Then there were two

It wasn't the tight, dramatic Game 7 that many, including myself, were hoping for. No, it certainly wasn't that. The Giants crushed the Cardinals 9-0 in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series last night, giving them the NL pennant and perhaps giving Nationals fans a bit of a reason to smile. The Nats watched a 6-0 lead over St. Louis slip away in Game 5 of the Division Series, but the Cardinals had a big lead of their own disappear in the NLCS with a spot in the World Series oh so close to being theirs. They led the series 3-1 only to see San Francisco roar back to win the final three games by a combined score of 20-1. From the reaction of the Nats fans on Twitter that I saw last night, I'd say the San Francisco victory went over pretty well in the D.C. area. The clear highlight of last night's game, in my mind, was Hunter Pence's bases-clearing double, which somehow managed to hit off Pence's bat three times before darting away from confused Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma. I've never seen anything like that before and really wish someone, somewhere, will do some type of scientific study on the movement of that baseball as it looked to head toward Kozma's right and then bite hard down and to the shortstop's left before scooting into left field. That was truly remarkable. We're now set for what could be a very entertaining series between the Giants and Tigers. Thanks in large part to previously suspended Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera's efforts in the All-Star Game, the Giants will have home-field advantage in the World Series, which will begin tomorrow night. It's quite possible, believe it or not, that we see a big pinch-hit appearance at some point by Xavier Nady, who is now on the Giants and could very well be on their World Series roster after playing 40 games for the Nationals earlier this season. The personable veteran outfielder struggled and hit just .157 with the Nats, but he got another crack on a major league roster and batted .240 in 50 regular season at-bats with the Giants. Can the Giants touch the Tigers' red-hot starting pitching after Detroit had what will be a five-day layoff in between games? Will Justin Verlander show that he's human at any point in the postseason? How many times will Pence redirect a baseball in search of his next hit? I'm not ready for baseball to end yet. Here's hoping for seven more games and a more hotly-contested winner-take-all Game 7. Put me down for the Tigers in six.