Daily Dose: A Giant's Moment

A line drive sailed over Travis Ishikawa's glove to score the first run of the game Thursday.

Ishikawa sent one sailing over the right field wall to score the last one.

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With two runners on and a tie score in the bottom of the ninth, Ishikawa launched a Michael Wacha pitch into the right field stands to give the Giants a 6-3 win in Game 5 of the NLCS and send them to their third World Series in the past five seasons.

The homer was the last in a night filled with dramatic blasts. Joe Panik's two-run homer in the bottom of the third inning -- half an inning after Ishikawa misplayed Jon Jay's liner to give the Cardinals an early lead -- was the first of the series for the Giants. The Cardinals answered with two solo homers off Giants starter Madison Bumgarner in the top of the fourth, with backup catcher Tony Cruz' surprising shot giving the Cards a 3-2 edge.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth, in large part to Adam Wainwright's fortitude. The Cardinals' ace buckled down after a few shaky innings to cruise through the Giants in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, Wainwright struck out Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence with his trademark curveball. The right-hander finished with seven strikeouts over seven innings of work.

Pat Neshek came on in relief, and Michael Morse pinch-hit for Bumgarner after the lefty gave manager Bruce Bochy eight strong innings. And on a belt-high fastball, Morse tied the game with a big fly to left.

The Cardinals threatened in the ninth, loading the bases against a fatigued Santiago Casilla working his third day in a row, but couldn't push a run across. That led Cardinals manager Mike Matheny to turn to Wacha, who hadn't pitched yet in the postseason despite being active for both the NLDS against the Dodgers and the series against the Giants.

Wacha struggled, somewhat understandably, giving up a single to Sandoval and walking Brandon Belt. That brought up Ishikawa, who led the Giants with four RBI coming into the game, with a chance to send them to the World Series. On a 2-0 pitch, Ishikawa did just that.

Ishikawa finished 5-for-13 (.385) in the series with the homer and seven RBI, but it was Bumgarner, who dominated in Game 1 before Thursday's strong outing, who was named the series MVP. Neither player will have to buy a beer (or four) in San Francisco for a long time.

Rangers Tab Banister As Manager

Jeff Banister spent 29 years in the Pirates organization until the Rangers made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

The Rangers officially announced Banister as their new manager Thursday, replacing the departed Ron Washington. Washington stepped away from the team in early September, holding a press conference on September 18 to admit to infidelity as the cause behind the resignation.

In Banister, the Rangers get a guy who has spent the last 29 years as either a player or coach for the Pirates. Banister had one major league at bat as a player, getting a hit as a pinch hitter in a 1991 game. Banister retired after the 1993 season -- a season in which he served as a player-coach for his minor league club -- and became a full-time coach in the Pirates' minor leagues a year later.

Banister held a variety of positions within the organization over the next two decades, most recently serving as a bench coach for manager Clint Hurdle. The Rangers job is Banister's first major league managerial position.

In getting the job, Banister beat out a handful of other candidates interviewed by Rangers general manager Jon Daniels and company. Daniels said the club vetted 40 names in the process, and Tim Bogar, Mike Maddux, Steve Buechele, Torey Lovullo and Joe McEwing were just a few of the names interviewed by the club.

In the end, Daniels said Banister made the decision for them.

“What stood out is his presence,” Daniels said. “He is an impressive guy to meet. You can understand how he can command a room.”

Bogar and Maddux were both coaches with the big league club, and neither's future with the club is decided. Daniels said he will have some say in the coaching decisions but that Banister won't be forced to keep anyone on his staff.

Much more couldn't have gone wrong for the Rangers in 2014, but the team is stocked with talent and should be ready to contend as early as next season. Adrian Beltre, Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo will be back and (presumably) healthy on the offensive side, and Yu Darvish and Derek Holland will headline the staff. There will be some turnover -- the team has already stated an intent to decline the 2015 option on Alex Rios -- but there's no reason Banister couldn't find success in his first year at the helm.

The Next Jose Fernandez

Rusney Castillo and Yasmany Tomas have been the big names among Cuban defectors, but Jose Fernandez -- not that Jose Fernandez -- may soon join that mix.

Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reported Wednesday that the 26-year-old second baseman defected from Cuba with an eye on signing an MLB deal in the near future. Fernandez will need to establish residency before he's eligible to sign with a major league club.

In Fernandez, teams would be getting a player who hit .326/.482/.456 with Matanzas of the Cuban National Series during the 2013-14 season. That's quite an on-base percentage, and although he's not on the level of a Jose Abreu or Yasiel Puig, Fernandez should have no shortage of suitors when he is finally eligible to sign.

Quick Hits: Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reports that while the Royals will make an attempt to re-sign James Shields, such a deal is "not hopeful." The Royals are notoriously cost-conscious, and Shields is expected to receive 4-to-5-year offers that will likely price the Royals out of the sweepstakes ... The Pirates have plans to extend a $15.3 million qualifying offer to free agent-to-be Russell Martin, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. It's not surprising, as Martin has been wildly valuable to the Bucs over the past two seasons, and he'll almost certainly receive more attractive offers on the free agent market ... Despite struggling for much of the season, Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said Joe Nathan will enter 2015 as the team's closer. He attached the stipulation that Nathan will have to "perform up to the capabilities required" to be the closer, which was the veteran's issue in 2014 ... In the other series, Lorenzo Cain won ALCS MVP for leading the Royals to a sweep of the Orioles.