SAN FRANCISCO — Giants general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy each received two-year contract extensions with a club option Tuesday after meeting with managing general partner Bill Neukom.
While the Giants missed the playoffs for a sixth straight season, they were in the NL wild-card chase well into September and at 88-74 won 16 more games than in 2008.
Sabean is the longest-tenured GM in baseball after completing his 13th season with San Francisco. Bochy’s three-year contract worth roughly $6 million expired after the season.
Bochy has been committed to “changing the culture” around the Giants and said when the season ended, “We’re in a win mode now.”
Former pitcher Jansen dies
VERBOORT, Ore. — Larry Jansen, the winning pitcher for the New York Giants in the 1951 playoff game decided by Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” died Saturday at his home. He was 89.
Jansen spent nine years in the major leagues, making his biggest mark with the Giants during their pennant-winning season. He won 23 games in 1951, including one of the biggest in team — and baseball — history.
Jansen, in relief of Sal Maglie, struck out two batters in the top of the ninth before the Giants rallied with four runs in the bottom half of the inning — three on Thomson’s homer off Ralph Branca — to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-4 in the third and deciding playoff game.
Jansen won 21 games as a rookie in 1947 and finished with a 122-89 career record and 3.58 ERA. He spent eight seasons with the Giants before pitching briefly for Cincinnati in 1956.
A’s retain entire coaching staff
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Athletics will bring back their entire coaching staff for the 2010 season. The team announced the decision to keep manager Bob Geren’s staff just more than a week after finishing 75-87 and in last place in the AL West.
TV ratings up for division series
ATLANTA — Television ratings for baseball’s division series were up from 2008. The 13 games on TBS averaged a 3.1 rating, up 11 percent from last year. TBS said it had its most- viewed week in the 33-year history of the network.
The Associated Press
