Aubrey Huff

Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell—after the 2010 season, we feel like we know these guys.

We saw them hit. We watched them orchestrate a dramatic transformation of the Giants clubhouse with their veteran leadership. We know their sense of humor, and we rattle off tales of their college days together with autobiographical familiarity, as if we had tagged along for the shenanigans too.

By God, we even learned their underwear preferences over the course of the 2010 season.

Every year, there seems to be some trendy prediction that everyone loves to make before the season. For example, last year, everybody (myself included) seemed to think the Mariners were looking like a playoff team. Or the year before that, when several people were convinced that the Royals had a shot to be that year’s Rays.

After being a San Francisco Giants fan since I was a little kid in 1962, and enduring so many disappointing failures, the 2010 season made it all worthwhile.  I was beginning to think the Giants winning the World Series would never happen in my lifetime. 

Although I am still basking in the afterglow of the Giants' first world championship in San Francisco, spring training is in full force.  The 2011 San Francisco Giants will be looking to defend their World Series title.

For 15 years, Giants managers were blessed with one of the easiest lineup decisions in history—putting Barry Bonds in left field. And for 15 years, it was a position that didn't need to concern fans or coaches—if you had a five-year-old making the lineups for the San Francisco Giants, they would, without fail, know who to put in left field. 

Then they had Fred Lewis, Randy Winn, Eugenio Velez, John Bowker, and Brian Horwitz. That's right, those guys.