SAN FRANCISCO - Hey, David Bell, where are you going now?

Back to Disneyland...

Bell's single in the eighth inning last night gave the San Francisco Giants a 4-3 win over the Anaheim Angels, evened the best-of-seven series at two games each, and assured that the 98th Fall Classic will return to Orange County this weekend.

And, for the Giants, that was a helluva lot better than the alternative, being pushed to the edge of extinction, a real possibility when they were down by three runs going into the bottom of the fifth.

Three of the first four games have been decided by one run.

Rich Aurilia wasn't surprised that it was Bell who came up with the decisive hit.

"He's a great player that nobody knows about," the Giants shortstop said. "But he's one of our MVPs. He's come up with clutch hits like that for us all year."

If this game proved anything, it's that the Angels haven't cornered the market on resiliency. San Francisco trailed by three runs earlier, but came back to tie the score in the fifth and then won it against Angels wunderkind Francisco Rodriguez, who had been almost untouchable to this point in the postseason.

None of that would have mattered, though, if the Giants hadn't put together a rally in the fifth that tied the score.

Giants manager Dusty Baker let pitcher Kirk Rueter bat to lead off the inning, in part because he needed to save his bullpen after the Angels had scored 21 runs in the previous two games combined.

He topped a soft grounder in front of the plate and beat it out for a single. Kenny Lofton pushed a bunt up the third-base line. Straight as a string, just inside the chalk it rolled as Angels third baseman Troy Glaus watched helplessly. Finally, the ball nudged the infield grass and veered into foul territory. But just as Glaus reached down to pick it up, the ball turned fair again.

Runners on first and second, nobody out. Aurilia singled and went to second when Tim Salmon's throw got away and rolled toward the Giants' dugout, Rueter scoring. Jeff Kent, who was batting .200 in the World Series at the time, followed with a sacrifice fly. It was 3-2.

With first base open and Barry Bonds at the plate, Angels manager Mike Scioscia held up four fingers, the third intentional walk for Bonds in the game. And this time catcher Benito Santiago made him pay with a single to center that brought Aurilia home with the tying run.

The first two times, in the first and third innings, Santiago hit into inning-ending doubleplays.

"That's baseball," Scioscia said with a shrug. "Rueter put the ball in play and we didn't make the play. Lofton dropped a perfect bunt. There was nothing cheap about it. That's baseball and they got a rally going."

Scioscia said the fact that Bonds homered in each of the first three games didn't change his approach to pitching to him.

"I didn't need to see Barry hit any more home runs," he said. "He's incredible, and he's locked in right now. If we have a chance to walk Barry and make Benito Santiago or J.T. Snow beat us, no offense to those guys, but that's what we're going to do."

The Angels' swarming offense got to Rueter for three runs on seven hits in the first three innings. But they didn't make the most of their opportunities.

Anaheim loaded the bases with one out in the second on consecutive singles by the bottom of the order - second baseman Benji Gil, catcher Bengie Molina and pitcher John Lackey - but had to settle for one run.

The biggest hit was a two-run homer by Glaus in the third, his third of the World Series and seventh of the playoffs. That ties him with Bonds, who hit his seventh in Game 3 on Tuesday night, for the most home runs in a postseason.

Rueter settled down after that, however. The Angels didn't get a runner past first in the next three innings, partly because the Giants turned doubleplays to end the fifth and sixth.

His six innings were the longest outing so far by a pitcher in this World Series.

"They got some hits early and it didn't look so good," Baker said. "But we love having Kirk on the mound. He did an outstanding job and gave us just what we needed. You can start thinking, 'Here we go again,' but when you do that, it usually does happen again. Sure, you're concerned. But you have to try to stay positive."

Baker didn't rule out the possibility of bringing Rueter back for Game 7, if needed, instead of righthander Livan Hernandez. Hernandez lasted just 3 2/3 innings in Game 3 on Tuesday night.

Rueter said he knew he couldn't give the Angels any more runs after the third.

"I just told myself I had to hold them right there, because we're an explosive team and I knew we could come back," he said.

That set the stage for the Giants to win the game in the eighth against Rodriguez, who was in his second inning of work. Snow led off with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball charged to Molina. With one out, Bell drove a 1-0 fastball past diving shortstop David Eckstein.

"This was a big win for us," Bell said. "I was just trying to get a pitch I could handle and hit it hard."

And, because he did, the World Series has been boiled down to a two-out-of-three proposition that will be decided back in Anaheim this weekend.