Post-parade link dump

Checked the paper today. Still happened. Huh. I had a dream that the quarterback for the Niners was driving Matt Cain around the bottom of a three-hole punch, with little pieces of paper flying everywhere, and everyone was screaming, and I couldn't move or walk, and my 7th-grade English teacher was there, but she wasn't my English teacher ...

Nope. It happened. There was a parade. I watched Game 5 of the NLDS recently -- MLB Network was showing it -- and the whole time, I still couldn't believe it. There's a moment after the grand slam, before Mat Latos is out of the game, where Latos looks toward first and says something -- might have been "changeup", as in, "should of thrown him ..." -- and he has this look on him. It's a look of a man trying to project confidence when his confidence is 430 feet away.

It was, of course, the best. It started with the Dodgers, ran through Latos, and ended with a ticker-tape parade. My only regret is that I wish I didn't love Justin Verlander so much. I wish he sneered more.

My original goal was to post a bunch of pictures of the parade, but I snapped only two good ones out of, like, 50. Here's Eli Whiteside and family. Here's Ryan Vogelsong and little Vogelsong. Thus endeth the decent pictures. I snapped ten of Hunter Pence, and none of them were hilarious. That's the kind of magic that was at work yesterday, people.

If you have pictures, please share. Otherwise, here is a morning link dump for your edification and enjoyment. This was one of the first times that I had too many links. Turns out everyone's writing about the Giants these days, by golly.

Giants' second time around is even better - SFGate
There are pictures of the parade, if you don't believe me. After the pictures, Ann Killion does a great writeup of the parade, which actually happened in real life in actuality, no foolin'.

Punk Hits: Brian Science - Baseball Prospectus
Brian Sabean is one of history's greatest monsters/GMs. Why are people still bashing him? Ian Miller talks to important people in the hopes of figuring it out.

PRODUCTIVE OUTS
I also talked to this Miller cat on a podcast. He had a buddy with him named Riley. The subject was baseball.

Playoff Prospectus: World Series (and Postseason) Recap - Baseball Prospectus
I guess my new goal is to link only to Millers. I should do a Millers-only link post every week and title it "Millers Crossing" because that joke would never, ever get old. This is Sam Miller, and it's an excellent recap of the playoffs. There are GIFs.

Could Giants’ playoff usage of Lincecum inspire a super-reliever experiment? - Hardball Times
This topic will come up again in the offseason. I loved the super-reliever Lincecum. I liked the Cy Young winner better, but if that guy's doesn't come back, is there a future for a Mike Marshall-type in today's baseball? It'd be really cool if there were.

Sergio Romo had the Tigers Slip Slidering away, until... - Baseball Analytics Blog - MLB Baseball Analytics
Ah, the Romovaluation going on is beautiful. Also beautiful: These heat maps. If anyone complains about Miguel Cabrera taking the third strike, show them this. Here's why he was looking outside.

Sergio Romo and the Tim Wakefield Fastball | FanGraphs Baseball
More Romo pitch-porn, this time from Sullivan. Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Tweakers, Castoffs, Mystics, and Lil Wayne’s Unlikeliest Homie: In Praise of the 2012 San Francisco Giants - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
The view from Grantland. Jonah Keri's piece on the 2012 Giants is also quite good.

Some People Might Not Believe It, But The San Francisco Giants Just Won the 2012 World Series - Lefty Malo
This is the friends of the program part, where we take a spin around the Internet and see how everyone reacted. Step one: disbelief.

Giants win the World Series. I’m trying to process the best I can - Bay City Ball
Bleep blorp! Even computers with faulty processors have emotion. Step two: disbelief.

Why We Watch Them Play The Games - Third Street Kings
After you process this all, step three is disbelief. You might know this author better as Lies & Perfidy, and this is one of the better recaps/essays on the 2012 Giants, who won the World Series.

San Francisco Giants' second World Series title in three seasons is a rare accomplishment - Jayson Stark
I don't know anyone who doesn't love a good, factoid-riddled column from Jayson Stark, especially when it's all about the Giants. The Giants won the World Series, there was a parade, and now we get to roll around in the factoids. Wheeeeeee!