Zito's gem brings NLCS home to SF

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St. Louis -- The truth about the Giants is that they have no home. They're the most comfortable travelers baseball has seen in years. They check out of hotels with great reluctance, pining for just one more day with those tiny bars of soap.

The fact that they will be home, for a Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday, gives this postseason a special place in franchise history. They've already done enough to defy convention, the odds and rampant skepticism. It's only right that this series plays to a conclusion in front of the fans who have packed AT&T Park all season.

If you don't quite recognize the team that hung a stunning 5-0 defeat on the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night, it's because the Giants have established a postseason pattern too indelible to deny. On top of Barry Zito's epic Game 5 performance and the three-game sweep in Cincinnati, they clinched all of their 2010 playoff series - against Atlanta, Philadelphia and Texas - on the road.

"Believe me, we like playing at home, too," said a smiling Brandon Crawford, whose two-run single drove a stake through Cardinal hopes in the fourth inning. "I wish I had an answer, so we'd do the same thing at home. The thing is, though, we get a playoff atmosphere at every home game all season. Coming here, having a riled-up crowd, we thrive off that."

It was a night of raw desperation for the Giants, their deeds downright heroic at times. Zito, with his 7 2/3 innings of six-hit, shutout ball, didn't just pitch "his best game as a Giant," said former owner Peter Magowan, standing proudly in a corner of the winning clubhouse. In terms of postseason elimination games, it was the greatest performance ever by a Giants starter - including the many decades in New York. (Statistically, it surpassed Billy Pierce's complete-game three-hitter when the Giants won Game 6 of the 1962 World Series against the Yankees, 5-2, at Candlestick Park.)

The clubhouse reaction to Zito's performance bordered on reverence. "When you think about all he's gone through," said reliever Jeremy Affeldt, "the tough times, not making the playoff roster two years ago, for him to come in this year and win 15 games, knowing he's under the microscope every time he pitches, and now here's our biggest game of the year, and he does that - I'll be proud to say I was there. This guy never makes an excuse, works hard, pulls for guys, he's a great teammate, and I think everybody in here is ecstatic for him."

Zito ranks with the truly awful hitters in the game, but he's fairly adroit on bunt attempts. He dropped a beautiful sacrifice bunt in the third inning, then shocked everyone with a drag-bunt single down the third-base line in the fourth, driving in a run and making it clear this was a special evening.

"I've seen him try it a couple of times, but not quite like that," manager Bruce Bochy said. "Couldn't have put it in a better spot. That surprised a lot of people, including us."

Giants' Brandon Crawford singles in two runs in the fouth inning, as the San Francisco Giants take on the St. Louis Cardinals in game five of the National League Championship Series, on Friday Oct. 19, 2012 at Busch Stadium , in St. Louis, Mo. less Giants' Brandon Crawford singles in two runs in the fouth inning, as the San Francisco Giants take on the St. Louis Cardinals in game five of the National League Championship Series, on Friday Oct. 19, 2012 at ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Zito's gem brings NLCS home to SF 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

"The sneak-attack bunt," Buster Posey called it. "He was showin' the wheels off, too."

Zito's improvisation inspired a remarkable sequence of events. Second baseman Marco Scutaro made a whirling, fabulous play to his left in the fifth inning, throwing out pinch-hitter Shane Robinson, only moments after Hunter Pence's once-in-a-lifetime play on Pete Kozma's lazy fly ball down the right-field line.

On the dead run, and about to slide, Pence knew he'd need two hands to cover all the possibilities - and the ball struck his bare hand first, before caroming straight into the glove. "No matter how many baseball games you watch, you always see something new," said a beaming Pence. "Crazy things happen, but ... I really don't know how I did that."

That's the thing about elimination games, said Affeldt. "When athletes are backed up against the wall, we're gonna do whatever we gotta do. Zito's bunt - that was a gutsy deal, man. Pence makes that catch, out of nowhere. Sometimes when you're playing a team that's in a hole, like we are, it's hard to beat 'em."

It's always wise to allow statistics in the conversation. Until Crawford came through, the Giants had been 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position since arriving in St. Louis. Before Zito's gem, only 12 of 51 left-handed starters had registered a win against the Cardinals this season. As always, though, the visuals mattered most.

About 20 minutes before game time, Zito assumed his customary spot in the outfield, playing long-toss with his catcher (in this case, Posey). Ever backtracking, and always firing bullets at full speed, he retreated to a 200-foot distance at one point. Here was a glimpse of a card-carrying eccentric, as well as a baseball savant, a man who hasn't had an arm problem in his life.

He could have finished the game. He knew that better than anyone. But it seemed crucial that Zito depart with a shutout in progress. As Bochy made his way to the mound, summoning reliever Santiago Casilla in the eighth, Posey tapped Zito on the chest. Then Scutaro did the same, and then Pablo Sandoval. No accident, there. They went straight for the heart.