Pablo Sandoval rounds the bases after his second home run (AP photo).
SAN FRANCISCO -- No matter what happens the rest of this World Series, we're never going to forget the show Pablo Sandoval put on here Wednesday night. First three at-bats, three home runs. In the absence of hockey, we'll borrow from Rick Jeanneret and say "roll the highlight film":
Here's the list of three-homer games in World Series play:
Babe Ruth, 1926 (Game 4) and 1928 (Game 4)
Reggie Jackson, 1977 (Game 6)
Albert Pujols, 2011 (Game 3)
Pablo Sandoval, 2012 (Game 1)
Here are the other four three-homer games in postseason history:
Bob Robertson, Pittsburgh (Game 2, 1971 NLCS against the Giants)
George Brett, Kansas City (Game 3, 1978 ALCS)
Adam Kennedy, Anaheim (Game 5, 2002 ALCS)
Adrian Beltre, Texas (Game 4, 2011 ALDS)
Pretty impressive show. The Giants are red-hot, having not come down from their NLCS high and now on a 28-4 run the last four games against the Cardinals and Tigers. Detroit, meanwhile, looked like a team that hadn't played in nearly a week. The Yankees must have wondered what happened to the team they looked foolish against.
The Tigers' goal for Game Two is simple: Get a split and get out of town. Doug Fister has the ball and has to do what Verlander didn't -- command his fastball down in the strike zone. (This corner's goal for Game Two: Conquering the ballpark wireless system and producing an in-game blog. We got it squared away in the sixth inning Wednesday so we should be good to go).
Madison Bumgarner goes for the Giants trying to rekindle memories of 2010 and erase a rough postseason to date.
This was only one game. The Giants have three more to win. But this is one we'll never forget.
---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington
