Madison Bumgarner leads Giants to World Series victory

Madison Bumgarner pitched five scoreless innings of relief as the Giants finished off the Royals 3-2 to win their third World Series in five years.

Game 7 had its fair share of inglorious moments, including the performances of starters Tim Hudson and Jeremy Guthrie, as well as a ninth-inning error that could have turned Gregor Blanco into our generation's Bill Buckner had the Royals not stranded Alex Gordon at third. But it was an epic performance for Bumgarner, who also won Game 1 and who pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 5 just three days ago. If there's any consolation here for Pirates fans (most of whom I'm sure were rooting for the Royals), it's that the pitcher who knocked the Bucs out of the playoffs proved to be pretty much unstoppable.

Congratulations to the Giants and to Bumgarner, who did a great deal to cement his reputation as one of baseball's best pitchers and who I'm sure is pounding about eight beers at once right now.