"For a solid minute in the eighth inning, Turner Field was the site of a seismic event Sunday night. The ballpark shook with joy and the thrusts of 50,000 foam tomahawks when pinch hitter Eric Hinkse's two-run shot off Sergio Romo turned a one-run deficit into a dramatic lead for the Braves. But the Giants have had their heads bowed before. They have been down to their final strike. And with a huge assist from a Braves infielder seemingly playing on ice skates, they found a way to turn those tomahawks into seat cushions. The Giants' stunning, 3-2 victory in Game 3 of their NL Division Series will be remembered as the day Brooks Conrad traded his second baseman's glove for a rod of low-grade plutonium. He made three errors, including the flat miss of Buster Posey's ground ball in the ninth that allowed the winning run to score. But the Giants were proud of the work that preceded that gift -- a tough pinch walk from Travis Ishikawa, a two-out, two-strike single up the middle from Freddy Sanchez and a perfect time for Aubrey Huff to invoke the power of his "Rally Thong" underwear to collect his first RBI of the series. Huff fought off a slider from left-hander Mike Dunn and flared his single to right field, Ishikawa lumbered from second base with the tying run, and the ballpark fell silent as Juvenile Fiction on a Saturday. "Longest medium fly ball I've ever hit," Huff said. "I didn't think it was ever going to get down." Before anyone could process what happened, Posey rolled it, Conrad muffed it, and Sanchez frolicked home. Brian Wilson pitched around an infield single in the bottom of the ninth as the Giants became the alpha males in this best-of-five series, taking a 2-1 lead. It was the 157th postseason game in Giants history. It was the first time they rallied from behind to win in the ninth inning. "Personally, I don't care how we did it," Ishikawa said. "We're one win away, and we'll try to get it done (today). It's really, really exciting. My legs are still shaking a little bit, to be honest with you." Now it's the Braves' turn to squirm. The Giants will send rookie Madison Bumgarner in for the kill in Game 4 today, their confidence strong in his ornery demeanor and 1.91 ERA in 10 road starts. Even if the Braves send the series back to AT&T Park for Game 5, a fully rested Tim Lincecum awaits them there. For all the late heroes, goats and bobbling Brooks, the Giants are on the verge of advancing because of a rotation that refuses to be chopped down to size." http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_16306874
