Cue Russ Hodges

"Ragtag." "Improbable." "Bizarrely bearded." "These 'bleepin' guys."

These are some of the descriptions of the San Francisco Giants in the media from the east coast. I won't say there's an element of condescension, but that scent of fermented grape is not coming from wine I drank to toast the Giants' clinching of a spot in the World Series. For one thing, I didn't drink wine, but Calvadoon apple brandy, much more satisfying on a rainy, foggy night in San Francisco.

There is a certain element of magic to any playoff run, especially when you are considered the underdog, whether you adopt the underdog role as a chip on your shoulder or as house money to burn. On Wednesday night, I was walking home along Valencia Street, through a damp evening, and a crowd outside the Phoenix pub was being lead in a "Let's Go, Giants" rally chant by a man with a trombone. If that's not a bit of magic, I don't know what is.

But magic is in the eye of the beholder. Or in the voice of the announcer, as was the case of Russ Hodges' famous radio call of "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" after Bobby Thomson's 'Shot Heard Round The World."

Were the Phillies the better team? Well, the Phillies had the best record in baseball. I won't get into the question of an "on-paper" comparison of the teams, although that too could favor Philadelphia. All notions of the better team are irrelevant in the final analysis. All that matters is who wins the game. And last night in Philadelphia, the Giants won the pennant. The Phillies are going home.

(There is an interesting inverse proportion in San Francisco sports in terms of that reputation-result dichotomy. The Giants were considered rank outsiders to make the playoffs and are now National League champs; the 49ers were considered favorites to win the NFC West and have an abundance of talent, but are 1-6 now, and by measurement of their results, may be the worst football team in the NFL.)

The World Series starts Wednesday in the city by the bay. There is indeed magic in the air; sporting success weaves a new world of distraction and myth, legends and heroic moments, out of something whose stakes are not completely a matter of life and death. Sports stand in for the conflicts that trouble us, and give us comfort for a while.

Let's go, Giants!