Henry Schulman SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Call them what you will: The Freak or The Franchise, Big Daddy and Huff Daddy, B-Weezy and Buster Ballgame, Pat the Bat and the Panda, oooh-REE-bay and Andres the Giant, Sanchy and Sanchy.
Just remember to call them 2010 National League West champions.
The Giants own the title for the first time since 2003 after beating San Diego 3-0 on Sunday to eliminate the Padres, who owned a 6 1/2 game lead in the West on Aug. 26, before their season reached quicksand.
As they might be saying in the Border City this morning, "Torture!"
The Padres must spend the winter wondering how they could win 12 of 18 against San Francisco in 2010 yet still be forced to watch the Giants celebrate on the field at AT&T Park, where 42,822 fans joined the party.
The Giants finished 92-70 and captured their seventh West championship since divisional play began in 1969, their first under manager Bruce Bochy and first in the post-Bonds era.
The Giants will host Games 1 and 2 of their Division Series on Thursday and Friday against Atlanta, which beat Philadelphia 8-7 then won the wild card with the Padres' defeat. .
Jonathan Sanchez, so good down the stretch, was the man of the hour. He not only carried a shutout into the fifth inning, he hit his first career triple, off Mat Latos with one out in the third, that launched a two-run rally that gave the Giants the early lead that eluded them in the first two games of the series.
With two outs, Freddy Sanchez lined a single up the middle to score the pitcher. Aubrey Huff then sliced the first pitch to the wall in left-center, the ball eluding a diving Chris Denorfia.
Buster Posey, whose ascent sparked the Giants' title run, hit a leadoff homer in the eighth against Luke Gregerson.
In August, Jonathan Sanchez boldly and some might say foolishly, predicted the Giants would sweep San Diego in a series in San Francisco, assume first place and not look back.
Sanchez's roadmap might have been off a bit, but he got the destination right. At te same time, he let the baseball world know he is no flighty left-hander who might wilt in a big game. This was his finest hour, which might have sewn up the third spot in the playoff rotation.
Casilla relieved Sanchez with two aboard and nobody out in the sixth, and got Yorvit Torrealba to ground into a double play, the outs at third and second. With a slower runner, it might have been a triple play.
Ramon Ramirez bailed out Casilla in the seventh, striking out Miguel Tejada on a 3-2 fastball to strand two and leave Adrian Gonzalez on deck. Javier Lopez retired Gonzalez on a pop fly to start the eighth.
Sergio Romo got the final two outs of the eighth and Brian Wilson pitched the ninth for his 48th save. He not only won the major-league saves crown but tied Rod Beck's franchise record.
As they had done so often this season, the Giants produced a huge when - in this case their biggest - after a tough defeat, two of them, actually. The Giants entered this game 8-1 in series finales since Sept. 1, averaging 6.1 runs pre game.
The division championship is a testament to a great pitching staff built through the system, the emergence of Buster Posey, shrewd moves by the front office before and during the season to build an offense and exceptional clubhouse chemistry.
"It's a credit to the guys and a credit to the organization and the makeup of this group," left fielder Pat Burrell said earlier this week. "If everybody has the same goal, which should be to win, it's real easy to have chemistry."
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