Happy ThanksGIFing

I love Thanksgiving. Besides the ability to eat my weight in mashed potatoes and snooze through three football games, it allows me the perfect opportunity to gush about baseball. And there’s plenty to gush about this year.

However, sentimentality has run rampant on this blog ever since Ichiro packed up his Mizuno bats and headed for the visitors’ clubhouse at Safeco Field. It crescendoed on August 15, when Felix Hernandez tossed a perfect game and the Giants broke up with Melky Cabrera. It ended—not with a bang but a whimper—upon Munenori Kawasaki’s inevitable dismissal.

So today, while we prepare to feast on turkey, marshmallowed yams, and pumpkin pie (sans tartar sauce), here is a much smaller dose of sentimental thoughts about this past season. And GIFs, because GIFs make everything better.

Another World Series Championship, courtesy of your 2012 San Francisco Giants.
How do you even begin to summarize the Giants’ ride to their second Fall Classic? We had MVPosey. Wild-eyed motivational speaker Hunter Pence. #RallyZito and #RallyEnchiladas. A formidable Tim Lincecum in the ‘pen. Comebacks galore. Slow motion moments in Hollywood-style downpours.

Munenori Kawasaki.
No rationalization is needed here. Kawasaki was—is—a treasure.

Two perfect games from two perfect pitchers.
On June 13, Matt Cain threw the first perfect game in Giants history. On August 15, Felix Hernandez threw the first perfect game in Mariners history. Both phenomenal aces. Both team leaders. Both spectacular, unforgettable performances.

Buster Posey, MVP.
Thank you, Buster, for not making the season-long chants of “MVP” look too presumptuous on our part.

Watching the Giants and Mariners duke it out at Safeco Field.
That said, I’m not sure my heart can handle the stress of watching another such series.

Ichiro’s graceful departure from Seattle.
A bittersweet blessing, Ichiro’s heartfelt goodbye to the Seattle fanbase was a fitting and moving end to his 11-year career with the Mariners.