Giants Edge Phillies, Yankees Head to Texas, October 21, 2010

They've got a Freak, a Kung Fu Panda, a Raging Bull, Buster Ballgame, Huff Daddy, the Beard, the Franchise, and a guy who once aspired to be a rodeo clown, but the members of the San Francisco Giants are not the cast of some new MTV reality show, or a motley crew of cartoon characters, they are driven, talented baseball players. They just out-gutted the two-time defending national champions in an epic 6-5 nine-inning thriller Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the NLCS.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored four runs in the fifth inning to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead, erased another deficit later in the game with back-to-back no-out doubles by Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth, had a couple calls go their way and sent their Number Two starter (Roy Oswalt) to the mound to pitch the ninth inning, but they still couldn't make a 2-1 series deficit a 2-2.

Giants catcher Buster Posey became the first rookie catcher in about 60 years to collect four hits and two RBIs (two-out RBIs, at that) in a postseason game, Aubrey Huff had three hits, the slumping, recently-benched Pablo Sandoval (the Panda) whacked a two-run double for his first postseason hit, and shortstop Juan Uribe, inserted into the game in the eighth inning despite a sore wrist, send the Bay Area into walk-off heaven with a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth, scoring Huff from third after hits by Huff and Posey. The Giants, who used 17 players in the game, face Roy Halladay (remember him?) tonight in Game 5.

Meanwhile, baseball's other motley crew, the Texas Rangers, ran out of Yankee Stadium magic Wednesday afternoon, collecting 13 hits but being stifled to the tune of two runs by C.C. Sabathia, Kerry Wood, and Mariano Rivera in a game that could have sent the Yankees home for the winter. Instead, it's a 3-2 series, with Game Six in Arlington looming tomorrow. Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, and Curtis Granderson had a key hit. Rangers' starter C.J. Wilson, who pitched seven innings of shutout ball in Game One, gave up five runs in four innings to take the loss.