Some additional observations about Game 5:
The Giants had NOT hit a home run in the playoffs since October 4 -- 14 days ago -- when Belt hit one in the top of the 18th inning against the Nats in Game 2 of the NLDCS -- around 242 (or so) previous at bats. I was beginning to wonder if the Giants would EVER hit a home run again but today's game resolved that question.
Today the Giants scored ALL of their runs off homers -- 2 by Panik, 1 by Morse and 3 by Ishikawa -- which in a way is payback for the way the lost Game 2 in the series during which the bullpen gave up 3 homers in relief to the Cards -- 1 by Stickland, 1 by Machi and 1 by Romo -- to lose that game.
Morse was lucky to be in the game. He was out for the 2nd 1/2 of the season due to an oblique muscle injury (the same problem that forced Molina out of the series), was only put on the NLCS roster a few days before it had to be finalized and only had 3 other batting appearances in the series before he hit the homer today. Did it totally cold, which is pretty amazing.
Ishikawa came up from the minors and played for the Giants as a 1st baseman from 2006-2010. He was sent back to the minors in 2011, was picked up by the Brewers in 2012, played for the Orioles and Yankees in 2013 and for the Pirates during spring season in 2014 until he was designated for assignment and picked up again by the Giants in April, where he played w/the AAA Fresno Giants until Morse was injured and he was converted from a 1st baseman to left field.
At one point he was so despondent about his languishing MLB career that he was thinking about giving up. So, I guess good things do sometimes happen to people who don't give up. However, chances are that, if Ishikawa is still w/the Giants in 2015, he'll probably be the odd man out, because Morse will get his left field position back and Belt will remain on 1st. BUT, for now, all is good for Travis Ishikawa.
It's also interesting to note that two Asian American baseball players hit walk-off home runs in games during this series. Kolton Wong in Game 2 and Ishikawa in Game 5. Kolton also distinguished himself w/the quality of his play (both hitting and fielding) during this series, which helped to overcome the bad press/image he got when he got picked off 1st in Game 4 of last year's World Series -- the 1st pick off to ever end a post season game. Except for the walk off homer, Ishikawa hasn't distinguished himself (hitting or fielding) in the playoffs all that much.
There aren't many Asian -- let alone Asian American -- players in MLB, but most of the Asian players are foreign born. Apart from Travis and Kolton, the only other Asian American players (who were born in the US and have at least one parent of Asian heritage) that I can think of are Tim Lincecum, Shane Victorino, Brandon League and Kurt Suzuki. I'm sure there are a few others, but I can't name them now. So, for 2 Asian American players to have such a prominent role in this series is quite remarkable.
Here are some additional interesting "facts" published by ESPN about the Giants winning the NL Pennant and advancing to the World Series:
http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/po...o-world-series