Three Keys

[Rog]

There could be many keys to this series, but here are my choices:

.  A continued solid rotation.  The rotation has been up and down and is missing an important ingredient in Matt Cain.  Jake Peavy has been a godsend, and Tim Hudson has been a big -- if inconsistent -- help.  Solid performance from Ryan Vogelsong, and an almost shocking one from Yusmeiro Petit.  Madison Bumgarner has become a bigger, possibly better left-handed Cain.

.  Continued production from the top three.  If the top three guys get on, the Giants seem to be able to find a way to get them home just enough to outscore the opposition.

.  Let the magic continue.  Hard to say just what has made the Giants tick, but winning 8 straight series including six straight elimination games, shows there is SOMETHING going on.  The odds against all this happening have been quite high, but the Giants have kicked the constant favorites in the teeth.  Are they actually favored against the Cardinals? Heck, given the previous results as underdogs, that might somehow be BAD.

Let the magic continue!  If it does, the Giants might somehow not even need the top two above!

[islandboagie]

I think the Giants would still be the underdog in the eyes of analysts if not for only their continued success in the post-season. Basically the analysts are tired of being wrong.

[rxmeister]

When I looked at all the teams entering the playoffs, the teams I judged to be better than the Giants are all gone. Now the "anything can happen in a short series" axiom actually works against us, because I feel we're the best team left. The Cardinals are right there though, so this should be an interesting series. I agree with Rog though, being the favorites for once is scary.

[klaiggeb]

Wow. That's an interesting thought, Mark, but I'm not sure that I agree that "we're the better team."

IF we had a healthy Pagan AND Cain AND MOrse, I'd agree hands down.

But as long as we're missing those three... I still think the better team is the Cardinals.

boly

[Rog]

If Wainwright is hurting, the Giants may have the advantage regardless of how the other positions match up.

On the other hand, as Boly points out, a team that had only two of the four starters who would start in the post season pitching well entering it, a team that had a 4th outfielder playing center field and a horribly slumping 5th or 6th outfielder or a quickly converted 3rd-string first baseman playing left field would have a hard time beating too many teams on paper.