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ARLINGTON, Texas - Madison Bumgarner stood behind the mound as the delay during Game 4 of the World Series lengthened. First, ballpark officials had to wait for TV to begin "God Bless America." Then, after an elongated rendition, troops were honored behind home plate.
Bumgarner took off his glove and clapped as the ceremonies ended. The San Francisco lefthander was six shutout innings into the most important start of his young life and it was proof that nothing was derailing the 21-year-old rookie's night.
He allowed a Texas runner to reach second base in the seventh inning for the first time Sunday, but stranded him there, merely a prelude to San Francisco's 4-0 victory at Rangers Ballpark.
All Bumgarner did was pitch the game of his life. Now, these Giants are one win away from their first world championship since 1954, when they played at the Polo Grounds in New York. They have shut out the overpowering Rangers offense, the one that dethroned the defending champion Yankees, twice in four games.
On Monday, San Francisco will send its ace, Tim Lincecum, to the mound in Game 5, seeking the Series clincher. He will be opposed by Cliff Lee, the Texas ace acquired midseason to inject more than hope into the only franchise that had yet to win a postseason series. Now, Lee must win to prolong the ride.
History is against Texas. Of the 42 times a team has gone up by three games to one in the World Series, it has won 37 of those series.
It's the seventh straight World Series that has been three games to one or complete after Game 4. Three of those series ended in sweeps. Two ended in five games, and one - the Phillies-Yankees series in 2009 - ended in six.
And considering the way the Giants' pitching has stymied the Rangers, the odds look even longer. Bumgarner, their fourth starter, pitched eight scoreless innings to win Game 4.
All the more impressive is this: Bumgarner was the fifth-youngest pitcher to start a World Series game, and the youngest since 1981. With a rookie catcher, Buster Posey, the two combined to form the first rookie battery to start a World Series game since Game 1 of the 1947 Series, when the Yankees started Spec Shea and Yogi Berra.
Bumgarner, as he was in the first two rounds of the postseason, was remarkable. In this rotation of homegrown pitchers, the youngest and least experienced one bested the rest. Game 4s can be messy. Most of the time, each team is trotting out its least-trusted starter.
Texas had the option of throwing its best pitcher, Lee, on short rest but decided against it. Instead, Tommy Hunter started.
The results were predictable. During the regular season, Hunter induced swinging strikes on just 5.8 percent of his pitches (11th lowest among pitchers with at least 120 innings). Opposing hitters made contact on 87.2 percent of the pitches Hunter threw in 2010 (ninth highest among pitchers with at least 120 innings).
He is, for a lack of a better comparison, a younger Kyle Kendrick. Hunter did not induce a swing and a miss by a Giants' batter until the 79th pitch he threw, an 88-m.p.h. fastball to San Francisco rightfielder Nate Schierholtz.
Most of Hunter's pitches were flat and struck hard by San Fransciso hitters. He needed 21, 23 and 28 pitches to navigate the first three innings, respectively. In the second, he should have been through the inning easily but a blown call at first base by umpire Jeff Kellogg on a double play forced Hunter to throw 11 more pitches. He was bailed out only by a spectacular diving catch in center by Josh Hamilton.
But an inning later, Aubrey Huff turned on a flat cutter and crushed it for a two-run home run. The rookie pitcher had all he needed. The Giants can become world champions Monday night in Texas.