ANAHEIM, Calif. - The city of San Francisco should have been hopping today. There should have been a parade through the streets, with convertibles and confetti and smiling baseball players and screaming fans.

Yes, today would have been a great day for a parade, celebrating the Giants' winning their first World Series since relocating to the City by the Bay in 1958.

But there will be no parade, not in San Francisco anyway.

The Giants blew the World Series.

No disrespect to the Anaheim Angels. Heavens no. They are a terrific team. Talented. Scrappy. Relentless. Easy to like. Major League Baseball should be proud to have them as champions.

But this was the Giants' World Series to lose, especially after they won Games 4 and 5 in San Francisco to go up, three games to two, then jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the seventh inning on the road in Game 6 Saturday night.

This baby was over.

The parade route was being charted back in San Francisco.

Robin Williams (big Giants fan) was cracking jokes, and Huey Lewis (really big Giants fan) was singing songs.

The corned beef was being carved at Lefty O'Doul's, and beers were on house at Shanghai Kelly's.

Say hey, the Giants were eight outs from winning it all.

Then the World Series earthquake of 2002 hit, and the Angels staged the best comeback any team facing elimination ever pulled off in the World Series. They won, 6-5, to force a winner-take-all Game 7.

After that rally Saturday night, no one was going to beat the Angels last night. You could hear their resolve after that incredible Game 6 win when Tim Salmon said: "I'm so pumped up I want to play right now. Somehow we've got to sleep."

The Angels will sleep soundly all winter after last night's 4-1 win gave them their first World Series championship.

Meanwhile, the Giants' winter slumber will be restless and regretful.

"In a couple of weeks, when I look back on the Series, I'm sure the game I'll remember will be Game 6," shortstop Rich Aurilia said somberly. "We know we could have won this Series. But we're definitely not the winners. We're the losers."

The Angels - from rookie John Lackey's impressive start to Garret Anderson's three-run double - were terrific last night.

But this Series was decided in Game 6, when the Giants took a big lead, then committed a cardinal sin.

They began counting their World Series rings before they were minted.

How else could you have interpreted manager Dusty Baker's awards ceremony with pitcher Russ Ortiz in the seventh inning? Baker went to the mound to take Ortiz out, then presented him with a game ball.

Sure, Ortiz pitched well, but Baker was a little premature in handing out accolades. Didn't he realize the Angels were addicted to come-from-behind wins?

The players in the Anaheim dugout noticed Baker's little awards presentation. Suitably irked, the Angels began playing the ball they had all season, and within two innings, they had the lead, and their season was saved.

Baker didn't apologize for giving Ortiz the ball. He said that he wasn't showing up anybody, that he was simply congratulating Ortiz for a job well done. But when you're a team looking for a spark, anything will do. And Baker gave it to the Angels.

The Angels are a tough, feisty team that fended off doubters all season. They like it when people doubt them - or, in this case, prematurely bury them. It motivates them.

Eight outs is a long time. The Giants learned that - painfully - in Game 6.

"We all know how close we were," first baseman J.T. Snow said wistfully.

Last night, the Giants didn't try on any World Series rings before they were minted. Even though they scored the game's first run, their wheels spun uphill all night. They had their chance to close this thing out Saturday night. They had more chances in Game 7, but failed to get a big hit.

Meanwhile, when opportunity called for a big hit by the Angels, Anderson was there with a bases-loaded double in the third.

"They outplayed us," Bonds said. "They deserve it."

Bonds, the biggest Giant of them all, was a mere mortal in Game 7. He led off the second inning by lining out to second base against Lackey. On the line-out, Bonds broke his bat. Right there, you knew it might be a rather ordinary game for Sir Barry.

But it was no ordinary series for Barry. A month ago, all the talk was about his being a great regular-season player and a postseason flop. In 27 previous postseason games, he had hit just .196 (19 for 97) with only one home run and six RBIs.

The criticism will cease now. Bonds had a dominant postseason - 8 home runs, 16 RBIs in 17 games - even if he went out with a whimper last night and failed to win the championship he so dearly wanted. Bonds made pitchers uncomfortable whether he was in the batter's box or the on-deck circle, or at the dugout water cooler.

"He's not human," Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher said.

On the other hand, these Angels - these World Series champion Angels - are nothing but human, from their spunky little shortstop, to their pudgy catcher, to their guitar-playing first baseman, to their humble, likable manager, the Philly guy, Mike Scioscia.

The Angels would never dare to count their World Series rings before they have been minted.

But it's OK to do so now.