Giants? Hardly.
Game 4? Hardly.
It was a night to be savored. One of the rare post season wins where the outcome is long been determined before the final out has been recorded. Where the normal high pressure at bats morph back into the lazy metronomic beats of the summer that has just passed us by.
The Cardinals dispatched the Giants 8-3 in would could/should have been worse than that. Tim Lincecum started, or as San Franciscans might say, proved his terrible regular season wasn't a fluke. He was battered for runs early, late and in-between, putting the Birds in a position to let Adam Wainwright do work before getting the bullpen irregulars some playoff work.
Oh, and while Holliday and Yadi busted out of slumps, Carlos Beltran was able to grab a day of rest. The worst thing that happened was the pending benching of Matt Carpenter when no one wants it to happen.
Such are the spoils of being 5 wins away from back-to-back championships.
The Giants are capable of winning 3 in a row after facing elimination. They're a poor man's Cardinal when it comes to making things harder than it should be. So this series needs to end Friday night in St. Louis, or things could get very dicy.
What more can be said? The Cardinals stepped up Thursday night and whipped the Giants' collective ass. They're a beaten team now and it's time to claim the Senior Circuit title and start this weekend off right.
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