SAN FRANCISCO — They are four victories away from the World Series, and yet the San Francisco Giants find themselves struggling with fundamental parts of their success the past several seasons. For one, they can't get effective starting pitching. At least not lately. Their starters had a 5.40 ERA with 11 walks in 21 2/3 innings the NLDS. And in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday night, Madison Bumgarner allowed six runs without getting out of the fourth inning. Another thing: The Giants have struggledat AT&T Park. They dropped their two home games to the Reds in the first round before rallying, then lost home-field advantage in the NLCS by falling to the St. Louis Cardinals in the series opener here. Going back to July 25, the Giants are 17-18 at home. Overall, they went 48-33 at home. They'll need to win at least one game on the west coast if they want to advance to the World Series for the second time in three years. Right-hander Ryan Vogelsong might be the best man, among any of their starting pitchers, to help reverse both of the negative trends.