"It seems impossible to believe, but it's 100 percent true.

For all the stomach-churning torture the Giants inflicted on the way to their World Series championship last year, they didn't play one elimination game in 2010. Win or go home? They never faced that situation once.

Now their N.L. West lives are down to one game, and their backs are pressed ever so snugly against the wall.

It isn't yet time for the defending champs to deliver concession speeches. But after their lineup flat lined again in an 8-2 loss at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night, the draft is complete, and the telepromter is all cued up.

They needed to sweep the Dodgers. They lost two of three. Cy Young Award front-runner Clayton Kershaw knocked them down Tuesday, and Hiroki Kuroda all but knocked them out in the Dodgers' home finale as the archrivals split their 18-game season series.

Never before has a team felt so empty after winning nine of 11."