It's on, boys and girls: four weeks and 25 games left with a single game separating the Giants from the reeling first-place Padres. Moreover, manager Bruce Bochy's boys seem to possess the swagger of a team that believes it can finish the job.
After San Diego lost its 10th in a row in the afternoon, the Giants beat the Dodgers 3-0 on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball," behind Jonathan Sanchez and another big Juan Uribe home run, to take their third consecutive series against Los Angeles and move their closest to the West lead since Aug. 7.
Bochy visited this spot many times with the Padres. He knows what it takes, and nobody has to remind him of the flaws that can derail his current team. He is adamant that the 2010 Giants have the character to take the division.
"I think they've already shown whatever you want to call it, tenacity or determination," Bochy said. "They've been resilient. This is a good group, a tough group. We have some guys who have been through it, and the guys who haven't are into it and having fun.
"It's going to get exciting here - and tense. That's why you play this game."
The Giants' 76th win was full of milestones.
With seven shutout innings, in which he allowed three hits, Sanchez beat the Dodgers for the first time in 10 career starts and reached 10 wins for the first time in the majors, two feats happily linked in his mind.
"I'm glad I got it against the Dodgers, the team I wanted to beat," Sanchez said. "Hopefully, I can get five more."
Sanchez threw first-pitch strikes to his first eight hitters and 19 of 25 overall, then gloated that Dodgers hitters were too passive because of his reputation for wildness. He walked one, hit a batter and struck out nine, including Matt Kemp three times.
Coupled with his eight-inning, one-run effort against Colorado a week ago, Sanchez has thrown quality starts (at least six innings, at most three earned runs) in consecutive games for the first time since April.
If you want to talk consecutive-game thunder, there is Uribe. One night after his game-winning homer in the ninth inning against Jonathan Broxton, Uribe busted open a 1-0 game in the seventh with a two-run shot down the left-field line against Hiroki Kuroda.
Uribe left an inning later because he slammed a foul ball off his left shin just before homering. As he was getting the leg taped later, a replay of his homer popped onto a clubhouse TV. Several coaches and players yelled at the screen, "No! Don't throw it there!" They all busted up as they watched Uribe crush the hanging slider.
Asked if he will play today, Uribe said, "I think so. I can't be hurt right now."
More milestones: Uribe's 19th homer gave him 75 RBIs, a career high. After Sergio Romo struck out two of his three hitters in the eighth, Brian Wilson pitched a perfect ninth to reach 40 saves for the second time in his career.
Pablo Sandoval had a fine game. He hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning for the first Giants run, doubled, and singled ahead of Uribe's homer.
Today, the Giants move to the second of three cities on this trip, Phoenix, where they swept a four-game series in July.
Sanchez will miss the Diamondbacks. He next pitches Friday night in the second of four games at San Diego. Any, um, predictions, Jonathan?
He laughed at the reporter's game attempt and said, "We're going to go there and try to beat them. Everywhere we go, we're going to try to beat everybody."
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