Win at home and split on the road and we're home free

The Giants cannot be dissatisfied with their work in Philadelphia. A split is about as good as you could hope for there. And if you defend your ground and take two of the next three at home, then all that needs to happen is you go back to Philadelphia only needing to split another two game set to advance.

Easier said than done, but that's what it comes down to at this point. Lincecum put the Philthees backs to the wall with his gem. Sanchez almost matches Oswalt before fading.

I like the match ups for SF. Cain vs. Hamels is a draw. Bumgarner vs. Blanton should favor the Giants. Then comes a Lincecum - Halliday rematch of heavyweights for the upper hand heading to Philly.

I can't see either team sweeping, so IMO it comes down to who takes two of three in Frisco.

Cody Ross continues his Cinderella post-season. I think he stays in SF next year and hopefully beyond. Burrell would be a good keep as well.

Perhaps Guillen, Rowand and Renteria should be looking for real estate agents ASAP.

Amazing that with all the Sabean back-slapping that nobody has mentioned that this may be the first team in recent memory to have it's TOP THREE players in terms of salary off the playoff roster or out of the lineup by choice of the team and not due to injury.

Zito $18.5M - Rowand $13.6M and Renteria $10M the TOP THREE - $42.1M of the team's total payroll of approx. $88M on the bench. ALMOST 50% of the payroll non-productive. Perhaps Sabean deserves a promotion to head up the Obama administration economic stimulus team or special advisor to Ben Bernanke's QE2 effort.

OK, OK. I'll say it, like a good little Giants fan - "If they make it to or win the World Series it's all worth it." But remember this, if they don't then -- much like the national debts effect on the economy -- this will considerably hamstring the Giants efforts to grow in the future.

Did I mention that DeRosa's $6M salary puts him in the 5th spot salary-wise behind Tim Linceum?

And that he has as many hits as I do in this post-season?

Oh, I have mentioned it in the past? Well good, because it bears repeating.

GO GIANTS!!!