven to four, Giants.

Well, Glory be.

To the media, and the powers that be in MLB, and most conventional wisdom, game one was a foregone conclusion:  Rangers!   With Big Cliff Lee on the mound, it was over before it started.  

Except they keep forgetting to give a copy of the script to the Giants.

Our little Timmy Jim certainly didn't get a copy, did he?   The Little Unit, after a shaky start (he give up single runs in the first and second) settled in and retired 13 of the next 14 Texans.   This was a HUGE key to our win.  

Shut down the mighty Rangers bats?   Oh, yeah.  Good pitching beats good hitting?   What more proof do you need?

But what about the other way around, the Rangers' great pitching?   Didn't stop the Giants bats, now, did it?   So, how do you explain that?  

Baseball gods?  
Of course.  

But just in case the baseball gods decided to step out for a beer, we had the likes of Freddy Sanchez, Andres Torres, Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell, Juan Uribe, Buster Posey, Edgar Renteria, Cody Ross, Nate Schierholtz, and Travis Ishakawa to help out.   Every single one of these boys chipped in and did their part.

Oh, man, what a TEAM.  

There wasn't even a hint of torture until the ninth inning, but by then we were hearing the dulcet tones of the Fat Lady's voice wafting through the wings...

Ah, the ecstasy.   The delirium.   The joy.

This series is not over, by any stretch of the imagination.   The Rangers are not about to lie down.  

But we took it to them in game one, BIG TIME!

Now, let's get on with game two!  

Let the Euphoria continue!