www.upn31.com

A capsule look at the Giants-Braves playoff series

A look at the best-of-five National League division series between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves:< ^Schedule:@ (All times Eastern) Game 1, Wednesday, at Atlanta (1:06 p.m., ABC Family), Game 2, Thursday, at Atlanta (8:17 p.m., Fox), Game 3, Saturday, at San Francisco (TBA), x-Game 4, Sunday, at San Francisco (TBA), x-Game 5, Monday, at Atlanta (TBA).

x-if necessary.

= ^Season Series:@ Tied 3-3.

= ^Projected Lineups= ^Giants:@ CF Kenny Lofton (.261, 11 HRs, 51 RBIs, 29 SBs), SS Rich Aurilia ( .257, 15, 61), 2B Jeff Kent (.313, 37, 108, 42 doubles, 102 runs), LF Barry Bonds ( .370, 46, 110, 117 runs and major league records .582 on-base percentage and 198 walks), C Benito Santiago (.278, 16, 74), 1B J.T. Snow ( .246, 6, 53), RF Reggie Sanders (.250, 23, 85), 3B David Bell ( .261, 20, 73).< ^Braves:@ SS Rafael Furcal (.275, 8, 47, 27 SBs, 113 Ks), 1B Julio Franco (.284, 6, 30) or Matt Franco (.317, 6, 30), RF Gary Sheffield (.307, 25, 84), LF Chipper Jones (.327, 26, 100), CF Andruw Jones (.264, 35, 94, 135 Ks), C Javy Lopez (.233, 11, 52), 3B Vinny Castilla (.232, 12, 61), 2B Keith Lockhart (.216, 5, 32) or Mark DeRosa (.297, 5, 23).<

= ^Projected Rotations= ^Giants:@ RH Russ Ortiz (14-10, 3.61 ERA), LH Kirk Rueter (14-8, 3.23), RH Jason Schmidt (13-8, 3.45, 196 Ks), RH Livan Hernandez (12-16, 4.38).< ^Braves:@ LH Tom Glavine (18-11, 2.96), RH Greg Maddux (16-6, 2.62), RH Kevin Millwood (18-8, 3.24), LH Damian Moss (12-6, 3.42).<

= ^Relievers= ^Giants:@ RH Robb Nen (6-2, 2.20, 43/51 saves), RH Felix Rodriguez (8-6, 4.17), RH Tim Worrell (8-2, 2.25), RH Jay Witasick (1-0, 2.37), LH Chad Zerbe (2-0, 3.04), RH Ryan Jensen (13-8, 4.51), LH Aaron Fultz (2-2, 4.79).< ^Braves:@ RH John Smoltz (3-2, 3.25, NL-record 55/59 saves), LH Mike Remlinger (7-2, 1.99), LH Chris Hammond (7-2, 0.95), RH Darren Holmes (2-2, 1.81, 1), RH Tim Spooneybarger (1-0, 2.63, 1), RH Kerry Ligtenberg (3-4, 2.97).<

= ^Matchups=

Bonds has been unstoppable against the Braves the past two seasons, batting .500 with eight homers in just 34 at-bats. ... He's so dangerous that even Maddux pitches around him, walking him 22 times in 116 career at-bats. ... Bonds has eight homers off Maddux, a .305 career average with eight homers in 59 at-bats against Smoltz and a .321 average against Glavine. ... Braves manager Bobby Cox might want to think twice about bringing in a lefty to face Bonds late in the game. Bonds is 13-for-32 with three homers off Hammond and 6-for-15 with four homers against Remlinger. ... Maddux is 23-13 in his career against the Giants. ... Glavine, Atlanta's Game 1 starter, pitched seven scoreless innings in his only outing against San Francisco this season. ... Sheffield, excited about the matchup against his close friend Bonds, enjoys facing the Giants. He hit .462 against them this season and has a .332 career average with 33 homers in 392 career at-bats for his career. ... Chipper Jones drove in seven runs in seven games against San Francisco this season. ... Andruw Jones is only a .201 career hitter against the Giants and had no RBIs in 22 at-bats this season. ... Nen has struggled against Atlanta in his career with a 4.80 ERA and an 0-5 record. He blew a save on Aug. 15, when he allowed a two-run single to Chipper Jones in the ninth inning of a 3-3 tie. Jones is a .500 hitter with eight RBIs in 12 career at-bats against Nen. ... Hernandez is 2-7 in the regular season against Atlanta but beat the Braves twice striking out 16 in 10 2-3 innings to win the MVP of the 1997 NLCS for Florida. Hernandez will have to do it this time without umpire Eric Gregg's oversized strike zone.<

= ^Big Picture= ^Giants:@ The Giants surged late to clinch the wild card on the season's second-to-last day, reaching the playoffs for the third time in six years. The franchise hasn't won a World Series since 1954, but it was before they even got to San Francisco. ... The Giants had the best record in baseball in 2000, but they lost the division series to the New York Mets. Last season, they finished two games behind eventual World Series champion Arizona in the NL West, and three games behind St. Louis in the wild-card race. ... Bonds has been in no mood to discuss his chances at a record fifth NL MVP. He's feeling the pressure to perform in the postseason. Bonds has never been to a World Series. He has never even won a playoff series in five trips to the postseason, and his own performances are a big reason why. Bonds is hitting only .196 with one home run and six RBIs in 97 at-bats, hardly the numbers of baseball's best player. ... Lofton, Aurilia and Kent need to get on base to make it more difficult for the Braves to pitch around Bonds. ... Kent, who bats before Bonds in the No. 3 slot, manager Dusty Baker and GM Brian Sabean all are in the final years of their contracts, so this might be the last time this group. ... Bonds and Kent don't like each other and even got into a dugout skirmish this year, but even Bonds has lobbied the Giants to bring Kent back. ... Can't match the Braves' starting pitching, but Rodriguez and Nen form lethal end-of-game duo if Giants can keep it close.< ^Braves:@ Atlanta struggled the first six weeks of the season. On May 14, the Braves were 19-21 and fourth in the NL East. Since then, they are 82-38, essentially wrapping up another division championship by the All-Star break. ... Beginning in 1991, the Braves have won 11 straight division championships two more than any other similar streak in the four major professional sports. ... This could be last hurrah for the starting duo of Glavine and Maddux. Both are free agents at the end of the season and the Braves, whose attendance has dropped every year since 1997, may not be able to afford to re-sign both of them. ... Cox has done one of his best jobs, getting maximum production from journeymen such as Matt Franco, Julio Franco, Darren Bragg, Hammond and Holmes. ... Hammond has been a remarkable story. He retired from baseball for 2{ years, then came back last season to pitch in Triple-A. Hammond made the team as a non-roster player in spring training and quickly earned a prominent role in the bullpen. He hasn't allowed an earned run since June 30, a streak of 35 2-3 innings, to finish with a 0.95 ERA. ... For once, the Braves have no questions about their bullpen heading into the postseason. It's deep, versatile and has one of the game's most dominating finishers. Smoltz set an NL record for saves is his first full season as the closer. ... Millwood bounced back from two subpar seasons to give the Braves three quality starters at the top of the rotation. ... Sheffield struggled with injuries early in the season and fell short of his typical power numbers. ... Chipper Jones had 100 RBIs for the seventh year in a row, one short of the NL record shared by Willie Mays, Mel Ott and Sammy Sosa. ... The bottom of the order hasn't done much. Lopez and Castilla had disappointing seasons.

= ^Watch For=

Avoiding Barry. Bonds has struggled in his first five trips to the playoffs but the Braves acknowledge that was a far different Bonds. He was intentionally walked a major league record 68 times. Santiago must make the Braves pay if they try to avoid Bonds.

Braves bullpen. Cox can get the matchups he wants with two lefties (Remlinger, Hammond) and three right-handers (Holmes, Spooneybarger, Ligtenberg) in setup roles. Once the game gets to the ninth, the Braves are in good shape. Smoltz, the winningest postseason pitcher in baseball history, has made a smooth conversion from starter to closer. With a fastball in the upper 90s and a hard slider, Smoltz can be virtually unhittable when he's on.

Hitting pitchers. The Giants' hurlers aren't automatic outs and could play a key role in the series with their bats. Hernandez batted .234 this year with six RBIs and Ortiz hit .246 with two homers and nine RBIs.

Swiss-cheese lineup. The Braves may have trouble scoring runs once they get past the top half of their order. Andruw Jones leads the team in homers but is a notorious streak hitter.

(