Ryan Vogelsong stepped up for the Giants in Game 4.
Ryan Vogelsong stepped up for the Giants in Game 4. (USATSI)

The San Francisco Giants took down the Washington Nationals Tuesday, 3-2, and won the best-of-five Nationals League Division Series, three games to one. That means they've moved on to the NLCS for the third time in the past five seasons.

The Nationals thought they had the (rather disgusting-sounding) formula, heading into the game:

Alas, maybe the curse of the seagull reversed it?

Anyway, let's get serious and dive in.

Hero: This was a tough one. The Giants' offense scored three runs on eight hits, but overall their runs were gifts. They scored on a bases-loaded walk, a groundout and a wild pitch. Obviously they had to get runners into position to score on those, but still, it's hard to be overly excited about the offense when that's how it scored the three runs.

Thus, I'm gonna go with Ryan Vogelsong. It was far from an ace-like performance, but he hasn't pitched in a few weeks and he went out and worked 5 2/3 innings (which is why I say it wasn't ace-like), allowing only two hits and one run. That's the type of work the Giants needed from him, so he gets the gold star for this one.

I'll admit, though, I was pretty tempted to give it to Hunter Pence based upon this one alone:

Goat: This was a group effort by the Nationals pitchers and infielders when on defense/the mound. The debacle in the second inning came when Gio Gonzalez committed and error and then a Vogelsong bunt led to a miscommunication between Gonzalez and Anthony Rendon. That cleared the path for the first two runs of the game as Gonzalez walked in a run and then a grounder scored the second.

It didn't cost them a run, but later Adam LaRoche threw home and it allowed the bases to load again.

And then, there was the bases loaded wild pitch that plated the go-ahead run.

As noted above, the Nationals gift-wrapped this game for the Giants' offense.

Turning point: Man, there were several for both teams. The ultimate turning point, though, came on an Aaron Barrett wild pitch. It allowed Joe Panik to come home and give the Giants a 3-2 lead in the seventh, just a half-inning after Bryce Harper took the wind out of AT&T Park with a game-tying shot into McCovey Cove. Seriously, this is the play that essentially ended a postseason series:

It was over when: A one-run game in this series? No need to fill in this category past simply saying the 27th and final out was when this thing was over. And, since this postseason has provided the maximum amount of drama possible, Bryce Harper, who had three homers in the series, just happened to come to the plate with two outs in the top of the ninth. This time he walked before a Wilson Ramos groundout ended the series.

Next: The Nationals head home for the winter after the NLDS round for the second time in the past three seasons, despite having the NL's best record in those two playoff seasons. The Giants will hit the road for Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS against St. Louis. The last time those two squared off in the NLCS, the Giants came back from a 3-1 deficit to win it. Should be fun. Game 1 is set for Saturday in Busch Stadium.