Young Madison Reminiscent of Young Jim Palmer

Except for the obvious (Madison Bumgarner is a left-hander and Jim Palmer was a right-hander) both made their World Series debuts in fantastic fashion.

In 1966, the Baltimore Oriole 20-year old Jim Palmer pitched a complete game shutout. Walking 3 and striking out 6 while allowing 4 hits versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers would go on to win that series.

On October 31, 2010, Madison Bumgarner pitched 8 innings of shutout ball. Walked three, struck out six and allowed three hits before handing the ball over to closer Brian Wilson. Wilson had a post season for the ages. Holy Mariano Rivera, he was that good!

In ten games he pitched 11 and 2/3 innings. He allowed 5-hits and 4-bases on balls, while striking out 16. That's dominance. He picked up 6 saves and 1-win. No blown saves, no losses. And more important, no tortures to speak of. (Oh, there were a few doubters who quickly needed to be consoled because their negativity was upsetting some folks. But all was restored and happiness filled the air at Clooney's on 25th and Valencia.)

When your team has a combined 11-4 record in the division series, national league championship and World Series, you don't have too much time to panic. At least, I didn't.

Of course, I was the one with the headphones. So I had a head's up as to what was going to happen seconds before it did. I didn't let on as to ruin it for the others and I caught on quickly how to behave so that the others could enjoy the game and not endure too much torture.

From April to November, the Twenty Ten (2010) San Francisco Giants were the best team a fan could ever imagine. And, yes, good pitching does beat good hitting just about every time.

Kevin J. Marquez