Mercury News
They came from so many different places, these Giants.
Andres Torres bumped along a lifetime of long-haul buses in the minor leagues. Pablo Sandoval came up so much quicker, only to stall out in traffic. Madison Bumgarner walked straight out of North Carolina horse country. Buster Posey seemingly walked out of the New Testament.
Young and old, new and newer, borrowed and yet so well assembled -- the Giants are one win away from becoming NL West champions.
They shrank their magic number to one after a 4-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks Thursday afternoon, reducing a chalk-dust cloud of calculus to this: Beat the San Diego Padres just once in a three-game series, beginning today behind town sheriff Matt Cain, then break out the goggles and shrink-wrap those lockers.
The Giants are on the verge of spraying champagne for the first time in seven years. They've clinched at least a tie for first place. Yet even their rookies know to stay sober for now.
"Is it fitting?" said Posey, asked about ending with the Padres. "I don't think it matters. Just get the job done."
The Giants took care of business against the last-place-but-improving Diamondbacks, resisting the urge to look ahead while they swept this series and tightened the vise.
Sandoval splashed a home run between two jostling kayaks in McCovey Cove, Torres hit a tiebreaking shot in the fifth, and Posey proved that left-handers have no patent on pretty swings, smoothly connecting for a two-run shot in the sixth. Torres' shot came just in time to make a winner of Bumgarner, who had been 0-3 in eight career starts at the Giants' waterfront home. Bumgarner didn't beat the Diamondbacks as much as fend them off, stranding eight runners in five labor-intensive innings. The Giants' bullpen hushed the Diamondbacks over the final four innings, allowing manager Bruce Bochy to avoid closer Brian Wilson to ensure he'll be fresh to save a clincher. "Believe it," said emotional right-hander Sergio Romo, who bounded off the mound after his scoreless eighth. "We knew we'd have a pretty good team. We expected to be in this position. With the acquisitions we made, we got even better. And here we are -- very close to the playoffs. "Now it's 'Get it done, do your part.' To (clinch) right out of the gate would be awesome, but we know we'll get competitive baseball. They want this as bad as we do. "But I like our chances." From the black-bearded squad in the bullpen to Aubrey Huff's well-publicized undergarments -- the team is 19-8 since he began wearing his red "rally thong," by the way -- the Giants have been loose enough to integrate new players and tough enough to keep crushing losses from lingering in memory. They were 9-20 against the NL West before the All-Star break, losing seven of eight to the Padres. They are 28-12 against the division since then, lifted by Posey's almost perfect transition behind the plate and a pitching staff that has yielded three runs or fewer in 22 of the past 23 games. Did the Giants envision this kind of surge? "I remember that question when we were 7½ back at the All-Star break, I think," said Posey, "and honestly, there wasn't any panic in here. This last month it's been one game, give it everything you've got, and worry about tomorrow the next day. And now? It stays the same." That's the monotone message Bochy has sent all season. "That's the way it's gotta be," Bochy said. "The Diamondbacks, we're finished with them. It's on to the next series." It would be unspoken but ultimate satisfaction to clinch against the Padres, the team that nudged Bochy out of San Diego after a dozen years and humbled them in April and May. "Do I appreciate it?" said Bochy, smirking. "I said a while back it would come down to the wire. And here we are with one more series to play." The Giants still have their flaws. For the second consecutive game, they scored all their runs on home runs. Beginning with their epic, homer-charged comeback at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 4, the Giants have scored 62 of their 93 runs on the long ball. But they are who they are. And beginning today, they could be champions. "One game to go, and we're fighting for a pennant," said second baseman Freddy Sanchez, who like Huff, would experience the postseason for the first time. "I've had so much fun playing in these big games. It's been a blast, and this weekend will be the loudest it's been here all season. "That's just a guess."
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