Monica M. Davey/European Pressphoto Agency
Angel Pagan, leaping, joined his Giants teammates after they avoided elimination again by winning Game 6 of the N.L.C.S.
SAN FRANCISCO — Winner take all. Do or die. Lose and go home. For all the marbles.
Whichever cliché one embraces for Game 7 of the National League Championship Series will be just fine. On its own, this game presents the Giants with more chances for elimination than they faced in their entire 2010 playoff run, and serves to reinforce that this year's postseason is entirely unlike the one that San Francisco went through two years ago. Including Game 7 Monday night, six of the Giants' 12 playoff games this year will have been of the elimination variety. Lose and go home. They have not lost.
As if a lack of back-to-the wall drama in 2010 was not enough to prove San Francisco's crunchtime merits, the fact that the Giants clinched a playoff spot this year on Sept. 22 — leaving 10 games of stress-free baseball with which to ride out the remainder of the schedule — makes it easy to assume that the team might have trouble adjusting to such heretofore unknown tension.
So, what's a little pressure between teammates?
"I wouldn't say we like it, but it seems like guys are playing really well when we get in this situation," said Matt Cain, who will start for the Giants on Monday night. "Guys are just kind of letting it all hang out, and it seems to be working out really well."
The Game 6 winner, Ryan Vogelsong, phrased it somewhat differently. "Win every pitch, win every swing, win every inning," he said. "It's been working for us."
Sunday's elimination game may have been San Francisco's latest, but its staunchest came against Cincinnati on Oct. 9. Down, two games to none, and in their first postseason game on the road, the Giants managed only one hit over nine innings against Homer Bailey and two relievers, but somehow managed to cobble together a run in the third inning on a hit-by-pitch, a walk, a sacrifice and a groundout. Vogelsong and four relievers made it hold up, ceding just one run of their own.
When San Francisco scored a run in the 10th against Jonathan Broxton on a two-out error, it secured an improbable victory and gave the Giants their first taste of what it feels like to come through with their collective backs against the wall since they beat Atlanta in Game 5 of their 2002 N.L. division series.
"I didn't go through an elimination game in 2010, so I have no experience to fall back on this year," reliever Sergio Romo said in the postgame clubhouse Sunday. "What we accomplished was unbelievable. My team doesn't quit, it fights. What a ride."
In nonelimination games against Cincinnati, the Giants were outscored, 14-2; in do-or-die contests they outscored the Reds, 16-8. The Cardinals edged San Francisco in the first four games of the N.L.C.S., 18-15, but since facing series defeat in Game 5, the Giants have pummeled St. Louis, 11-1. Barry Zito and Vogelsong combined to limit the Cardinals to just one run over 142/3 innings over the last two games.
"When you're facing elimination, you find out what you're made of," right fielder Hunter Pence said.
To that end, Pence has spent significant time this postseason reminding his teammates exactly what kind of stakes they are playing for. Even as he has struggled at the plate, with just three hits in 23 at-bats (a .130 average) this series, and a .200 batting average against the Reds, Pence has served as a regular source of inspiration off the field.
Before Game 3 of the division series against Cincinnati, he addressed the team.
"No matter what happens, we must not give in," he said, according to a transcript the Giants' third-base coach, Tim Flannery, posted on his Facebook page. "We owe it to each other, play for each other. I need one more day with you guys. I need to see what Theriot will wear tomorrow. I want to play defense behind Vogelsong because he's never been to the playoffs. Play for each other, not yourself. Win each moment, win each inning. It's all we have left."
Numerous members of the Giants credited the speech with being among the more inspirational that they've heard. When Pence followed it with another speech before Game 1 of the N.L.C.S. (one of several given by players), his teammates started calling him Reverend.
It should be noted that San Francisco's cruise through the 2010 postseason produced precisely zero pregame preachers. Seems that a little pressure can work wonders for those willing to seize the opportunity.
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