SAN FRANCISCO -- Tim Flannery saw it happen in front of his eyes, again, and just laughed.

"Slingshots and rocks," the San Francisco Giants third base coach smiled. "We just keep coming
at you with slingshots and rocks."
This time, the rocks were bunts that would make even Kansas City manager Ned Yost weep with
bitterness and envy.
There were failed bunts that turned into spectacularly successful bunts, there was one more
absurdly wild throw that allowed Brandon Crawford to score from second on a ball that maybe
traveled 25 feet from home plate, and one more win for what Bruce Bochy sardonically calls
"The Ground Attack."
[INSTANT REPLAY: Giants win Game 3 on walk-off error in 10th]
The Giants won Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, 5-4 in 10 innings, because
they have taken their already ethereal fetish of making good things magically appear from
dumpster fires and festooned it with horseshoes wrapped in four-leaf clovers and "Get Out Of
Jail Free" cards.
They won it because Juan Perez couldn't get down two bunts and Gregor Blanco couldn't get
down a third.
They won it because sometimes the occult says, "Sorry, I've doubled down on the home team
today."
And they won it because, as third base coach Flannery said, "They took an MRI of my head
yesterday, and all they found was old and stressed."
These are the 2014 Giants, a good team that has apparently been French-kissed by God -- or, if
you must, whatever deity handles baseball matters in your house.
This time, they took a 4-0 first-inning lead on Cardinals starter John Lackey, and then took the
next 27 at-bats off and let the Cardinals get back into the game. Teams lose when they do this, a
lot, and they have it coming every time.
But these are the Giants, who blow snotrockets at the Grim Reaper and say, "Go on, Sickle Boy,
bring your A-game." And here's what they delivered today: