Giants finish off Braves, on to Philly

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.

Box Score

Giants rally in ninth inning for 3-2 victory

Associated Press

Brooks Conrad bobbled a grounder. Then he dropped a popup. Finally, a hard shot skidded under his glove in the ninth inning for his third error of the game, allowing the San Francisco Giants to rally for a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

The Braves were within one out of taking control of the NL division series, but a 30-year-old journeyman infielder who wouldn't have been playing if not for season-ending injuries to Chipper Jones and Martin Prado simply couldn't catch the ball.

Buster Posey's grounder went right under Conrad's glove, his worst miscue yet in a performance that might speed up the retirement of Braves manager Bobby Cox.

Freddy Sanchez raced around with the go-ahead run, and Brian Wilson shut down the Braves in the ninth to give the Giants a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

San Francisco can close it out Monday night. For Conrad, the memories of this game will linger for a lifetime. He tied a postseason record for errors in a game and became the fourth second baseman to make three, according to STATS LLC.

Atlanta did nothing against Jonathan Sanchez, managing only two hits in 7 1-3 innings, and the Giants led 1-0 on an unearned run provided by Conrad's second error, that dropped popup in short right field in the second.

But when pinch-hitter Eric Hinske lined a two-run homer off Sergio Romo in the eighth, the Braves took a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately for Atlanta, there was no Billy Wagner to close it out. He was removed from the roster before the game with a pulled muscle on his left side.

Rookie reliever Craig Kimbrel was within one out of a save before the Giants rallied. Aubrey Huff tied it with a run-scoring single off Mike Dunn. Then, Posey hit a grounder to just the right man.

It skidded right through Conrad and into center field.

The wild finish overshadowed Jonathan Sanchez's brilliant performance - he didn't allow a hit until the sixth - and Hinske's dramatic homer, which carried the Braves to within one strike of having a chance to close out the series at Turner Field.

Conrad's blunders cost them.

He was one of the last guys to make the Braves roster out of spring training and spent his first full year in the big leagues. Conrad was primarily a backup, though he did provide one of the season's most dramatic moments with a pinch-hit grand slam that capped a seven-run ninth inning and a 10-9 victory over Cincinnati in May.

Then Jones hurt his knee, and an injury finished off Prado for the season, too. Down the stretch, the Braves were forced to go with Conrad at third base.

His defense was so shaky that Cox swapped him with Omar Infante before the crucial last game of the regular season with the Braves trying to wrap up the wild card, moving Conrad to second because he was having trouble making accurate throws from third.

His arm wasn't the problem in Game 3.

Now, the Braves will need to win the final two games to extend Cox's career to at least the NL championship series. One of baseball's winningest managers is retiring at the end of a season that is one loss from being over.

In the ninth, Kimbrel retired Cody Ross on a popout to Conrad - yep, he caught that one - but pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa drew a walk. Andres Torres took a called third strike and it was all up to Freddy Sanchez with the standing-room crowd of 53,284 going nuts.

Sanchez was down to his last strike when he smacked a single to center, keeping the Giants alive. That was it for Kimbrel, who was replaced by another rookie, the left-hander Dunn. He got ahead on Huff, but the first baseman yanked a slider over the outside corner into right field, the throw from Jason Heyward not even close to getting Ishikawa as he slid across with the tying run.

Peter Moylan took over for Dunn and got what he's known for: a ground ball from Posey. Unfortunately for the Braves, it was to Conrad.

Sanchez and Atlanta starter Tim Hudson had quite a pitcher's duel. The lone run off Hudson came after Mike Fontenot led off the second with a triple to right. Heyward raced back to the wall and had the ball in his glove, but it popped out when he slammed hard into the padding.

Heyward fell face-first onto the warning track and was slow getting up. Cox and a trainer raced out to check on the rookie, who was able to stay in the game after a few minutes to catch his breath and sip a drink brought to him from the nearby Atlanta bullpen.

Cody Ross followed with a popup into short right. Heyward might have made an attempt on it, but he got a late break and wasn't running hard, perhaps still a bit groggy from his collision with the wall. But Conrad, looking back into the setting sun and running hard, got there in time to make the catch - only to have the ball pop out of his glove.

Fontenot, who wasn't tagging, raced in with the first run while Conrad fumbled for the ball.

Sanchez was nearly as dominant at Tim Lincecum in a two-hit, 14-strikeout performance that carried San Francisco to a 1-0 victory in the series opener. The left-hander baffled the Braves with a slider, striking out 11 and not giving up a hit until Hudson, of all people, singled to right in the sixth.

Nothing came of that.

Then, after Alex Gonzalez started the eighth with a single and Conrad - in yet another blunder - popped up a bunt, Hinske connected.

It was in the eighth when Giants manager Bruce Bochy appeared to make another ill-fated call to a bullpen that coughed up a 4-1 lead in Game 2 at San Francisco. The Braves rallied to tie that one, then won it 5-4 on Rick Ankiel's 11th-inning homer into McCovey Cove.

Bochy made the move after the Braves sent up right-handed Troy Glaus as a pinch-hitter. When the right-handed Romo trotted in from the bullpen, Cox countered with the switch-hitting Hinske.

Good choice. The guy who has played in the last three World Series with three different teams - Boston, Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees - fell behind 0-2 in the count and fouled off several pitches just to stay alive. Finally, after working the count to 2-2, Hinske lined one into the right-field corner and sent the crowd into a frenzy.

The next inning, there was nothing but stunned silence except for those who mustered the energy to boo Conrad.

Box Score

Braves defeat Giants with homer in 11th

Andrew Baggarly
MercuryNews

The Giants needed six outs to take command of their NL Division Series, and for more than a month, their bullpen was as unyielding as Alcatraz.

But the Atlanta Braves staged one heck of a prison break.

They put up three runs against Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson to tie the score in the eighth inning Friday night, and Rick Ankiel clicked the final tumbler in the 11th, splashing a solo home run into McCovey Cove to propel the Braves to a 5-4 victory in Game 2 that evened this best-of-five series.

The Giants' bullpen finished the regular season with 24 consecutive scoreless innings and a 0.90 ERA from Sept. 1. But the Braves didn't fear the beard. And now this series is a close shave.

"That eighth inning can't happen in the postseason," said Wilson, who inherited runners at the corners and gave up a tying, two-run double to Alex Gonzalez.

"I'm the only one standing on the mound. I needed to get six outs, and I didn't. "... It's already past me. Game's over."

You couldn't blame an overflow crowd of 44,046, the largest in AT&T Park history, for feeling that way much earlier.

Pat Burrell's three-run home run in the first inning struck like a fist to the sternum, and Matt Cain didn't allow the Braves to counterpunch while holding them to an unearned run in 62/3 innings.

But Atlanta led the National League with 46 come-from-behind victories this season, including 25 in its final at-bat. And the Braves stormed back after Romo allowed consecutive singles to start the eighth.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy attacked the flickering rally with a pressure hose, going to his bearded, tattooed closer in the hopes he would convert the first six-out save assignment of his career.

Wilson had the chops for the assignment. He pitched two innings or more 12 times in his career, and he had recorded 10 saves of four outs or more this season -- the most by a closer since the Boston Red Sox's Jonathan Papelbon in 2008.

"At that point, we want to stop them," Bochy said.

Wilson appeared to have Melky Cabrera overmatched, but Cabrera managed a tapper to third base, and Pablo Sandoval's errant throw on the run caused Aubrey Huff to take his foot off first base as a run scored.

After a sacrifice bunt advanced both runners, Wilson left a fastball at the belt to Gonzalez.

"I saw he was struggling with the heater in the first game and the better part of this one, so I'm going to throw mine. That's my best pitch, and he got a good piece of it.

Wilson retired the next five hitters, and Ramon Ramirez dispatched four more before Ankiel, a converted pitcher with dangerous power, connected on a towering shot. It was the second splash homer in the postseason, along with Barry Bonds' homer in Game 3 of the 2002 NLCS.

The Giants nearly won it in the 10th after a brilliant bit of small ball.

The Braves put Billy Wagner on the mound to start the 10th, and Bochy sent up pinch hitter Edgar Renteria, who might have made the roster because of his two-run homer off the Braves' closer in the April 9 home opener.

But after taking one big rip at the first pitch, Renteria surprised the stadium by dropping a bunt down the third-base line. The ploy was no doubt inspired by the Braves' double switch to start the inning in which lumbering Troy Glaus went to third.

Andres Torres sacrificed Renteria to second base, and Wagner clutched his hip in pain after fielding the bunt. He limped off, later diagnosed with an oblique injury that almost will certainly shelve him for the series.

Kyle Farnsworth hit Freddy Sanchez with a pitch on the right hand that had him howling in pain. But he stayed in the game, and Bochy said he looked to be all right.

Huff drew a walk to load the bases for Buster Posey, who grounded into a double play -- a rare failure for the brilliant rookie.

"I didn't get the job done," Posey said. "I take pride in being in that situation, and plain and simple, I didn't get it done."

Huff sought to shield Posey, saying the failures were team-wide.

"We got the lead early and went into cruise control," Huff said. "If we get another run or two, there's a chance they fold.

We had our chances way earlier than (the double play). We've got to right that ship and have better at-bats when the game is on the line."

At least the Giants averted total disaster in the first inning, when Posey and Sandoval remained down for several seconds after colliding while chasing a foul pop.

Posey said he took a good shot to the shoulder but was all right. Sandoval said he just had the wind knocked out of him.

In the end, the entire team took one to the gut.

Box Score

Giants' Tim Lincecum shuts down Braves in Game 1

Andrew Baggarly Mercury News

The Atlanta Braves are baseball's gold-standard franchise when it comes to starting pitching. But only one man on the mound was worth his weight Thursday night.

All 170-something pounds of it.

Tim Lincecum turned around the Braves and sat them down, proving his might and value extends far beyond a mere collector of Cy Young Award trophies. The Giants benefited from an apparent blown call before pushing across a run on Cody Ross' two-out single in the fourth inning, and Lincecum made that slim advantage as secure as Fort Knox while going the distance for a 1-0 victory in Game 1 of their NL Division Series Thursday night.

While a surging crowd roared its approval, Lincecum pitched as if he was playing a 119-note jazz set. He improvised with his lethal changeup and slider -- a pitch he began throwing with regularity just a few weeks ago -- and pumped fastballs past the Braves' slow bats in the latter innings.

The limber little ace wasn't subtle on his final pitch. He pumped a 92 mph fastball straight down the middle as Derrek Lee, his head deeply pondering the breaking stuff he had seen all night, let it pass for Lincecum's 14th strikeout.

Lincecum only gave a subtle fist pump -- a puddle of still water with a stadium reverberating around him. Afterward, he talked of his workday as if he had just spent eight hours as a mall cop.

"It's hard to judge what better would be," he said. "If you come out on top, I think that's good."

His teammates were more effusive.

"It's one of the best pitching performances I've ever been a part of," said Ross, whose RBI single scooted under third baseman Omar Infante's glove. "It's so, so, so much better to be on this side. I know I never felt comfortable facing him. He's capable of doing what he did tonight day-in and day-out."

Reliever Sergio Romo was amazed that coaches asked him to unbutton his jacket in the eighth inning.

"They said go warm up, and I'm thinking, 'Why?' " Romo said. "Hey, I was a fan today. I was entertained from the first pitch to the last pitch. I've never seen that before, especially in the magnitude of a game like this.

"Holy cow. He had his A-plus game today."

Lincecum obliterated the Giants' postseason record of 10 strikeouts, last accomplished by Jack Sanford in Game 5 of the 1962 World Series at Yankee Stadium. Hal Schumacher (1936), Carl Hubbell ('33) and Jesse Barnes ('21) were the others.

Lincecum also finished two behind the division series record of 16 strikeouts, set by Kevin Brown for the San Diego Padres in 1998.

As playoff debuts go, it didn't quite match the no-hitter that Philadelphia's Roy Halladay threw Wednesday. But it was close enough. And while this is putting the parade float before the horse, if the Phillies and Giants coast through, it is possible that you could see a Lincecum-Halladay collision in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series.

Halladay has the look and build of a pitcher meant to stare daggers into hitters deep into October. But there were some who questioned whether Lincecum was ready to put a season's labor on his slender shoulders.

He rebounded exceptionally well from a woeful and winless August in which he lost all five of his starts.

"We never lost confidence in this kid," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He was searching there for a little while, but he found it. He went out there and pitched as fine a ballgame as you can pitch.

In the second inning, Lincecum did the unimaginable. He threw 14 pitches, nine for strikes -- every last one of them a swing and a miss.

"I don't know how many he struck out, but it was more than fingers on my hands," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "His breaking stuff is always out of the strike zone. Easier said than done: 'Don't swing at it.' It's almost impossible."

Lincecum and catcher Buster Posey switched to fastballs in the later innings, sensing the Braves were either late or tentative to swing.

"Their swings were telling me what I needed to throw," Lincecum said. "The game will show you. "... And I've got Buster back there helping me, so that makes it twice as easy."

The Braves' questionable gloves, a questionable umpiring call and a very questionable move by Cox allowed the Giants to break through in the fourth.

Posey hit a leadoff single and stole the first base of his major league career when Bochy put him in motion with two strikes on Pat Burrell. Braves right-hander Derek Lowe struck out Burrell, and replays appeared to show that second baseman Brooks Conrad applied his high tag before Posey reached the base, but umpire Paul Emmel called Posey safe.

Was he? Posey, Boy Scout that he is, answered honestly. And if he chopped down a cherry tree, he would admit to that, too.

"I guess it's a good thing we don't have instant replay right now," he said, smiling.

The call made a huge impact, but so did Cox's strategy.

After Juan Uribe struck out, Cox opted for Lowe to walk Pablo Sandoval intentionally -- even though the impatient hitter swung at two pitches out of the zone while striking out in his first at-bat.

Ross followed with a ground ball to the left side that was better placed than struck. It scooted under Infante's glove -- a play many third basemen would have fielded -- and took so long to reach Matt Diaz in left field that Posey scored without a play.

"We made the right move," Cox said in a terse interview session. "We made an error. He made the pitch and got a ground ball. We kicked it."

And Lincecum kicked it into overdrive.

"You get that one run, and you know how valuable that is in the postseason," he said. "So you try to turn it into shutdown mode."

Box Score

Giants clinch playoff spot

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."

Box Score

Padres beat Giants, send NL West race down to final day

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

Once again, the Giants' strong rotation failed to land the finishing blow Saturday afternoon. Once again, a late rally came up short against the San Diego Padres' weary but willful bullpen.

And once again, the Giants were left aching for that final victory they must have to pig-pile upon each other as NL West champions.

Nibbling left-hander Barry Zito walked in two runs in the first inning, momentarily sucking the life out of China Basin, and the Giants failed to summon a 2010 reincarnation of Bobby Thomson as the Padres held on for a 4-2 victory to set up one of the wildest final Sundays in pennant-race history.

An unprecedented three-way tie? Sudden-death tiebreakers in San Diego one day and Atlanta the next? Or book a trip to the postseason even before Jonathan Sanchez throws the first pitch today? The head explodes with possibilities, any of which could happen.

Even if the Giants lose today's showdown between Sanchez and Mat Latos, they would not be eliminated. In the worst-case scenario, they'd have to lose two additional tiebreaker games (Monday at San Diego, then Tuesday at Atlanta) to be shut out of their first postseason since 2003.

But the players continue to keep it simple: Win today, clinch the NL West, pop corks.

"You know what? It feels the same as it's felt the last month," said Buster Posey, the Giants' level-headed rookie catcher. "We've got to go out and win a game. It's probably felt like that since Sept. 1."

A day after Matt Cain gave up three home runs in an

uncharacteristic shelling, Zito delivered a performance that was all too familiar to Giants fans. He gave up soft singles to the first two batters he faced and pitched from his heels the rest of the afternoon, seemingly fearing contact.

After an intentional walk to Adrian Gonzalez loaded the bases, Zito missed on 3-2 pitches to Yorvit Torrealba and Scott Hairston to force in runs. The sellout crowd groaned and Zito wasn't able to generate any good will from fans, many of whom will forever view him as a $126 million albatross.

Manager Bruce Bochy let Zito hit for himself with two outs and the bases empty in the third inning, hoping at least to keep his bullpen fresh for whatever awaited the Giants in the coming days. But Zito walked pitcher Tim Stauffer to lead off the fourth, and Bochy could stomach no more.

"I had no choice," Bochy said. "Actually, his stuff was fine. It looked like he was getting out of that (first) inning, but the walks hurt him. He was off."

Zito struggled with fastball command and credited the Padres for taking changeups that normally draw swings, saying it made the difference in the game.

"To scuffle in a game like this, I'm disappointed in myself," Zito said. "I'm very disappointed I didn't do what I came out to do. I was nitpicking, and that leads to falling behind, and that leads to walks."

Stauffer didn't have the same problem, holding the Giants to an infield single through six innings. The former long reliever escaped a jam created by a walk and an error in the sixth, when he struck out Posey on a cutter that started outside before snapping back near the plate.

The pitch was good enough for plate umpire Mike Everitt but not for Bochy, who stormed out of the dugout to argue and was ejected.

"It was just frustration," Bochy said. "I know the hitters are frustrated. It's a big game, and when you have enough (calls), it builds up. These are big at-bats."

Juan Uribe broke the shutout bid with his career-best 24th home run in the seventh, and the Giants rallied in the ninth against closer Heath Bell, who was appearing for the fourth consecutive day.

The crowd sensed magic brewing as Pat Burrell doubled and held at third on Uribe's blooper that landed near the chalk in right field. Pablo Sandoval followed with a single that scored Burrell. But with the tying runs on base, pinch hitter Jose Guillen grounded into a double play to end it.

It was the 157th rally-killing double play for the Giants -- the most in the NL.

"We had the right guy up there," said Bochy, adding he might have considered starting pinch runner Darren Ford from first base in a favorable count.

But Guillen could not channel Thomson, and the Giants continue to play for their lives.

"Definitely, we don't want to go back to San Diego," right-hander Sergio Romo said. "But we can't look past tomorrow. It's the biggest game of the season for us.

"We knew they were going to come in and be competitive, but watch out. We still like our chances, too."

Box Score

Giants' Cain pummeled, Padres move 2 games back

Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

Something did not feel right around China Basin before Friday night's game. Too many folks outside the clubhouse were discussing a clinching victory as if it were fait accompli, too many "whens," not enough "ifs" and way too little respect for a desperate Padres team with 88 wins.

Make that 89 wins.

A night that began with orange-clad fans waving orange towels and cheering players in orange jerseys turned blue and silent in a hurry. The Padres shelled Matt Cain for three home runs on his 26th birthday, roared ahead 6-0 by the fifth inning then held on for a 6-4 victory that gave them an ingredient they have lacked of late - hope - while keeping the National League West race alive.

Cain had not surrendered three homers in a game all year before Ryan Ludwick hit a curveball over the center-field wall in the second inning, Adrian Gonzalez hit a three-run shot to right-center in the third after pitcher Clayton Richard started the rally with a single, and old man Matt Stairs hit a solo in the fourth. Ludwick and Gonzalez were a combined 5-for-48 on the Padres' just-completed homestand.

"I just left some big pitches over the plate," Cain said. He acknowledged he was "a bit nervous, but it was a good nervous."

The home clubhouse was not as glum as one might think after such a loss, as the Giants clung to their four-run rally. It was engineered by backup outfielders Cody Ross and Aaron Rowand, who combined for four big hits. Neither started the game.

The Giants forced manager Bud Black to run through his stable of prized late relievers. That included a four-out save from closer Heath Bell, who retired Andres Torres on a groundball with the tying runs aboard to end the eighth, then benefited from a terrible running mistake by Freddy Sanchez in the ninth.

After four innings, one might have argued that the momentum had shifted well into San Diego's corner. The Giants hope the final five innings shifted it back.

"For us to rally back down six runs and make a game of it, you can flip a coin," Rowand said. "They won the first game, but we definitely gave them something to think about, and we're not going to lie down."

The Giants remain in command. The Padres still have to beat them three times in a row to win the division, today and Sunday in San Francisco, and Monday in a potential one-game playoff in San Diego.

But the Padres got their most important win, the first one, by clobbering the Giants' best starter and beating them at their own game, the long ball. Cain had not lost since Aug. 18. Furthermore, the Padres know that today they face a pitcher, Barry Zito, with one win in his last 10 decisions.

At least for the Giants' sake it was his most recent decision. San Diego counters with Tim Stauffer, who has been rock-solid since he rejoined the rotation in early September.

The Giants had an opening in the ninth when Bell walked the leadoff hitter, Sanchez. Aubrey Huff then drilled a ball toward the right-field corner, where Wil Venable caught it at the wall. Sanchez said he thought Huff had homered, or at least hit one off the top of the wall, and was around second base when the catch was made. He was doubled off, and Buster Posey grounded out to end the game.

"I take pride in being a good baserunner, the best baserunner I can be," Sanchez said. "That wasn't my smartest move right there. It would have been nice to see what would have happened had I not done what I did. I'm going to try to be professional about it, get a good night's sleep and come back tomorrow."

Ross, who entered in a double switch, doubled in the fifth and scored the Giants' first run on a Sanchez single off Richard. Rowand hit a pinch two-run homer in the sixth off Richard, a shocking blow for a back-bencher who had batted only three times since Sept. 16. Ross drove in the fourth run with his second double in two innings.

As fans were filing in, a promotion for a Comcast news show ran on the big stadium video board. The announcer said loudly enough to be heard on Potrero Hill, "Will this be the night the Giants pop the Champagne corks?"

Might have been a good idea to keep that line on ice until the Padres finished batting practice and walked off the field. Perhaps they saw it. Perhaps they didn't. In either case, the Champagne stayed on ice.

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