Ross homers twice as Giants take Game 1 of NLCS

PHILADELPHIA - Judging by their own impossibly high standards, Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay were a few notches below spectacular during last night's Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

From a pitching standpoint, anyway. Harassed by a wolf-whistling crowd of 45,929 for most of the night, Lincecum - he of the shoulder-length hair - joked that the tough Philly fans at Citizens Bank Park probably appreciated him for other reasons.

Said Lincecum, "I was thinking I must have a real nice butt."

The overhyped showdown lasted exactly seven innings for both pitchers, and this time, neither one could be described as dominant. The Giants peppered the once-unhittable Halladay for eight of them, including a pair of home runs by Cody Ross, to shock the Phillies, 4-3, before a crowd of 45,929.

"It's a team of fighters," Lincecum said. "Regardless of whether it was a pretty game or an ugly game, we came out on top."

Lincecum and Halladay were the featured attractions for the NLCS opener, but it was Ross, an August waiver claim from the Marlins, who stole the show. It was the first multi-homer playoff game by a Giant since Jeff Kent went deep twice during Game 5 of the 2002 World Series as Ross helped stick Halladay with his first loss since Aug. 30.

"Coming in here, the first game against their horse," Ross said, "taking the first one is a good feeling for us."

Ross, the Giants' No. 8 hitter, homered in the third inning and again in the fifth, the latter breaking a 1-1 tie and putting San Francisco on top to stay. Carlos Ruiz and Jayson Werth went deep for the Phillies, who now must try to become only the fourth team in 19 years to lose Game 1 of the NLCS and win the series. The Phillies had won seven straight openers dating to the 2007 Division Series against the Rockies.

"We can't do nothing about it right now," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "It's a loss. So we come out tomorrow, play in that moment and try to win that game."

Lincecum did not look sharp, and at one point he appeared to have trouble with the blister that developed during his Division Series start. He later denied the blister was an issue, but something must have been wrong. He allowed six hits, three runs and three walks with eight strikeouts during his 113-pitch outing.

As for Halladay, he served up four runs and whiffed seven without a walk. His no-hit wizardry came to an end with one out in the third inning on the first of Ross' two home runs. Up to that point, Halladay had strung together 12 straight innings without allowing a hit dating to the regular season.

The 34 consecutive hitless at-bats left him one short of Don Larsen's playoff record, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It also snapped Halladay's 20-inning scoreless streak and instantly put the Phillies in a 1-0 hole.

"When you're aggressive and you're up there swinging and you bear down, he's going to give up some runs sometimes," Manuel said. "Can he pitch better than that against them? Yeah, of course he can. But tonight they hit some balls good on him."

The Giants used a two-out rally to score twice in the top of the sixth for a 4-1 lead. After Buster Posey's single, former Phillie Pat Burrell launched a long fly ball that caromed off Raul Ibañez's glove as he faced the wall on the warning track. Burrell had a run-scoring double and Giants manager Bruce Bochy replaced him with Nate Schierholtz, a swift pinch runner. The strategy paid off when Juan Uribe slapped an RBI single.

The Phillies fought back to cut the deficit to 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Chase Utley led off with an infield single, and one out later, Werth ripped a 2-and-2 fastball over the rightfield wall.

But that was it for the Philllies, and closer Brian Wilson nailed it down by striking out the side in the ninth inning.

Said Wilson, "We were able to draw first blood."