Giants win their first World Series since 1954

The Giants landed on the shores of San Francisco 53 years ago, their colors worn by greats identified solely by their last name.

Mays and Cepeda graced Seals Stadium. McCovey and Marichal christened Candlestick Park. Bonds lorded over AT&T; Park.

The statues and the records are theirs. The first World Series championship parade in San Francisco history will be led by a cast lovingly described by its manager as castoffs and misfits.

Russ Hodges, rest in peace. Your old team has a new favorite broadcasting call: The Giants win the World Series! The Giants win the World Series!

The Giants won the clinching game on Monday, 3-1, dispatching the favored Texas Rangers in five games. On the first day of November, at 7:31 p.m. in California, the San Francisco baseball team finally had a title to call its own.

Edgar Renteria delivered the Series-winning hit on Monday, a three-run home run, 13 years after he delivered the Series-winning hit for the Florida Marlins. Tim Lincecum, who was 13 when Renteria clinched Florida’s first title, silenced the Rangers on three hits over eight innings, striking out 10.

Brian Wilson, the closer whose jet-black beard became a folk icon in San Francisco, secured the final three outs, setting off delirium in the streets of San Francisco.

“This is for everybody who has ever worn the Giants’ uniform,” club president Larry Baer said, “for every fan who ever froze at Candlestick, for every person who ever voted for a new ballpark, for every person who listened to our games on the radio.

“It’s on behalf of 53 years of waiting.”

The Giants stormed through the postseason without playing an elimination game. They became the first West Coast team to win the World Series since 2002, when the Angels beat the Giants.

The Fall Classic concluded with a classic pitching duel between Lincecum and Cliff Lee, the kind anticipated in Game 1.

The tension mounted, scoreless inning to scoreless inning. Neither team got a runner past first base through the first six innings.

Cody Ross, who languished on the Giants’ bench for most of September before donning his Superman cape in October, started the seventh inning with a single. Juan Uribe singled too, and Aubrey Huff followed with the first sacrifice bunt of his career--after 5,560 at-bats without one.

The Rangers brought the infield in; the Giants could have broken the scoreless tie with a sacrifice fly. But Pat Burrell struck out; he finished the World Series with 11 strikeouts in 13 at-bats.

Renteria came to the plate. The infield returned to normal depth. One more out, and Lee would be out of the jam.

On a 2-0 pitch, Renteria homered--the second home run of the World Series for a player who had three in the regular season.

At that point, the Rangers had not scored in 18 consecutive innings. Nelson Cruz broke up Lincecum’s shutout with a one-out home run in the eighth inning, but that would be too little, too late.

[email protected]