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I have heard too many analysts, as well as Giant fans, tell me how good this team is. How they are going to defy the odds, how “deserving” they are of this, when the fact of the matter is they aren’t.

Although the bulk of this is based upon my opinion, this article is well-researched and formulated. Like it or not, you can’t ignore these numbers.

The first comment I usually (and will) get by the Giants faithful is the fact that San Francisco won the NL West…to which my response is usually… and? Somebody had to win it.

Their next comment is usually along the lines of their 92-70 record, which again, appears impressive. Lets examine that.

Now before I get too deep, the main purpose of this article is to explain why the Giants have no business making it to the World Series, and whether or not they beat the Braves doesn’t really matter.

If the Braves had advanced it would be almost the exact same scenario. Before you go look at my profile and determine I’m a Padres fan…that doesn’t matter either.

Had the Padres advanced to the playoffs, they would not have had any more of a chance than the Giants or Braves. They too had no business being here.

I’m aware of that, you should be too. So why do the Giants have no chance? Why aren’t they as good as everyone thinks? Why won’t they win the NLCS and eventually the series?

They can’t hit. They can’t score runs. but more specifically here are five reasons the bus stops here.

1. Cody Ross is not your (and never will be) NLCS/World Series MVP. Sorry.

Yes, he is having an unreal streak of at-bats for the Giants this postseason, but lets look at the big picture…after Burrell, nobody else is doing squat. You don’t pitch to one/both of them, and one/both has a bad game, the rest of the lineup is averaging .66 RBI’s per game.

That’s right, the other seven are driving in LESS THAN A RUN PER GAME…and you want to compete with the No. 2 offense in the NL.

Tim Lincecum will be our MVP!! No, he won’t.

You guys will not consistently score enough runs for him to keep winning games. He isn’t going to strike out 14 guys every game, which is what you needed to beat the Braves and their horrid offense.

He also needed Cody Ross to man up against Halladay, and he did…but there’s nobody else there to back him up.

If we look back at the last six years NLCS/ALCS MVP’s we have:

Ryan Howard, CC Sabathia, Cole Hamels, Matt Garza, Matt Holiday, Josh Beckett, Jeff Suppan, Placido Polanco, Roy Oswalt, Paul Konerko, Albert Pujols and David Ortiz.

The first thing we notice? six pitchers, six hitters, so we’re fairly balanced. The next thing? I don’t see any Cody Ross caliber players?

The worst player on that list is Jeff Suppan, and he’s a pitcher, not an 8-hole hitter. Most of those guys are perennial MVP/Cy Young candidates.

The next (and probably most important thing) we notice? Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Placido Polanco and Roy Oswalt are on that list….and they’re also on the Phillies. Not only that, Hamels was a World Series MVP as well (and he’s the number THREE starter).

To further emphasize the talent on the Phillies roster, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard are regular season MVPs…and we haven’t even mentioned the Phillies best hitter in Chase Utley. Oh…and somebody named Roy Halladay…who had a fairly decent postseason debut.

2. Their regular season record IS 22 games above .500, but their record against teams that can score runs is not. If we take the top three NL teams in runs we get the Reds, Phillies, and Rockies.

If we examine the Giants record against these teams, we see they are a very average 18-15. If we include the Red Sox (No, 2 in the AL) in interleague play we get to 19-17.

The Giants record against teams that can score runs tells us all we need to know about what kind of club they are…and they showcased that in the NLDS against the Braves.

After they won that series a lot of Giants fans began running their mouth about how they’re the underdog, and nobody is taking them seriously, insert final cliche here. Who cares?

Your team is built around a bunch of misfits, has-beens, and never was players, anchored by a dominant starting rotation in Timmy, Cain, and Sanchez (which I will not discount…they’re solid).

3. Playoff experience. This won’t require too much explanation for the bulk of you that have watched what the Phil’s have done in the last few years. They’re the real deal, and they’re only getting better.

When was the last time a ROOKIE CATCHER led his team to a world series? 1966. We have already seen a no-hitter this postseason, so you never know.

4. Home field advantage for San Francisco doesn’t exist. Moving from the Cracker Jack Box that is Citizens Bank Park to AT & T Park is only going to make it even more difficult to score runs.

Citizens bank was 10th in baseball with 1.125 HR allowed per game, while AT & T was 20th in the league with .885 homeruns allowed per game…and that was during the summer. Few balls will leave the Giants bats and make it through the thick October nights and into the bleachers.

If the Giants team was built on speed that would be one thing, but nothing could be further from the truth. No team in the Major Leagues stole fewer bases than the San Francisco Giants.

They tied the Chicago Cubs for the fewest steals in the league with a whopping 55. The Phillies on the other hand,  finished the regular season with 108 steals. Advantage: Philly.

5. The Phillies starting three are too good. Halladay will pitch on short rest, meaning a seven game schedule would consist of Halladay three times, Oswalt twice and Hamels twice. You beat Halladay once, what are the odds on beating him again…or two more times?

He lost 10 games in 33 starts…so on average he will lose one of the three games he pitches…and he’s already done that. Will one of the worst offenses in recent playoff memory be the team to knock Halladay around three times in a row?

I’m shaking my head because I know there are Giants fans that are claiming they can do it.

“SAN FRANCISCO OWNS HALLADAY!! HE IS 0-2 AGAINST US THIS YEAR!!” True, but that’s very flawed logic. First, the regular season game he lost didn’t feature Cody Ross. Meaning this second go around didn’t have the same players as did the first one.

Not to mention that game was only Halladay’s fifth start of the year. Lets look at who did the damage that game. Halladay allowed five runs in a 5-1 loss. So who tagged Halladay for those five runs? Two of them were driven in by Whiteside, two by DeRosa. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t seen their names on any lineups thus far in the postseason.

Of the 10 hits allowed by Halladay that first game, two were from Sandoval, two were from Renteria, two from Whiteside, and one each from Bowker, Torres, Huff, and DeRosa.

How many of these players were even in the lineup against Halladay the second go around? Torres and Huff. How much did they benefit from seeing him a second time around? 2-9, zero RBI’s. So take that “favorable” matchup for what it’s worth.

You want to focus on matchups? Cain lost his only start versus Philly this year by a score of 2-8. Bumgarner was 0-4 against the top three scoring NL teams I mentioned earlier.

Congratulations on making it this far, the Giants have clearly demonstrated they are the best of the worst teams eligible to fill this slot in the postseason. It would have been difficult to write this about the Padres, but they would have been swept in the first round before I even got around to it.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t go out there and cheer for your team, just be a little more humble about it. You’re fortunate enough to have gotten this far.

The Giants pitching staff should keep them competitive for the next few years, and Buster Posey caliber players will continue to emerge from a strong farm system that continues to develop talent.

If you guys pull it out, good for you. If not, try not to blame the umps.

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San Francisco Giants fans have to feel good about Tim Lincecum now. After a few rocky months, Lincecum is hitting the mid-90s again with his fastball and looking as dominant as he did during his two Cy Young years. I knew going into the game that, if they were both on, Lincecum would out-pitch Roy Halladay.

Despite what the stats may say, both were on last night. Due to an unforgiving strike zone, the game was higher scoring than it should have been, although 4-3 certainly isn’t much. Lincecum struck out eight against the National League’s best offense, despite walking three. What should be concerning for Giants fans is the method of scoring for the Phillies: the long ball.

While the Phillies have a prolific offense, Lincecum has historically been able to keep the ball in the park—becoming a rare strikeout/ ground ball type of pitcher. This year however, Lincecum nearly doubled his home-runs-allowed rate, a concerning stat going forward in these playoffs.

The biggest problem is that, while the Phillies are a good hitting team, they pale in comparison to the home run power of Yankees and the Rangers. And while the Phillies are a patient team, they are not the New York Yankees. Against a more patient team, especially with a home plate umpire like Gerry Davis, Lincecum could be in trouble.

Unlike years past, he is hittable. And against the best AL offenses he will be very hittable. Lincecum’s changeup is the best in the league, but it is effective falling out of the zone—something that the Yankees or Rangers will be sure to exploit.

I love watching Lincecum, and except for the month and a half where he couldn’t hit the strike zone (five walks in four straight games? C’mon man!), I don’t miss his starts. But it would make me nervous to be facing an AL team with him as my ace.

That being said, I could be entirely wrong and he’ll look like the Lincecum we saw from game one of the NLDS against the Braves. But even in that game, those two Braves hits were long doubles—and many of the outs were fly-ball outs. The 14 strikeouts were extremely impressive, but they come with some caveats.

Giants fans should, however, be impressed with their offense—managing to score four runs off of one of the best pitchers in the game. They are a scrappy team, and manage to score just enough runs to win. With each of their division series wins coming by merely one run, they have shown the ability to hit just as well as their very talented pitching staff allows.

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It was the matchup everyone was waiting for: Tim Lincecum vs. Roy Halladay. Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter in this postseason’s first game, while Tim Lincecum threw a two-hit shutout complemented by 14 K’s.

In Game 1 of the NLCS, however, neither pitcher lived up to the expectations of a 1-0 game.

Roy Halladay gave up four earned runs in seven innings of work last night, including two home runs to Cody Ross. Tim Lincecum got the win, matching Halladay’s seven innings and giving up three earned runs. 

Neither pitcher was even close to being the player of the game. Both were in the shadows of Cody Ross, who had Roy Halladay’s number last night, bashing two homers off him. Lincecum gave up home runs to Carlos Ruiz and Jayson Werth. So, while the theme in Game 1 was supposed to be pitching, it turned out to be the long ball.

The Giants put the heavily favored Phillies behind in the series, 1-0, when Brian Wilson came in to get the save, striking out four out of the four batters he faced. 

But the Phillies do not need to worry. Between Oswalt and Hamels, I like the Phillies’ chances of winning the next two games.

Oswalt has a 1.74 ERA since joining the Phils earlier this year, and Hamels has been pitching much better this year than he did in 2009. Hamels looked great throwing a shutout against the Reds to finish off the sweep of the Reds. Additionally, Hamels knows how to pitch in the playoffs. When the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, Hamels was awarded the World Series MVP.

Although this is the first time the Phils have lost Game 1 of a postseason series in three years, they just seem to win every playoff series they are in. In the Phillies last seven postseason series, they have only lost one.

With Oswalt going in Game 2 against Jonathan Sanchez, one has to think that there is going to be a pitching duel. Oswalt has been dominant for the Phils this year, especially at Citizens Bank Park. Sanchez has been great against the Phillies this year with a 1.38 ERA against them. 

With Oswalt’s experience of pitching in the playoffs for the Astros, the Phillies have the edge in pitching experience for Game 2. Sanchez is a postseason rookie pitching in a hostile Citizens Bank Park. 

In Game 3, the pitching matchup will be Cole Hamels vs. Matt Cain in San Francisco. Hamels is one of the best playoff pitchers left in this year’s postseason. Cain is a postseason rookie just as Sanchez, but he is not bad for a first-timer. Cain gave up no earned runs in 6.2 innings against the Braves in Game 2 of the NLDS.

Cain was chosen to start by manager Bruce Bochy in Game 3 instead of Game 2 because of his 5.29 career ERA at Citizens Bank Park. He will start at AT&T Park, where he has had a career 3.16 ERA.

The Phillies have to hold the edge in Game 3 with Hamels, who seems to always be lights-out in the playoffs. I believe Cain will pitch a good game, but the Phillies have too much star power with the bats, and will manage to score enough runs for Hamels.

In Game 4, it’s Joe Blanton going for the Fightin’ Phils and Madison Bumgarner for the Giants. Blanton has been far from good this year and Bumgarner is not only a playoff rookie, he is a first-year Major League pitcher. In terms of pitching, I am going to give the Giants a slight edge, but pitching will not be as much of a factor in this game as in the first three.

If there is any game in this series that will be a slugfest, it will be Game 4.

Whichever team shows up to hit the ball in Game 4 will probably be the winner. If the Giants can get an early lead, I think they will win the game. The way the Phillies can win the game is if Blanton gives up fewer than five runs and the Phillies just hit the ball pretty well against Bumgarner. 

In Game 4, I believe the Giants have the best chance at winning the game.

If Game 5 is necessary, it will be a 50-50 toss-up, just like Game 1. Don’t expect another 4-3 game, think more along the lines of 2-0 or 2-1. Halladay will toss a great game and Lincecum should match him. With the game at AT&T Park, I like the Giants to win Game 5 with Tim Lincecum pitching a complete game.

If Game 6 is necessary, it will look very similar to Game 2 with Oswalt going against Sanchez. At Citizens Bank Park again, I have to stick with Oswalt in the matchup.

Oswalt has the experience of pitching in big NLCS games in Houston, and he has been brilliant at home for the Phillies this year. The X factor in Game 6 will be the home-field advantage for Oswalt and the Phils. I like Oswalt to outduel Sanchez and win Game 6 for the Phils.

If all of my predictions are correct and this series goes to Game 7, the pitching matchup between Hamels and Cain is the most likely scenario. If that is the case, the Phillies will be heavily favored to win Game 7. Cole Hamels will be dominant, there is almost no question about it. So Matt Cain will have to match Hamels with an absolute gem, and that is no easy task for Cain in Philadelphia.

The Phillies fans will be relentless and make it hard for Cain, along with the rest of the team. Cain has struggled in his career in Philadelphia and I don’t see that changing. Hamels will pitch a good Game 7 and the Phillies will score enough runs off Cain to pull off the win.

The Giants will definitely give the Phillies a run for their money in this series. But between the pitching, hitting and playoff experience of the Phils, they will find a way to win this series.

They always do. 

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For those fans who were expecting a pitching duel of the century, Cody Ross and home plate umpire Gerry Davis’ minuscule strike zone made sure to perish the thought. In his first two at-bats, Ross hit blasts into the left field bleachers—the first being the first hit Roy Halladay had allowed in almost 12 innings, and the second giving Giants’ starter Tim Lincecum a 2-1 lead.

Then in the sixth, Davis struck, calling what would have been strike three a ball. A few pitches later, Pat “The Bat” Burrell doubled to left to give the Giants a 3-1 lead with two outs. Juan Uribe singled to give the Giants an extra cushion, making the score 4-1. That would be all Lincecum would need.

After giving up a two-run home run to free-agent-to-be Jayson Werth, Lincecum settled down and made it through seven strong innings. He struck out eight en route to his second win of his postseason career.

Prior to the game, much had been made of such a star-studded pitching matchup. Lincecum and Halladay’s combined stats this postseason (both having only made one career postseason start) were: 2 CGs, 22K’s, 2 hits, 2 walks. One of those complete games was a perfect game.

Through the first few innings, it looked as if the game had the potential to be another matchup where one mistake would decide the victor. But Davis’ unforgiving strike zone consistently made marginal pitches go the way of the hitter. Viewers expecting another two performances like the division series were victimized by Davis’ game calling.

Tonight at 8:00pm EST, the Giants send out Jonathan Sanchez, who since September has been the best pitcher in the league. Facing him will be Roy Oswalt, the National League leader in WHIP (walks plus hits per inning). Like Game 1, this game has the potential to be a low-scoring pitching duel.

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We panicked every year that they wouldn’t win the division, but they did. We panicked during their July slump, but they overcame this by having a hot August and September.

Who were they?

The Philadelphia Phillies.

The panics have already started again in Philadelphia after a 4-3 loss to the San Fransisco Giants in Game 1 of the NLCS.

For some reason, this loss has made fans start to doubt the Phillies, and even forget about Roy Halladay‘s no-hitter.

Let me be the first to tell you not to panic.

If you watched closely to Halladay’s outing last night, it really wasn’t that bad. Although he gave up four runs, he pitched well.

He kept his velocity throughout, and racked up seven strikeouts.

Those two solo shots were just two out of his 105 pitches that he left hanging, something Halladay never does.

Don’t expect Roy to stop the engine in the playoffs.

In Games 2 and 3 we have Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

Two experienced playoff starters, and Hamels is a NLCS and World Series MVP.

On to the Phillies offense, there’s no need to panic there either. Does anyone realize we scored three runs and hit two homers off of Tim Lincecum?

Chase Utley and Jayson Werth combine for 22 postseason home runs.

Carlos Ruiz has been our most clutch and consistent hitter. His double off of Lincecum last night proved it.

Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino have good postseason pasts.

The only player to panic about is Jimmy Rollins, and I think he will come around.

This 2010 Phillies team is probably the best team the franchise has ever had.

Our pitching staff is loaded, and we are the most experienced postseason team along side with the New York Yankees.

The Phillies have won and lost a World Series, so they know what it’s like to be on both ends of the stick.

Why are we doubting experience?

We’ve seen what this team can do when they are down in the count. They have overcome many obstacles in years past, so why can’t they overcome this one?

I’m not sure if it’s Philadelphia fans in general, but the panicking needs to come to an end.

Don’t ever doubt the Phightin’ Phils.

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Regular season baseball is a funny game. Postseason baseball is knee-slapping, Will Ferrell in Anchorman game.

Of all the things that we thought about as we entered Game 1 of the NLCS, Cody Ross hitting two home runs off of Roy Halladay wasn’t one of them. Every postseason like clockwork, we see players who we would never expect to become heroes do the unthinkable.

Ross tagged Halladay for two solo HRs, and Tim Lincecum outdueled the Phillies’ ace as the Giants won 4-3 to take Game 1 of their best-of-seven NLCS.

This game featured two of the games best in Lincecum and Halladay, and the game kind of lived up to the hype. Were both pitchers great? Absolutely not. But they were both very good.

Halladay made four mistakes in his seven innings of work.

The first two came to Ross. Halladay tried to bury an inside fastball to Ross in the third, and he missed bad and Ross deposited it 417 ft into the leftfield bleachers. The hit by Ross was the first one Halladay had given up in the postseason.

Then in the fifth, Halladay made the same mistake to Ross. Again he tried to throw an inside fastball and again missed and again Ross hit it into the leftfield bleachers.

Take a look at the pitch plots on the two Ross ABs.

Ross AB in the third

Ross AB in the fifth

The turquoise plot indicates the ball that was hit in the AB and as you can see, the pitches that Ross hit out were almost in the same spot. The other mistakes Halladay made were in the sixth, and the pitch sequence to Pat Burrell was the turning point in the game.

With two outs and Buster Posey on first base, Halladay threw a perfect cutter to Burrell that home plate umpire Derryl Cousins called a ball. In all fairness to Cousins, he hadn’t called that pitch a strike all game, but that pitch was a strike.

On the very next pitch, Burrell ripped a ball to the wall for a *double. I put an asterisk next to the double because any other leftfielder besides Raul Ibanez would have caught that ball. Ibanez catches that ball and the non-strike call to Burrell doesn’t become such a big deal.

The last mistake Halladay made was to Juan Uribe, who was the next batter in the inning. Halladay left another fastball over the plate and Uribe singled up the middle to give the Giants a 4-1 lead.

On the flip side, Lincecum only made two mistakes.

The first one was to Carlos Ruiz in the third and the second one was to Jayson Werth in the sixth. Both were on fastballs out over the plate and both were hit for HRs to rightfield.

Lincecum struck out eight over seven innings of work. He only threw 41 percent first-pitch strikes, but rebounded in the count because of a wicked changeup that he threw for a strike 70 percent of the time.

Here are some other observations from Game 1…

Very impressed with Javier Lopez in this game. He went through Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the eighth with no problem what so ever. Didn’t think he had that in him.

I thought Bruce Bochy managed a great game. Pinch-running Nate Schierholtz for Burrell in the sixth was a smart move at the time, and I loved the fact that he went to Brian Wilson in the eighth to face Werth.

Jimmy Rollins has gotten old fast. The 2007 season seems like 10 years ago. He has a $8.5 million club option for 2011, which the Phillies will certainly pick up, but I doubt he will be in a Philly uniform after 2011.

I can’t wait for the WWE to have a lookalike tag-team match at WrestleMania. Edge and Werth vs. CM Punk and Wilson. This needs to be done.

Is Game 2 a must-win game for the Phillies? No, not at all. Winning Game 2 would certainly help, but the Phillies are a team that can come back from an 0-2 series deficit.

Game 2 is Sunday at 7:57 PM est and will pit Jonathan Sanchez against Roy Oswalt.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Game 1 of the NLCS was supposed to be an epic pitchers duel between two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum and no-hit wonder Roy Halladay. 

Instead, both pitchers did not have their best stuff, though Halladay continued where he left off with retiring the first seven Giants he faced. 

Then, No. 8 hitter Cody Ross stepped into the batter’s box. 

Ross has an unimposing figure, being 5’10” and 195 pounds, and had a career batting mark of 3-for-16 against Halladay before the game. 

However, that changed in a hurry.

Ross turned on two inside fastballs for home runs to help the San Francisco Giants win 4-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series over the Philadelphia Phillies. 

The 30-year-old journeyman provided the necessary spark for the Giants to overcome Halladay. The first homer was in the third for a 1-0 edge.

After Carlos Ruiz tied it with his own blast, Ross put his team ahead 2-1 in the fifth. 

In the sixth, Buster Posey singled and then Pat Burrell doubled him home. Juan Uribe finished the scoring with an RBI single for the 4-1 lead. 

Jayson Werth had a two-run homer to cut the deficit 4-3, but Giants’ relievers Javier Lopez and Brian Wilson shut the Phillies down. 

Ross, a right fielder claimed on waivers from Florida on Aug. 21, also had key hits against the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the NLDS. 

He homered and had the go-ahead RBI to win the series for San Francisco. 

Not bad for Ross’ first postseason. 

And Halladay is now a peg lower after his legendary no-hitter, giving up eight hits and four runs in seven innings.

Having Ross and his teammates beat the Phillies’ ace could give them confidence when facing Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. 

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Early in the seven o’clock hour, the rally towels were already waving. The noise was already to the max, and the fireworks were already firing.

The historical city of Philadelphia always finds a way to write and rewrite history. The action was preceded by the world-famous Philadelphia’s boys choir opening with the National Anthem, and then it was time to play ball.

The Phillies came into the game on what can be considered a hitting slump by their standards. Turns out the irony of everything is, in a game that was thought to have been a pitching duel, turned out to be a battle of the bats.

Both teams started off swinging strong. The innings still ended three up, three down on hits sent into play.

At that point, it was evident, this wasn’t going to be your traditional pitcher’s duel: something was going to give. The question at the time still remained what? And who?

Each pitcher got through the first inning on seven pitches, which, quite frankly was symbolic of the match-up. 

Cody Ross, by far the Giants MVP of the night, hit two home runs to make it 2-1. That opened the door for the sixth inning when Roy Halladay got into trouble, a close umpire call kept Pat Burrell at bat.

That’s when Burrell took advantage of his extra life with a two-out/two-strike double which scored two, making it 4-1. 

Two pitchers that only allowed a total of two hits combined in Game 1 of the NLDS, turned around to belt 16 hits in Game 1 of the NLCS giving the Phillies their first game one loss of their four-year NL takeover.

“You find out what you’re made of. You never expect it to be easy,” Halladay said after the game. And it wasn’t easy; at all.

A series after Halladay’s gem, Lincecum had 14 strikeouts in San Francisco’s 1-0 win over Atlanta. He gave up six hits and struck out eight against the Phillies.

Lincecum, the reigning two-time NL Cy Young Award winner, had some adventures with a bat in his hands, though.

The notoriously rough Philadelphia fans came up with a unique way to mock Lincecum instead of the usual boos.

They serenaded him with whistles when he batted in the fifth and seventh, mocking his “beauty” with the long hair and innocent face.

Lincecum responded, in jest, “I must have a really nice butt. I was hearing a lot of them.”

In the end, though, that innocent face and long hair got the best of Philadelphia. The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the NLCS.

Game 2 is Sunday, Oct. 17, same place, at 8:19 p.m. EDT.

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Following Tim Lincecum’s second masterful outing of the postseason against the Phillies in Game 1 of the NLCS Saturday, I scanned all the way back to 1958 when the Giants moved to San Francisco from New York to find the greatest pitching gems in SF Giants postseason history.

I found some obvious names, I found some surprise names, I found three names from this year’s Giants squad (no, Barry Zito wasn’t one of them).

Given what Giants starting pitchers have already done this postseason, there’s a strong case to call them the best SF Giants starting rotation ever.

Here are the Top 10 Pitching Gems in SF Giants Postseason History.

The Giants had to win the game for the pitcher to be included.

Begin Slideshow

The San Francisco Giants have jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series, riding two key Cody Ross home runs as well as strong pitching from Tin Lincecum and two relievers to a 4-3 victory in Philadelphia.

The Phillies’ ace Roy Halladay took a step back from his no hit performance in the NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds, surrendering 4 runs in 7 innings of work.

Pat Burrell drove in a run with a two-run double, as did Juan Uribe, who chipped in an RBI single for the visiting Giants.

San Francisco will send left handed starter Jonathan Sanchez to the mound in Game 2, and he’ll go up against mid-season import Roy Oswalt for the Phillies, who will be looking to even the series at 1 before heading to San Francisco.