Top 10 NLCS Takeaways

Check bat for straightness

10) In retrospect, Matt Holliday is sorry he motivated Marco Scutaro

9) I'm not saying that Chris Carpenter has nothing left, but the Giants' hitters biggest issue was in dealing with their Pavlovian saliva

8) The Giants are now 5-0 in elimination games in 2012, which means that if they don't win it all, their fans will be completely OK with the outcome

7) Clearly, the Cardinals are much more comfortable with staving off elimination than actually, well, eliminating a team

6) If you are still wondering how the Giants are alive after starting Barry Zito on the road in an elimination game, join the club

5) St. Louis has now given up 10 unearned runs in the NLCS, which is the most ever, and something that won't be remembered at all if they just win Game 7

4) David Freese is trying very hard to make everyone forget that he's a clutch playoff performer

3) The Cardinals have scored one run in the last 19 innings, which really isn't a great recipe for winning games

2) San Francisco is highly motivated to win the NLCS, so they can take advantage of Melky Cabrera's All-Star sacrifice

1) By the time the World Series starts, Justin Verlander will be ready to pitch as much as the Tigers want him to, which is to say, the Tigers are going to win the World Series