Giants, not Cards, appear on the road to destiny

They are this season's team of destiny, or so the St. Louis Cardinals believe.

After they swept defending champion Arizona, the Cardinals carried the uniform top of their late, great teammate, Darryl Kile, onto the Busch Stadium field Saturday as they hugged and congratulated one another. Yes, this was for Kile, who died of heart failure in June. And for their beloved announcer Jack Buck, whose death was followed so closely and shockingly by Kile's. And for Manager Tony La Russa, who recently lost his father.

The face of former A's Manager La Russa was wet from more than champagne as he told reporters: "This just seems meant to be."

With all due respect, the Cardinals' red-letter destiny is about to collide with an orange-and-black force field. No, the Giants haven't had to overcome tragedy this season, though Manager Dusty Baker had surgery for prostate cancer. But what Baker's Giants did Sunday and Monday should make the Cardinals wonder if they're quite as meant to be as the team they will face in the National League championship series.

What the Giants did to the Atlanta Braves had destiny written all over it like a baseball signed by every Giant. Again and again Monday night at Turner Field, the Braves threatened to do what they have done for so many Octobers -- rally and advance to their 10th NLCS in the past 12 seasons. And again and again, the Giants never appeared threatened.

Though the Braves left 12 men on base and many in their crowd with heads bowed in futile prayer, Atlanta never really seemed to build much momentum or hope. The final score of 3-1 often felt more like a four- or five-run cushion. It was just the Giants' night, and maybe it's their time.

Twice in game-breaking situations, the Braves' Chipper Jones swung through down-the-pipe fastballs from Russ Ortiz. Chipper usually hits those to Macon. Javy Lopez and Andruw Jones missed hanging curves with 400-foot swings. Baker made one questionable move, replacing Ortiz with Aaron Fultz, who gave up a run-scoring single, but on this night, it didn't matter.

Dugout shots of Manager Bobby Cox's Braves showed the grimaces and sideways glances of a team that knew it was in trouble. As you watched a Giants team that often seemed so troubled and flawed through the season's first four months -- heck, through the first three games of this division series -- the small smiles and back slaps and body language indicated that these guys finally knew they were riding an invisible magic carpet toward Game 1 Wednesday in St. Louis.

A team can feel pretty darned destined when it has an alleged human being named Barry Lamar Bonds and no one else in the playoffs does. Bonds followed his shattering of the home run record by having what some analysts are calling the greatest overall offensive season ever. Maybe, even more than this is the Cardinals' year, or the Minnesota Twins' or the Anaheim Angels', 2002 belongs to Bonds.

Finally Monday night, Bonds removed the critics' delight of a neon asterisk from his legacy. Finally, after so many postseason failures, Barry had a Bondsian night, carrying a team beyond the first round of the playoffs. The too-proud Braves pitched to Bonds in his first two at-bats, and he broke their will and beat their shift with an opposite-field single and wind-piercing home run. Bonds scored the only two runs the Giants would need.

With two playoff-rocking swings of the bat, Bonds saved the job of the manager who has so often put up with his childishness. That cinches it: Baker will be back.

That might have been one reason Bonds allowed himself a smile when it was over. But then he told a Fox-TV interviewer what many Bonds bashers refuse to believe: "I want to win a World Series. This is just the beginning."

Of course, you had to wonder how Bonds thought he would ever win one after he re-signed last off-season with the Giants at 37. Though he never complained about it the way Michael Jordan did in his first five NBA seasons, Bonds didn't appear to have the supporting cast to win a title. The Giants didn't have an ace or another slugger who could force opponents to pitch to him. Or so it appeared.

But about six weeks ago, the baseball gods finally smiled on a superstar whose arrogance hasn't always pleased them. Out of nowhere, every member of Bonds' supporting cast began maxing out his ability. In Game 5, it all came together around baseball's Jordan, the greatest who ever played.

Ortiz pitched. Tim Worrell and Robb Nen relieved. J.T. Snow and Rich Aurilia made game-saving defensive plays. Kenny Lofton continued to ignite the offense and solidify the outfield like the All-Star he once was.

And Bonds ran. For the first time in a long time, Bonds crushed a ball that wound up 10 rows deep in the left-center stands and he took off running. No more admiring his blasts. This time he ran, just in case the wind knocked it back in the park. Now he's playing the game the way it's meant to be played. Now he smells a championship.

He's coming, St. Louis. Hide the women, children and destiny.

Skip Bayless is a columnist for the San Jose Mercury News.