Throughout his travels, Toney High — a homeless man who plays his trombone outside Comerica Park every game day — has never witnessed the passion and enthusiasm currently on display in Detroit, which is set to host the World Series this weekend.

As the ball rolled slowly up the third-base line, dribbling between the cut of the grass and the chalk of the foul line, the momentum in Game 2 of the World Series rolled with it.

Droll and clearly disinterested in idle conversation, Madison Bumgarner turns into a focused sharpshooter when the stakes are highest. He becomes incredibly articulate with a baseball in his large left hand.

Madison Bumgarner yielded two hits in seven innings Thursday as the Giants captured Game 2 of the World Series with a 2-0 decision over the Tigers. San Francisco grabbed a 2-0 lead in the Series, which resumes Saturday in Detroit.

Japanese high school right-hander Shohei Otani was chosen in the first round of the Japanese baseball amateur draft on Thursday, so he must wait until April 2013 to sign with a Major League club.

Reds leadoff hitters ranked last in the Majors in average and on-base percentage in 2012, so GM Walt Jocketty is looking to upgrade the top spot of the lineup.

Barry Zito was an observer during San Francisco’s championship run two years ago. This year, he’s a key part of the rotation, and he, along with Pablo Sandoval, were the two big stories in the Giants’ 8-3 win against Detroit in Game 1 of the World Series. What will be the big stories in Thursday’s Game 2?

In Game 1 on Wednesday night, the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval became the fourth player to hit three homers in a World Series game and the first to do it in a Fall Classic opener.

Pablo Sandoval said after Game 1 that he broke his bat after his second of three consecutive home runs. The white Marucci bat was in a sleeve and headed for the Hall of Fame, the second time this season Sandoval has given up a bat to Cooperstown, along with the All-Star Game.

Justin Miller was in Suite 62 with his family along the third-base side at AT&T Park on Wednesday night, and he had eight of those “I Stand Up For” placards that you saw fans, players and even umpires holding after the fifth inning of Game 1 at the World Series.

Angel Pagan’s two-out double off the third-base bag in Game 1 was just the latest in a series of bizarre plays this postseason.

Do the Tigers have to figure out a different way to pitch to Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval? Or do they have the right approach but simply need to execute it better?

The non-Giants world was given an opportunity to catch on to the essential truth Wednesday night — this team can beat anybody, overcome any obstacle, climb every mountain.

The best pitcher in baseball lit up in the World Series? Let the “layoff” speculation begin after Tigers ace Justin Verlander went seven full days between starts.

Under normal circumstances, Pablo Sandoval is hysterical. On this special occasion, Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday night, the Giants’ good-natured third baseman turned historical.

Major League Baseball paid tribute to former players who sacrificed part of their playing careers to serve in the military and reaffirmed its commitment to the modern troops during a moving ceremony before Game 2 of the World Series at AT&T Park on Thursday night.

Considering it was Barry Zito who dominated and Justin Verlander who struggled, the Tigers’ 8-3 loss in Game 1 of the World Series at AT&T Park on Wednesday night certainly carried an element of surprise.