Henry Schulman SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
A nice pitching duel is great, and the Giants and their opponents have given fans nice share of them this postseason. But most teams that win a World Series will tell you they had to win at least one wacky game along the way.
The Giants won theirs Wednesday night under a full moon, and now stand one win from their fourth pennant and World Series trip in the San Francisco era.
Juan Uribe, who did not start because of his injured wrist, hit a one-out sacrifice fly in the ninth inning off reliever Roy Oswalt to give the Giants a 6-5 victory in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, and how nutty does that sound.
The Giants lead the series three games to one, which puts history squarely in their corner. Thirteen teams have had a 3-1 lead in the NLCS since it was expanded to seven games in 1985. Only the 1996 Cardinals and 2003 Cubs (Steve Bartman series) failed to advance.
Tim Lincecum, 2-0 in his first postseason, can pitch the Giants to their fourth pennant and World Series berth in the San Francisco era tonight in a Game 1 rematch against Roy Halladay, whom they beat with four runs.
It won't be easy, because Halladay has a knack for big rebound games.
He allowed four or more earned runs eight times in the regular season. His ERA in the eight follow-up starts was 1.53, including four games in which he allowed no runs.
After Wednesday, the faithful have to believe anything can happen.
Uribe entered in a double-switch with Brian Wilson in the ninth inning and made a fantastic grab and throw on Ross Gload's grounder in the hole for the first out. After Wilson completed the 1-2-3 inning to preserve a 5-5 tie, the Phillies turned to Game 2 winner Oswalt to pitch the bottom half to face the Giants' 2-3-4 hitters.
Freddy Sanchez lined out to right before Huff grounded the first pitch into right field for a single, his third hit. Buster Posey, who already had three hits and two RBIs in the game, fell behind 0-2 before lining a 1-2 pitch into the right-field corner for a single, moving Huff to third.
Uribe was down in the count 1-2 when he lifted a high fly to deep left, down the line. Huff tagged and scored easily to send AT&T Park into a state of pandemonium.
This game had more twists than a soft Philly pretzel. One sweet twist for the Giants was provided by Pablo Sandoval.
A prolonged sophomore slump and his benching for five games in the postseason could not destroy Sandoval's spirit or work ethic. Finally called upon to do something huge, he lifted the spirits of his teammates and the faithful with a huge hit.
The Giants were down 4-3 after blowing a 2-0 lead when Pat Burrell drew a leadoff walk in the sixth inning against reliever Chad Durbin. Cody Ross, who earlier was hit on the right wrist by a Joe Blanton pitch that looked unintentional, delivered his ninth hit of the postseason, a bloop double down the left-field line.
Sandoval stepped in and lined the first pitch down the right-field line. To Sandoval's disbelief, first-base umpire Jeff Nelson turned and signaled foul. Replays showed he likely was right. Sandoval, undeterred, slammed a 1-2 pitch into the left-center gap. Burrell and Ross scored on Sandoval's first hit of the series to give the Giants a 5-4 lead.
Sandoval came to bat in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out with a chance to put the game away but could not deliver. He dueled reliever Ryan Madsen for eight pitches but grounded into a double play.
Javier Lopez, who pitched a scoreless seventh, was asked to get Ryan Howard in the eighth. Lopez had owned this matchup, striking out the Phils first baseman four times in five career meetings, including twice in this series.
After Lopez just missed trying to catch Howard with a 2-2 front-door breaking pitch, he was forced to challenge Howard and lost. Howard doubled to left-center.
Manager Bruce Bochy turned to Sergio Romo, who, like Sandoval, had lost his role. Romo could not hold the lead, allowing a Jayson Werth double to left, just fair, that tied the game 5-5. Werth was at second with two outs, and Romo kept him there. After Jimmy Rollins popped out, Romo struck out Ben Francisco and Carlos Ruiz.
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