By MIKE LOPRESTI
Gannett News Service

SAN FRANCISCO - Can he smell it now? Can he touch it? The World Series is so close now for Barry Bonds and his team, as near as the bay outside Pac Bell Park.

The champagne is on ice for the San Francisco Giants, ahead 3-1 in the National League Championship Series after beating St. Louis 4-3 Sunday night on Benito Santiago's two-run homer in the eighth inning.

The winning shot was a rocket into the left-field stands on a full count pitch from Rick White, high and long and devastating, scoring Bonds ahead of him to break a 2-2 to tie.

"My reaction," Santiago said, "was dreams come true."

Not for the Cardinals, who desperately needed two runs in the ninth but got only one - leaving the tying run at third base when Robb Nen struck out Albert Pujols and J.D. Drew.

It was a sign of the night. St. Louis had 12 hits, the Giants only four. The Cardinals put the leadoff man on base seven times. They lost anyway, stranding 11 runners.

"It's rare," said San Francisco manager Dusty Baker, "you win a game like that."

"The thing to do right now is consider how we lost this game," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "We'll get ready for tomorrow's game when tomorrow gets here."

Bonds had been intentionally walked with two out in the eighth. It is the Holy Grail of the National League. Make some other Giant beat you.

Santiago did, and in that moment was a loud and shining example of why the Giants are on the brink of the World Series. They are more than Barry Bonds.

"A lot of times strategy is judged on whether it works," La Russa said. "It didn't work, so it's bad strategy.

"He's the most dangerous hitter in the game. It's tough to walk in the clubhouse giving him the chance to get the hit to beat you."

But the other Giants are doing that well enough. Bonds was walked in the sixth, too, the last man faced by Andy Benes, who left having valiantly held a 2-0 lead.

Two batters later, J.T. Snow doubled off the wall against White for two runs and a 2-2 tie.

That made four runs in all, first saving the game and then winning it, all without Bonds ever swinging the bat.

"The way I look at it, they spend a lot of time and energy on Barry and what to do with him," Snow said. "We like that."

But as a manager, Baker understands.

"He's hit 600 and whatever it is home runs," Baker said of Bonds, while sitting next to Santiago. "How many home runs you got Bennie?"

Said Santiago, "I got 201."

Said Baker, "You guys do the math."

It was also a night of clutch Giants, shutting off threat after threat, leaving the Cardinals frustrated, baffled and endangered.

St. Louis led 2-0 after the first six batters against Livan Hernandez - Fernando Vina started it with a double on the first pitch -- but never scored again until the ninth.

The Cardinals were 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position. They are 3-for-31 in the series. It may well be a fatal flaw by the same team that ripped apart Arizona with one crucial hit after another in the first round, batting .500 with men in scoring position.

The ninth was most painful. Kerry Robinson reached base when a third strike bounced away, and Vina singled. Two on, nobody out.

After a groundout, Edmonds' single scored one run, but Vina was held at third - though he might have been able to get home.

It left matters to Pujols and Drew, and they struck out.

Benes was everything St. Louis could want from a pitcher who pondered retirement earlier this season, stuck on the 60-day disabled list with an arthritic knee.

He could have been the night's star. But that ended up a 37-year-old catcher, who has found his niche hitting behind Bonds.

"It's not easy, to hit behind this man," Santiago said. "All of the time I see that, a pitcher with two outs. I try to do the best I can."

Santiago had looked at a third strike against White in the sixth inning. In the eighth, with the count full, he was looking for the same location and same fastball. He got it.

La Russa was left with the second guesses. Should Bonds have been walked? Should White, in his third inning of work, have pitched to Santiago? Should Vina have been waved home?

Hard questions, but Monday night there is another game to play. Bonds - and his able supporting cast - have their eyes squarely on an elusive prize.