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DETROIT -- Inside the Tigers' clubhouse reality set in. Some players sat in their chairs with their heads down. Some looked like they were simply shocked it was already over. While they dealt with the gravity of what happened, the Giants engaged in a wild champagne celebration in the visiting clubhouse and on the field at Comerica Park.
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"They're the World Series Champs." Prince Fielder said. "I don't care what field they are on. When you lose you lose."
A team backed into a corner can be a very dangerous adversary. Just ask the Giants, who found a way to stave off elimination six times in this postseason. Maybe that experience made the difference in the end as they swept their way past the Detroit Tigers to win the 108th World Series, and their second in the last three years.
"Congratulations to Bruce Bochy and the San Francisco Giants," Tigers' manager Jim Leyland said. "Obviously there was no doubt about it, they swept us."
On this night the Tigers became the third team in baseball history to sweep their opposition in the League Championship Series and in turn get swept in the World Series. Entering the Fall Classic they were considered a heavy favorite. In the end, they were outplayed in every facet of the game by the Giants.
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"They played doggone flawless baseball," Tigers' ace Justin Verlander said. "They pitched well, they hit in clutch situations, they had things go their way. That's not to take anything away from them, that's just the facts and that's the way baseball goes."
It was the 21st sweep in World Series history, and it was a one-sided affair. The Giants didn't trail the Tigers until the 30th inning of the series. When they finally did cough up a lead on a two-run homer by Triple Crown-winner Miguel Cabrera, they took it right back two innings later with a two-run homer by Buster Posey. The Giants looked dead into the eye of the tiger and said, "Anything you can do I can do better."
"They did everything to win this series," Cabrera said. "I give credit because they played great baseball. They played great defense, they got hits when they needed them, they pitched great."
The Tigers fans packed the house and tried to will their team to victory. They came up just short in Game Four. Down one run with two outs in the ninth inning, Cabrera stepped to the plate with a chance to tie the game against Giants' pitcher Sergio Romo . The entire crowd stood up, chanted MVP, and even waived their rally towels. Un-phased, Romo struck out Cabrera looking to end the game.
After the game-ending strikeout, the Venezuelan slugger said his .330 average, 44 homers, and 139 RBI en route to baseball's first Triple Crown since 1967 meant nothing.
"You don't want to feel this," Cabrera said. "You feel like everything you did in the season, in four games it goes down like you didn't do anything."
After much hype, Cabrera and Fielder finished the World Series a combined 4 for 27 with three RBI. The Tigers only scored six runs in the entire series.
"They didn't throw too many mistakes," Fielder said. "They're just a great team. They played great defense."
Cabrera will probably end up taking home a trophy, just not the one he wants -- the American League MVP award. Posey will probably end up the National League's MVP. If that's the case it will be the first World Series match up of two MVPs since Jose Canseco's Oakland Athletics faced Kirk Gibson's Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988.
The World Series MVP honors went to Pablo Sandoval.
Sandoval alone out played Cabrera and Fielder combined. He batted .500 with (8 for 16) with a double, three homers, and four RBI in the Fall Classic. Two of his homers were off Verlander in Game One. His three homer day set the tone for the series. Verlander, who was scheduled to pitch in Game Five, won't get a crack at revenge.
"I wanted to face him again," Verlander said. "Really badly."
The Tigers are left tipping their caps to the new World Series Champions. That's all they can do at this point. The Giants have earned the respect of Detroit's clubhouse and the baseball world.? ?
"Guys were up there trying their hearts out and it just wasn't going their way," catcher Gerald Laird said. "Nothing against them, they had a good team and they were playing good baseball."
"They played excellent," Fielder said. "We played solid baseball, they just played better."
It's clearly the consensus that the Giants played better. But even after the sweep it wasn't unanimous that San Francisco had the better roster.
"No, I don't think they had a better team per say." Verlander said. "They played better baseball when it counted."?
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