Henry Schulman SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
There was a time in the not too distant past when they said the road to a World Series championship went through Atlanta. The Giants knew that road. They happily traversed it in 2002, and now they have done so again.
The Giants came from behind twice Monday night to beat the Braves 3-2 and win their Division Series three games to one, then celebrated on the same field and inside the same bubbly-soaked clubhouse as they did eight years ago, when they won their only other Division Series.
All four games this year were decided by one run.
The Giants advance to their fifth National League Championship Series and will face the Philadelphia Phillies, who will enter as favorites because they have home-field advantage, not to mention the last two NL pennants.
Game 1 in Philadelphia on Saturday should pit Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay in what would be the most anticipated matchup of this postseason. They both pitched shutouts in their only Division Series starts. Lincecum struck out 14. Halladay threw a no-hitter.
The Giants scored the decisive run Monday on a bases-loaded RBI single in the seventh inning by Cody Ross, who had four big hits in a series that did not feature a lot of scoring.
Rookie Madison Bumgarner once again pitched like a man with years more experience as he held Atlanta to two runs in six innings, good enough to beat 37-year-old postseason master Derek Lowe. There can be little doubt Bumgarner earned a spot in the NLCS rotation.
Santiago Casilla relieved Bumgarner and got five outs. He should have had six, but shortstop Edgar Renteria, who entered in a double-switch, dropped a soft liner by Alex Gonzalez. Renteria threw out Gonzalez, but Brian McCann should have been doubled off first because he ran on the play.
With McCann on second, Javier Lopez relieved Casilla and struck out Jason Heyward to end the eighth. Wilson, as he did in the division-clincher against San Diego, pitched a scoreless ninth to get the party started.
At 21 years and 71 days old, Bumgarner became the youngest Giant ever to pitch in a postseason game and the youngest pitcher on any team to start a postseason game since 20-year-old Bret Saberhagen in Game 2 of the 1984 American League Championship Series, for Kansas City.
Even in allowing the game's first run, in the third inning, Bumgarner was poised. He did not allow leadoff singles by Omar Infante and Matt Diaz to become a big inning even with the 3-4-5 hitters up next. Infante scored on a McCann sacrifice fly, but the rookie walked off the mound down only 1-0. That proved critical.
The Giants were down 2-1 on McCann's solo homer in the sixth when they took the lead against Lowe with a seventh-inning rally about as small as it could get. They sandwiched walks to Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell around a Buster Posey infield hit to load the bases.
Lowe walked Burrell after Bobby Cox visited the mound. It looked as though Lowe made a case to stay in. Cox acceded in what was his final big decision as a manager.
Cox summoned sidewinder Peter Moylan to face Juan Uribe, who was 1-for-13 in the series when he hit a ball into the hole fielded by the shortstop Gonzalez. The fielder spun and threw to second, but umpire Ed Hickox ruled the throw pulled Infante off the bag. Everyone was safe, and Huff scored the tying run.
Pinch-hitter Aaron Rowand struck out against the new pitcher, lefty Jonny Venters, but Ross hit pay dirt for the second time in the game when he grounded a single to left that scored Posey. Burrell was thrown out trying to score behind him, but the Giants took a 3-2 lead.
With one out in the sixth, Atlanta leading 1-0 and Lowe throwing a no-hitter, Ross lined a homer into the left-field seats to tie the game, the third of the four big hits he had in the series.
The tie did not last one pitch in the bottom of the sixth. McCann lined Bumgarner's hanging offspeed offering just over the right-field wall to restore Atlanta's lead at 2-1.
Manager Bruce Bochy was concerned before the game about Lowe, who allowed one run in Game 1 only to lose to an epic performance by Lincecum.
"The guy we're facing today, he's tough," Bochy said. "He's been throwing the ball well. We've seen him a few times and he's still tough."
Lowe retired the Giants 1-2-3 to start the game, the first time they went down in order in the first inning since Jhoulys Chacin struck out the side in Colorado on Sept. 24.
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