It was a celebration worth every sweat as the San Francisco Giants successfully clinched the wildcard playoff sport in this year's season.

The Giants won the wildcard entry when Milwaukee lost at Cincinnati on Thursday afternoon. Then they gave up a six-run lead in their own game against San Diego before rallying for a 9-8 victory over the Padres.

When the final second ticked and the game was over, the Giants went in the center of the field and celebrated their success.

Manager Bruce Bochy said "They were just so determined to find a way to win that game so they could make this celebration that much sweeter. You're up six runs and you cough that up, that's disheartening but I thought that game was indicative of our season the way they fought back and found a way to get it done."

Pitcher Tim Hudson was congratulated by his wife via a phone call as he was driving to the ballpark. He said "We got our foot in the door. We've obviously still got some work ahead of us these next four days. We have to win out or win three out of four and we've got a chance to be playing here. We're taking these games seriously and we have to win as many as we can."

The Giants was behind one game against Pittsburgh for the top spot in the wild-card standings, and the Pirates - 10-1 winners at Atlanta - hold the tiebreaker if the clubs finish with identical records. The Giants have the tiebreaker with St. Louis.

According to Bochy "You do want this to get done, because it does allow you to do some things you might not be able to do if you're not in. Sure, we would have loved to come crashing in the front door instead of sliding in the back door, but this works."

Shortstop Brandon Crawford said their wildcard win feels a little different "because we didn't actually win to get in."He added "But we're one of the 10 teams to get in the postseason and that's the goal at the start of the year, to get in the postseason and eventually win it all. We're excited, no matter how we got in."