Week In Sports: Giants Set Stage For Series Sweep

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Time now for sports - but no time for music this week, because today we want to get right to the latest in the World Series. And this morning, the San Francisco Giants and their fans are celebrating a 2-0 win over Detroit and a 3-0 lead in the World Series. NPR's Mike Pesca joins us for the latest. Hey, Mike.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hey.

MARTIN: Where does this leave the series?

PESCA: Yeah. Almost no time for music and almost no time left for Detroit. So, down 3-0, no team has ever come back in the World Series down 3-0, you know, in the history of baseball. Only the Red Sox have ever done it down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series. So, it is baseball. It is a quirky sport. We're not going to say it can't happen, but should the Tigers mount a comeback, it would be among the more remarkable stories in sports history. Let's put it that way. And the reason is that Detroit just hasn't been hitting. Now, whenever you say that, some might ask, wait, doesn't that mean San Francisco has been pitching? And, yes, it most certainly does. San Francisco, two back-to-back shutouts - that's the first time that's happened since 1966. But I have to tell you, Rachel. I was talking to the San Francisco players, Ryan Vogelsong, who is the pitcher in last night's game...

MARTIN: Sure, yeah.

PESCA: Yeah, and they were saying, well, you know, Vogelsong didn't even have his best stuff and he battled through, which is how you talk up a teammate. But what that says to me is that even without his best stuff, Miguel Cabrera wasn't getting it done. Prince Fielder wasn't getting it done. This whole series, these Tigers haven't been getting it done with the bat.

MARTIN: OK. Keep the hope alive, Detroit Tigers. OK...

PESCA: Don't stop believing as the say in the (unintelligible)...

MARTIN: Exactly. You've got a curveball for us. What is it?

PESCA: I do. Bobsled related, because that's the natural transition from baseball.

MARTIN: Sure. Baseball to bobsled.

PESCA: So, they had the national - the U.S. national team had their trials. And what they've done is they've noticed that there are a lot of great athletes out there and maybe those athletes aren't bobsledders. So, they've recruited them - they've recruited top track athletes. And maybe you read that Lolo Jones...

MARTIN: Yeah, I saw that.

PESCA: ...yeah, famously of the Olympics, she was invited and she'll sort of make the team as an alternative. But the woman who set the record as the best pusher - I don't have to define what that job is, picture the bobsled, you know what she does - is Asia Evans, who was a shot putter and a sprinter, which is an unusual combination. But she wasn't one of these they reached out to, to invite, she just had an itch to do some more sports after she graduated University of Illinois, kind of Googled bobsled because she once heard she'd be good, went to this competition, set the track record in pushing. And here's the amazing thing about her - I talked to her and listen to what she said:

ASIA EVANS: The first time I was actually in a bobsled was three days before our first team trials. So, I only got two runs.

PESCA: So, you're saying the first time you were ever in a bobsled was last week?

EVANS: Yeah.

PESCA: I can't believe that.

MARTIN: Unbelievable, unbelievable. NPR's Mike Pesca. Thanks so much, Mike.

PESCA: You got it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: This is NPR News.

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