A week or two ago I caught myself thinking about the 2002 Giants team that went to the World Series, seems like a lifetime ago. They are now an afterthought, being overshadowed by the recent champions. The 2002 team was very close to winning the series and if they had, who would have been the better World Series champion? This led me to the following concept what if we were to freeze both teams in time with a little Field of Dreams magic. We are in a field in the middle of Iowa and the 2002 Giants walk out of the cornfields and then the 2010 Giants walk out as well. (Please no hot dogs allowed in the bleachers) They play a best of seven series, who wins?
To make this a little less time intensive let's take the exact lineups and rotations based on each series. Hopefuly this won't go to seven games because I'm going to have to improvise on the 2010 team for the last two games. The following assumptions also apply: 1) Umpires are impartial and always make the correct call 2) There are no fans watching except me sitting in the bleachers creating the fantasy (Inception). 3) There is no home field advantage 4) Players' regular and postseason histories are taken into consideration 5) Of course these are important factors but let's keep this reasonable
Jason Schmidt vs. Tim Lincecum
This is an interesting match up. This really is a tale of two teams with the '02 Giants being the more offensive team while the '10 Giants being the pitching team. The key to beating the 2002 Giants was really to survive the Kent-Bonds duo in the middle of the lineup. The pitching was great but not 2010 great and would be expected to give up a couple of runs per game. I believe that a Lincecum on his A-game can out pitch any player/team. He has the greatest change-up in baseball, if not in baseball history. Schmidt pitched very well that year and alright in the postseason, his best years coming the two years after where he put up Cy Young numbers. I would give the pitching advantage to Lincecum, although if the '10 Giants offense doesn't show up to play then the story changes.
Advantage: Lincecum
Russ Ortiz vs. Matt Cain
Two workhorses. Very similar stats, almost identical during their World Series years. Cain may be more clutch. Tough call.
Advantage: Tie
Livan Hernandez vs. Jonathan Sanchez
Workhorse vs. Wild Card. Livan historically always gave up a lot of runs but could throw 120 pitches without breaking a sweat. He always had a high ERA and usually had more losses than wins but he ate up a ton of innings. Sanchez may be a good matchup for Bonds and Snow if he has good stuff that day. If he walks people, it's game over. Honestly, I would still choose Sanchez over Livan even though he is the torture ringleader.
Advantage: Sanchez
Reuter vs. Bumgarner
The Vet vs the Rookie. '02 was probably Reuter's best year and Bumgarner wasn't even in high school yet. Bumgarner was lights out in the playoffs last year (probably more excited for him than any other pitcher on the team). I want to say MadBum but a coach would have to pitch Reuter if he had to choose between the two. Not sure if MadBum would navigate well against Bonds-Kent-Snow-Sanders-Bell-Aurilia-etc
Advantage: Reuter
Bullpens
The '02 Giants had one of my favorite setup man-closer combos. Hard throwing Felix Rodriguez and Robb Nen. Nen HoF material? Not sure, his career was pretty short and still recorded over 300 saves. The '02 pretty much stops there though, I liked Worrell but most of the rest were expendable. '10 Giants bullpen was stellar. Any one of them could be closers or setup men. Very versatile. Priceless during the year and postseason.
Advantage: 2010 team (not even close)
Offense
Just going by the regular season performance you have to pick the 2002 Giants. This was the year after the 73 HR season for Bonds where he batted a mere .370 with 46 HRs. Kent batted .313 with 37 HRs. Those offensive numbers are completely foreign to the 2010 team. You have to add multiple players together to get close to them. It is also hard to ignore the clutch performance of the 2010 Giants in the postseason who conquered Cy Young pitchers and aces from every team. Looking back it's unbelievable the pitchers that they beat on their way to the World Series. Here's my player-player match up:
LF: Bonds vs Burrell
Advantage: Bonds
CF: Lofton vs. Torres
Advantage: Torres. Lofton past his prime at this point.
RF: Sanders vs. Ross
Advantage: This is a tough one, I was never a huge Sanders fan. Power hitter, lots of strikeouts and didn't hit for average. Can't ignore his HRs and RBIs. Ross hasn't played a full season but was extraordinary in the postseason. This is a tie until we see how Ross does for a full year in orange and black.
3B: Bell vs. Uribe
Advantage: This one is weird beacuse Sandoval was benched so Uribe isn't the true third baseman. Based on the playoff matchup I would give the advantage to Uribe but it is close. Both are good hitting third baseman. I would take the .330 hitting Kung Fu Panda over both of them.
SS: Aurilia vs. Renteria
Advantage: Again this seems wrong because Sandoval was benched. I would probably take Aurilia even though his career peaked the previous year. Renteria was clutch in the playoffs and was one of the keys to that World Series run. I know he was MVP but he is damaged goods and at the end of his career. If you throw Uribe in the mix, I have to pick him. Hurt me saying this now because he's wearing Dodger blue.
2B: Kent vs Sanchez
Advantage: Kent
1B: Snow vs. Huff
Advantage: This one is tough also. Snow was at the tail end of his career at this point and struggled offensively. One of the best Giants first baseman and a fan favorite. Had a great World Series, even better than Huff. If you were to base it strictly on the World Series performance you have to go with Snow on both offensive and defensive fronts. Huff was far better during the year. I'm conflicted.
C: Santiago vs. Posey
Advantage: Posey. Santiago is the veteran but Posey plays like a veteran so that neutralizes that argument. Both solid defensive catchers. Posey a smarter hitter and more clutch.
So who wins? The question can also be worded can the 2002 Giants offense offset the 2010 Giants pitching? Or can the '02 offense offset its own pitching? Or can the '10 pitching offset its own offense? Which offense shows up to play that day? In the end pitching and defense wins.
-Blogging from the Mile High City
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