Fans hope Giants finish off Cards in Game 5 of NLCS

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- AT&T Park is all spiffed up and ready to go and San Francisco Giants fans are hoping that, with a big win at home, their team will earn a return trip to the World Series.

With the Giants poised to capture the National League pennant with a win against the St. Louis Cardinals, the players, fans, businesses, police, and Bay Area transit agencies are all geared up and ready to go.

They brought in a little more beer than usual to AT&T Park on Thursday morning, knowing that on Thursday night, the Giants could advance to the World Series. Even the man delivering it is hoping it is consumed joyfully.

"Hopefully celebrating, celebrating a win for the Giants," said deliveryman Joe Llorence. "Oh yeah, for sure it's happening."

They have the experience. The last time the team won a spot in the World Series in 2012 after beating the St. Louis Cardinals 9-0, fans erupted, music blared, and orange fireworks lit up the sky.

Fans around the ballpark Thursday morning were feeling optimistic they will see this again.

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"They'll do it tonight with Madison Bumgarner," said fan Steuart Samuels. "Yeah, with no problem."

San Francisco police are also now experienced in handling overjoyed baseball crowds. They will be taking what they learned from the past two World Series appearances and applying it.

"Our operations plans from 2010 and 2012 have all been dusted off and we are going to put 'em in place moving forward," said officer Gordon Shyy.

They will have extra staffing Thursday night at the ballpark and around the city in case things get out of control. And if the Giants do make the World Series, that's when their plan really kicks into gear.

"We worked with DPT to make sure that trash cans that were used to set on fire were cleared away a couple times throughout in the night," Shyy said.

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"Any vandalism and arson are not going to be tolerated," Shyy said.

No one knows that better than Gregory Graniss, a fan who had the misfortune of being caught by someone's camera while celebrating with a Muni bus on Market Street. There was $300,000 in damagesdone to the bus.

The District Attorney's office said Graniss was found guilty of rioting and paid restitution. He got time served, and probation. Graniss has stayed out of trouble, since

Police are asking fans to do their part and celebrate responsibly. Samuels has a better idea.

"I hope I am far far out at sea," he said. "It's gonna be crazy. Too many people going crazy."

Samuels will be watching from the safety of McCovey Cove on his boat.

Muni had a meeting on Thursday morning to put together a strategy for Thursday night. They decided to de-energize the overhead lines and reroute service for their Muni buses. That will be on Mission, Market, and 4th and King. They're going to do that just in case somebody decides to jump on top of a bus; they don't want them to get electrocuted. They will be using diesel buses through those areas. Service shouldn't be impacted, but they do want riders to know that will be happening.

The pitching match up for Thursday night's game is a rematch of the series-opening starters, with Madison Bumgarner going for the Giants against Adam Wainwright.

Should the Cardinals win tonight's game, the series will shift back to St. Louis for Game 6 and, if need be, a Game 7. The sixth game would take place Saturday night with a Game 7 Sunday night.

The World Series will start Tuesday with either the Giants or Cardinals facing the Royals in Kansas City.

Show your support for the San Francisco Giants and email playoff fever fan photos to uReport@kgo-tv.com!

The Associated Press contributed to this report.