Three Unlikely San Francisco Giants Post-Season Heroes
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS-SF) – While the well-known names capture much of the media attention during Major League Baseball's post-season, it is often a life-time performance by a role player that powers a team to victory.
That has been the case with the San Francisco Giants over the last 15 years.
With rosters featuring the likes of Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, Madison Bumgartner, Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey, the Giants have advanced to World Series four times since 2002.
But the club would have never gotten that far without amazing performances by three role players that earned them the Most Valuable Player Award in the National League Championship Series.
2002 – Benito Santiago. With Bonds and Kent picking up just 8 hits between them during the five-game NLCS series, Santiago stepped up at the plate hitting .300, ripping a pair of homers and driving in six runs.
2010 – Cody Ross. The Philadelphia pitching staff kept Posey (.213) and Sandoval (.250) in check, but Ross proved to be too much to handle. In the seven hits he picked up in the six-game series, three were homers and three were doubles. He hit .350 and drove in 5 RBIs.
2012 – Marco Scutaro. The Giants fell into a 3-1 deficit to the St. Louis Cardinals as both Posey (.154) and Hunter Pence (.179) struggled at the plate. In their absence, Scutaro proved to be a near impossible out. The veteran second baseman powered the Giants to three straight wins and a World Series berth. He hit .500 with 14 hits, three doubles and four RBIs.
