THE San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-0, at Dodger Stadium last night, and thereby took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five National League division series.

"Overcoming obstacles" is what the Giants do, all right, and there's no more formidable obstacle than the defending world champions, the highest-scoring team in baseball-- whom the Giants have somehow managed to shut out twice in three games. On a rare chilly and windy night at Chavez Ravine, it was a tense, terrific mix of long-ball and small-ball, with the focus on pitching and defense.  

There was pitching aplenty. Max Scherzer, generally regarded as the best in the game, pitched like it, holding the Giants to three hits over seven innings and 110 pitches. The Giants made him work hard, but he made only one mistake-- a high fastball to Evan Longoria in the top of the fifth. The veteran, battling a slump so fierce many fans thought he should have been riding the pine, crushed a high drive to deep left-center, and on a night when several home-run balls were blown back into play, this one prevailed against the wind and hit the seats. And it would have to hold up, because Scherzer, Blake Treinen, and Kenley Jansen didn't allow another baserunner over the final four innings.

Alex Wood is not a three-time Cy Young Award winner, but he is 13-1 as a starter following a Giants loss, and that's the kind of stat champions carry. Wood pitched two-hit shutout ball into the fifth (both hits were by the great Albert Pujols, 41, starting at first base), and yielded to Tyler Rogers for the final out-- and then for two more shutout innings, the submarining righty's longest stint of the season. Jake McGee, back in the spotlight, finished the tag-team setup role with two on and one out in the seventh thanks to a defensive play for the ages.  Finally it was Camilo Doval, asked to pitch a two-inning save. He only had to face Trea Turner, Corey Seager, and Justin Turner in the eighth-- and he set them down quietly in order. Then he went out and set the side down in order again in the ninth, a dominant performance that was punctuated by sudden drama.

We  mentioned the wind. Half a dozen players crushed the ball deep enough for home runs or extra bases, including Mike Yastrzemski, Brandon Crawford, and LA center fielder Chris Taylor. But it was the last out of the game that everyone will remember. Young Doval had blown through the Dodger lineup, neutralizing some of the best hitters in the game. With two out, up stepped diminutive Gavin Lux, whose one distinguishing skill is his ability to hit the ball hard. He sure did, a towering drive to deepest left-center, as Steven Duggar retreated toward the wall and the fans who'd received Longoria's shot prepared to leap for the ball that would make it a tie game. Then Duggar suddenly reversed course, stepped forward, and caught the windblown ball ten feet short of the fence to end the game. Shades of Candlestick!  

We mentioned defense. There were a number of fine plays on both sides; Trea Turner, Donovan Solano, Duggar, and Mookie Betts come to mind. But there was one play that no one-- especially Mr Betts-- will ever forget, the defensive play that saved the ballgame. Two on and one out and Jake McGee on in relief of Rogers. He got Austin Barnes on a perfect freeze-frame called third strike, but that brought up Betts. These are the moments the Dodgers have seized again and again to break games open, and Betts did his part. He ripped a scorching line drive to left, a sure RBI single-- except Crawford got in the way with a vertical leap and an outstretched glove. He snagged it to end the inning, and the TV cameras caught a perfectly astonished Mookie Betts frozen in mid-stride. The highlight video's already got about twenty million views; go see it if you haven't already.  It's moments like these that have made this Giants' season.

And so the San Francisco Giants can wrap up this "preliminary"--hah!-- series tonight, and if not, they've got home-field advantage and Logan Webb for Thursday. Tonight at 6 PM PDT (9 PM EDT) it's Anthony DeSclafani, and we don't mean to slight him in any way. But the bullpen behind him, thanks especially to Rogers and Doval, is deep and rested. As for Dave Roberts, he has options, many options, as he faces a win-or-else game. Might he bring back Walker Buehler, who pitched well enough in the first game and rarely loses two in a row? He knows it would be short rest for the ace righthander, and history is replete with examples of fine pitchers who came up short in those situations. Roberts' fourth starter is Tony Gonsolin, hardly a household name but a good pitcher. The Giants roughed him up in his only start against San Francisco, back in July at Dodger Stadium. It was his only loss in 13 starts, though, and he posted a 3.23 over the regular season.

It doesn't matter who it is, does it? These are the Giants. Does anyone really think they can't beat whoever stands against them?   

Shout Out

We'd like to take this opportunity to praise Maria Guardado, the beat writer on the Giants' website. Morning after morning she turns out well-written, impeccably proofread, and highly readable stories about the previous night's game, and periodically about upcoming games or series, roster moves, perspectives on the season, and responses to readers' questions. She mixes hard facts with her own observations and with quotes from players and coaches, keeping a balance between narrative and description. While a professional, her  viewpoint is clearly a fan's, yet she avoids cliches and cutesy attempted witticisms. All you have to do is read a few articles from sports "writers" on other sites-- replete with grammatical errors, badly constructed sentences, atrocious wording, political bias, numbing repetition, and other embarrassing examples of the copy editor's desk being permanently vacant-- to appreciate Miss Guardado's work. We don't know how these assignments are handed out, nor do we know how long she'll be covering our Giants, but let's enjoy what we have for now and send her a note of appreciation now and then. Her twitter handle is posted on the byline of her articles.