© APUnruly: A San Francisco Giants fan jumps over a bonfire in San Francisco's Mission district
Thousands to the streets of San Francisco to celebrate the Giants' World Series victory, with revelers gathering on corners, in parks and at watering holes - and some turning rowdy.
Fans across the city left their televisions and rushed outside, greeting diners, bar patrons and other merrymakers Sunday night after the Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-3 to sweep the Series for their second title in three years.
Some violence and vandalism was reported, with revelers setting a public transit bus on fire, flipping over a vehicle and breaking the windows of several businesses and vehicles, KTVU-TV reported.
Fans also lit bonfires, fueling them with couches, signs and newspaper racks. Firefighters had to be escorted in by riot police to fight some of the fires.
Police made arrests, although the exact number was unknown. A call to a police spokesman by The Associated Press on Monday morning wasn't immediately returned.
At Polk and Bush streets in the city's Polk Gulch neighborhood, hundreds of fans sprayed champagne, set of off firecrackers and blocked traffic for at least two hours after the game.
Several blocks away, police clad in riot gear looked on as revelers danced around Civic Center plaza where they watched the game on the Jumbotron.
© ReutersConfrontation: A police officer clashes with a baseball fan outside AT&T Park
© AFP / Getty ImagesPolice officers try to disperse fans celebrating their win over the Detroit Tigers
Anthony Yos, 10, hugged his brother Luciano Yos, 15 and the two danced in an embrace with their parents.
'This is the greatest thing,' Anthony said with a smile that could go no wider. 'The Giants are my favorite team.'
Someone in the crowd launched fireworks a few minutes after the game and the park was awash with fans, strangers hugging strangers and wine bottles and marijuana cigarettes being freely passed through the crowd despite a heavy police presence.
'This is San Francisco,' said Laura Chu. 'We know how to party.'
Sara Vivas brought her 6-year-old daughter Briana Cepeda from Oakland to view the game and join the celebration. They were both clad head-to-toe in Giants garb.
'This is something she will remember forever,' Sara said.
© AFP / Getty ImagesSan Francisco Giants fans start bonfires on a street
© AFP / Getty ImagesThe fans demonstrated shocking behavior in the aftermath of their team's victory
So-called pedicabs whisked fans down roads blocked to traffic and revelers enjoyed a New Year's Eve-like freedom to roam up and down streets usually clogged with traffic.
Mayor Edwin Lee announced the ticker-tape parade would be held Wednesday at 11 a.m., down Market Street to Civic Center Plaza.
'The rain in Detroit couldn't dampen the drive, talent and determination of the San Francisco Giants team tonight.
'Once again, the Giants brought our City together as we all cheered on our hometown heroes to another remarkable World Series victory,' he said.
The 2010 parade drew hundreds of thousands fans, who lined the streets of downtown San Francisco. The parade ends at City Hall.
© ReutersFans watch on as one leaps over a bonfire
© ReutersThe frightening scenes showed fans lighting bonfires, fueling them with couches, signs and newspaper racks
The city's ubiquitous food trucks did a brisk business and drummers of all types beat their instruments throughout the game.
'Where else in the world do you want to be tonight,' replied Dave Wormald of Toronto. Wormald and two other colleagues were in town for a business meeting and were watching the game at their hotel when they decided to embark for City Hall.
'This is the place to be,' said Jim Vliet, Wormald's colleague.
Finally pressed in the World Series, the San Francisco Giants finished off a most unexpected and stunning sweep.
Marco Scutaro delivered one more key hit this October, hitting a go-ahead single with two outs in the 10th inning that lifted the Giants over the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in Game 4 on Sunday night.
Nearly eliminated over and over earlier in the playoffs, the Giants sealed their second title in three seasons when Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera looked at strike three right down the middle for the final out.
© AFP / Getty ImagesFirefighters were called in to help control the riots
© ReutersA lone fan tries to sweep up broken glass as others join the riots
Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and a Michigan native, was at the game in Detroit.
Series MVP Pablo Sandoval and the underdog Giants celebrated in the center of the diamond at Comerica Park after winning six elimination games this postseason.
Cabrera delivered the first big hit for Detroit, interrupting San Francisco's run of dominant pitching with a two-run homer that blew over the right-field wall in the third.
Buster Posey put the Giants ahead 3-2 with a two-run homer in the sixth and Delmon Young hit a tying home run in the bottom half.
© Getty ImagesBig win: The Giants are improbable champions after spending most of October battling against elimination
Ryan Theriot led off the 10th with a single against Phil Coke, moved up on Brandon Crawford's sacrifice and scored on Scutaro's shallow single. Center fielder Austin Jackson made a throw home, to no avail.
Sergio Romo struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th for his third save of the Series.
The Giants finished the month with seven straight wins and their seventh Series championship. They handed the Tigers their seventh straight World Series loss dating to 2006.
An NL team won the title for the third straight season, a run that hadn't occurred in 30 years. Some find the streak surprising, considering the AL's recent dominance in interleague play. Yet as every fan knows, the club that pitches best in the postseason usually prevails.
Until the end, the Tigers thought one big hit could shift the momentum. It was an all-too-familiar October lament - Texas felt the same way when the Giants throttled them in 2010, and Tigers knew the feeling when St. Louis wiped them out in 2006.
Howling winds made it feel much colder than the 44 degrees at gametime. Two wrappers blew across home plate after leadoff man Angel Pagan struck out, and fly balls played tricks in the breeze.
The Giants started with their pregame ritual. They clustered around Hunter Pence in the dugout, quickly turning into a bobbing, whooping, pulsing pack, showering themselves with sunflower seeds. A big league good-luck charm, Little League style.
And once again, San Francisco took an early lead. Pence hit a one-hop drive over the center-field fence for a double and Brandon Belt tripled on the next pitch for a 1-0 lead in the second.
The next inning, Cabrera gave the Tigers a reason to think this might be their night.
With two outs and a runner on first, Cabrera lofted an opposite-field fly to right - off the bat, it looked like a routine out shy of the warning track. But with winds gusting over 25 mph, the ball kept carrying, Pence kept drifting toward the wall and the crowd kept getting louder.
Just like that, it was gone.
Cabrera's homer gave Detroit its first lead of the Series, ended its 20-inning scoreless streak and reaffirmed a pregame observation by Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline.
'The wind usually blows to right at this time of year,' Kaline said.
In the fourth, Max Scherzer and catcher Gerald Laird teamed on a strike 'em out-throw 'em out double play. Scherzer yelled, first baseman Prince Fielder clenched his fist and the Tigers ran off the field on a chilly, windy, rainy evening. At last, it seemed, all the elements were in their favor.
Trailing for the first time since Game 4 of the NL championship series, Posey and the Giants put a dent in Detroit's optimism. Scutaro, the NLCS MVP, led off the sixth with a single and clapped all the way around the bases when Posey sent a shot that sailed just inside the left-field foul pole for a 3-2 lead.
Posey, the only Giants player on the field from the starting lineup in the Game 5 clincher in 2010, almost tripped nearing first base and he watched the ball and began his trot.
Detroit wasn't about to go quietly, however. Young, the ALCS MVP, made it 3-all with another opposite-field homer to right, this one a no-doubt drive.
Fielder finished 1 for 14 (.111) for the Series.
Comment: A sign of the underlying stress and tension that has built up in American Society. If this is the response to victory, just imagine the social fallout when things really start going south.