*If you think weather has anything to do with baseball, game time conditions should be clear and calm with a temperature of about 60, dropping into the upper 50s as the game progresses. That's a San Francisco temperature range. Here's the National Weather Service page for Philadelphia.
*Is tonight a big game? Uh--yeah. But how big? Bleacher Report opines that winning Game 6 is a must for the Giants: "If Game 7 is needed, the Giants can place their champagne dreams on hold for next season," columnist Jamal Wilburg says.
*Why should we let everyone else offer their meaningless opinion without jumping in ourselves. Let me just say one thing I like about tonight's game going in. Jonathan Sanchez is starting for the Giants in a crucial if not must-win game. The last time we saw him in this spot, it was the last Sunday of the regular season against the Padres. The Giants had lost two chances to clinch the National League West title behind Matt Cain and Barry Zito. But Sanchez was tough in that third game and put the Giants into the post-season (was that a "must win"? Not exactly—the Giants would had two more chances to win after that last day in tie-breakers with the Padres and the Atlanta Braves. Ancient history, now). Anyway—I'm thinking he's not someone who's going to rattle under the pressure of Game 6.
*The Fox pregame analysis:
–Eric Karros says the Giants Aubrey Huff needs to show up for the Giants to win tonight.
–Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams, who has the distinction of giving up a Series-losing walk-off home run (1993, to Joe Carter of Toronto), says Phillies' starter Roy Oswalt's performance tonight will be the difference; also, he says the Phils hitter need to be patient with Sanchez and force him to throw strikes.
–Both think the Phillies will win tonight.