In the late hours Monday night in Denver the Giants sure seemed to do the latter.
After blowing leads in two consecutive games to fall three games out in the wild card they battled the Rockies hard - in pure Giants fashion - to a 1-1 tie through 13 innings.
Then something amazing happened they put up a 3-spot in the top of the 14th and looked like they might finally salvage a split with Tracy's hot bunch and stay in the thick of it a little longer.
But the bullpen imploded and Spilborghs hit a grand slam and the Giants went four back in the wild card and Colorado seemed like a team on a mission.
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But the G-Men battled back and if they do find their way into the postseason they will owe Travis Ishikawa a big thank you.
The three-run blast he hit in the eighth inning Tuesday night was a big lift and a game the boys by the bay had to have since the Rockies beat the Dodgers that night.
But the Rockies haven't won since going 0-4 after back-to-back walk-off wins had everybody thinking they just might catch the Dodgers after being an astounding 15.5 games back earlier in the season.
The Giants went 3-1.
By virtue of another big three-run bomb off the bat of an-injured Bengie Molina won again Wednesday before Thursday's 11-0 clunker that can be chalked up to that gaping hole at the back-end of the rotation and the monster series looming ahead.
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So Colorado came to town three up on the Giants. But San Fran has been masterful at home and the overpowering tandem Lincecain had a softer, gentler partner that wanted to make for a devastating trio.
Add Barry Zito's stuff (ridiculous curveball, 4-2, 1.77 ERA since the break) and the Giants are downright nasty in a short series.
But no one knew if Sandoval or Molina would play and with their spotty offense the G-Men have wasted even the best pitching performances all season especially from Zito.
But Timmy went out there Friday night like a man on a mission tossing eight scoreless innings and Pablo, batting left-handed, went to the opposite field to give the Giants a 1-0 lead before they won 2-0.
Zito followed suit. He went eight shutout innings (before giving up a solo homer to Hawpe in the ninth) and Pablo went splash in the bay to give him a 1-0 lead.
For any other pitcher that's a not a lot of wiggle room. For a guy who nine times in 26 starts has received no run support it must have felt like a grand slam.
So Zito remained strong and the Giants tacked on one more and then three more to push it to 5-0. The Rocks made it interesting in the ninth but Wilson finally slammed the door and the result was a 5-3 triumph.
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There haven't been a lot of big games in the Barry Zito era in San Francisco. In fact, last night was the biggest. But MLB contracts are guaranteed and Zito has been making that $126 million hand-over-fist for almost three seasons.
Now, he's earning it. The Giants signed the lefty to be a big-game pitcher and last night was just that. The one good thing I could tell people when he was struggling and names like Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle came up was that Zito was different.
He would take the ball every five days and at least try. He might get shelled, walk six, and not make it out of the fourth but at least he was on the hill and not rehabbing in some league in Arizona with no immediate plans to return.
But when the Giants got good that mentality changed. This was supposed to be the guy. Zito was brought in to be the ace and now the guy who makes in a couple starts what the reigning NL Cy Young winner gets per season is really starting to cost us.
If the start against San Diego the last day before the All Star break was the low point, Zito really used that time off to get himself right, and the much-maligned Bruce Bochy deserves a ton of credit, for not only sticking with him, but also for slotting him right between his two young stars for the second half stretch run.
105-6. That's Zito's record when he receives four runs of support.
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Matt Cain goes today and the Giants can enter September in a dead-heat with Colorado for the NL wild-card. Monday night that seemed implausible.
It's hard to bounce back from a loss like that, but that's the beauty of baseball. You wake up the next morning and try again.
What a ride it's been and oh what a thrill the last five weeks are going to be.
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