Oct. 22

SAN FRANCISCO -- Going into Game 3, there was talk about how the Angels would hit at Pac Bell Park, the best pitcher's park in the majors. But the Angels adjusted. They made contact and hit line drives. They constantly put runners in play, throwing Livan Hernandez off his game.

It is incredible how relentless the Angels have become offensively. In the history of Pac Bell Park, only once had a team scored four runs in consecutive innings -- yet Anaheim did it Tuesday night. The Angels batted around twice in Game 3 and have now done it six times in the postseason. Everyone from Darin Erstad to David Eckstein to Scott Spiezio to Troy Glaus had such quality at-bats.

In the second inning Glaus hit a foul ball that in any other park would have been a home run. But as Dusty Baker said, only four balls have hooked inside the left-field foul pole all season; the wind always carries the ball out. Three pitches later, Glaus hit a bomb to center field that Kenny Lofton caught on the warning track. That shows you how far Barry Bonds hit his home run in the fifth inning to straight-away center.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia did a phenomenal thing, moving Adam Kennedy to hit in front of Bengie Molina. He did it to protect Spiezio, who had a three RBI night, and to avoid Kennedy being given an intentional walk because he is such a good hitter.

Dusty Baker knows far more about strategy than I do, but I wonder a little about his philosophy of walking the No. 8 hitter. I know Hernandez was walking the gang plank all night, but I remember two great pitchers, Jim Palmer and John Tudor, talking about burying the No. 8 hitter so the leadoff hitter doesn't get to lead off except in the first inning. Where the batting order is in position is important. Because Molina was walked intentionally twice, Eckstein led off four innings in Game 3 and started the four-run third inning with a walk. That is what a manager wants because it allows his offense to get in order.

This was Scioscia's perfect game as a manager. I'm often amused when people dwell on the postseason being Scioscia's first as a manager. But he caught two world championship teams, his pitching coach -- Bud Black -- played for the World Series champion Royals in 1985, and hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was Scioscia's teammate on the '88 Dodgers.

Black, Molina and Bobby Ramos did a remarkable job keeping Ramon Ortiz, an emotional player, calmed down and ready to pitch. I give Ortiz credit for surviving the first inning. But Molina slowed him down nicely and sometimes delayed putting the sign down.

The third inning was unusual because Black visited Ortiz on the mound with a 4-1 lead after he had given up a leadoff hit to Rich Aurilia. Seldom will a pitching coach go to the mound when his team is up three runs, but Black knew the Angels had to keep the Giants from getting back in the game. He helped slow down Ortiz, who got Jeff Kent on a pop-up, struck out Bonds on three pitches and got Benito Santiago on a grounder.

Black understood his pitcher and helped nurse him through five innings. Then they got four innings combined from Brendan Donnelly and Scott Schoeneweis and gave Francisco Rodriguez another day of rest. If the Series goes to a Game 7, Ortiz will be a different pitcher because now he knows he can win.

On the other side, the Giants haven't gotten four innings from a starting pitcher in the last two games. The Giants' bullpen isn't geared toward throwing a ton of innings, and they had to use Felix Rodriguez for a third straight game.

Although Game 4 starter Kirk Rueter doesn't generally pitch deep into games, he changes speeds well with his fastball and will make it tougher for the Angels to run on him. He has only allowed 30 stolen bases in 10 years. These seem like dark days for the Giants, but if Rueter can get pitch into the seven inning with a lead, and Jason Schmidt can spin a gem in Game 5, the Giants are right back in the series.