A bunt bounces Phillies’ way, and then they pounce

Reporting from San Francisco

If this was the last game of the season in San Francisco, if the World Series does not grace the shores of McCovey Cove, the Giants can rue a ball and a call.

The ball bounced the wrong way. The call went the wrong way.

The Giants could have been bouncing up and down in celebration Thursday, drenched with giddiness. They could have stayed out all night.

Alas, they shuffled home to set their alarm clocks, and to prepare for a Friday morning flight to Philadelphia, where Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels await.

If good fortune helped deliver the National League Championship Series back to Philadelphia, the Phillies are not too proud to offer thanks.

“Lucky bounce,” Roy Halladay said.

Halladay pitched with one leg for most of the evening, his right leg compromised by a strained groin, the Giants challenging him in virtually every inning.

Tim Lincecum, the Giants’ starter, was fairly dominant. He retired the first six batters, and soon after he retired 11 consecutive batters.

In between?

The bunt that could haunt San Francisco all winter long.

The Phillies got two on with none out in the third inning, on a single and a hit batter.

Halladay dropped a bunt that bounced on home plate — not once, but twice.

Jeff Nelson, the plate umpire, immediately and emphatically signaled fair ball.

“I just picked it up,” Giants catcher Buster Posey said. “You go with it until they say it’s foul.”

Turns out it was foul, or so it appeared on the replay.

By the time Posey actually did pick it up, the ball had bounced one more time, to the right of the plate.

“I didn’t know,” Posey said. “I was just making a play.”

Posey threw to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, trying for the force play. Sandoval had cheated toward home plate, in anticipation of fielding the bunt.

As he retreated, he kept his eyes on Posey’s throw and reached for the base with his back foot.

Sandoval missed the base, then fell down. Raul Ibanez, coming from second base, never did stop to see the ball bounce foul.

“In hindsight, we definitely caught some breaks there,” Ibanez said. “You need that.”

Foul ball, or so Halladay thought. As Posey threw to Sandoval, Halladay never moved.

Then he saw Sandoval scrambling to his feet and throwing to first base, as it dawned upon Halladay that he should be the guy running to first base.

“I really didn’t have much time to analyze it,” Halladay said. “When I first hit it, I thought it was going to go backwards. After I realized it was fair, it took a second to sink in, and I just ran.”

Far too late, of course, but he had produced the desired sacrifice, oddly scored 2-5-4. Could have been a foul ball, or a double play.

Instead, the Phillies had two runners in scoring position, and then Shane Victorino hit a ground ball that caromed off first baseman Aubrey Huff and all the way into center field. The Phillies scored two runs on that error, and one more when Placido Polanco singled home Victorino.

“We got a break,” Phillies closer Brad Lidge said. “When we get breaks, we take advantage of them every time.”

Take away that bunt, take away those three runs, take away that weird inning, and the Giants are your National League champions.

“Actually, it’s a bad bunt,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “And they got a break there.... We’re inches away from getting the double play.”

Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel had no idea how the bunt came to rest where it did, not that he cared.

“Looked to me like it was kind of off to the right here, a little bit on the plate,” he said. “And I don’t know exactly what it hit. I mean, it hit something and died, whether it hit the plate or the dirt or whatever.”

The Phillies’ season did not die. He knew that much. That was all he really needed to know.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com