Giants 1 Win Away After Taking Game 4

The Giants have looked like a team on a mission all postseason long, and have moved to within 1 win of making their first World Series trip since 2002.

Madison Bumgarner was on early, but ran into some trouble in the fifth abd couldn't quite hold the 2-0 lead the Giants gave him. Bruce Bochy didn't really give him a chance to pitch out of it though, as he went to the Giants bullpen early. Santiago Castilla proceeded to allow 3 runs, and forced the Giants to come back for the first time in the series, and they did just that. The bullpen really took care of business after that hiccup in the fifth, and the Giants offense took it from there. Buster Posey had his big breakout game that the Giants have been waiting for this series, going 4-5 with 2 big RBI. Aubrey Huff also had a big night, something the Giants really need out of him after he started 2-20 this postseason, going 3-5 with an RBI and of course got that game-winning rally in the 9th started. The Giants also got a huge hit out of Pablo Sandoval tonight, which put the Giants on the board early, and really set the tone for the night. Sandoval did ground into an inning ending double play with them loaded in the 8th, but he still had a big impact on this game. He had a few nice defensive plays throughout the night as well, and should be out there again tomorrow night vs. Halladay. Speaking of big defensive plays, Juan Uribe made a huge play in the top of the ninth on a sharply hit grounder up the middle for the first out, just before sending everybody home happy with the game winning sac fly in the bottom half.

Now the Giants head into play Thursday with a chance to put themselves in the Series, and there's nobody they'd rather be sending to the mound in this situation than the kid who's become the face of this franchise in the post-Barry Bonds era, Tim Lincecum. It will be a rematch of game one, as the Phills counter with an ace of their own in Roy Halladay. The national media has been making a case for the Phills that even if they go down 3-1 like they have, they're not at all out of it, with Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels set to got on full rest for the remaining 3 games. However, the Giants got into Philly's bullpen early, and ended up forcing Charlie Manuel to use Roy Oswalt, the potential game 6 starter, in relief.

Even though the Giants are up 3-1, game 5 is a tremendously important game for them. If they fail to finish off the Phills Thursday night, then this series goes back to Philly, and all bets would then be off. The pressure is certainly on the Phillies, as they have their backs to the wall, but Bruce Bochy should manage Thursday's game 5 like it's game 7!