Posey, Uribe are a hit for Giants and TV ratings

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A little drama is good for ratings.

After Buster Posey capped a four-hit night with a key single in the bottom of the ninth inning, Juan Uribe lofted the game-winning sacrifice fly that plated Aubrey Huff, giving San Francisco a 6-5 victory and a 3-games-to-1 NLCS lead over Philadelphia. That helped Fox gain a 6.6 overnight Nielsen television rating on Wednesday night.

That overall rating is nothing though compared to what it did in Philadelphia (29.8 rating) and in the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose market, where it earned a 23.3 rating. That’s the highest Bay Area rating for a Major League Baseball game since the 2004 World Series.

Ratings are also up for both the National and American League championship series in total. Through Tuesday’s game, the Giants and Phils and the Yankees and Texas Rangers have averaged 7.7 million viewers on Fox (the NL) and TBS (the AL). That’s 12% better than last year.

-- Diane Pucin