Major League Baseball

Kawakami:

Published Oct. 17, 2010 10:13 p.m. ET

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PHILADELPHIA -- Cody Ross: The accidental legend continues.

Actually, the tale of Ross's October journey with the Giants is now moving beyond legend and toward the stuff of playoff myth and magic.

And, maybe, destiny.

Only weeks ago, the 29-year-old journeyman outfielder was an afterthought. Now, Ross is the most important, most dangerous and most electrifying player in the universe.

He's "Babe Ross," as Giants radio voice Duane Kuiper said Saturday night.

Of course, Ross wasn't the only significant contributor in the Giants' 4-3 Game 1 victory against the heavily-favored Philadelphia Phillies here.

But, echoing his heroics in the Giants' first-round victory over Atlanta, once again on Saturday, Ross was the man who met the moment.

"It's been an unbelievable experience for me," Ross said afterward, sounding like he really was struggling to believe it.

First, Ross rocked Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay with a stunning solo home run in the third inning -- after Halladay had retired the first seven Giants in order.

That blast, said left-fielder Pat Burrell, proved that the Giants could get to the pitcher who threw a no-hitter in his last appearance.

"It was huge for us," Burrell said. "We just needed to go out there and put something on the board.

"And more than anything, just to kind of calm down our offense, because when you look at the last start (Halladay) had, there wasn't a whole lot to hit for those guys."

And, after the Phillies tied it 1-1 on Giants starter Tim Lincecum, Ross wandered back to the plate in the fifth inning and hit another homer off Halladay, putting the Giants ahead to stay.

Both times, Ross turned on a cut fastball that moved to the inner half of the plate, and whipped it into the left-field seats.

All this from someone the Giants acquired in August only after the Florida Marlins released him. And the Giants only claimed Ross in order to block him from going to their division-rival San Diego Padres.

He came to the team when it already had Jose Guillen as their full-time right fielder. But, since then, Guillen has faded away and Ross, who grew up wanting to be a rodeo clown, has grabbed the right-field job.

"You look at this team and we do have some characters here," manager Bruce Bochy said. "I compare them to the 'Dirty Dozen.' That's the way they play. "... When you're talking about Cody Ross, here's a guy that wanted to be a rodeo clown, and that's a tough job."

It was Ross who drove in the only run in Game 1 of the previous series against Atlanta, and it was Ross who broke up a no-hitter with a homer and then drove in the game-winner in the series-clinching Game 4.

Now he has almost single-handedly wrecked a Halladay start for the Phillies, and helped put the Giants up 1-0 in this series.

"It's not a surprise," Bochy said. "I mean, we got him for a reason. He's coming through big-time for us."

After Ross' first homer, a hush fell over Citizens Bank Park, as if something bizarre had just occurred. After the second homer, the Philadelphia crowd just seemed dazed. How was it possible that the Giants' No. 8 hitter was stomping one of the game's greatest pitchers?

Did they even know who he was?

"I just try to take pride in going up there every single at-bat and try to get something going for my team," Ross, working for his fifth team in a major league career that began in 2002, said. "Anything that you can do to spark your club and to get the emotions rolling.

"I'm not going up there every single at-bat trying to hit a home run to break up a no-hitter or try to get a hit off Halladay. But I'll take it and we'll move on tomorrow."

In the postgame discussions, the Giants could only smile and repeat that they realize something very special is happening here.

The Phillies are the team with the former NL MVPs and back-to-back trips to the World Series.

Meanwhile the Giants have great pitchers "... and castoffs like Ross and Burrell, who hit a key run-scoring double in the sixth.

But now it's the Phillies who have just lost at home, who are hearing loud questions about their clutch hitting, and who are staring at the possibility of going down 0-2 today.

And it's Ross--the accidental playoff superstar--who is the dominant presence in the NL playoffs, riding the surge of his own hitting, and, possibly, the waves of destiny, too.

Read Tim Kawakami's Talking Points blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami . Contact him at tkawakami@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5442.

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