The 2010 National League Championship Series (NLCS) was a best-of-seven game

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

series that pitted the winners of the 2010 National League Division Series—the Philadelphia Phillies and

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

—against each other for the National League Championship. The Giants would defeat the Phillies, four games to two, to advance to their first World Series since 2002. The series, the 41st NLCS in league history, began on October 16 and ended on October 23. The Phillies had

home field advantage In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to ga ...

as a result of their better regular-season record. The Phillies hosted Games 1, 2 and 6, while the Giants were at home for Games 3, 4 and 5. The Giants would go on to defeat the Texas Rangers in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

in five games, winning their first World Series championship since 1954, and their first since relocating to San Francisco from New York City back in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, ending the

Curse of Coogan's Bluff The Curse of Coogan's Bluff (also known as the Curse of Eddie Grant) (1958–2010) was a baseball-related superstition that allegedly prevented the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball franchise from winning the World Series following the clu ...

Summary

Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Francisco Giants

Game summaries

Game 1

Saturday, October 16, 2010 — 7:30 p.m. ( EDT) at

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. It is the home playing field of the Philadelphia Phillies, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. The ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

In one of the most touted postseason pitching matchups in recent history, two former Cy Young Award winners faced off:

Roy Halladay Harry Leroy "Roy" Halladay III (May 14, 1977 – November 7, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies between 1998 and 2013. His nicknam ...

for the Phillies and

Tim Lincecum Timothy Leroy Lincecum ( ; born June 15, 1984), nicknamed "The Freak", "The Franchise", "The Freaky Franchise" and "Big Time Timmy Jim", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San ...

for the Giants. The Giants jumped out to a 1–0 lead in the top of the third inning on a

Cody Ross Cody Joseph Ross (born December 23, 1980), nicknamed "Toy Cannon" and "Ross the Boss," is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 12 seasons with the Detroit Tigers (2003), Los Angeles Do ...

solo home run, Halladay's first hit allowed in the postseason. The Phillies quickly tied the game up in the bottom half of the same inning on a home run from catcher Carlos Ruiz. The game remained tied until the top of the fifth inning, when Ross belted his second homer of the game, another solo shot, giving San Francisco a 2–1 lead. The Giants extended that lead to 4–1 the following inning on a string of three two-out hits, namely, a single by

Buster Posey Gerald Dempsey "Buster" Posey III (born March 27, 1987) is an American former professional baseball catcher. Posey spent his entire twelve-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the San Francisco Giants, from 2009 until his retirement at ...

, a double by former Phillie

Pat Burrell Patrick Brian Burrell (born October 10, 1976), nicknamed "Pat the Bat", is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays, and San Francisco Giants. Bur ...

, and a single from

Juan Uribe Juan Cespedes Uribe Tena (born March 22, 1979) is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He played shortstop, third base and second base during his career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox ...

. In the bottom of the same inning, the sixth, the Phillies closed the deficit to 4–3 on a two-run blast from Jayson Werth. Lincecum and Halladay then each pitched a scoreless half of the seventh before turning the game over to their respective bullpens. Southpaw Javier López retired the first two Philadelphia batters of the eighth inning, then handed the ball to Giants closer Brian Wilson, who recorded a four-out save, striking out

Shane Victorino Shane Patrick Victorino (born November 30, 1980), nicknamed "The Flyin' Hawaiian", is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodger ...

to end the game.

Game 2

Sunday, October 17, 2010 — 8:00 p.m. ( EDT) at

In the first inning

Chase Utley Chase Cameron Utley (born December 17, 1978), nicknamed "The Man" and "Silver Fox", is an American former professional baseball second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 16 seasons, primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. ...

walked, then stole second. Mike Fontenot misfielded

Plácido Polanco Plácido Enrique Polanco (; born October 10, 1975) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins. He was a ...

's grounder and everybody advanced. Ryan Howard and

Jimmy Rollins James Calvin Rollins (born November 27, 1978), nicknamed "J-Roll", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (–), Los Angeles Dodgers (), and Chicago White S ...

both walked, bringing in Utley for the first run. Oswalt no-hit the Giants through the fifth inning until

hit a home run, his third in two games. This was the third straight game in which Ross's solo home run broke up a no-hitter. In the bottom inning,

doubled, then advanced to third on a Utley fly out. Polanco's sacrifice fly brought in the second Phillie run. In the bottom of the seventh inning Oswalt hit a single up the middle. That knocked Sánchez out of the game, bringing in Ramón Ramírez. Oswalt then advanced on a Victorino sacrifice bunt. Polanco then ripped a single up the middle bringing in Oswalt. Ramírez was brought down and in came

Jeremy Affeldt Jeremy David Affeldt (; born June 6, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He threw and batted left-handed and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds and San Franc ...

. Affeldt struck out Howard then intentionally walked Jayson Werth. Giants manager Bruce Bochy then sent in Santiago Casilla to face Jimmy Rollins. Rollins ripped a three-run double off Casilla, extending the Phillies' lead to five. With a five-run lead, Oswalt pitched a scoreless eighth. He struck out nine while allowing three hits and walking three.

Game 3

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 — 4:00 p.m. ( EDT) at

AT&T Park Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's curren ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

With the series shifting to San Francisco for a day Game 3, and the series tied 1–1, both teams again threw very good starting pitchers, 2008

World Series MVP The Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series, which is the final round of the MLB postseason. The aw ...

Cole Hamels Colbert Michael Hamels (born December 27, 1983), nicknamed "Hollywood", is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (2006–2015), Texas Rangers ( ...

for Philadelphia and All-Star

Matt Cain Matthew Thomas Cain (born October 1, 1984), nicknamed "The Horse", "Big Daddy", "Big Sugar" and "Cainer", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the San Francisco Giants ...

for San Francisco. Both starters started out strong, dominating the first three innings. In the fourth inning, however, the Giants broke through against Hamels.

Édgar Rentería Édgar Enrique Rentería Herazo (; born August 7, 1975), nicknamed "The Barranquilla Baby", is a Colombian former professional baseball shortstop. He threw and batted right-handed. He played for the Florida Marlins, the St. Louis Cardinals, th ...

led off with a base hit to right, and was bunted to second by Freddy Sanchez. Following

's strikeout and

's walk, Cody Ross ripped a fastball down the left field line for an RBI single, his fourth RBI of the NLCS.

Aubrey Huff Aubrey Lewis Huff III (born December 20, 1976) is an American former professional baseball player who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Huff played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tiger ...

then singled off the glove of a diving

, bringing in Burrell and making the score 2–0, Giants. The Giants added a third run in the next inning, when

Aaron Rowand Aaron Ryan Rowand (born August 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball center fielder in Major League Baseball. He played for the Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, and the San Francisco Giants and won two World Series ch ...

led off the inning with a double to left and scored on a Sanchez single that fooled Chase Utley. With a 3–0 lead, Matt Cain cruised through the Phillies lineup. In the seventh inning, he ran into trouble, but was able to get

to groundout to Sanchez with the bases loaded for the third out. Javier López relieved Cain and tossed a perfect eighth, striking out Ryan Howard to end the inning. Brian Wilson closed out the game by getting

Raúl Ibañez Raúl Javier Ibañez (; born June 2, 1972) is a Cuban-American former professional baseball left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) now serving as Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations for MLB. He played 11 of his 19 big league seaso ...

to ground into a double play with one out and

at first. The Giants now had a 2–1 NLCS advantage.

Game 4

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 — 7:30 p.m. ( EDT) at

Game 4 was a match up of both teams' fourth starters, 21-year-old

Madison Bumgarner Madison Kyle Bumgarner (born August 1, 1989), commonly known by his nickname, "MadBum", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he pitched for the San Francisco Giants ...

for the Giants and

Joe Blanton Joseph Matthew Blanton (born December 11, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Kansas City Royals, Pi ...

for the Phillies. The Giants scored first, when

lined an RBI single into center field that scored Freddy Sanchez. Posey struck again in the third inning, scoring Huff on a two-out double over the head of left fielder Ben Francisco, increasing the Giants' lead to 2–0. The Phillies' offense broke through in the fifth inning against Bumgarner. Back-to-back singles by Francisco and Carlos Ruiz opened the inning, and Blanton hit a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring position.

then hit a single up the middle, scoring Francisco; however, Ruiz was thrown out at home plate by Giants center fielder

singled to right and Santiago Casilla was brought in to face

. Polanco doubled in both runners, giving the Phillies a 3–2 lead. Ryan Howard was then

intentionally walked In baseball, an intentional base on balls, usually referred to as an intentional walk and denoted in baseball scorekeeping by ''IBB'', is a walk issued to a batter by a pitcher with the intent of removing the batter's opportunity to swing at the ...

and Jayson Werth was

hit by a pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...

. Facing

, Casilla threw a

wild pitch In baseball, a wild pitch (WP) is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, or the batter (on an uncaught third str ...

, bringing home a fourth Phillies run. Casilla finally ended the inning by striking out Rollins. The Giants got a run back on an Aubrey Huff single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth, which scored Andrés Torres. In the sixth inning,

drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a

double.

Pablo Sandoval Pablo Emilio Sandoval Reyes (born August 11, 1986) is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball third baseman for the Olmecas de Tabasco of the Mexican League. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, ...

came to the plate and appeared to double down the right field line, but the ball was called foul. Four pitches later, Sandoval lined a two-run double into the left-center field gap, scoring Burrell and Ross, and giving the Giants a 5–4 lead. The Phillies tied it in the top of the eighth with back-to-back doubles by Howard and Werth. Giants reliever Sergio Romo recovered and retired the next three Phillies batters to strand Werth at second. Going to the ninth inning, the game was tied 5–5. In the top of the ninth, Giants closer Brian Wilson threw a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Game 2 winner Roy Oswalt was brought in as a reliever. Sanchez lined out to right field to start the inning, but Huff singled past a diving Howard immediately afterwards. Posey followed with a base hit to right—his fourth hit of the game—moving Huff to third with only one out.

, pinch hitting in the pitcher's spot, followed with a sacrifice fly to left field, allowing Huff to

tag up In baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on th ...

and score the winning run. The victory gave the Giants a commanding 3–1 series lead.

Game 5

Thursday, October 21, 2010 — 7:30 p.m. ( EDT) at

Game 5 saw a rematch of Game 1's starting pitchers:

of the Phillies and

of the Giants. In the bottom of the first inning Halladay walked leadoff hitter Andrés Torres. Freddy Sanchez followed up with a single, advancing Torres to third.

lined out to first baseman Ryan Howard, followed by a

RBI groundout to second. The Phillies struck in the top of the third inning.

singled, and Carlos Ruiz was

. Halladay then bunted the ball, which dropped in the home plate area, and the ball was ruled a

fair ball In baseball, a fair ball is a batted ball that entitles the batter to attempt to reach first base. By contrast, a foul ball is a batted ball that does not entitle the batter to attempt to reach first base. Whether a batted ball is fair or foul ...

by home plate

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

Jeff Nelson. Giants catcher Posey quickly picked up the ball and threw to third baseman

in an attempt to throw out Ibáñez; however, Sandoval, who was playing shallowly in anticipation of the bunt, misjudged the position of third base while retreating to the bag, allowing Ibáñez to reach safely. Meanwhile, Halladay, thinking the ball was foul, did not begin his run to first base until after Ibáñez was ruled safe, and Sandoval had enough time to throw the ball to first base to retire Halladay. Television replays showed the ball was in foul territory when Posey picked it up, which means it should have been ruled a foul ball. Then, Giants first baseman

committed an

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

on a grounder by

, scoring two runners.

added to the lead with an RBI single. In the bottom of the fourth with one out

hit a double to left and scored on a

RBI double. Phillies relievers José Contreras and J. C. Romero combined to shut the Giants down in the seventh inning. Then Phillies middle reliever Ryan Madson pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out Posey, Burrell, and Ross. In the top of the ninth Jayson Werth hit a solo homer off Ramón Ramírez to extend the lead to two. Phillies closer

Brad Lidge Bradley Thomas Lidge (born December 23, 1976) nicknamed "Lights Out" is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Lidge played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 2002–2012. He played for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phi ...

pitched a perfect ninth inning to collect his 12th postseason save out of 12 opportunities with Philadelphia (and the 18th of his career).

Game 6

Saturday, October 23, 2010 — 7:30 p.m. ( EDT) at

San Francisco starter

Jonathan Sánchez Jonathan Omar Sánchez (born November 19, 1982), nicknamed "The Kid" and "The Comeback Kid", is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball pitcher. He is one of only three Puerto Rican players to throw a no-hitter game in MLB, the others bein ...

had a poor outing. In the first inning, he walked

and threw a

that advanced Polanco to second base. Polanco then scored on an Utley RBI double, and Utley himself scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Jayson Werth. San Francisco rallied against Phillies starter

Roy Oswalt Roy Edward Oswalt (; born August 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Oswalt played for the majority of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Houston Astros. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Texa ...

in the third inning. Sánchez singled off his opposite number and advanced to second base on a long fly ball from Andrés Torres that was dropped up against the center field wall by

. Freddy Sanchez bunted the runners over to second and third and

hit a single up the middle, which only scored Sánchez as Torres was thrown out at home by Victorino. Huff took second base on the throw home and eventually scored on a throwing error by Polanco to tie the game at 2–2. Sánchez was still very wild with his command as he walked Polanco and

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

Utley to start off the bottom of the third. Utley flipped the ball back towards the mound which led to Sánchez and Utley exchanging hostile words. The confrontation led to both benches clearing. No one was ejected as a result of the incident, but Sánchez was removed from the game and replaced with

. Affeldt was effective for the Giants, retiring the next three Phillies to end the scoring threat in the third, then throwing a 1-2-3 fourth inning. In the fifth, Affeldt was relieved by

singled and advanced to third on a two-out double from Ryan Howard. After walking Werth intentionally, Bumgarner got out of the jam by getting Victorino to ground out with the bases loaded. Oswalt got into a jam himself in the top of the sixth, when

doubled and

was hit by a pitch. Oswalt got out of the jam by getting Édgar Rentería to ground into Utley who executed the double play. Bumgarner faced yet another jam in the bottom of the sixth, as

doubled to lead off the inning and was bunted over to third by Carlos Ruiz. Bumgarner then struck out pinch hitter Ben Francisco and induced a fly ball out from Rollins to end the threat once again. The Giants finally broke through in the top of the eighth, when Uribe hit an opposite field

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

off Philadelphia reliever Ryan Madson.

, who was the Giants' starting pitcher in Games 1 and 5, then entered the game in a relief role to pitch the eighth inning. Lincecum struck out Werth, but gave up back-to-back singles to Victorino and Ibáñez. Giants manager Bruce Bochy promptly brought in closer Brian Wilson for a five-out save. Phillies catcher Ruiz hit a line drive right at Giants first baseman Huff, who caught the ball and easily doubled off Victorino at second to get out of the inning. At the top of the ninth, Phillies closer

allowed two hits and an intentional walk of Buster Posey to load the bases but escaped the jam without allowing any scoring after getting the pitcher Wilson to groundout to Howard at first. Wilson got pinch hitter Ross Gload to ground out to start the bottom of the ninth, but then walked Rollins to put the tying run on base. Polanco grounded into a fielder's choice to Uribe, who threw to second to force out Rollins. Utley then drew a walk, which put the winning run on first base. With a

full count In baseball and softball, the count refers to the number of balls and strikes a batter has in their current plate appearance. If the count reaches three strikes, the batter strikes out; if the count reaches four balls, the batter earns a base ...

and the runners moving on the pitch, Wilson struck out Howard looking to end the game and send the Giants to their first World Series in eight years.

Composite line score

2010 NLCS (4–2):

over Philadelphia Phillies

Broadcasting

Fox televised the NLCS in the United States, with

Joe Buck Joseph Francis Buck (born April 25, 1969) is an American sportscaster. The son of sportscaster Jack Buck, he worked for Fox Sports from its 1994 inception through 2022, including roles as lead play-by-play announcer for the network's Nation ...

providing play-by-play and

Tim McCarver James Timothy McCarver (born October 16, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to , most prominently as a member of the St. Louis Cardina ...

as commentator. Every pitch of 2010 NLCS was also broadcast on ESPN Radio with

Dan Shulman Daniel Shulman is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN. Shulman serves as a play-by-play announcer for select Toronto Blue Jays telecasts on Sportsnet and during 2018 and 2020 he hosted the baseball-the ...

(play-by-play) and Dave Campbell (color commentator). The series did not air in Cablevision homes after

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...

, Fox's parent company, pulled station WTXF on October 16 as the result of a carriage dispute with

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

Notes

External links

Probable Pitchers , phillies.com: News2010 Postseason , MLB.com: Schedule2010 NLCS at Baseball-Reference2010 NLCS at ESPN
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National League Championship Series The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the winners of the two Nation ...

National League Championship Series Philadelphia Phillies postseason San Francisco Giants postseason