Major League Baseball

Paul Hagen: Giants have some say in outcome, after all

Published Oct. 20, 2010 10:16 a.m. ET

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SAN FRANCISCO - In real life, it's said that familiarity breeds contempt. In sports, it's usually the opposite.

The more you see of certain players, the more they grow on you. You begin to discover (or maybe imagine) hidden attributes. An appreciation grows. Nobody is immune. Reporters tend to vote for players on the team they cover for the postseason awards. Teams routinely overvalue their own players.

So it's probably not surprising that, back in Philadelphia, there was a strong consensus before the National League Championship Series opened that the hometown team would make short work of the San Francisco Giants and advance to the World Series for the third straight time.

This was pretty much based on three reasons: Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

The perception was that the three aces were practically invincible, a line of thinking that became only more alluring when Halladay pitched his no-hitter in the first game of the NL Division Series against Cincinnati.

So it's hard to tell what is more shocking to Phillies Nation this morning: that their team is trailing the best-of-seven NLCS, two games to one, after losing to the Giants at AT & T Park yesterday, 3-0. Or that the Phillies find themselves in a bit of a hole because they have been outpitched.

One time through the three-man rotations, the Phillies' triumvirate has a 3.43 earned run average, compared with 2.25 for Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain.

And if you follow the general consensus that the Phillies have the much stronger lineup and grade on a curve, the difference is even more pronounced.

One more time: The Giants starters are pretty good, too.

Cain allowed only a pair of singles in his seven innings yesterday. The Phillies are hitting .194 as a team in the series. Which raises the eternal question of whether the Giants are pitching that well or the Phillies are just swinging the bats that poorly.

"I don't know, man. I wish I had an answer," centerfielder Shane Victorino said. "I'm not taking any credit away from [Cain], but I don't think we're swinging the bats the way we need to. You've got to give credit where credit is due. Now we've got to go out there and do what we've got to do.

"We knew how good their pitching was. It's still a long series, brother. If you don't hit, it doesn't matter how good your pitching is. So you can't blame our pitching right now. That's what this game's about. You have to score runs, too, not just rely on your pitcher [shutting the other team down]."

Said manager Charlie Manuel: "We don't score runs, I'm always concerned. That's what dictated the game. The pitching might have something to do with our swings. It's definitely been pitching. Everybody built this up as a pitching series, and so far that's what we've seen."

That's usually the way it works, so no surprise there. What probably has surprised Phillies fans is that, so far, the Giants have been doing the dictating.

Heroes* Giants starter Matt Cain, who is 0-3 with a 6.23 earned run average against the Phillies in the regular season, pitched seven shutout innings, allowing only a pair of singles, to get the win.

* Cody Ross did it again. His two-out single in the fourth inning drove in the game's first run. That came after the Giants rightfielder homered three times in the first two games. He's batting .444 in the NLCS. He already has five go-ahead RBI this postseason.

Goats* The Phillies went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. It was the first time the Phillies have been shut out in postseason play since Game 5 of the 1983 World Series against Baltimore. They played 49 postseason games in between.

* Chase Utley wasn't charged with an error, but failed to make two tough plays that led to two San Francisco runs. With two outs and runners on first and third in the fourth, Aubrey Huff hit a sharp grounder to the Phillies second baseman's left that glanced off his glove and rolled into shallow right. In the fifth, with two outs and a runner on second, he was unable to handle a smash by Freddy Sanchez.

Did you noticeThat the Giants played for one run as early as the fourth inning?

After Edgar Renteria led off with San Francisco's first hit off Hamels, a single to right, manager Bruce Bochy had Sanchez bunt him to second. Renteria eventually scored the game's first run.

Matchups to watchGiants leftfielder Pat Burrell is only 3-for-12 (.250) lifetime with five strikeouts against Phillies Game 4 starter Joe Blanton, but all three hits were home runs.

Giants shortstop Juan Uribe is 1-for-11 (.091) against Blanton.

The Phillies have never faced Giants rookie lefthander Madison Bumgarner.

Wally Bell will be the home-plate umpire tonight. Blanton is 1-4, 5.70 in five career starts with Bell calling balls and strikes. Opponents are batting .271 against him in those games, and he has a 1.333 WHIP. Bumgarner has one relief appearance with Bell behind the plate and is 0-0, 0.00 in that game with a .333 opponent's batting average and a 1.200 WHIP.

Et ceteraThe Giants have won three straight and eight of their last nine NLCS games at home. The next two games will be at AT & T Park . . . San Francisco's starting pitchers have worked 22 2/3 innings at home this postseason without allowing an earned run. *

Send e-mail to hagenp@phillynews.com.

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