SF Giants win World Series after 56 years, riots follow

The San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 in their first World Series win since 1954.

On Monday night, the San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 in their first World Series win since 1954.

Giants fans in San Francisco responded – both joyfully and destructively – with the release 56 years of bottled up frustration.

"Five decades of pent-up hope passed through generations that erupted in horn-honking, stranger-kissing, heart-pumping delirium Monday night. There were tears of joy and surprise as fathers hugged sons and mothers whispered in children's ears that they would never, never forget this day," reported The San Francisco Chronicle.

In 1958, the team moved from New York to San Francisco. The Giants had been to the World Series three times – in 1962, 1989, and 2002 – and lost. But this time their pitching and their batting vanquished the Texas Rangers.

Giants' shortstop Edgar Renteria, with a seventh-inning home run off Texas Rangers' star pitcher Cliff Lee, was selected as Most Valuable Player for hitting two home runs, six RBIs, and scoring six runs during the series.

"They just out-pitched us the whole series," Lee said. "Their pitchers did an unbelievable job."

Giants' hurler Tim Lincecum was also given praise, striking out 10 over eight innings. "That's unbelievable," fellow starter Matt Cain said on the MLB website, "he did such a tremendous job."

But there was a dark side to the celebrations in San Francisco and the social media outlets lit up the Internet, including two Twitter hashtags (sfriots and SFRiot) as well as the Giants own Facebook wall, with reporting on the riots.

On Wednesday, the city plans a victory parade, and there's already been a run on fake beards purchased by fans to honor some of their favorite players.