They beat the Dodgers on Wednesday, 4-2 in 10 innings.

Had the Giants lost and squandered a Tim Lincecum gem, it would have been a series sweep for the Dodgers, a four-game losing streak for the Giants at home and, really, the end of any reasonable dreams of the playoffs, even via the wild card. The season would have been over.

By scuffling to win on a day when they had to overcome their own classic bumbling and boneheadedness, and a couple shaky calls by the umps, the Giants showed that they might have the stuff to hang with the big boys.

For the Giants, the game was a defining moment. Let the season begin.

This game was a demonstration of the identity the Giants have pretty much carved out for themselves this season.

They are the drama kings.

Who else gets into a benches-clearing near-brawl simply from a dramatic overreaction?

That's what Pablo Sandoval did in the fifth inning after he was hit on the forearm by a just-inside pitch from reliever James McDonald. (The ump called it a foul ball.) Sandoval angrily gestured toward McDonald, even though it was pretty obviously not a malicious pitch. Afterward Sandoval copped to overreacting.

"I don't play like that," Sandoval said. "I play the game right. I don't do that. A guy hits me, I go to first base. I feel bad. I got to first base and thought to myself, 'I need to calm down. I need to calm down.' "

Calm, schmalm. Let other teams follow the book and be boring. The Giants do not paint by numbers.

Sandoval got his team and the fans fired up. The Giants scored two runs and memories were awakened.

"Every game we played (against the Dodgers) we had a fight," said an enthusiastic Orlando Cepeda in the press box. "Every game. It's good for the game. People love that. Listen to the fans. 'Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!' "

But beat 'em the hard way, by gum.

More Pablo drama! Ninth inning, one out, he slams a one-out hit high off the left-field wall and goes into his home-run trot. Costs him, by his own admission, a triple, and again he's apologetic.

So the manager is furious?

"Let me tell you something about Pablo," Bruce Bochy said, almost angrily, "he gives you everything he's got. I have no problem with Pablo. He'll learn from that."

There were plenty of educational opportunities Wednesday.

Look, there's shortstop Uribe dropping a soft pop-up in the ninth inning, losing it in the sun while his stylish Oakley sunglasses are perched on the bill of his cap.

"It's my mistake; I need to use the sunglasses," Uribe said, adding that he didn't have the shades on his eyes because on ground balls the sunglasses make the field too dark.

"So you need flip-down" sunglasses? I asked.

"I know, I know," Uribe said.

The Giants create drama with every at-bat. It's a wild-swinging group whose approach to hitting sometimes seems to be the same as Jack the Ripper's approach to dating.

Bengie Molina and Sandoval do not like to look at pitches. Jayson Werth leads the NL in most pitches seen per plate appearance, 4.53. Sandoval ranks 122nd (3.40) and Molina 180th (3.13).

When it works, though, it's dramatic. Sandoval hitting screamers off his shoelaces. Molina hammering eyeball fastballs.

Very dramatic. Not by the book.

The Giants make winning look hard. Eventual hero Uribe stranded seven runners in his first three at-bats, twice striking out. This team bleeds runs.

"We're going to have to get this offense going," said Bochy, who probably realizes that this offense is going. This is it.

Whatever winning the Giants do the rest of the way, they'll do unconventionally.

Sandoval will be at the center of any fireworks the Giants provide the rest of the way. He's dramatic, or emotional, just walking through the clubhouse.

Lincecum, too. Taking the field to pitch the top of the ninth with a 2-1 lead, he sprinted to the mound. No backflips, but how many starting pitchers make it to the ninth, let alone sprint to the mound?

The Giants operate on their own wavelength.

When they win, it's seldom classic. But they have their own strange chemistry and style, and two-thirds of the way into the season, somehow they're still in the playoff picture.

You want drama, this is your club.

E-mail Scott Ostler at sostler@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle