A game where you tie it up in the bottom of the ninth, you like to think you’ve got the best of the momentum.  But then you remember how easy it is to lose a baseball game when the other team is the home team.

When you reach a point, all the other team has to do is score a run and they get the W.  You score a run, still you have to claw your way out of a three-out hole.  And what the’s trade off for this sick joke, especially with our bullpen’s inconsistency?  We get to bat first?  Yeah, that helped.  Thanks, baseball.

May 8, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Gregor Blanco (7) steals second base past Philadelphia Phillies infielder Chase Utley (26) during the fifth inning at AT

That inconsistent bullpen today was Antonio Bastardo, who is not inconsistent, even after today.  It’s the inconsistency in a game where Chad Durbin, the incredible misfortunes of Jeremy Horst, and Phillippe Aumont don’t allow the winning run and Bastardo does that I’m talking about.

Regardless, we can be proud of the Phillies.  So many games, already, when a late inning comeback seemed like a mirage from an alternate timeline in which this team is effective after dark.

J-Roll’s double seemed a tease; Michael Young’s walk seemed to build on inevitable inadequacies somewhere in the scoring process.  But then Chase Utley singled a banger up the middle, scoring Rollins, and even better, putting himself and Young on second and third respectively, because they are both incredibly intelligent base runners.

Delmon Young – fresh off the unveiling of his arm-cannon at two different points today – stepped in and, with the knowledge that he had to do was get the ball out of the infield, hammered a sac fly to right, scoring M. Young.  That left it to Chooch, who flew out to left.

May 8, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) scores the game winning run on a single by San Francisco Giants center fielder Andres Torres (56, not pictured) during the tenth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at AT

Mike Adams got in and out and in and out of trouble in the bottom of the ninth, and the Phillies got Ben Revere to first before the inning crumbled into dust as he was caught stealing second (according to incorrect umpire-thoughts) and Dom Brown struck out swinging a pitch later.

Then Bastardo came on and allowed a single to Buster Posey, who was just entering the game, a sac bunt, and a walk.  That’s pretty much how the Giants define “offense” so that’s what they needed to score on an Andres Torres single one batter later.

Jonathan Pettibone pitched solidly for the Phillies, allowing three runs in 5.2, with seven hits and walking four.  But Barry Zito, on the Giants’ end, continued to get applause from a crowd who despised him just moments ago, scattering only four hits through seven innings and keeping that ERA at a healthy 2.75.  He allowed a solo shot to Kevin Frandsen, which at that point tied the game at one.

When it all went wrong

God damn, they just couldn’t get the right out.  I’ll push it all the way to Posey’s single.  Lead off runner on in an inning in which all they had to do was score to win the game.  No, let’s push it to his steal of third on the wild pitch.  That was it.  That was the final nail.

Hero

Chase Utley – timely hitting is what makes a team worth losing to.

Villain

Buster Posey – but it’s also what prevents a loss.

TBOH’s thoughts

Anybody want to come join me in a chat in which a guy is claiming Pence’s rookie season is proof that he will win a Triple Crown.

— Justin Klugh (@TBOHblog) May 8, 2013

Rhetorical question. No one do it.

— Justin Klugh (@TBOHblog) May 8, 2013

…

Do you think Roy is okay?  No, he’s not.  This is all pretty bad.

Here’s Bryan Rosa from Around the Foghorn something something something.

1. Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum were once the gold standard in starting pitching. In recent years, we’ve watched both turn to more of an aluminum standard. Can you offer any tips of watching a treasured ace die in front of you?

Watching Lincecum has been draining. Not so much because he’s struggled, but, WHY he’s struggled is a complete unknown to anybody and the fact that he shows these flashes makes you believe he’s just about to turn the corner. Then he runs into a wall. A lot of people have commented on his lowered velocity, but, Lincecum’s been pretty good with his current velocity before.

When he came into the league, he threw hard, but he quit that relatively quickly and some of his best years, he didn’t really throw any harder than he currently does. His lack of fastball command has really hurt him as his secondary pitch command isn’t really bad at all, but he can’t set any of them up off the fastball and well, when he can’t do that, it’s a problem.

So my advice? Stick a pencil in your eye. It’ll be less painful than watching.

May 5, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; (left-right) San Francisco Giants infielder Pablo Sandoval (48), infielder Brandon Belt (9), infielder Brandon Crawford (35) and infielder Marco Scutaro (19) stand on the field during a pitching change against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the eighth inning at AT

2. So I saw Metallica played the National Anth I’m sorry, I can’t do this. Do you think Roy Halladay is okay? I mean, Lewis Yocum isn’t a “went to go live on a farm upstate” doctor, right? Don’t tell me if he is.

Dr. Yocum is one of the best doctor’s in the business. I wouldn’t worry too much. I hear many of his patients live very comfortable lives as Wal-Mart greeters.

3. The Giants have walked off two nights in a row now. That’s the kind of mojo that can make a team fill invincible. I remember when were that team. So young, so virile, so full of life. Do you feel like you’re enjoying that feeling while you can? Because it’s fleeting. **Stands up, pounds fists on table.** FLEETING I TELL YOU.

I don’t know who the Giants sold their souls to, but whomever it is, man he’s going to have one hell of a payoff down the road. Until then though, we’re riding these wheels off this bitch. Wait, a wheel popped? Crap. Maybe Madison Bumgarner can change the tire (because, you know, Madison Bumgarner changed the team bus tire..and..and…you heard that story, right? No, well, TMZ said it was true. So there).

4. So, Angel Pagan has a hamstring issue, huh? We were in the market for Pagan once. Traded for Ben Revere instead. And he’s nice and healthy. Of course he’s hitting a monstrous .204 and his OBP is a hysterically horrid .243. There was a question in here somewhere.

If you’re still in the market for Pagan, I’d be more than happy to trade his defense. I mean, I love his offense, but I’m pretttttty sure a chicken with their head cut off (or a Pablo Sandoval at an all you can eat buffet) would take better routes.

April 30, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy (15) in the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks during a game at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

5. Bruce Bochy has said Brandon Belt won’t hit 8th for him, but he is and continues to. Would you say Bruce Bochy is a gutless liar or a cowardly deceiver? You can only pick one of those two things.

I’m going to say both, only because I’m a gutless question answerer. Public Enemy told me to fight the power, so, uh, I’m going to do just that. FIGHT THE POWER. Or the question asker. Or something.

6.  I noticed on Twitter you mark your location as “Lou Seal’s pants.” What would you say if I revealed that LOU SEAL DOESN’T HAVE ANY PANTS.

Why do you think he doesn’t have any pants? I jacked that Pinniped. And yes, you can Google that…

Is this a dynasty? The Giants won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

OK, great. The team with the stupid beards won another World Series. Let’s all punch ourselves in the face.

Yes, the Giants won their second World Series in three years last night with a 4-3 win over Detroit in 10 innings, sweeping the favored Tigers in just four games.

And because of their dominance in the Fall Classic (probably the most boring World Series since the ’83 Phils-Orioles matchup), and their second World Series title in three years, the word “dynasty” is being thrown around.

Describing San Francisco as a “dynasty” sounds stupid, especially to Phillies fans, who just came off a string of five straight NL East titles from 2007-2011.

Unfortunately, it may be an apt term to describe the magic the baseball angels have seen fit to grant the Giants.

For half a decade, the Phils were the gold standard of the National League. And for all the world, it sure looked like they were headed for dynasty status.

But it didn’t happen. A loss to the Yankees in the 2009 World Series, two subsequent years of falling short in the playoffs, followed by 2012′s disappointment, prevented the Phillies from going down in the annals of The Big Red Machine, the Joe Torre Yankees and Cito Gaston‘s Blue Jays.

The Giants, meanwhile, now join those teams in elite company.

And man, does it sting.

But are the Giants really more of a dynasty than the Phillies? While San Francisco has won two out of the last three World Series, the Phillies were NL powers for five straight years and also went to two World Series. The Phils have a far superior core group of players, and one could argue, were more dominant during the regular season than San Francisco during their run.

The only thing the Phillies lack is that second World Series ring.

But that thing, is a big thing.

San Francisco has done something special, and Phillies fans are going to have to hold their noses and accept it. Only four other teams in the last 40 years have won multiple World Series so close together. The early ’70s Oakland A’s, the mid-’70s Reds, the early ’90s Blue Jays and early “00s Yanks.

Dude, Panda’s fat. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

And really, they’ve done it with far less talent than the Phils have had over the last six years. But that’s what makes a winner. The Giants as a whole were better than the individual parts that made up the team.

Where the Phillies have failed, the Giants have succeeded.

And of course, San Francisco is not without some stars of their own.

Catcher Buster Posey should be the MVP of the National League this year and is already the best young catcher in the game. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who was benched during the 2010 playoff run, is a terrific hitter and was named World Series MVP. And of course, there is the homegrown pitching of Matt Cain, Sergio Romo, Madison Bumgarner, and Tim Lincecum, who had a rough year but is a two-time Cy Young Award winner.

But what has made the Giants really good were the shrewd moves of general manager Brian Sabean. Moves Ruben Amaro was hopefully paying attention to.

Sabean acquired Angel Pagan from the Mets before the season. He acquired Marco Scutaro in a mid-season trade from the Rockies. And he signed Ryan Vogelsong before the 2011 season.

All came up huge in the playoffs.

But this isn’t a story of a team that snuck into playoffs and went on a run. The Giants won the NL West with 94 wins, third-most in the National League behind the Nats’ 98 and the Reds’ 97. They won their division by eight games.

In fact, I felt they were underrated coming into the playoffs, which is one of the reasons I picked them to beat Detroit in the World Series before the postseason began.

In case you care, my picks: BAL over TEX, ATL over STL; WAS over ATL, SF over CIN, NYY over BAL, DET over OAK, SF over WAS, DET over NYY.

— John Stolnis (@FelskeFiles) October 5, 2012

World Series pick… Giants over the Tigers in six games. MVP: Buster Posey

— John Stolnis (@FelskeFiles) October 5, 2012

One also can’t ignore that lady luck apparently loves this baseball team. The Reds’ Johnny Cueto lasted just two batters in Game 1 of the NLDS. Barry Zito somehow managed to actually be a positive asset to the Giants, compiling a 1.69 ERA in three playoff games, while striking out 13 in 16 innings. Kung Fu Panda hit three home runs in a single game.

And perhaps most importantly, the Giants were fortunate the Tigers had to sit around and wait for about a week before the World Series got started. Detroit clearly was rusty through the first three games, and that rust absolutely killed their offense.

But what San Francisco has done defies logic. They came back down 0-2 to the Reds in the divisional round to win three straight games in Cincinnati. They were down 3-1 to St. Louis before staging a miraculous comeback in that series. Then, they dismantled a lethargic and comatose Detroit team in four straight games.

They won seven games in a row in this postseason.

The Phillies had no such luck in 2010 when they lost to the Giants. They had even worse luck in 2011 when, behind one of the best starting pitching staffs in a generation, failed to win a single playoff round.

Playoff baseball, in this age of so many teams and series, is such a crapshoot. So the fact the Giants rolled sevens two out of the last three years is even more remarkable.

The funny thing is, the Phillies have tried to emulate the Giants’ blueprint. Amaro has tried hard to make his team all about starting pitching, sometimes to the detriment of the offense.

But while it hasn’t worked for the Phils, it’s worked beautifully for San Francisco.

So, as we sit here, awaiting our own doom and destruction from a weather system that intends to kill us all, we must also sit and watch and read about another World Series win by the stinkin’ San Francisco Giants, baseball’s newest dynasty.

Yeah, I felt dirty typing that.