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		Giants’ road to W.S. is through Philly By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin October 7, 2010

	SAN FRANCISCO--After watching the Cincinnati Reds take a Halladay off from hitting on Wednesday night and after getting a blazing no hitter thrown at them by the Phils starter Roy Halladay it's pretty obvious that the World Champions of 2008 are barnstorming again and after picking up a 4-0 no hitter in game one of the NLDS it's a huge neon sign that these Phillies are the real deal this year. Halladay who threw a perfect game on May 29th against the Florida Marlins threw a gem against the Reds at Citizen's Bank. "It's surreal it really is, I just wanted to pitch here, to pitch in the post season. To go out and have a game like that is a dream come true." said Halladay on Wednesday night. Viewing that the Giants who are in the middle of a best of five series playoffs with the Atlanta Braves they know to get to the World Series they're work is really cut out for them. If they can get past the gritty Braves in what will probably be five games they will have to face a rugged Phillies team. What's makes this scary though is the Phillies have a loaded squad with Ryan Howard leading the team with 31 homers and 108 RBIs and Placido Polanco with a .298 batting average leading the club. But it's been the pitching of Halladay that's been the story of the year he's a triple crown leader in the top three categories for being a pitching leader on the team with 21 wins, 2.44 ERA, and 219 strikeouts. If there was a Giants-Phillies match up at best the Giants pitching can get them in the fall classic if anything else. There is not much hope at least on paper that the Giants line up will be able to beat up on the Goliath Phillies line up and over come some dominating pitching if things get that far. The only way San Francisco gets to the World Series is scratching and slowly picking apart the Phillies pitching on offense. The Giants have the pitching to get them there but the hitters have to deliver or it's just another conversation regarding the Giants chances at hoisting the National League pennant trophy. Pablo Sandoval: The Giants continue with game two on Friday here are some of the things to look for from Pablo Sandoval, pitchers have learned how to throw to him and with him chasing everything but the kitchen sink Panda has been held off balance and has hit mostly around .265 during most of the season. Pitchers have learned how to pitch to him and where he likes to swing most at. Sandoval has been getting a diet of low and away pitches on two strikes and he's pulled the string many a time. He finished 2010 hitting .268. Sandoval towards the end of the season was recovering from lost time and making good contact. Hitting coach Bam Bam Muelins has worked with some key things to keep Sandoval a little more selective and experimenting with Panda in the cage at some of the junk he's been facing so he'd be ready in post season. It's worked and he's been making some contact. It's just that Muelins is looking for Sandoval to make that adjustment a little quicker for the playoffs. Barry Zito: With Zito sitting down for the playoffs and at the very least having a shot at a relief appearance which is very unlikely Zito will not make post season at all and will watch from the dugout. The decision was coming down on Wednesday about his demise and it was heavily weighed that he struggled in some key games this year particularly when the Giants were chasing the Padres in a game in San Diego which Zito left early after being touched up for some runs early. "I just know I'm not pitching, I'm not starting. I'm disappointed in myself not cracking that rotation. Obviously playoffs is the reason why we play the game. It was a team effort to get to this place but we've got to go with the guys now.I feel like I can help this team in the playoffs and I have experience. But I stand behind Boch, he's the skipper. I stand behind his decision." said Zito Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin are covering Giants baseball for Sportstalk Radio