World Series: San Francisco 8 - 3 Detroit

No team had a worst start to the playoffs than the Giants, who were crushed in their first two games against Cincinnati at home.

Then they went to Cincy and won three straight.

In the NLCS, they lost the first game -- at home -- and quickly fell behind 3-1 to the defending World Champion Cardinals.

Then they won three straight by a combined score of 20-1.

But tonight they were supposed to lose game won of the World Series to Detroit.  The Tigers were starting Justin Verlander (17-8, 2.64 ERA), who has been absolutely dominant in the post-season, while the Giants were relying on Barry Zito (15-8, 4.15 ERA), who didn't even make the Giants' post-season roster two years ago.  Once again, however, the Giants confounded expectations.  Pablo Sandovar (who hit only 12 home runs all year) crushed three home runs in this game -- two off of Verlander -- and the Giants chased the Tiger ace after only four innings. And for the fourth time in a row, they cruised to a very easy victory.

Now the Tigers find themselves in real trouble -- they are down a game and they can only use Verlander one more time in this series.  Meanwhile, San Francisco -- after being underrated for most of the year -- finds themselves in an unexpectedly strong position.