Giants fight past Braves

ATLANTA - The Phillies who took in a few innings of the other National League division series while they awaited Game 3 against Cincinnati on Sunday probably didn't know whether to cover their eyes or salivate.

They could have covered their eyes because of the zaniness and sloppiness of the Giants' 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, a victory that gave San Francisco a two-games-to-one lead in a series it could end Monday.

They could have salivated because the lineups both the Giants and Braves toss on to the field are far from imposing.

Regardless, there was high drama. The Giants' top three starters went 23 innings without allowing an earned run in the series before one of the two runs the Braves scored on Eric Hinske's eight-inning two-run homer was charged to lefthander Jonathan Sanchez.

Earlier in the day, the Braves announced that closer Billy Wagner had to be dropped from the playoff roster because of a pulled left abdominal muscle. Never this season did Atlanta need the 39-year-old Wagner more than when it took a 2-1 lead into the ninth.

In an attempt to compensate for Wagner's loss, Braves manager Bobby Cox used four relievers in the ninth. But Freddy Sanchez scored the decisive run with two out after Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad let Buster Posey's grounder roll through his legs.

The whole game, Conrad had a hole in his glove. He flubbed a grounder in the first inning, putting Giants on first and second with no outs, but Braves starter Tim Hudson escaped. He dropped a pop-up in shallow right field with a runner on third to give the Giants their first run in the second inning. And then there was his third error, the most devastating for Atlanta.

"I'll sleep on it," Braves manager Bobby Cox said when asked if he would replace Conrad for Monday's Game 4.

The wild-card Braves took the side entrance into the postseason party with a heart-stopping win over the Phillies on the final day of the regular season.

"We're not the best team in baseball, OK?" said Cox, whose club is ravaged by key injuries. "But we can win games and compete against anybody. We can't afford to make mistakes."

In a way, it's somewhat remarkable that this series is going to a fourth game considering the brilliant pitching the Giants have received from their Big Three of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Sanchez – a trio that would make for some fascinating matchups against the Phillies' Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

Lincecum pitched a two-hit, 14-strikeout gem in the Giants' 2-0 win in Game 1. Cain went 62/3 innings without allowing an earned run before he was pulled in Game 2, which the Braves won in 11 innings, 5-4, after trailing, 4-0.

Sanchez was outstanding. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, retiring 14 straight batters after a first-inning walk, before Hudson, of all people, looped a single into right field.

Manager Bruce Bochy pulled Sanchez, who had 11 strikeouts, with one out in the eighth after Alex Gonzalez led off with a single. It was the second and final hit off Sanchez.

"When he took me out I was feeling good," said Sanchez, who threw 105 pitches. "I wasn't tired at all. We've got a tough bullpen, so I thought we were going to get it done."

Bochy brought in righthander Sergio Romo and Cox countered with the lefthanded-hitting Hinske, baseball's good luck charm who has played in the last three World Series with three different American League teams.

Hinske hit a 331-foot homer that skimmed off the foul pole and over the 330-foot fence. Hinske rounded the bases with his right index finger jutted into the air, and it appeared the Braves had pulled out another unlikely win.

"That's not a good feeling when you make a change and they hit a three-run homer," Bochy said.

Describing the mood in the Giants dugout after he gave up the homer to Hinske, Romo said, "They were a little heartbroken. But they knew we still had a chance."

And how did he feel when Sanchez crossed the plate on Conrad's error after Aubrey Huff tied the score with an RBI single? "I said, 'Thank you, teammates.' They asked me to come in and get a tough hitter out and I couldn't do so. But we came back. I love my team from the bottom of my heart."

The Braves will try to send the series to San Francisco for a deciding game by going with Derek Lowe on short rest Monday. The Giants will go with 21-year-old lefthander Madison Bumgarner, who will make his playoff debut.