Fan News

As the 2010 post-season delves further into October, the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies are the last two National League teams standing.

The National League Championship Series between these two clubs will begin on Saturday, October 16th - in Philadelphia.

The Phillies jumped all over Joey Votto and the Cincinnati Reds, sweeping Dusty Baker and company right out of the playoffs. While it may be tee time in Cincinnati, the Phillies are resting, laying in wait for the Giants.

If the Phillies win the upcoming National League Championship Series, they will be the first team since the St. Louis Cardinals from 1942-44 to win three straight National League pennants. 

But a very dangerous and hungry San Francisco Giants team will have a lot to say about the Phillies chase towards almost 70 years of history.

The Giants eliminated Bobby Cox and the Braves Monday night to advance to the NLCS for the first time since 2002, where they will face off against those Philadelphia Phillies. 

It's been too long, but the Giants have won their first NLDS since 2002, when they beat these very same Braves in five. The series was tight, emotional, ugly and brutal. Of course, the fourth and final game was a great reflection of the series in an almost poetic fashion.

All of the games were decided by one run, three of the four games were won in a comeback fashion. All of the games featured superb pitching, maybe with the exception of Sergio Romo. And all of the games featured questionable defense and officiating.

In two days, the Rangers had over 100,000 total fans flooded into the Ballpark in Arlington hoping to see the Rangers make history. Texas had a chance to win their first home playoff game in franchise history, thus winning their first playoff series in club history.

All 100,000 of those fans left the ballpark disappointed after watching their Rangers squander away a 2-0 series lead. 

After the Alex Gonzalez throwing error to extend the seventh inning and ultimately give the San Francisco Giants the lead, it felt like the beginning of the end. From that moment until the bottom of the ninth when Melky Cabrera hit the ball to third off of Brian Wilson for a groundout, the only thing I could think about was Bobby Cox. The coach. The man. The legend.

We knew the Giants were not going to make it easy against the Braves. We knew postseason baseball for the Giants had to resemble the regular season—torturous.

San Francisco won their NL Divisional Series against Atlanta 3-1 and will face the Philadelphia Phillies starting on Saturday.

There were many things the Giants did well.

Starting pitching

Ichiro Suzuki is an aberration.

At 5'9" and 170 pounds, Ichiro’s slender frame belies his incredible talent. He has one of the most feared arms in all of baseball. His bat is lightning quick through the zone. His speed on the base paths is that of a track star. But you wouldn’t know all that just by looking at him.

Naturally quiet, Ichiro keeps a low profile. Besides being one of baseball’s best, the 10-time All-Star seems to shy away from the attention usually sought by superstar athletes.

The San Francisco Giants made short work of the Atlanta Braves in the National League Divisional Series.  Tim Lincecum and his teammates gave Braves manager Bobby Cox a rude farewell, winning the series three games to one.

Their reward?  They get to play the Philadelphia Phillies, who swept the Cincinnati Reds in their first round match-up.

But, that series won't start for a couple days, so let's take a look at five players who played key roles in the Giants' first round victory.

The legendary career of Bobby Cox has finally come to a close.

In another one run game, the San Francisco Giants outlasted the Braves 3-2, thanks in part to Cody Ross’ two RBI night.

Every game of the series was decided by one run, but the Giants won three of four to send them into the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

**(Continue reading at GackSports.com)