EXTRA BAGGS: Waiting out the blob, Beltran has MRI, etc.

BOX SCORE

ST. LOUISJust like every other day, Buster Posey put onhis gear and walked out to the bullpen to warm up his starting pitcherWednesday night.

More than sixhours later, Posey walked to the bullpen again.

Lefty reliever Javier Lopez needed to heat up again after arain delay nearly long enough to knock out a viewing of Dances With Wolves.

That was a little bit different, Posey said. Havent donethat before.

Assuming they didnt hold a Kevin Costner film appreciationnight, how exactly did the Giants wait out that three-hour 28-minute delay?

A lot of sitting, Posey said. I walked to the kitchen. Iwalked to the training room. I walked to the bathroom.and sat some more.

The Giants knew that if the approaching storm -- a blob on the Doppler big enough to scare Steve McQueen -- hit duringthe game, the delay would be a lengthy one.

So we tried to relax, Posey said. Youll go nuts ifyoure on the bike or moving around all the time. You just try to keep it looseand not sit here and think too much.

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Matt Cain had plenty of time with his thoughts. The lastaction in the Giants 3-1 loss in Game 3 was manager Bruce Bochy, walking totake the baseball from Cain in the seventh inning after the Cardinals added arun on an RBI groundout.

But Cain probably didnt need much time to script hispostgame comments. Hes stood at his locker so many times after pitching welland having nothing to show for it.

That was probably the best Ive felt in three starts, saidCain, and yes, that makes it all the more damaging that the Giants offensefailed to seize this potentially pivotal game.

Cain said he wanted to throw his 2-2 slider down and in toMatt Carpenter, but missed over the plate and paid for it. Carpenter, whoreplaced an injured Carlos Beltran, hit a two-run home run that erased theGiants 1-0 lead.

With him out, yeah, you try to take advantage of it and Ididnt do a good job of it, Cain said. What (Beltran) has done in thepostseason is tremendous. I just didnt make a pitch.

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Beltran left during the game for an MRI on his left knee andthe St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that results were negative. Beltran wasdealing with a sore hand, too.

It would be karma, or something, if Beltran werentavailable for part or all of the remaining games, since the Giants plunged fromfirst place while he was out with a hand injury in August of last season.

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Marco Scutaro did not look the slightest bit impaired twodays after getting steamrolled by Matt Hollidays takeout slide at second base.Scutaro did opt to get the force at first base after looking home on that RBIgrounder in the seventh.

I thought that was the right decision. It wouldve beenbang-bang at the plate, the ball was wet and a bad throw couldve turned thatinning into a disaster.

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I thought the Giants had a safety squeeze on when Cainfouled off a first bunt attempt in the fourth inning. But Cain said that wasntthe case. Gregor Blanco might have dashed off third base, but he only wouldve continuedhome if the ball got away or something strange happened.

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The Giants only made Jason Motte throw 19 pitches whileconverting the first six-out save of his career. That means the Cardinalscloser should be available for Game 4.

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Before losing Wednesday night, the Giants were 9-2 on theroad in postseason play since 2010.

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I can imagine the first lines of Adam Wainwrights scoutingreport on the Giants for Game 4 goes something like this:

Dont let Posey beat you.

Maybe in all caps, 48-point font.