Phillies Defeat Giants 4-2 To Force NLCS Game 6
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP) -- Doc got the best of The Freak this time in a rematch of aces.
Roy Halladay pitched through a groin pull, outdueling Tim Lincecum and keeping the Philadelphia Phillies alive in the NL championship series with a 4-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants in Game 5 on Thursday night.
One rough inning from Lincecum, allowing three runs in the third inning with help from an error by Aubrey Huff, proved to be just enough to prevent the Giants from holding a pennant-clinching party on the shores of McCovey Cove.
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"Obviously we wanted to shut it down here in front of the home crowd,'' Lincecum said. "You have to take advantage of the opportunities you get. Saturday's another day.''
So, the Giants will have to wait at least a couple of days for the chance to pop more champagne - and that's nothing new around here. San Francisco clinched the NL West in its third try on the final day of the season.
"With this club, we don't do anything easy," skipper Bruce Bochy said. "What they've been through, they'll put this behind us. Believe me, under no illusion did we think this was going to be easy playing a great club."
Jayson Werth's solo homer in the ninth quieted the raucous sellout crowd of 43,713, and many Giants fans began making for the exits at AT&T Park even before Philadelphia pulled within 3 games to 2 in the best-of-seven series.
Now the Giants need to take a cross-country flight and win in Philadelphia if they want to go to the World Series for the fourth time since moving West in 1958. San Francisco's last World Series trip with a Barry Bonds-led team ended in a Game 7 loss to the Angels in 2002.
Philadelphia will now try to become the 12th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven series. The Red Sox were the last to do it in the 2007 ALCS against Cleveland.
"From our perspective we see ourselves more in the driver's seat than them, more in control. It's up to us," Lincecum said.
"Winning there or here, we just want to get that win,'' he further explained. "Obviously going there and getting one out of two already was something we wanted to do. Now we have confidence we can go back and take one out of two again.''
In a series dominated by pitching, the Phillies are hitting just .209 and the Giants .220. Little has separated the teams, despite trailing in the series, Philadelphia has outscored San Francisco 18-16.
More Cody Ross signs came out for Game 5, including "CODY ROSS (equal) SORRY DOC." He delivered again, though this time it wasn't enough.
Ross, who homered twice off Halladay in Game 1, struck out swinging to start the second but hit an RBI double in his next at-bat in the fourth to pull the Giants within 3-2.
The Giants put the possible tying run in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but couldn't capitalize, losing in a potential postseason clincher at home for the first time since Game 7 of the 1962 World Series against the New York Yankees.
They had no chance to recover from that loss, which haunts San Francisco nearly five decades later as the team still looks for its first World Series title in the Bay Area.
The Giants will have two chances to recover from this defeat with Jonathan Sanchez set to start Game 6 against Roy Oswalt, who is 10-0 in 12 starts at Philadelphia this year.
Matt Cain, who hasn't allowed a run in two postseason starts, waits in Game 7, if necessary.
San Francisco was hoping to avoid another long flight East, preferring to rest up at home for the World Series opener next Wednesday.
There was a celebratory atmosphere at AT&T park on Tuesday well before game time, with Giants fans hoping their shaggy-haired ace could close out the two-time defending NL champion Phillies.
Lincecum pitched like the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner he is in his first two postseason starts, shutting out Atlanta in Game 1 of the division series and beating fellow Cy Young winner Roy Halladay in the opener of this round.
He started fast once again, retiring his first six batters. He even had the lead after the Giants managed to get to Halladay for an early run.
But the bad third inning was enough to do spoil Lincecum's night, as the Giants' offense failed to back him.
Raul Ibanez, back in the lineup after a night off, singled to stop an 0-for-15 slump and get the Phillies started. Lincecum then hit Carlos Ruiz with a pitch -- the record-tying fourth time Ruiz has been hit this postseason.
"To get ahead of a batter like that and give him a free base definitely hurts,'' Lincecum said. "But you have to move on to the next batter.''
Halladay laid down a bunt that catcher Buster Posey picked up right near the plate. Posey threw to third, but Pablo Sandoval could not get back to the bag for the force. Halladay did not run, thinking it was a foul ball, and was easily thrown out at first.
"We're inches away from getting a double play,'' Bochy said. "That's a missed opportunity for us not getting the double play, and it came back to haunt us.''
Shane Victorino followed with a hard grounder to first that hit off Huff's glove and into shallow center field, scoring two runs. Placido Polanco followed with an RBI single that made it 3-1.
Chase Utley followed with a single and Lincecum retired the next 11 batters before running into a little more trouble in the seventh. He escaped that jam when pinch-hitter Ross Gload lined into an inning-ending double play with runners on first and third on his final pitch of the night.
Lincecum allowed two earned runs and four hits. He struck out seven, including Ryan Howard three times.
Lincecum's 29 strikeouts in his first three postseason starts are tied with Sandy Koufax for the second-most -- two behind Bob Gibson's record.
Notes: Former Giants manager and beloved outfielder Felipe Alou, Jim Davenport, Cepeda, Mays and Eddie Bressoud all threw out ceremonial first pitches as part of a tribute to the 1958 club. Mays tipped his cap to the cheering crowd. ... The Giants had won five straight Game 5s. Since the NLCS went to seven games in 1985, only the 2003 Chicago Cubs and 1996 St. Louis Cardinals have lost after leading the series 3-1.
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