SFGate

Greetings everyone, baseball addict Evan Adrian here, live blogging game one of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies. We're in for quite a showdown tonight, as both teams trot out their aces for Game 1 in Philly.

Although they are two very different pitchers, the Giants' Tim Lincecum and the Phillies' Roy Halladay are two of baseball's top three or four.

Saturday night in Philadelphia, Lincecum—the NL Cy Young winner each of the previous two seasons—will face Halladay, the front runner for this year's NL Cy Young, who tossed a no-hitter in his last start.

Although postseason baseball was limited to the World Series only until 1969, and the World Series and LCS until 1995, there have been dozens of classic pitching matchups in baseball history.

Alright, the NLCS field is all set. It is going to be the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants. The uniforms have been washed, the shoes have been shined, let's throw on our Roy Halladay replica jerseys and get to the ballpark.

We're going to be playing some championship baseball in just . . . five days?!?!?!

Uh, okay.

(Psst: who's in charge of scheduling around here? Oh right; the networks.)

As you've seen, we've analyzed the pitching matchups and how the Phillies and Giants compare in the infield.

This slideshow will examine the only part of the teams we haven't focused on yet: the outfield.  Outfield defense is extremely important in the playoffs. 

The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves Monday night to advance to its first National League Championship Series since 2002. Outfielder Cody Ross had two RBI, including the game-winning single in the seventh inning.

The Giants have to be thrilled to have ousted Atlanta, having proved along the way that their excellent pitching staff is in top form this October. Now, however, Bruce Bochy's crew must turn to take on a much fiercer offense and more worthy opponent than the depleted Braves: Charlie Manuel's Philadelphia Phillies.

When the San Francisco Giants topped the Atlanta Braves 3-2 last night, they earned their first trip to the NLCS since 2002.

Waiting for them, of course, is the Philadelphia Phillies--the two-time defending champions of the National League.

The Phillies, based on both their success the last few years and the strength of their position players, are considered the favorites by most baseball fans and pundits.  But what of those Giants, a franchise that has not yet won a World Series since moving to the Bay?

Do they have a chance?

As the 2010 post-season delves further into October, the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies are the last two National League teams standing.

The National League Championship Series between these two clubs will begin on Saturday, October 16th - in Philadelphia.

The Phillies jumped all over Joey Votto and the Cincinnati Reds, sweeping Dusty Baker and company right out of the playoffs. While it may be tee time in Cincinnati, the Phillies are resting, laying in wait for the Giants.

It's been too long, but the Giants have won their first NLDS since 2002, when they beat these very same Braves in five. The series was tight, emotional, ugly and brutal. Of course, the fourth and final game was a great reflection of the series in an almost poetic fashion.

All of the games were decided by one run, three of the four games were won in a comeback fashion. All of the games featured superb pitching, maybe with the exception of Sergio Romo. And all of the games featured questionable defense and officiating.

We knew the Giants were not going to make it easy against the Braves. We knew postseason baseball for the Giants had to resemble the regular season—torturous.

San Francisco won their NL Divisional Series against Atlanta 3-1 and will face the Philadelphia Phillies starting on Saturday.

There were many things the Giants did well.

Starting pitching

Marc Juberg here, excited to bring you moment-by-moment coverage of the most important game on the airwaves this evening.  It's a clash that promises to be as heartrending as action-packed, and comes complete with enough story lines and intrigue to make even the great William Shakespeare stir in his grave. 

This is NOT Monday Night Football.