The Giants led in 15 of the 22 innings of the three-game championship series, but in the end, the Cubbies relentless pursuit of the title took hold with three runs in the bottom of the 7th to outlast the Giants, 6-5, and claim the 37+ divisional title Thursday night at Bob Moore Stadium in Scotia.

The Giants struck in the first on Wayne Philips' RBI single that plated Carlos Llera. The Giants then added two more in the third. Carlos and Steve Lounello each singled and Mike Hicks then walked to load the bases with no outs. Sac flys by Philips and Jimmy Keegan made it 3-0.

The Giants continued to mount the pressure on the Cubs and pitcher Jon Martin. In the top of the 4th, Dan Maguire singled, moved to second on a perfect SAC by Mario Arduini. Billy Smith then lined a single to right-center to score Maguire. After an infield error, Hicks ripped an RBI single and the Giants gave starting pitcher Jim Konstantakis a 5-0 lead.

But the Cubs answered in the bottom half of the inning. Dan Ryan blooped a broken-bat single down the left-field line to start the inning. Andy Hoyle then hit a 1-2 pitch about 4 inches off the plate on the knees to right-center for a double, his second hit of the game. Ron Massaroni then ripped a double to score Ryan and Hoyle and the Giants lead was cut to 5-2. But JimmyK buckled down and got the next three hitters to end that rally.

Martin then took charge and didn't allow the Giants another run, facing just 10 Giants batters in the last three innings.

In the Cubs 5th, T.J. Scorsone led off with a single and that was all for JimK, who struck out two and walked no one in 4 innngs.

Jerry Solomon came on on just two days rest and promptly gave up a single to Jim McQuade. After an infield error, Jerry got hard-hitting Joe Fitzgerald on a pop to the first-baseman, but Dan Ryan beat out a DP grounder and a run scored to make it 5-3.

Solomon mowed down the Cubs in the bottom of the 6th on a grounder to third and 2 Ks. But then came the 7th, an inning the Giants just couldn't solve throughout the series. Martin led off and launched a long double to left-center, Scorsone singled and that was all for Solomon. On came reliever Wayne Philips. After McQuade dropped down a bunt to move the runners to second and third, up comes Bryce Cutler, who had been held in check all night. But the Cubs leadoff hitter came through and rifled a single to right center to score Martin and Scorsone to tie the score. Cutler moved to 2nd on the throw to set up the Cubs winning hit. A grounder between third and short tipped off the glove of a diving Mike Hicks and Cutler raced home with the winning run.

I can't make out in the book if it was Fitzgerald or Ryan who got the winning hit. Sorry. Jim McQuade will help us out here, but it may take awhile. He and several other Cubbies were still celebrating at Truman's on Central Ave about an hour before this posting.

It may not have been baseball at its finest, but it was competitive, mostly well-played and filled with fun and tension at the same time. This was no fluke that the 10th-seed Giants made it to the finals. We knew all year long that we were better than our 8-11 record. We just couldn't get into a rhythm with different lineup changes for every game. We also didn't have depth in pitching till we got Steve Lounello with 10 games left to play. Even then, the Giants faltered and found ways to lose.

But the playoffs were our alarm clock. From the very first pitch against the Pirates in the opening round, we played with an intensity and focus, and found that rhythm. We then ousted the 2-seed Mets and 3-seed Marlins to reach the finals.

I couldn't be more proud of these guys and will never forget the past three years of the comaraderie, class and fun we enjoyed.

And to reach the finals against the Cubs was all we expected - a great time, extremely competitive, and loads of respect on and off the field. And our post-game will always be something to remember, although it wasn't quite the "family affair.''

On to the 46 playoffs.

JimK