By Greg Beacham
The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - About 25 minutes after completing his latest escape act, Robb Nen was still sweating.

The main man in the San Francisco Giants' bullpen made his fifth save of the playoffs as difficult as possible, allowing two hits and a baserunner who reached on a wild-pitch third strike before fanning Albert Pujols and J.D. Drew to end a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night.

The Giants have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven NL championship series.

"I put myself in a lot of these games, but it never gets old," said Nen, whose brow was still matted with perspiration in the cool of the clubhouse. "You never get tired of it, but you never get used to it, either."

Such ninth-inning drama is nothing new to the fans at Pacific Bell Park, who feel both excitement and apprehension when Nen's theme song - "Smoke on the Water" - is played. After all, as the joke goes, N-E-N stands for "Never an Easy Ninth."

Nen, who made the NL All-Star team and got his 300th save this summer, hasn't changed his dangerous living in the postseason. But with his third save in the NLCS, he helped the Giants move within one victory of the World Series.

The rest of the Giants' bullpen also has had its share of misadventures during the playoffs in a carryover from the regular season, when the wild-card winners couldn't seem to win any important game by a blowout.

Manny Aybar allowed five runs on two pitches during a division series loss to Atlanta. Tim Worrell, who got the win Sunday night, has allowed seven runs in six appearances.

San Francisco's top five starters had 10 complete games - but five were by Livan Hernandez, who made it to the seventh inning in Game 4.

"As much as the travel of the playoffs wears on you, we're ready for this," Worrell said. "We had a lot of tough games in the regular season. Every guy in our pen is used to pitching under pressure."

Four relievers allowed one run in 2 2-3 scoreless innings Sunday night, with Felix Rodriguez and Scott Eyre getting key outs.

Nen hadn't allowed a run in the postseason until Sunday, when pinch-hitter Kerry Robinson reached on the wild pitch and scored on Jim Edmonds' single.

With speedy Fernando Vina on third base after his own single, Nen dug deep into his store of sliders and fastballs to get Albert Pujols, striking him out on a slider that didn't slide. Nen insisted he meant to throw the pitch.

With J.D. Drew coming to the plate, Nen stepped off the mound. He soaked in the moment, listening to the sellout crowd screaming and smacking its noisemakers together.

"I stepped back and took an extra breath," Nen said. "I didn't want to rush, didn't want to do anything stupid. ... But I've done this job long enough. If you start getting nervous and letting emotions take over, you don't get it done."

Nen went to a full count on Drew before striking him out with a nasty slider. Benito Santiago, whose two-run homer won it, sprung from behind the plate to hug his closer.

"However you have to do it," Nen said, "you've got to get that last out."