Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - After 52 long years, the Commissioner's Trophy is finally heading to San Francisco, and it's all because of a repeat World Series hero.
Edgar Renteria, who had the game-winning hit in the 11th inning of Game 7 in the 1997 World Series for the Florida Marlins, blasted his second home run of the 2010 Fall Classic -- a three-run shot -- giving the Giants all of their offense in a 3-1 Game 5 victory over the Texas Rangers to win the title.
Renteria, who played in a career-low 72 regular season games in 2010, didn't even crack the postseason starting lineup until an injury to Juan Uribe in the NLCS. His third career playoff home run broke a scoreless tie and lifted the Giants to their first World Series win since they played in New York in 1954, snapping the majors' third-longest drought. Following the game, he was named the series' MVP after going 7-for-17 with two homers and six RBI.
Tim Lincecum (2-0) was on the right end of a classic pitchers' duel, beating Cliff Lee (0-2) for the second consecutive matchup after hurling a gem, allowing just one solo homer among three hits and two walks while fanning 10 in eight innings, helping the Giants win the championship for the first time since 1954 and snap the third-longest championship drought in the league among teams that have won before.
Brian Wilson, who led the regular season with 48 saves, threw a perfect ninth inning to record his sixth save of the postseason and send the Giants into a wild celebration.
The San Francisco pitching staff -- the first completely homegrown staff to pitch in the World Series since the 1986 Red Sox -- simply dominated the high- octane Texas offense, perhaps proving once again that when it matters most, good pitching will neutralize good hitting. After the Rangers scored seven runs in a Game 1 loss, Texas scored just five runs in the final four games, including four in its Game 3 victory.
Lee's only mistake was Renteria's home run, but he otherwise pitched brilliantly, giving up six hits while striking out six in seven innings.
Nelson Cruz's home run was the only offense for Texas, which was not able to win the title in its first World Series in team history. AL MVP favorite Josh Hamilton, whose story from drug problems and back to greatness has been highly publicized through the years, went 0-for-4, giving him a 2-for-20 mark in the series.
In the seventh inning, Lee couldn't quite escape unscathed, as one big swing put the Giants on the verge of a championship.
Cody Ross and Uribe hit consecutive singles leading off, with Ross becoming the first baserunner of the game to reach second base. Aubrey Huff put down the first sacrifice bunt of his career, a perfect roller up the first base line that forced Lee to make an acrobatic dive to force the out.
Pat Burrell struck out for the 10th time in the World Series, a swing through a 3-2 fastball, bringing up Renteria. Lee, who rarely gets into a hitters' count, went 2-0 to Renteria before a cutter up and out over the plate. The Giants shortstop sent a high deep fly ball to left-center, barely clearing the wall for a three-run homer.
Cruz quickly breathed some life into the Rangers, swatting a one-out homer to left in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit to 3-1. Ian Kinsler followed with a walk to seemingly ignite a small fire into the offense, but Lincecum quickly put the fire out with consecutive strikeouts of David Murphy and Bengie Molina.
Lincecum made Mitch Moreland his third consecutive strikeout victim to begin the bottom of the eighth, then induced weak groundouts from Elvis Andrus and Michael Young to put the Giants three outs away from a championship.
Wilson came on in the ninth and struck out Hamilton looking on a pitch right down the middle before getting Vladimir Guerrero to ground out to Renteria. Cruz then struck out swinging on a high pitch to finish off the 2010 MLB season.
The Rangers finally got their first hit in the fourth inning, when Young led off with a groundball single through the middle. Hamilton, though, who came into the game 2-for-16 in the series, struck out, before Guerrero hit into a fielder's choice. Cruz struck out to end the frame.
San Francisco caught a break to begin the fifth. Huff hit a high bouncing groundball to second, which Kinsler fielded with his bare hand and threw to first. Moreland, though, simply dropped the throw at first base to leave Huff safe on the error.
Burrell, however, struck out for the ninth time in his 11th World Series at- bat before Renteria bounced into a 6-4-3 double play.
In the top of the sixth, Freddy Sanchez lined an 0-2 pitch to shallow right, and Cruz was unable to make the diving grab. On the next Lee offering, Buster Posey sent a moonshot to deep right; Cruz drifted back and leaped toward the wall, catching the ball on the heel of his glove to likely prevent the game's first run.
Moreland singled for the Rangers leading off the home sixth, but Andrus and Young both flied out to center on consecutive pitches. Two pitches later, Hamilton grounded out weakly to second.
San Francisco became the second team to clinch three postseason series on the road in one year; the 2005 White Sox also did it, and that team employed current Giants Aaron Rowand and Uribe...Huff's last sacrifice bunt came as a member of the Triple-A Durham Bulls in 2000...San Francisco scored 30 runs in 10 games during the NL playoffs before scoring 29 runs in the World Series in five games...Lincecum is the first pitcher since Bob Gibson in 1967 to record 10 strikeouts in a World Series clinching win...Burrell finished the World Series 0-for-13 with 11 strikeouts and had 22 punchouts in 42 playoff at- bats...20 of the 25 San Francisco players are first-time champions. The exceptions are Burrell (Philadelphia, 2008), Javier Lopez (Boston, 2007), Renteria (Florida, 1997) and the aforementioned Rowand and Uribe...Lee lost a potential elimination game for the first time in his career. He had been 2-0.