The Giants can clinch their first World Series title in 56 years with a victory over the Rangers in Game 5 on Monday night. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

What's at stake

For the Giants, Game 5 represents the first of three chances to be crowned World Series champions for the first time since 1954, when they played ball at the Polo Grounds in New York. The Giants have reached the World Series three times since relocating to San Francisco in 1958 but never won it. They lost in seven games to the New York Yankees in 1962, were swept aside by the Oakland Athletics in 1989 and fell in seven games to the Anaheim Angels in 2002. San Francisco is looking to Cy Young Award candidate Tim Lincecum, the winning pitcher in Game 1, to finish off the Texas Rangers, still reeling from Sunday's 4-0 setback, in which Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey became the first rookie battery to start a World Series contest since the pitcher-catcher tandem of Spec Shea and Yogi Berra for the Yankees in 1947.

Players to watch

San Francisco — Edgar Renteria

Renteria is hitting .429 (6-14) with a home run, three runs batted in and five runs scored in this World Series. A legitimate most valuable player candidate.

Texas — Mitch Moreland

Moreland is hitting .455 (5-11) in the series, including a three-run home run in Game 3. Texas needs that kind of clout from him, what with Vladimir Guerrero (.100), Josh Hamilton (.125) and Nelson Cruz (.188) mired below the Mendoza line.

Pitching matchup

San Francisco — Tim Lincecum (3-1, 2.79)

Lincecum won the opener, but he wasn't nearly as overpowering as fans have come to expect, permitting four runs on eight hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings.

Texas — Cliff Lee (3-1, 2.51)

Lee is seeking redemption, coming off his first loss in eight career post-season decisions. He is 2-2 with a 3.08 ERA in seven starts for Texas at Arlington.

The series

San Francisco is the first team with two shutouts in the World Series since the Baltimore Orioles blanked the Los Angeles Dodgers in the final three games of their four-game sweep in 1966.

Slumping Pat Burrell was removed from the Giants lineup in Game 4, so has much to prove in Game 5. He has struck out eight times in nine at-bats in the World Series and 19 times in 38 at-bats this post-season.

Don't be surprised if Texas spouts this stat: six of 44 teams have rallied from 3-1 deficits to win the World Series, most recently the Kansas City Royals in 1985.

What they said

"We got him last game. But you know he is going to come out and really want to get us." — Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff on Cliff Lee

"They have done a great job. We have got to figure out some ways to put some runs on the board against them." — Rangers manager Ron Washington on the Giants

With files from The Associated Press