The Saints will win out but i see a full 7 games here.  Moon will battle and will need their SP to set the tone early in the series for this to go the distance.

The San Antonio Saints needed all seven games to slip past the Moon Raiders in the NLDS (just as Rob predicted). The Saints hit very well as a team (.296 BA) but stranded a cast of thousands in losing the close games.  Dan Haren and the San Antonio pitching staff  needed all their might to hold the Moon sluggers in check.  Key additions Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Bautista had both big series, but the key contributor might have been Shelley Duncan  who slammed two homers and drove in six despite only starting three games. 

Game 1: SAS 4, MOO 0

Haren was brilliant in the opener, going 7.2 innings and allowing only five hits and two walks while striking out six.  Mike Stanton crushed a two run homer off Ricky Romero in the bottom of the 1^st to give Haren the only lead he would need.  Bautista’s RBI double in the 2^nd made it 3-0.

Haren’s most serious jam came in the top of the 8^th when Carlos Lee led off with a double and took third an out later on a Greg Dobbs single.  Haren struck out Carlos Beltran, who had  a very frustrating series.  David Robertson came on and threw a wild pitch that wasn’t wild enough to score Lee.  Robertson struck out Nick Hundley to end the threat.  Duncan’s solo shot in the 8^th gave us the final margin and Robertson pitched a scoreless 9^th to pick up the save. SAS 1, MOO 0 

Game 2: MOO 5, SAS 4

Phil Humber teased and taunted the Saints in game 2, yielding only three runs on NINE hits in 5.1 innings. Matt Garza was worse, serving up 11 hits in six innings.

The Raiders got two runs in the 1^st when Dobbs and Beltran singled.  An RBI double by Hundley and a wild pitch did the damage.  The Saints answered in the bottom half when AGone singled with two outs.  Mike Stanton doubled him to third and then stopped there when Lucas Duda singled.  Getting the run was nice, but in the games they lost the Saints had difficulty taking the extra base to score runs.

It stayed 2-1 until the 5^th when Beltan’s double play ball plated a run.  In the 6^th Ryan Ludwick doubled in a run for a 4-1 bulge.  San Antonio cut the lead to a run in the bottom of the inning when Duncan hit a two run blast.

The Raiders added a huge insurance run in the 8^th on Carlos Lee’s infield ground out.   That came in handy when Bautista launched a solo shot in the 9^th off JJ Putz.  The Saints got the tying run to 2^nd and the winning run on 1^st when Octavio Dotel retired Buster Posey to end the game. MOO 1, SA 1

Game 3: MOO 3, SAS 0

CJ Wilson danced out of trouble all night when the series shifted to Moon and won 3-0.   His defense turned double plays at will (four in the game) as he went 6.1 innings, allowing six hits and three walks while whiffing seven.  Three of the double plays came with one out and a runner in scoring position, utterly ripping the heart out of Saint rallies.

Robinson Cano gave Wilson all the help he’d need when he led off the bottom of the 1^st with a long homer off Shawn Marcum.  Cano’s RBI double in the 2^nd and Billy Butler’s 3^rd inning solo seemed to bust the game open, but Marcum settled in to go six innings and save the bullpen.

The Saints stranded eight runners  in addition to the four they lost in the DPs.  Putz got the save with one out in the 9^th. MOO 2, SAS 1

Game 4: SAS 8, MOO 1

David Price wasn’t happy, thinking he should have been assigned to start game 3.  He channeled his anger into a dominant pitching performance, allowing only six hits and a walk in eight innings.  The big southpaw also scored a run and knocked one in.

The Saints got on the board in the 1^st when Bautista hit a one out double and scored on a AGone single.  The Raiders answered in the bottom half when Beltran singled in Cano.  A Jose Reyes error with two outs made that run possible.  Reyes atoned in the 2^nd with an RBI single.  Duncan’s 3^rd inning single made it 3-1 and Price never allowed a runner to enter scoring position after the first.  SAS 2, MOO 2

Game 5: SAS 3, MOO 1

Dan Haren did it all holding the Raiders to one run in 7.2 innings and driving in the game’s 1^st run in a 3-1 triumph.  Jose Reyes and Neil Walker belted unlikely homers to give Haren breathing room.  Robertson struck out all three he faced in the 9^th for his 2^nd save.

Game 6: MOO 5, SAS 3

The Saints were coming home needing only one win to take the series.  Duncan started the scoring in the bottom of the 1^st with a two-out, bases loaded single that plated a pair.  Matt Garza rebounded from his game 2 drubbing to keep the Raiders off the board in the early innings.  In the bottom of the 4^th the Saints chased Humber and Bautista greeted reliever Doug Fister with an RBI single for a 3-0 lead.

It looked like the rout was on and San Antonio would be advancing.  But Fister wouldn’t yield another run in 5.2 innings.  That gave his teammates ample time to rally.

The Raider rally started in the 5^th when Ruben Tejada singled and took 3^rd on Endy Chavez’s single.  Fister is a dangerous hitting pitcher but struck out for the first out of the inning.  Chavez stole 2^nd on the pitch and when Posey threw to 2^nd Tejada stole home.  Dobb’s two out single cut the lead to 3-2.  Moon tied the game in the 6^th when Chavez’s infield ground out plated Hundley.

Fister didn’t allow a runner after the 5^th inning and the the Saint pen couldn’t hold the tie.  Cano yanked a two run homer in the 9^th off Jesse Crain  to draw the Raiders even in the series.  MOO 3, SAS 3

Game 7: SAS 7, MOO 2

Marcum took the hill in the deciding game and easily outpitched Wilson, allowing only two late runs on five hits and a walk.  He struck out seven in eight innings.

Reyes started the bottom of the 1^st with a single and then stole second.  Baustista walked before AGone doubled in a run.  Another Wilson-induced DP scored Bautista for a 2-0 lead.  Wilson walked Neil Walker with the bases loaded in the 3^rd.

The game stayed 3-0 into the bottom of the 8^th when AGone mashed a grand slam off Putz to put the game away. SAS 4, MOO 3

It was hard to pick an MVP.  Duncan played the best for the half of the series he was eligible to play.  AGone’s slash line was an eye-popping .400/.438/.567, but until that last sweet swing he had only knocked in two runs.  That was more the fault of Reyes not setting the table for him than it was his, but still it cost him the MVP nod.  Haren’s two starts were brilliant.  He earned the MVP honors with an 0.59 ERA over 15.1 innings, yielding only eight hits and two walks while striking out 12.

The Saints now move on to face Osama’s Sodomy Camp for the NL crown.

Tom is a great manager and played through some serious distractions to get the games in.  I can’t give him enough credit for being a classy competitor.