It’s bad enough that Game 7 of the 2014 World Series is followed by Halloween for the folks in Kansas City. Royals fans are likely to wake up in the middle of the night screaming, haunted by the dominance of MadBum the Great, who led the Giants to a 3-2 win and their third championship in five years. But now, there is one more reason for those who proudly wear the Royals blue to have nightmares. It’s the realization that the Royals passed up on the chance to select MadBum the Great in the 2007 MLB draft where they had the second pick. The Royals instead chose Mike Moustakas. The “Moose,” as he is affectionately called in Kansas City, did well overall in this post season, slugging five home runs. But he did not become a World Series legend, and quietly went 0-for-3 in Game 7. It’s not like the Royals didn’t know about MadBum the Great before the draft. A scouting report on him at the time said of Madison Bumgarner, “He certainly looks the part with the body type and fastball of a professional pitcher. Lefties from the high school ranks with plus velocity like that don’t come around very often.”

The Royals scouts shouldn’t take it too hard, since eight other teams also passed him up, leaving MadBum the Great as the 10th selection of the Giants. He was in the majors in two years, making his debut on Sept. 8, 2009, as a replacement for an ailing Tim Lincecum. Today, MadBum the Great sits at the top of the baseball world, putting his name next to the pitching elite in the game’s history.

All hands on deck: That’s what we kept hearing from Giants manager Bruce Bochy, but it turns out it was a sham. Game 7 didn’t become a bullpen game as advertised. It became a Bumpen game. Pitch count? That’s so the 2014 regular season. Bumgarner threw 117 pitches in shutting down the Royals in Game 5. In Game 7, on two days rest, he threw 68 pitches in relief  while blanking the Royals on two hits. Overall, he pitched 21 innings in the World Series, allowing one run, while striking out 17 and walking one. Starter Tim Hudson only recorded five outs in quickly blowing a 2-0 lead, and reliever Jeremy Affeldt came on to keep the Royals quiet through four innings, extending his post-season scoreless streak to 22 innings. Bumgarner’s appearance in the fifth was largely seen at best as a bridge that might get to the back end of the Giants bullpen in the seventh. But those pitchers became awed spectators like the rest of us as we saw Bumgarner do his bulldog impression that reminded us of legendary durable performances by such names as Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson.

Defense, Defense! They don’t yell that chant at baseball games, but perhaps fans should start doing so at AT&T Park because it was the glove work  that had a lot to do with the Game 7 glory. In the second, with Affeldt trying to limit the damage, Nori Aoki hit a higher chopper that came down at second base just as runner Alcides Escobar was sliding into the bag. Shortstop Brandon Crawford timed it perfectly and grabbed the ball while simultaneously stepping on the bag for the inning-ending force. Eric Hosmer roasted a shot to Joe Panik’s right which appeared to be a sure hit. Panik speared the ball with a dive, and flipped the ball from his glove to Crawford who turned the double play. In Bumgarner’s first inning, Aoki hit a twisting liner down the left field line that Juan Perez snared on the run.

Hits over-rated: The Giants continued their trademark of bringing runs home without hits by scoring their first two on sacrifice flies by Michael Morse and Crawford. Morse drove in what would turn out to be the winning run in the fourth with a base hit that scored Pablo Sandoval.

Speed bump: Much of the pre-Series hype focused on the Royals speed. Would Giants pitchers be able to keep their runners from getting big jumps, and could Buster Posey throw them out? Most conceded this would be a mismatch in favor of the Royals. So how did it work out? The Giants and Royals tied with one stolen base in two tries. The other storyline concerned the Big Three in the Royals bullpen. They allowed just two earned runs in 14-2/3 innings, so they did their job. But, it’s the way baseball goes that the only reliever anyone will remember from this Series is Bumgarner.

MVP: Bumgarner, who won the NLCS MVP, was the obvious World Series MVP, but Hunter Pence and Sandoval deserved honorable mention. Pence was 12 for 27, a .444 average, with seven runs and five RBI. Sandoval was 12 for 28, a .429 average with six runs and four RBI. Crawford hit .304 and Brandon Belt .303. Speaking of MVP, when the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw is likely awarded the National League MVP trophy, won’t that ceremony now seem very hollow after Bumgarner might have just grabbed the unofficial title as the game’s greatest pitcher?

Panda’s farewell? If Sandoval ends up elsewhere in free agency, his final image as a Giant will be cherished forever. As he grabbed the popup for the final out he flopped down on his back for a couple seconds as celebrating teammates ran onto the field. While the Giants are figuring out whether they can pay the Panda, should Bumgarner get a raise? He is on a five-year, $35 million contract, and was paid $3.75 million this year. Can you imagine how much he could demand if he was a free agent now? The Giants shrewd move in locking up Bumgarner until 2020 might be one of the greatest front office signings in sports today.

Title tracker: So, that means the Giants franchise now has eight World Series titles and the Dodgers franchise has six. The Dodgers haven’t won one since 1988, the year before Bumgarner was born.

The skipper: One of the fun parts about following baseball is to second guess the manager, as the fans and press like to do, over decisions such as bunt or hit away, the batting order, pitching changes and such. Giants manager Bruce Bochy is taking all the fun out of this, because he’s mostly right and we’re mostly wrong. Bochy’s third World Series win makes him a Hall of Fame lock, and it will be hard to find fans or media who will second-guess voters on that.

Mr. President: This means the Giants will be meeting at the White House again with President Obama. Last time they were there Obama announced the Giants plans to establish a garden at the ballpark where there would be fresh-picked greens, vegetables and fruit at the site just beyond center field. Both Obama and the health-diet devotee Hunter Pence were featured on a video about the garden. I can’t wait for the moment when the assembled players stand at attention while Obama walks in the room while Pence leads the White House band in a greeting of “Kale to the Chief.”

The Giants approached Game 6 of the World Series like a bunch of heretics. None of them could see the Second Coming. But by the time the 34-minute second inning had come and gone, the Kansas City Royals had staged an outburst of Biblical proportions, scoring a stunning seven times on the way to a 10-0 trouncing to force a deciding Game 7. And despite what the Bible tells us, nobody is going to rest on the seventh day.

That apparently includes Madison Bumgarner, the most interesting man in the World Series. Stay off the bases, my friend. Fans caught up in MadBum-mania were pushing for him to follow up his 117-pitch gem in Game 5 by starting Games 6 and 7 if necessary, bat cleanup, hit a couple of grand slams, take a few months off, and then pitch all 162-games next year. At least it seemed that way. Manager Bruce Bochy, with a proven Hall of Fame type mastery in handling pitchers, will be tested in how he goes to Bumgarner in Game 7. It doesn’t seem realistic that the Giants ace would pitch more than two innings in relief, but when those would come is uncertain. Early in the game if starter Tim Hudson falters? The sixth and seventh if the Giants need to hold down the Royals?  As the closer? But the Giants can’t assume that Bumgarner in this unusual two days rest situation would pitch with the same dominance he has shown during the post season.

The anticipation of what Bumgarner might do is nearly irrelevant if Hudson lets things get away like starter Jake Peavy did in Game 6. Peavy was on a short leash, but you wonder whether they should have ever taken him outside to begin with. He has not been ready for a prime time start in either of his World Series appearances. The Royals went to work on him in the second with singles by Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez. A crucial play in the inning came with runners on second and third with one out. Alcides Escobar rolled a ball to the right of the pitching mound. First baseman Brandon Belt ran to field the ball, second baseman Joe Panik ran to cover first, while Peavy pointed to the plate as if the runner was breaking for home. Belt got ready to throw home until he realized the runner wasn’t coming, and then had to spin back to try to beat the batter to first. Peavy was the air traffic controller on this play and he had three planes landing on the same runway. As taught in Spring Training 101, he should have ran immediately to cover first at the crack of the bat.  His confusing and poor directions to Belt had the Giants first baseman staggering around so much I thought security would demand a breathalyzer be taken.

That bizarre scene on the bases reminded me of a song performed by the legendary Danny Kaye during the 1962 Giants-Dodgers pennant race. Kaye linked Giants pitcher Stu Miller, second baseman Chuck Hiller, catcher Tom Haller, first baseman Orlando Cepeda , Dodger batter Maury Wills and umpire Jocko Conlan to a similarly awkward play. “Maury bunts. Cepeda runs to field the ball and Hiller covers first, Haller runs to back up Hiller, Hiller crashes into Miller, Miller falls, drops the ball, Conlan calls safe.” The inning got worse from there. The Giants tried to spin it that Peavy was just getting bad breaks, but the fact is the Royals were getting some real comfortable swings against him that paid off in the seven-run second. The Giants pitching woes in this game might have been moot anyway. The Royals 23-year-old rookie Yordano Ventura was superb, shutting out the Giants for seven innings on three hits.

Game for the ages: Hudson, 39, will be the oldest pitcher to start a Game 7 of the World Series. The Giants will probably be happy with four solid innings. The Game 6 rout means both teams have their late-inning bullpens ready, setting the stage for a fascinating number of key pitcher-batter battles. The blowout allowed the Giants to use ineffective relievers Jean Machi and Hunter Strickland while saving the best for the last game. Left-handed hitter Mike Moustakis drilled his fifth home run of the post season off Strickland in the seventh. It was the sixth big fly against Strickland in 8-1/3 innings of the post season. It’s still not clear why Bochy has stuck with the inexperienced Strickland on the biggest baseball stage. It’s been like teaching someone to drive during the Indy 500.

MVP: The Royals could win Game 7 and not have a legitimate MVP candidate. Right now, it’s between Bumgarner and Hunter Pence. Pence leads both teams in average (.435), hits (10), runs (6) and RBI (5). Bumgarner’s two sterling starts make him a contender, and he might seal the deal if he comes in late to shut down the Royals in relief.

Game 7: There is no more dramatic game in sports. The end of a long, grueling season comes down to one game. My first experience of a Game 7 came in the 1962 World Series between the Giants and the Yankees. My Dad and I took the bus to the game to avoid parking and traffic hassles. The Giants hadn’t won a World Series since 1954 in New York, and now had a chance to win their first championship in San Francisco. The outcome is well known, as Willie McCovey lined out to Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson for the final out with the tying and winning runs at second and third. What I still remember from that day was the bus ride home. It was so quiet, it was so sad. Fifty-six years later, in 2010, the Giants finally won a World Series. As friends were noisily celebrating inside my place, I took a minute to go outside on the deck with my glass of champagne, and I silently raised a toast to my fellow fans who were on the bus that deeply disappointing day in 1962. I knew that time meant that a number of those on the bus had passed on, including my Dad, but that others who were kids like me at the time were partying elsewhere right now. A friend came out and said  “what are you doing out here all alone when everyone is inside partying?” I didn’t know how to tell him that I wasn’t alone, that for a few sweet moments I was back on that bus, but that this time we were turning onto 3rd and King, and being showered with confetti as we passed the Giants ballpark. Game 7 memories. Which ones will we take with us from tonight?

Royals manager Ned Yost still doesn’t believe. He has seen it with his own eyes twice, once in Kansas City in Game 1 and again in San Francisco in Game 5. But he doesn’t believe. Poor Ned is so alone. The delirious orange and black faithful at AT&T Park, the quiet upper-deck section reserved for Royals fans and the nation itself that  watched on TV certainly believe. They all believe in the power of MadBum the Great.

For nine innings, Madison Bumgarner totally baffled the Royals in a 5-0 victory to put the Giants one win away from continuing their even-year domination of the World Series. This was no fluke. Bumgarner’s masterful four-hitter, with 84 strikes in 117 pitches, was the first complete game World Series shutout since 2003. His World Series ERA in four starts is 0.29. His victims have been the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers and the Royals. Omar Infante, who doubled in the fifth, was the only Royal to reach second base. The Royals third base coach was lonelier than the Maytag man. Bumgarner is the first Giant to toss a World Series shutout since 24-game winner Jack Sanford blanked the Yankees 2-0 in Game 2 of the 1962 World Series with the help of a solo homer by Willie McCovey.

Yet, Ned does not believe.

The Giants were leading 2-0 after four innings. Bumgarner had already retired 12 of the first 14 batters, five by strikeouts. There was no sign that was going to change. In the fifth, after Infante’s one-out double, the Royals suddenly had some life with Jarrod Dyson coming up and starting pitcher James Shields due to follow him. Time to get the bullpen going so you could pinch-hit for Shields assuming there would be at least one runner in scoring position when his turn came, right? Nope. Dyson struck out. Yost allowed Shields to bat, and the expected result occurred as the Royals pitcher also struck out. Bumgarner would go on to retire 12 of the next 13 batters. The Royals had their one threat, and Yost did nothing.

In his post-game news conference, Yost said all the right things about Bumgarner, but almost seemed to resent a question about whether he should have pinch-hit for Shields. Sure, it would mean going to the middle-relief part of the bullpen early, a scary idea for Royals fans after that unit’s Game 4 meltdown, but this is the World Series and the pitcher in the other dugout didn’t look like he’s going to give up another run until his first tune up in the 2015 Cactus League.

Of course, Bumgarner likely would have mowed down the pinch hitter anyway, but believe it or not, this was no time for the Royals to give away an out.

Drive for show: There is that golf saying “Drive for show, putt for dough.” It means that if you are to win in golf, the booming blasts off the tee might get everyone’s attention, but the winner is probably going to be the one who makes all the putts. The Giants offense was sort of like that in Game 5. The guys who could drive it for show like Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence didn’t drive in any of the Giants five runs. None had a bad game, with each reaching base twice. But on this night the guys who sank the putts batted in the less glamorous seventh and eighth spots in the order.

Eighth-place hitter Brandon Crawford drove in three runs with a groundout in the second and singles in the fourth and eighth. Seventh-place hitter Travis Ishikawa had a key single in the fourth that moved Sandoval into scoring position for Crawford. In the eighth, Sandoval and Pence singled, and after Brandon Belt struck out, Ishikawa replacement Juan Perez came up. With the crowd wildly waving their orange rally flags in hopes the Giants could get at least more run, Perez did them one better.

Highs and lows: A player mainly used for his defense, Perez crushed a pitch off power set-up man Wade Davis that crashed high off the wall in centerfield, scoring Sandoval and Pence for a 4-0 lead. Crawford’s single made it 5-0. But what none in the crowd knew was that Perez learned early in the game about the death of his close friend Oscar Taveras, a St. Louis Cardinals rookie outfielder who had been killed in an auto accident. In the locker room, Perez had to field alternate questions about his heroics and his personal loss, and he showed great class in humbly describing his big hit while softly recounting his friendship with Taveras. While just 22, Taveras is not a stranger to Giants fans. He hit his first major league home run against the Giants’ Yusmeiro Petiit in May, and struck a pinch-hit homer against the Giants in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

The unthinkable: The Big Three in the Royals bullpen were about as powerful as the Great Oz, as the Giants got to Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis in the three-run eighth. It might have taken a combination of brains, heart and courage, but the Giants certainly exposed the prized bullpen’s  frailties for one night. The Royals were supposed to own the seventh, eighth and ninth because of that bullpen, but the Giants made them look like they were just renting.

Now what? Bumgarner won’t be pitching at all in Game 6 (I don’t think), but he will still be a big factor because he gave the Giants bullpen two days of rest Sunday and Monday because of his complete game. That is critical because Jake Peavy appears to be about a five-inning starter at  the most. The rested bullpen should give manager Bruce Bochy no reservations about dipping into the bullpen quickly.

Till we meet again: Sunday night marked the final party of the season at the Giants ballpark, with fans heading for home still not knowing how the season will end despite the joyous finale. This a pattern. The Giants are gunning for their third World Series championship in five years, but they once again can’t clinch at home. Well, at least that gives them something they can work on next season.

Coming from Kansas City, the Royals can’t be expected to know about the oceanic phenomenon known as killer waves. So you can’t blame them for figuring it looked like smooth sailing after they posted a four spot in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead in Game 4 of the World Series. If they could tread water for just four more innings, skipper Ned Yost could turn over command of the final three innings to his brilliant crew of relievers.

The first sign of a killer wave begins building far out at sea, and can go undetected. So the Royals saw little danger ahead when the Giants answered in their half of the third with a run-scoring single by Buster Posey to make it 4-2. Those far-out rogue waves aren’t the biggest ones, but my quick Wikipedia research found that “strong currents cause waves to merge to create  exceptionally large waves.”  So the Royals again did not see any reason to go for the lifeboats when the Giants drew even with them in the fifth at 4-4, still drifting along with the comfort of their shutdown bullpen ready to take the oars. Then, without warning, the rogue waves struck.

A two-run double by Pablo Sandoval and RBI-single by Brandon Belt in the sixth suddenly made it 7-4. In the seventh, Gregor Blanco put down a bunt that pitcher Tim Collins threw away, allowing Brandon Crawford to score. Joe Panik delivered a two-run double and Hunter Pence came through with  an RBI double. It all happened so fast the Royals never had a chance to call the Coast Guard. The Giants sent 17 men to the plate in the sixth and seven innings, and the Royals ended up on the ocean floor as the Giants triumphed 11-4 to even the Series at 2-2.

Not a factor: The Royals’ one-two-three punch bullpen never got a chance in this one. The impressive trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland are known in Kansas City as simply HDH. But unfortunately for the Royals, the five pitchers who surrendered 11 runs in Game 4 will forever be known as TNT, as the Royals staff imploded.

Team effort: The cliché came true for the Giants in Game 4. Eleven different Giants had hits. The top three batters in the order — Blanco, Panik and Posey — went 5-for-12 with three RBI, three walks and six runs. Panik had two doubles. But what might be more impressive was his sacrifice bunt in the sixth that set the stage for that big inning. How many veterans have you seen who looked like they didn’t even know how to bunt? Panik is a rookie with just months of experience, but he is already placing himself into Giants lore.

MVP: Pence did nothing to lose any votes as a possible MVP Series winner. Pence went 3-for-5 with three RBI, is hitting .467, and made a web-gem catch in right field. A strong outing by Madison Bumgarner in Game 5 will make the two of them leading candidates.

Secret weapon: How many teams have a legitimate big-time starting pitcher sitting around to bring order to a chaotic scene should the starting pitcher falter? Yusmeiro Petit did it again in Game 4 after Ryan Vogelsong’s early exit. Petit, after three scoreless innings, has now gone 12 post-season innings without allowing a run. He creates a whole different option for manager Bruce Bochy. The Giants manager can stick with the uncertain Jake Peavy as his Game 6 starter in Kansas City with the comfort that Petit can douse the flames if the fiery Peavy burns out early. It seems unlikely Bochy will change the rotation at this point, meaning Peavy in Game 6 and Tim Hudson in Game 7 if that is needed. It will be interesting to monitor Madison Bumgarner’s performance in Game 5. If he has a stress-free game, and comes out after around seven innings with the Giants in control, he could become a big factor in relief in Game 7.

Mirror, mirror on the wall: Who has the finest bullpen of them all? While HGH gets all the publicity for their dominance, the Giants are going for their third World Series in five years because of stifling bullpens of their own. The Giants relievers threw 6-1/3 innings of scoreless ball in Game 4. I knew Bochy would get hard-throwing and hard-hit Hunter Strickland back in a game, having him mop up with the Giants in control in the ninth. Bochy still sees value in Strickland getting a right-hander or two out in a key situation during the Series, and is determined to keep his confidence up. This might be the beauty of Bochy. Meanwhile, Tim Lincecum warms up and doesn’t get in. Crazy thought, but can you just imagine the maligned Strickland and the ignored Lincecum having some key role in a Giants World Series clincher? I wouldn’t count it out.

Water torture: I wrote in jest after Game 2 that the Giants might over-water the infield at AT&T Park in Game 3 to slow down the Royals running game. I cited the shenanigans by the Giants ground crew in the 1962 pennant race with the speedy Dodgers, in which the area around first base was turned into a swamp as the hose was aimed at the first base bag as if it was on fire. It got so bad that the umpires ordered the grounds crew back onto the field to soak up the moisture with sand. After Game 3, I couldn’t help but laugh when the Royals complained that the infield seemed to be over watered. “I thought it was a little bit wet around first,” said Royals manager Yost. The Royals have stolen only one base in this series, so they are clearly not having any joy in mudville.

The seagulls barely had time to start sorting over the leftovers as the crowd filed out of AT&T Park after the Giants’ Game 3 World Series loss when some of their fans started acting like the only thing left of their team was the carcass. OK, the Kansas City Royals have a 2-1 lead following their 3-2 victory, but that is no reason for the late-night sports talk callers to cry out in desperation. The first thing they want to do is bring back Madison Bumgarner on three days rest to pitch Game 4. That idea gained traction during the day because of a report on the MLB Network that Bumgarner reportedly responded to a question by saying that he volunteered to make the start. Anyone who has ever heard the ultra-modest Bumgarner would instantly question the validity of such a report. Bumgarner later pointed out that he never pushed himself into the Game 4 scenario, and expressed full confidence that scheduled starter Ryan Vogelsong was the man for the job.

Exhale, Giants fans. Breathe slowly. This is not a time for desperation.

Vogelsong vs. Jason Vargas in Game 4 is a fair fight. If Vogelsong gets in early trouble, Yusmeiro Petit remains rested and ready for some shutdown innings. And even if the Giants fall to 3-1 in the Series, they would still have Bumgarner on normal days rest to move the Series back to Kansas City.

But beyond the manufactured non-Bumgarner-Vogelsong controversy is the fact that is a fascinating World Series for fans of the Giants, Royals and baseball in general. These teams are very similar, with overall starting rotations that keep you in the game, reliable bullpens and just enough hitting to win the close ones. They are intriguing baseball teams that have both dispatched opponents that appeared stronger than them. The Giants and Royals are playing a good game of hardball, and a lot of the country is missing out as TV ratings sit at record lows.

Breaking it down: It looks like the Giants are going to have to turn this Series into a Chicago election, where folks vote early and often. The Giants are going to have to score early and often to avoid having to beat the Royals bullpen. The Royals’ Big Three of Kelvin Herrrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, plus the addition of Brandon Finnegan, kept the Giants scoreless over the last four innings. The Kansas City starters are more vulnerable, but the Giants could do little against Jeremy Guthrie, and trailed 3-0 going into the bottom of the sixth. San Francisco rallied for two in their half, but the Royals bullpen took over from there. The Giants are going to have to get more from the top of the order to stay with the Royals. Gregor Blanco, Joe Panik and Buster Posey are a combined 6-for-36 in the three games.

Morse to start? Michael Morse, who hasn’t played in the field since returning from an oblique injury, might get a shot in left field. His potentially lethal bat is too valuable to not give him three or four at bats if he can handle the position. Morse got the Giants first run home with a single in Game 3, but really got the attention of the Giants coaching staff and the Orange Friday crowd with a mammoth blast to left that was just foul. The Giants are probably not giving up that much on defense by having him replace Travis Ishikawa in left. Ishikawa nearly misplayed what should have been a routine running catch into a diving save with two on in the second. With all the talk about small ball, Morse remains that three-run homer threat the Giants could use to jump out early. Another option: Put Morse at first where he is less a defensive risk and move Belt to left, where he probably would be about equal to Ishikawa.

Lincecum sighting: Tim Lincecum warmed up in the bullpen, but though he never was brought in, that was a positive sign that the back strain that ended his night in Game 2 is not serious. It also seems that Lincecum has been promoted past ineffective relievers Jean Machi and Hunter Strickland. The AT&T crowd is poised to erupt if Lincecum takes the mound for Games 4 or 5.

MVP: Still a bit early, but Bumgarner might be leading in the early competiton with his strong Game 1 start, and could pick up more votes with a solid Game 5. Hunter Pence is also on the early list, having gone 4-for-10 with a double, homer, two RBI and three walks. Alcides Escobar is probably the only Royal to stand out so far with 5-for-12 in the leadoff role. No Royals starter has lasted more than 5-1/3 innings, so they are not in the mix. If the Royals do win, voters might have to declare the first-ever three-way MVP tie, and award the trophy to Herrera, Davis and Holland.

Game times: The first three games seemed to have been played swiftly, with a minimum of mid-inning pitching changes and limited scoring, but they have all exceeded three hours. The three games have been played in 3:32, 3:25 and 3:15. The first three games of the 2013 Series were played in 3:17, 3:05 and 3:54, so this seems to be about the pace these days. The times are relevant because baseball likes to talk about ways to speed up the games. Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Juan Marichal — members of the Giants 1962 World Series team — were on the field during pregame ceremonies. The first three games of the Series that year were played in 2:43, 2:11 and 2:06. The first World Series was played in 1903 between the Boston Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates. Those first three games were played in 1:55, 1:47 and 1:50.

I’m not one to want games speeded up dramatically. I often get to a game up to 90 minutes early for batting practice, and stay until the final out, so I really wouldn’t want a two-hour game. I want the express line to move fast at the grocery store, but I’m never in a hurry when I’m at the ballpark. I do see some double talk in major league baseball pushing for faster games while allowing long commercial breaks in the post season. But my real irritant is how the TV broadcast goes from the last commercial message right to the field as the pitcher is winding up. I’m not staring at the screen during all their commercials, so I keep missing the first pitch at the start of every inning.

Weather factor: In the 1950s there was a saying about the Boston Braves, “Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain.” The idea is that the Braves would be happy to be able to start aces Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain every game, and such a weather pattern would allow that. There is supposed to be some rain for Game 4. It probably won’t be enough for a postponement, but if it was, should Bumgarner start Game 4 for the Giants if it was played on Sunday when his normal turn comes up? The answer, of course, is Yes! Yes! Yes!

Kansas City scored five runs in the sixth in which the Giants used five pitchers. Call it a Royals Flush. A night after the Giants won the battle of aces, the Kansas City Royals turned their doubters into jokers as they rolled to a 7-2 win in Game 2 to even up the World Series. Missouri is the Show Me State, so it is fitting to ask what the Royals showed us Wednesday night. No. 1, they have speed, as demonstrated when Lorenzo Cain scored from second on a bullet single to left field. Few runners would even think about heading home on that play. Some of the post-game analysis said Cain only tried it because inexperienced left fielder Travis Ishikawa doesn’t possess a powerful arm. Fact is, Cain could have beaten a speeding train to home plate. No. 2, the Royals can whack the ball around the yard, as they demonstrated in their sixth-inning offensive assault. No. 3, the flame-throwing bullpen trio performed up to the hype. And most interesting, they  were supposed to be the ones to crack on the big stage against the post-season tested Giants, yet it was a Giant who completely lost it in a nationally televised tantrum that surely embarrassed his veteran teammates.

Despite the dominating defeat, Giants fans should not despair. The Royals victory sets the stage for one of the grandest weekends in San Francisco baseball history. The Giants won the World Series of 2010 and 2012 on the road. Orange and Black Nation can now dream about a sweep, a Sunday clincher at home and a parade next week. AT&T Park is the biggest, longest-running party in the country with daily sellouts in one of baseball’s all-time environments, and the place will be revved up Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Of course, Giants fans shouldn’t get too carried away — some precipitation could affect play, and this pesky Royals club is good enough to rain on the Giants parade

Bring the broom: Here is  the recipe for a Giants sweep. The big concern now is the bridge between the starters and the back end of the bullpen of Sergio Romo in the eighth and Santiago Casilla in the ninth. The ineffectiveness of Jean Machi and Hunter Strickland in the game-changing sixth in relief of starter Jake Peavy raises legitimate concerns about the ability of the Giants middle relief corps to hold down the Royals if a starter lasts fewer than six innings. Here’s how the Giants should plan for the next three games: Game 3 is a Tim Hudson-Yusmeiro Peitit show. Hudson needs to survive at least five effective innings, and Petit can carry it for three innings and hand it off to Casilla. Ryan Vogelsong needs to go a minimum, six, maybe seven, and it’s all hands on deck to close it out. That puts game 5 in the hands of Madison Bumgarner.

Triple threat: The HDH bullpen, as they call them in Kansas City, lived up to expectations. Kelvin Hererra hit 100 mph in 1-2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Wade Davis threw a perfect inning in the eighth and closer Greg Holland struck out the side in the ninth. Untouchable? Their appearances came with the Royals in command, so they were pitching with a big margin for error. Looking forward to seeing them work against the Giants in a tight game where one mistake can be costly.

Blame Bochy? Just about every post-season move has turned to gold for Giants manager Bruce Bochy. The exception is reliever Hunter Strickland. Bochy can’t stop believing in Strickland despite the overwhelming evidence against him. Strickland came in for the fateful sixth, and threw a wild pitch and followed that by allowing a two-run double to Salvador Perez and a two run-homer to Omar Infante, his fifth big fly of the post season. Strickland’s tirade at himself appeared to also be directed to the Royals, who responded by coming onto the field. Bochy needs to sit him down with battery mate Buster Posey for some advice on how to act like a big leaguer. Still, knowing Bochy, I wouldn’t be surprised if Strickland ends up recording some big out before this one is over

Timmy: Tim Lincecum looked good, retiring five batters before breaking down with some type of back strain. I can’t help wonder whether the long non-activity contributed to the strain, as he tried to show his team that he could still get outs. For a moment, it looked like the old Timmy, face of the franchise, and Giants fans couldn’t help but fantasize seeing him come in to save the day at AT&T. Now one is left pondering whether Lincecum just threw his final pitch as a Giant if he can’t physically compete in this series. Lincecum has played the loyal teammate through his non-use in the post season, but there has to be some resentment inside, especially when he sees Bochy continually going to Strickland over him with mostly awful results. Lincecum is still on the payroll next year, but would he and the Giants really want to keep the relationship going if the club is afraid to use him? Final thought on Lincecum: If he had been brought in to relieve Peavy, would he have kept the Royals from scoring at all? Based on what Lincecum showed when he did pitch, the score would have stayed at 2-2 and they might still be playing.

Speed kills: The Royals haven’t been able to unleash their speed game yet. Posey even gunned down Alcides Escobar in the first. Kansas City should be aware that history shows the Giants will resort to dirty tricks to control base runners. The Royals topped the AL in stolen bases with 153, led by Jarrod Dyson (36), Escobar (31) and Cain (28), The Dodgers of 1962 led the NL with 198 steals, led by Maury Wills with a record 104. The Giants grounds crew created a sand  pile at first in a July game to slow runners, and followed that up a month later by over-watering to make a mud puddle at first. The ploy worked as the Giants bogged down the Dodgers running game, and went on to edge them out for the pennant.

Sunday celebration: Fans at AT&T will be ready for a party weekend and possible party Sunday night. But while the Champagne awaits a possible clincher, the Royals sobered the Giants crowd in Game 2. This team can pitch, catch, run and hit, and it’s hard to create a scenario that doesn’t have the teams heading back to Kansas City after hard-fought weekend at AT&T.

It was fitting that a game that included a panda and a moose would turn on “Big Game” James Shields being felled by Hunter Pence. World Series? It was more like the Wild Kingdom. This is supposed to be an evenly matched series on paper, as they say. Well, look out Kansas City because I think the Giants packed the paper shredder. This was billed as a David vs. David battle. All the Goliaths had already been slain, ie the Nationals, Cardinals, Orioles and Tigers. These games were expected to be decided with a slingshot, but the Giants showed up with a bazooka. Kansas City here we come? More like Kansas City here we come to conquer. All the visiting sportswriters keep drooling about Kansas City barbecue. After their 7-1 Game 1 loss to the Giants, some might be ready to stick a fork in the Royals already.

No doubt the Royals are consoling themselves with the fact that Madison Bumgarner can’t pitch in Games 2, 3 and 4. That is a sound way to look at things, since the rest of the rotation — Jake Peavy, Tim Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong — are not likely to dominate. But does that matter? In a month that ends with Halloween, the Giants are becoming the scariest thing in October. The Giants have won 16 of their last 18 post-season games. If the Giants win three of the next six games, they will join company with the St. Louis Cardinals of 1942-44-46 as the only National League clubs to win three World Series in five years. The Giants now go to the World Series every other year. The Royals haven’t been there since 1985, meaning their next trip will come in 2043.

Bumgarner is likely to be retired at his ranch by then, but the record books and those who are witnessing his performance on the big stage are going to have quite a story to tell. His scoreless streak in his first 21 innings of World Series play is only topped by Giants legend/Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson. Bumgarner had a post-season road scoreless streak of 32-2/3 innings, He already has six post season victories. So with MadBum on the mound for Game 1, Giants fans weren’t too worried about the man they call James “Big Game” Shields. In fairness to the Royals ace, he does not refer to himself that way. It’s a label that friends gave him in high school. So I feel kind of sorry for him. Sort of how I’ve always felt about a player from the early 1900s called “Home Run” Baker. Talk about creating high expectations every time you got up to bat.

Shields recorded only nine outs, allowed seven hits and left with the score 4-0, Pablo Sandoval drove in one run with a double in the first, and Pence rocketed one over the right center-field fence for two more. Pence figured into the scoring again in the fourth with a double, scoring on a single by DH Michael Morse. On this night, Shields was no “Big Game” James Worthy, the NBA legend with the same title. Nor was he even James “Big Game” Smith, a professional wrestler. Yet, Bumgarner was so country hardball tough on this night that he might have beaten Worthy in a one-on-one matchup or even body slammed the 6-2, 327-pound Smith. In Kansas City on Tuesday night, it appeared that everyone would succumb to Bum. And one more MadBum observation. Two balls were driven right back at him. He grabbed one and knocked the other down for outs. These defensive gems should not be quickly dismissed. When I’ve seen video of pitchers who were drilled by line drives in the head area, almost  every one shows a pitcher  whose follow through makes them totally vulnerable to a violent come-backer. Bumgarner finishes his delivery with his glove out front and in perfect balance. Other pitchers couldn’t match his stuff, but they would be wise to learn how he defends himself.

So is the World Series over?

The Royals can’t be written off, having gone 8-0 in the post-season to get to the World Series. But they didn’t even come close to playing their game in the opener. The Royals led the major leagues with 153 stolen bases, yet couldn’t even make an attempt because they had such few base runners. The Royals are known for defense, having committed just three post-season errors, and yet outfielder Nori Aoki misplayed Joe Panik’s single into a triple. The Royals boast of a bullpen trio of set-up men and a closer who take it personally if a batter even reaches first base, but they never got into Game 1. So the Royals and their fans can make their case for a turnaround.

But they may be dealing with more than just another good team.

In 1972, author Roger Kahn wrote a book titled “Boys of Summer” that told the story of Dodgers players before and after Brooklyn won its first and only World Series championship in 1955. Forget that this was about the Dodgers, Giants fans. The powerful book, one of the best ever about baseball, was about nostalgia and passion for the game. The Giants of 2010, 2012 and 2014 are headed for a powerful place in baseball history if they can successfully hunt down their prey in this World Series. The Boys of October may be on the verge of something very special.

My first recollection of the World Series was in 1959, when the Dodgers played the White Sox. The Series games those days were played around 1 p.m. local time, so I remember getting home from school just after three with the Dodgers leading 9-3 in Game Six and just three outs from winning the championship. My friends were in front of my house yelling at me to come out and play touch football, but I kept stalling. It wasn’t until the Dodgers dominating closer Larry Sherry got  Chicago’s Luis Aparicio to fly out to Wally Moon in left to start the celebration that I joined my friends.

I was only eight, but I had already chosen the World Series over football.

As a I look forward to the start of the 2014 World Series in two days between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals, I haven’t changed my preference. In fact, I can comfortably say that watching the World Series is better than watching the Super Bowl. I know that sets me apart from my fellow Americans. Last year’s Super Bowl was watched by 108.4 million in the USA. A per game average of 15 million watched the 2013 World Series. The Giants-Royals are likely to dip even lower. The 2012 Giants-Tigers World Series drew an all-time low audience of 12.7 million average per game.

Now I should probably toss in a disclaimer that I’m not down on football. I’ve watched every Super Bowl on TV, starting with the first one on Jan. 15, 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. That was so long ago that they didn’t even call it the Super Bowl then — it was more modestly labeled the AFL-NFL Championship Game. I love football, and always look forward to the next Roman numeral showdown.

So let’s break it down, as the analysts say, and explore why the World Series is better than the Super Bowl.

1. Condensed hype: Baseball allows as little as two days between the two league championship series and the World Series, although the time can be stretched out a couple days if the league series ended in fewer than seven games. The NFL has a two-week gap. Among the big events the NFL schedules to keep their fans interested during this time is Media Day, which is more painful than a knee injury. Baseball keeps the momentum in its post-season going, and that can possibly affect the games. For example, if a team had to go seven in the league series, it may have had to use up their ace, while the team that swept their series would be able to have their rotation totally rested.

2. Pregame show: The World Series pregame starts at 4:30, 37 minutes before the first pitch. The Super Bowl pregame starts so early, farmers wake up the roosters when they turn it on before dawn. The baseball pregame sets up the actual matchup. The NFL pregame is about as interesting as the Pro Bowl.

3. Best of seven: The World Series is a good book, read slowly, savoring every word. The Super Bowl is a one-game Tweet. The Series can last up to nine days, with two for travel and seven for games. Each game is a new chapter, with a new storyline. National media has been writing that the Giants are lucky to have gotten this far. But luck has little to do with who wins the World Series. The Series is a mental and physical endurance test. The teams have played up to 175 games to get there, so it’s hard to have a fluke World Series winner. The one-game Super Bowl leaves a lot to luck if the game is close. The World Series also allows for clunkers. While today might be a  blowout, tomorrow may bring a thriller. An early Super Bowl rout not only means that the party host will have a lot of guacamole left over as the guests leave early, but one lopsided score ends the season cold.

4. Getting to know you: The multi-games provide the casual fan who has not followed the World Series teams to get to know about the players’ stories. Did anyone beyond the Bay Area know who Travis Ishikawa was until he won Game Five? I doubt many baseball fans know anything about Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas, but they will learn quickly about the man who is greeted from the stands with “Moose” calls, and that foam moose antlers are a big-selling item in the Kauffman Stadium gift store. These are the kind of stories that can be revealed over the pace of a week of games. You’re not going to get that kind of intimacy in the fast-paced Super Bowl telecast.

5. Word from our sponsor: Unless the Clydesdales are involved, I’m not interested in the Super Bowl ads. They don’t even wait for the game anymore. Now you can view the commercials online days before the kickoff. Quick, name one memorable commercial from a World Series game. When an inning is over, there is time to review what just happened and look ahead to who is up next and who might come in to pitch. There’s no time to talk football strategy for fans during Super Bowl breaks. We gotta watch some potato chip ad instead.

6. Take me out to the concert: The game is second billing to casual football fans, with many of the millions who have TVs tuned to the Super Bowl more interested in the moves of the performers in the halftime concert than the moves of the wide receivers. The NFL extends halftime for a pop song concert, underscoring the fact that this day is really not just about football. The World Series only interrupts play for “God Bless America” and Take Me Out To the Ballgame” in the seventh. The Royals’ hit theme song was written by a Christian music artist and the Giants play a recording of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” by Tony Bennett after a home victory. The NFL holds its hand on the bleep button as Madonna sings “”Sexy and I Know It.” Baseball let’s the music roll, confident that the Christian guy won’t have a wardrobe malfunction.

7. Parties and pools: I’d rather watch the Super Bowl alone so I can focus on the inside-football part of the game, but invariably get corralled into going to a Super Bowl Party. That is the worst place to watch the game, and I usually have to watch a recording later on at home to understand what happened. People don’t have World Series parties. They just watch the game, as revolutionary an action as that is.

8. Everybody in the pool: People at Super Bowl parties aren’t even rooting for a team. They instead are rooting for the score of a given quarter to match up with their square in the pool. I’ve never known anyone who bet on a baseball game (Pete Rose excluded).

9. MVPs: Since 1988, 10 of the 16 Super Bowl MVPs have been quarterbacks. Since 1988, pitchers were the MVPs in just four years, with the rest of the honors shared by position players with the exception of one DH winner. The World Series hero is more likely to be a common-man player rather than a superstar, and no position has an advantage such as the quarterback does. This adds to the intrigue of who will rise to World Series glory?

10. No place like home: This is where baseball really has the advantage over football in sports’ biggest stage. The World Series is played before the home fans, allowing them to watch the team they have supported all season go for the championship. The Super Bowl is played at a neutral site, eliminating the exciting  buzz of home-field crowds, and reminding the ordinary folks who support the team the rest of the season that it’s time for the corporate types and celebrities to take their place in the stands at a stadium far away from their city and price range.

So it’s Play Ball! I’ll be in my easy chair charting every pitch of the World Series, unless some friends show up outside my house wanting to toss the baseball around. Not sure what to do if that happens.

Misdemeanor Row turned into Murderers Row as the Giants stunned the Cardinals 6-3 in Game Five to win the National League pennant. The Giants hadn’t hit a homer since Brandon Belt ended the 18-inning marathon against the Washington Nationals on Oct. 4. The odds were that the Giants would finally break out of the big fly slump, and bettors were likely to put their money on Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence as the primary candidates to lead the way. Nobody put their money on the trio of Travis Ishikawa, Michael Morse and Joe Panik to all go deep together, which made one of the most dramatic wins in franchise history even more incredible.

This is the franchise that owns the most famous home run in baseball, Bobby Thomson’s pennant-winning three-run homer against the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds in 1951. Thursday night ended with Ishikawa putting his name high on the list of famous franchise blasts. The night began with Ishikawa possibly putting his name high on the list of franchise goats. The Cardinals John Jay hit a line drive to left in the third that appeared catchable. Ishikawa took a step in, momentarily froze, and then came to the sickening realization that the ball was carrying over his head. Jay had an RBI gift double and the Cardinals had struck first for a 1-0 lead. To the credit of Giants fans, there were gasps but no boos. Most understood that Ishikawa is not a left fielder, but that with Morse limited by an oblique injury. manager Bruce Bochy had taken the risk of weakening left-field defense in the post season with the tradeoff of keeping a potentially threatening bat in the lineup.

Ishikawa was not as forgiving of himself as the fans, and said in a post-game interview that when the Giants trailed 3-2 late in the game, he still felt responsible. As it turned out, redemption was just one swing away. Ishikawa batted in the ninth with the score now tied at 3-3 with one out and Brandon Belt at first and Pablo Sandoval at second. Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha came in with a 2-0 fastball, and Ishikawa crushed it. The crowd that stuck with Ishikawa when things went bad went into full bedlam mode for him as the ball sailed into the arcade. I don’t know if this shot was heard around the world, but San Franciscans within 10 blocks of AT&T must have heard the roar.

Ishikawa’s heroics, of course, never would have happened if not for fellow sluggers Panik and Morse.

In an interview with writer Damon Runyan in 1912, New York Giants .300-hitting second baseman “Laughing” Larry Doyle said, “it was great to be young and a Giant.” The 23-year-old Panic would probably second that motion today. The Cardinals were stung by veteran second baseman Marco Scutaro, when the Giants battled back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat St. Louis in the 2012 NLCS. The position delivered another blow to the Cardinals in the 2014 version when Panic slugged a two-run homer in the third off Adam Wainwright to put the Giants in front 2-1.

Madison Bumgarner kept the Giants in the game despite not having his best stuff which was demonstrated when Matt Adams and Tony Cruz blasted home runs in the fourth for a 3-2 Cardinals lead. The game stayed that way into the bottom of the eighth, but even the most diehard of Giants Nation had to see little hope against reliever Pat Neshek. The combination of a baffling herky-jerky motion and heat had Neshek toying with the Giants in games three and four. It took Neshek just 23 pitchers to dispatch the Giants in two innings without allowing a run or hit. But in the eighth of Game Four, it took just one pitch to pinch-hitter Morse to tie the score. Morse, who has been sidelined with the injury through most of September and during the NLDS, hit a wicked, curving shot into the left-field bleachers. If Ishikawa’s homer was one of the all-time Giants game winners, Morse’s clout will go down in club history as one of the most clutch.

The Giants like to say that a big part of their success comes because everyone has everyone’s back, that a real team effort is about one player picking up another. That was the story of Game Five. Panic picked up Ishikawa after the misplay in left, Morse picked up the whole team’s struggling offense with his homer, and Jeremy Affeldt picked up Santiago Casilla in the ninth when the closer uncharacteristically stumbled. And then in the bottom of the ninth, the Giants left fielder went one better. He smoked a home run for the ages, and with that clout, Ishikawa had picked up Ishikawa.

So now they are goin’ to Kansas City, but don’t expect the Giants to continue to put on a repeat of the 1927 Yankees Murderers Row. No, get ready for three-run balks, bases-clearing wild pitches or whatever crazy way you can fantasize about the Giants scoring runs. What is making the next step even more intriguing is the Royals play a similar game. Oh well, the home runs were fun, but here we go back to Misdemeanor Row. Would the Giants Faithful really want it any other way?

The evening began with Barry Bonds throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for Game Four of the National League Championship Series. Giants fans roared out their love for the man who built their ballpark and created so many electrifying moments with his soaring game-changing home runs. But that was so 2003. For the 2014 post-season Giants, it might have been more realistic to have the first ball thrown out by little Matty Alou, one of best bunters and contact batsman in S.F. Giants history. The Giants, now a win away from heading to their third World Series in five years after rope-a-doping the Cardinals again 6-4, have not only sworn off the big fly, but seem to have little regard for scoring runs by getting base hits. The Giants still haven’t hit a homer in the NLCS, and they’ve made an art form of bringing a run home without the batter getting a hit. The Bonds era was terrific when He came to the plate, but you’ve got to keep an eye on all 25 of these characters on the 2014 version of the club because you never know where the next game-changing moment is going to come from.

The Cardinals jumped all over an ineffective Ryan Vogelsong, finishing off the Giants usually rugged post-season starter with an old-fashioned homer by Kolten Wong for a 4-1 lead in the fourth. This is the kind of blow that usually takes noisy home crowds out of the game. Not so this time for three reasons: (1) They’ve seen their team enough in the post season to know that something weird and positive is likely to happen; (2) Secret weapon Yusmeiro Petit was warming up in the bullpen and had the track record of being able blank the opposition, and for proof of that you can contact the Washington Nationals; and (3) People come to AT&T for the party as well as the game and as long as the garlic fries, beer and Irish coffees are being served, no one is really going to let their daubers down until the seagulls start circling late in the game when all hope is lost.

AT&T is equipped with pretty much everything you’ll need except a phone booth, but somehow the Giants part-time starter/long reliever had found a place to change into his Superman costume, and when Petit arrived on the mound the whole place was ready to sing “When the Lights Go Down on the Cardinals.” Petit didn’t disappoint, striking the side out in the fourth and hurling three shutout innings. The Giants, meanwhile, scored runs the more traditional way on RBI singles by Buster Posey and Hunter Pence to cut the lead to 4-3 in the third.

Then came the zany sixth. Some have been saying that the Giants are just downright lucky in the way they score runs, and would point to the sixth as another example. But on further review these pull-a-run-out-of-the-hat innings have more to do with sound baseball than luck.

First, the Giants are putting the ball in play, striking out only 19 times in four games. Second, they haven’t committed any errors and I can’t recall any mental misplays either. Third, their bullpen has given up just three runs in four games, and all of those came in the Game Three defeat. So the Giants are doing very little to hurt their chances, while forcing the other team to play almost perfect ball. So after a Juan Perez pinch-hit walk and Brandon Crawford single puts two on and none out, Matt Duffy executes a textbook sacrifice bunt to move the runners up to second and third. Then the Giants picked on poor Cardinals’ first baseman Matt Adams. Gregor Blanco rolled a 75-footer that Adams couldn’t get to quick enough to get the speedy Perez at home. Joe Panik continued the abuse with a grounder right at the bag that Adams snared. If he immediately threw to second, he could have started the inning-ended double play. But by touching first, he took away the force at second, and his off-the-mark throw to try to get Blanco was too late. Adams also could have kept a better eye on Crawford at third, who eventually scored on the play. Posey then made in 6-4 with an actual base hit to score Blanco. Was all this bad luck for the Cardinals? Consider this: Would their pinch hitter have placed down such a perfect bunt? And if those two balls were hit to the slick-fielding Brandon Belt, would the Giants first baseman had made better plays to prevent both runs from scoring? I’m voting yes?

Yet, it must be said that there is nothing wrong with the two-run double or three-run homer. The Giants have left 34 runners on base, a huge number for four games. When opportunity knocks, sooner or later you’ve got to the answer the door, and the Giants might be well advised to cash in with a Big Fly or Big Double when the big chance comes calling in Game Five.

Just after the final out in Game Four, most fans rushed to the exits to join in the sea of red lights to negotiate their way home. But a small faction stayed back, soaking in the drama they had just witnessed as Tony Bennett’s “I left My Heart in San Francisco” drifted through the mostly empty stands. We’ve seen it all at AT&T since 2000, from the highs of the Barry Bonds Show to heartbreaking defeats and lost seasons to the euphoria of two championships. As the final chords of “San Francisco” were sounded, the remaining fans let out one more cheer, filled with confidence because they know that their team is more plucky than lucky, and that it might be enough to kick off a wild party the next night when they returned for Game Five.