go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. [ male announcer ] at&t and verizon charge you extra for going over 2 gigabytes of data. t-mobile slows down your data speed. with sprint you don't get charged extra and you don't slow down. and you get unlimited data, text and calling to any mobile -- for only $79.99. the best unlimited plan...wins. make the most of unlimited data with a brilliant screen on a pencil thin phone. introducing the samsung galaxy s ii epic 4g touch. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. a work of art it was not but it was a record five returned touchdowns. four by the defense, one on the kickoff return.

the quarterbacks were 21 of 66 tonight. baltimore 3-1. jets 2-2. we go to atlanta. now last year atlanta winds up as the one seed. green bay is the six seed. green bay goes down there in the divisional playoffs. and kills them. so we'll see what the falcons do next week against the undefeated green bay packers. >> and the green bay packers having to keep pace with the detroit lions who is also undefeated. and, of course, the falcons a game back of the saints. the saints aren't going anywhere either. they're very legitimate withdrew breeze. >> can't wait to see aaron rodgers. he is playing awell as can you play. that is next sunday night when we talk to you from the georgia dome. the packers taking on the falcons. "football night in america" will start next sunday night at 7:00 eastern time. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> we say good night from

baltimore. at bank of america, we're lending and investing in the people and communities who call the bay area home. from funding that helped a local entrepreneur start a business... to providing grants to a nonprofit which offers job training and placement... and supporting an organization working to help the environment.

because the more we do in the bay area, the more we help make opportunity possible.

♪

good evening. we say welcome to "xfinity sports sunday." it was a great day for the 49ers. they went to the city of brotherly love and stole a huge road win. and the raiders had a measuring stick game on the national stage. but came up short against tom brady and the new england patriots. we open tonight's show with the san francisco giants. the baseball playoffs are under way and the 2010 world series champions won'ting defending their title. after a season in which the giants finished ten games over .500, that wasn't enough to get to the second season. as the memories linger, it is time to look back at how this season played out with the giants. we continue our xfinity sports sunday. time for our sunday sit-down. and let's review the giants season from 2011. and to do that we bring in brian

sabaean and bruce bochy. the final three-game set of the season, at&t park is packed to the gills. there's an energy in that ballpark all the way to the end. you guys get over 3 million fans in 2011. what did that say about just what went on and how special this season was? >> well, pretty amazing. and i think it's a residual effect of the joy ride we all had last year, especially the fans themselves. actually 3.3 million-plus fans went through the turnstiles. we're all amazed the way they came out monday, tuesday, wednesday. not a weekend. fully were prepared to show the team all their love and really embrace this season. one we had a lot of trials and tribulations. we've had their full support and, believe me, the organization and the players really appreciate it. >> it meant quite a bit to have the type of support that we had. i mean, those games where they did have a lot to do with how

the season was -- going in. but to have that fan support and not just to have the fans here but how much they were in the game. it was quite a send-off. and we talked about it as a club. we really felt the fans would come out here and support us. they did. and we certainly appreciated it. and we wanted to reciprocate our appreciation by playing good ball. and we're disappointed we didn't win the last game, but the guys played well in that last series. >> all right, guys. let's start the review of 2011. i'll start with you, brian. we all review how we do our jobs. as you sit back and look at the entirety of the season, do you ask yourself the question, did i do everything i could to get the giants back to the playoffs? >> of course not because we didn't get to the playoffs. even though we had a bunch of injuries to the tune of using the dl 25 times with 20 different players, the truth of the matter is, we couldn't find a way to get more offense out of

our catching spot. we could never figure out shortstop. n that was a black hole. and, you know, our lead-off spot was nonexistent. and you do take that personal. but i will say this. even though the offense was a mess, we were able to win 86 games. and that's a testament that bruce and his coaching staff. >> it's an odd question for you, brian, but did bruce bochy and his staff do a better job in a year in which they didn't make the playoffs than they did when they won the world series? >> i think so. to keep the attitude where it needed to be, everything on a given day was haywire. and to have the players ready to play a more so appreciative of what we were going through or he was going through specifically to put the right combination on the field. because on most days, let's be frank, we weren't talented enough or in a lot of cases with that weren't experienced enough.

so it was a challenge to figure out who had to play, who could play and actually whether we were going to hit in the lineup. >> as we start to look forward to the next season for the san francisco giants, did you just say you'll miss a guy like burrell? is he definitely that coming back? >> only because of what's going on with the foot. it makes it almost impossible for him to go out and play left field. and my understanding of the nature of the injury, surgery is really not possible. i really don't know what his plans are, but i don't expect he'd be considered to be an everyday player anywhere. >> keep it right here as our sunday sit-down continues. ahead, find out if aubrey huff will get as much rope next season. and how hard will the giant goes after free agent carlosan

all right. time for the bank of the west play of the day. how about the long ball? yankees/tigers. miguel cabrera. he's going to go the opposite way. home run of the short porch. tigers win, 5-4. nlds, ryan braun and the brewers, there is no doubt about this one. milwaukee wins, 9-5. they lead the series, two games to none. those are our bank of the west plays of the day. sunday sit-down with bruce bochy and brian sabaean continues. >> let's continue to look forward. i'll start picking out some players. we'll start with aubrey huff. he's a guy that, bruce, you said he owned up and took responsibility for the struggles he had this year. will you give him as much rope next season if he continues to struggle? >> well, i think aubrey knows that's not going to be the case. he's going to have to come out and play better baseball. we have some options next year

at first base. bi bell came up and did a nice job. we still believe that aubrey is going to come back, bounce back and have a nice year. >> bruce, once you start thinking about spring training, what young guys do you think will compete for regular time with the 2012 giants? >> well, i think you have to start with the two kids we had up here. crawford. i thought he did a nice job defensively. we knew he would suffer at the plate at times. he hadn't played at a higher level. overall, he did a pretty good job. brandon bell. he got a couple hundred at-bats. he's got a good idea of what it's like up here and bret hill, i thought, made some noise when he got called up. here's a guy that's not gotten a ton of runs. he did a pretty good job with it. those three we have to look at. at least we know we have a

possible fifth guy down there if necessary. so it's good to get the experience from these guys. so they have something to draw on the following year. >> what is the strategy to bring beltran back to the giants? and do you have to bring them back or was the deal a failure? >> i don't think the deal was a failure. as bruce pointed out, the guy is a legitimate, at least number three hitter in most orders. switch hitter. he's got some power. and we sorely miss that when he wasn't here. we saw when he was out. i think we are 5-8 in the games he missed. and it's the type of guy you'd like to go forward with. having said that, first order of business is to try to figure out what we do with our pitching. 13 arbitration. it's going to be business week to week to try to figure out how we first account for the players that are returning to us, and we control contractually what that

means against the budget. we think there's mutual interest with carlos. but it's going to play out. he's going to have a lot of action. he's still a good player and a great hitter. >> brian, another guy you'll have to deal with is tim lincecum. he recently said he's not looking for a long-term deal. how do you approach him? would you even consider offering him a long-term deal? >> well, we'll see. under he's circumstances, much like the last time around, with him being eligible and the figure going to a high number, we'll probably concentrate on doing a one-year deal first and see what that brings. >> are you concerned tim lincecum is setting the pace he may leave in the future? >> i can't worry about that now. we can only worry about what we can control. and he's under control for a while. >> president of the team barry bear said recently the payroll for 2012 would probably be a little bit more than the $120 million that it was. as you two sit down and build a roster for 2012, is that enough money to build a playoff caliber team? >> well, we're going to find

out. and that's what the nature of the last two days have been, including larry sitting in today. we're going to finish this season at about 124 and change. and if you use 125 as a number, we know that number isn't going down. we'll see what models we can build within that and what we need to do to improve if we were to ask for more or could get more. but realistically, we're looking in and around that figure. >> guys, thank you very much for the time. we appreciate the insights into the giants and the giants fans do as well. thank you. >> thank you. and our giants conversation continues after the break. ahead, we bring in two experts to discuss the future of the giants' top two arms. is time rung out on keeping tim lincecum and matt cain together in san francisco?

and let's continue own xfinity sports sunday. i'm jim kozimor. time to continue the giants discussion. i promoted experts. i bring you experts. from the "san francisco chronicle" henry schullman and from csn bay area, major league baseball insider michael irvin. henry, i'll start with you. let's start with the pitchers. tim lincecum, matt cain. how important is it that they lock these two guys up now? >> well, i mean, all you have to look for is the yankees and the red sox with their trillion-dollar payrolls and they are sitting there scrambling to find starters. i mean, the yankees fans are just up in arms because they are going to have to have burnett start game four of that series. the red sox reportedly were looking for new pitchers just to pitch a one-game playoff if they needed it in the a.l. east. if you have a pitching staff like the giants have, you want to do everything you possibly can to keep it together because this is like a once in a 50-year kind of thing. >> are you afraid of tim

lincecum's comments he made to henry schullman that, well, he doesn't want a long-term deal. just these short-term deals. is he paving his way out of town? >> not necessarily. there's some good business sense behind that. if he signs a multiyear deal and stays healthy and has great productive seasons in the next three, four seasons, he may be leaving a lot of money on the table. he's putting himself at a risk for injury by going year to year but as brian sabean mentioned, i don't think he can worry too much about tim lincecum because he is under club control for the next few years and a lot can happen in two years. if you win a championship in the second year, he's going to be more interested in coming back. matt cain may be my main priority. >> lincecum? cain? >> cain for sure. he's going to be a free agent after the next season. >> aubrey huff was called out when sabean and bochy got together with the media. what do you look for in is that the right tact to take with aubrey huff?

>> i think so. i think he was embarrassed. look. there's a success story. there's precedent here. they basically did the same thing with pablo sandoval last season. he came back and had a fantastic year. they are hoping to get the same thing out of aubrey huff. aubrey's body type is so different. guys like henry and myself that are around the team ididn't notice how out of shape he was when he came to camp. clearly the stamina wasn't there. he got worse and worse as the season progressed. he needs to get in overall condition and better mental condition. at one point he said you just have a bad year sometimes. this was with a lot of time left in the season. i don't think he made a lot of fans among teammates or fans. >> the big name is carlos beltran. how do they handle it right now? do they have to bring him back or is it a failure? >> i think the deal will be looked at as a fail fur they don't bring him back. they got two months. one month was just injury filled. they gave away a top pitching prospect. if zach wheeler wins the cy young award it will be considered a failure. scott bor sis going to run this

negotiation. it's going to take a long, long time. he's going to be talking about five-year deals and six-year deals. the giants aren't really going to be interest immediate anything like that. i think three years tops. sabean can wait until january when beltran doesn't have that kind of offer. and come in and swoop in. >> michael, what do you do? >> they are playing poker already. we saw beltran already in the season. maybe at the end of the season he said, just having buster posey back, freddy sanchez and me. that's not going to be enough. he's trying to run the front office already. that is not going to happen based on what the giants have told us about their payroll for next year. so he's kind of playing some bluff games, too. then brian sabean is contradicting himself when he says pitching is our priority. but then he says we're not too worried about tim lincecum because we have him under club control. >> is that part of the starting staff? is it zito and sanchez or someone else that could be in the mix? >> i don't think so. you're talking about the fifth starter. so much is made of something

that is really not all that important. i finishing you've got a guy like zito, who has all that experience and a guy like sanchez who has all that talent. most teams for a fifth starter, they are looking at some six-year minor league free agent or two guys who can barely get out of the fifth inning most times and have e.r.a.s under four. i don't think they'll bring anybody else back in here. sabean said around $125 million is where the payroll will be. >> i think it's going to be difficult because they have so many guys that are going to be making money through arbitration. they've got tough decisions in the off season. they'll have to add some sort of nofs some way. that's going to cost some money. i think they'll be able to convince the management, the ownership team to go to 135, 140. you give them that much money to mess with and the same pitching staff you had last year, you are in business. >> both of you give me a yes, no. coco crisp lead-off man center fielder for the giants? >> yes. >> no. >> there you have it.

they are the experts. that's our giants conversation. and we move forward. both the raiders and 49ers had dates with nfl heavyweights. how a second half comeback stunned the fans in philly. could the raiders get a surprise win against tom brady and the patriots? at bank of america, we're lending and investing in the people and communities who call the bay area home. from funding that helped a local entrepreneur start a business... to providing grants to a nonprofit which offers job training and placement... and supporting an organization working to help the environment. because the more we do in the bay area, the more we help make opportunity possible.

join us next sunday for tiger woods and the state of the pga. that's on xfinity sports sunday following packers and falcons on sunday night football on nbc bay area. football, 49ers and eagles. 49ers have lost five straight games to the eagles. straight to the third quarter. 49ers down 23-10. alex smith to vernon davis. that is a nine-yard touchdown strike. 49ers trail.

23-17. late fourth quarter, frank gore. who says the ankle hurts? he takes it in from 12 yards out. 49ers take the 24-23 lead on the ensuing eagles drive, michael vick gets it to jeremy maclin. tackle from behind. fumbles it. niners recover. three philly turnovers on the day. 49ers win, 24-23. after an impressive win last week on the national stage against the new york jets, the raiders were looking to prove they were no fluke against former sarah high school star tom brady and the patriots. a win would make the raiders 3-1 with two wins over playoff teams. but it wasn't their day. raiders hosting the patriots. bay area boxer andre ward in attendance hoping the raiders can deliver the knockout blow. the san mateo native tom brady and his patriots. just over two minutes to play in the half, second and goal for oakland. jason campbell, that's a horrible decision. picked off in the end zone. pats get a field goal up 17-10.

opening possession. third quarter. that's steven riddley. 33 yards for the touchdown. 24-10, patriots. raiders would never recover. new england wins, 31-19. so a good day for the first place 49ers. raiders suffer defeat. that will do it for xfinity sports sunday. we'll be back next week following "sunday night football." i'm joe kozimor. good night, eon if you want less, you can always have less.

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