Pablo Sandoval Has Huge Night

The San Francisco Giants pulled out an 8-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers last night in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series. The Tigers were thought to have had the upper hand going into the match up with last year’s Cy Young and MVP winner Justin Verlander (17-8 in regular season) on the mound. The Giants answered with Barry Zito (15-8 in regular season). The Giants certainly had the home-field advantage as not only were they playing in San Francisco, they were playing without the DH. The Tigers were forced to start their usual DH  Delmon Young, and his lack of defensive ability was apparent.

Justin Verlander’s night got off to a rough start letting up a run in the first on playoff hero Marco Scutaro’s single to score Angel Pagan. The night continued to go down hill for him as he labored through 4 innings throwing 98 pitches letting up 5 runs and 2 home runs, both to Pablo Sandoval. Barry Zito was the stronger pitcher tonight, almost returning to his Cy Young winning former self going 5 and 2/3 innings and holding the Tigers to one run before Tim Lincecum took over.

The night belonged to Pablo Sandoval as he went 3 for4 with 2 HR and 4 RBI. His 2 HR make him only the 4th baseball player in history to hit 3 home runs in a World Series game (the others are Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, and Albert Pujols). If the Giants win the series, Sandoval is essentially a lock for Series MVP. 3 home runs across a series is enough but the fact that he did it in the first game and 2 of them against one of top pitchers in baseball is what makes this remarkable. It is only 1 game however and the teams will go back at it tonight. The Giants will send Madison Bumgarner (16-11 regular season) to the hill while Doug Fister (10-10 with possibly the funniest names in baseball) will start for the Tigers. The game will commence at 8pm and look for the Tigers to pitch around the “Big Panda.”