With the Cardinals down 3-1 in the National League Championship Series, the question Monday wasn't so much if San Francisco was going to advance to the World Series but whether or not the Giants would clinch at home or need to return to St. Louis.

While Kirk Rueter allowed the Cardinals to put runners on base in the first three innings, he managed to prevent St. Louis from putting any runs on the board early. Meanwhile Matt Morris pitched a perfect game for the first three innings, but hit Kenny Lofton with a pitch to lead off the fourth. Morris' performance was supported by good defense behind him. In the second, Benito Santiago hit a broken bat grounder to third base, with the bat going to short. Miguel Cairo, playing third, smartly avoided the bat and cleanly fielded the ball. Although Lofton made it to third, he was unable to score, and no one else reached base in the fourth.

Santiago walked in the fifth, putting him on first base when David Bell hit a double two batters later. As the catcher rounded third, he ran into Miguel Cairo, who was standing almost on top of the bag. Santiago continued down the line, but then returned to third when he felt he couldn't make it home. After the play, Santiago and Dusty Baker argued interference. The umpire ruled the play had been obstructed but did not award Santiago home as he didn't think the 37-year-old was really trying to score. In the press conference after the game, Baker said he agreed with the umpire and really was "out there really, just for nothing." I think Santiago should have tried to go home rather than returning to third to wait for the interference call. Had he attempted to score and been beaten by the ball, the umpire may have ruled him safe because of the obstruction. As it happened, Santiago was stranded at third and the game remained tied at 0-0.

As they came back to the game after the commercial break at the end of the 5th, the broadcast showed a big black cloud overhanging PacBell. Rueter pitched through the sixth, but the Giants pulled him at the top of the seventh, since while he'd matched Morris in shutout innings, he hadn't been as economical with his pitch count. Felix Rodriguez entered the game, and unfortunately pitched more like he had at the beginning of this season than like the dominant setup man to which we're accustomed.

Rodriguez gave up a double to catcher Mike Matheny and then allowed Matheny to score after consecutive sacrifices by Morris and Fernando Vina. Lofton bobbled the fly hit by Matheny and then slipped in the outfield, but no error was called on the play. There was also some controversy surrounding Matheny's advance to third on the sacrifice by Morris. Morris hit the ball to Rodriguez, who threw to third where Matheny was called safe. However, Bell's foot was partially blocking the bag, so the Giants argued he'd been able to get the tag down before Matheny slid around behind the bag. Rodriguez later allowed Cairo to single, and while no other runs scored, the game had a leader for the first time.

Morris was cruising and still well under 100 pitches, so he remained in the game. In the eighth inning, he loaded the bases by allowing singles to Lofton and Rich Aurilia and hitting Jeff Kent with a pitch. Bonds then hit a sacrifice fly to score Lofton, surprisingly swinging at the first pitch. Benito Santiago stranded the others on base when he grounded out to end the inning.

The pitcher's spot was up second in the top of the ninth, but rather than pinch-hit and remove Morris from the game, Tony LaRussa allowed Morris to bat. While Morris still hadn't thrown that many pitches, he'd certainly displayed some weakness in the eighth. Although there were no runners on in front of him, the Cardinals needed to put their best offense forth to try to win the game then. The rule of thumb is that while you can play for the tie at home, you play for the win on the road because the other team can always score in the bottom of the inning.

Morris struck out, so though Vina made it to first on a bunt single, St. Louis wasn't able to score with just one out remaining in the inning. Vina's successful bunt was also somewhat of a fluke as he was only safe because Kent missed the ball and then rolled over himself.

St. Louis awarded Tino Martinez twenty-one million dollars over three years to replace Mark McGwire at first base and add "a veteran leader with post-season experience". LaRussa's decision to allow Morris to bat left Tino stuck in the dugout with a bat in his hands as the Cardinals lost the final game of their season.

San Francisco didn't hesitate to pinch hit for their pitcher, but pinch-hitter Ramon Martinez fouled out. LaRussa's decision to leave Morris in the game seemed to be working, as Morris induced J.T. Snow to fly out to left for the second out. Then the game began to slip away from St. Louis as Morris allowed back-to-back singles to Bell and Shawon Dunston. At that point, LaRussa finally relieved Morris, though his choice of relievers seemed to be an admission of defeat. Steve Kline, who was on the mound when the Cardinals exited the playoffs in 2001, took over from Morris. Lofton promptly singled to right, Bell scored, and the Giants won the pennant.

Benito Santiago won the NLCS MVP. Santiago went 6-for-20 over the series with 2 HR, 6 RBI and a 2:4 BB:K, while also generally playing well behind the plate. Barry Bonds earned his first trip to the World Series with a 3-for-11 performance, including a triple, a homer, and an 11:2 BB:K. Bonds batted in six runs and scored five. The first All-Wild Card World Series will begin Saturday.