White: Feels like NLCS has only just begun

• The Giants forced at least a Game 6 in the NLCS with their win Friday
• San Francisco will have its two most dependable pitchers - Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain - lined up
• It seems likely yet another unlikely hero will emerge for these teams before the series ends

ST. LOUIS – It's why they're the past two World Series champions.

And it's why this NL Championship Series could and should entertain and perplex us for the full seven games.

Not because one team or one pitcher is necessarily better than another heading into Sunday's Game 6 at San Francisco. But the Cardinals and Giants just play – and play and play and have gotten used to believing they'll eventually win.

That's why, after the San Francisco Giants extended this NLCS with a crisp 5-0 victory in Game 5 on Friday night, maybe form will follow Sunday.

Maybe Ryan Vogelsong, San Francisco's best pitcher in this postseason, will shut down St. Louis as he did in Game 2 on the same field. And that would give us that one game where one of these teams has to stand there refusing to believe it lost.

Will it be the Cardinals' fire-wagon finish that doesn't recur? Or will the Giants fail to take a second consecutive series by winning the final three games?

"You can say there are momentums," says Giants right fielder Hunter Pence. "Momentum does play a part. But, as you can see today, momentum got swung. There's two very strong-minded teams going at it."

Friday's Game 5 was the one that gives this series momentum. That might seem like one of those Captain Obvious comments, but plenty of 3-1 series get extended an extra game and end with a whimper.

Not likely here.

You could feel it among the Giants. "Just let Barry Zito find a way to give us a chance," was the sentiment that seeped through but remained unspoken – you can't be a good teammate and say that out loud, you know.

Zito did plenty more than that. He was so good, you expect to see Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder start the next two games.

Not going to happen, but the Giants have plenty enough reason to be confident. First, it's Vogelsong -- who would be followed by Matt Cain, San Francisco's best pitcher. That's what the Giants were thinking: Get us back to San Francisco and we've really got a series.

"They're our guys," says Pence. "Two of the best. We're excited to play another baseball game."

But it's Chris Carpenter who'll get the ball for St. Louis in Game 6.

What's more important? That Carpenter is the inspirational leader of the pitching staff if not the entire Cardinals clubhouse? Or that Carpenter had five consecutive postseason victories – including two series clinchers last year – until Vogelsong and the Giants beat him in Game 2?

The matchup for the remaining game or games will be dissected ad infinitum. You can find a reason – statistical or otherwise – to justify whatever feeling you have about where this series is headed. Fans of both teams can identify a fact or figure to hang their hopes on.

And both these teams have just enough lapses and faults to make the glass-half-empty types fret. That's what's made the postseason so remarkable – no great teams, just a lot of good ones. It's like they're all wild cards.

"I don't know if you can really explain it," says Pence. "I sure hope you enjoy the games. We sure enjoy playing them."

It gets pretty simple from here.

"These guys could be so distracted that they wouldn't be able to operate," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny says. "The team that can take the distractions and put them aside and just go out and do your job is going to have higher likelihood of winning. And (the Cardinals) have that ability."

And it's about making heroes. The Cardinals came home for Game 6 of last year's World Series – a back-and-forth saga that was as hard to get a handle on as this one. The names of the heroes changed more often than Tony La Russa switched pitchers – and we all remember the wheels were turning so quickly in that series, a wrong guy even ended up coming into a game for the Cardinals.

We can name the candidates. Surely, Buster Posey has a big moment in him, like the grand slam in the Giants' Division Series comeback at Cincinnati. Or will Pablo Sandoval's seemingly meaningless homer off Mitchell Boggs in the eighth inning - his second such homer in as many nights - spur him and remind everyone the Cardinals' key bullpen guys aren't untouchable?

Surely David Freese or Allen Craig has something in store – it seems that's just what they do in October. And Carlos Beltran – he takes over nearly every October he's a part of. Well, except that time he took a called third strike to end the Mets' season.

See, there's no rhyme or reason to this.

Remember that the sample size that turned Freese and Craig into Heartland legends is as small as the game or two we're anticipating Sunday and maybe Monday in San Francisco.

Just enough time for someone to step up who, right now, is just a guy. Just like Freese and Craig were a year ago this time.