Barry Bonds played a big part in the Giants win over the Braves to move on to the National League Championship Series. Kevin Millwood went 1-2-3 through the first inning, but Bonds singled to start the second, eventually scoring on a Reggie Sanders single. Bonds also led off the fourth inning, homering off Millwood, who'd escaped the third without allowing any more runs. Meanwhile Russ Ortiz silenced the Atlanta bats through the first five innings. He allowed a few baserunners to lead off the sixth before the Giants pulled him for Aaron Fultz, who promptly allowed one of the inherited runners to score. Felix Rodriguez then relieved Fultz and closed out the inning.

Despite a very bad hop, Rich Aurilia deftly fielded a Chipper Jones' grounder to get the third out of that inning and prevent any of the runners on the then-loaded bases from scoring. Millwood left after the fifth, Chris Hammond pitched the sixth, and then Mike Remlinger relieved Hammond to start the seventh. Unfortunately Remlinger did not provide the Braves with the same effectiveness he gave them during the year. After allowing a double to J.T. Snow to lead off the inning, he walked the bases loaded before Atlanta sent in Darren Holmes to relieve him. Holmes wasn't able to prevent all of the runners from scoring, but he did limit the Giants to one run.

Bonds walked in the 8th inning, and then was thrown out attempting to steal second. Later Benito Santiago made an out at first base because he dove to the bag. Headfirst slides take more time than running through the base and if Santiago had remained upright, he either would have beaten the throw or the ball would have hit him in the back.

Atlanta attempted to rally in the ninth. Jeff Kent made a big grab to catch a high-hopping groundball hit by Rafael Furcal. However, his throw then went wide of first base, and while J.T. Snow prevented the ball from heading into the Braves' dugout and giving Furcal a double, Snow's foot came off the bag and Furcal was safe at first. Furcal stole second on a pitch that bounced in the dirt before Benito Santiago. Julio Franco then hit a single, but even though third base coach Ned Yost was waving him home, Furcal returned to third after running halfway to home. The booth speculated that perhaps Furcal had missed third base, and since there were no outs in the inning, the Braves didn't want to make the first out at home.

Giants' closer Robb Nen was pitching and therefore responsible for the runners in the ninth. He settled down and managed to get Gary Sheffield to strike out swinging, bringing Chipper to the plate. Snow looked over to manager Dusty Baker with a silent question as to where he should play. Baker signaled agreement for Snow to play on the line in front of first, holding Franco on the base. Chipper then hit a ground ball directly to Snow, allowing him to step on the bag and then throw to Rich Aurilia, who tagged Franco to complete the double play, ending the game and sending the Giants to the next round of the playoffs.

As I mentioned before, Atlanta severely hurt themselves by valuing defense over offense in this series and even throughout the year regardless of their 101 wins. Like Arizona, the Braves were left with no offense when their pitching failed them. As in the case of Monday's game, their pitching couldn't really afford to give up more than one run. Bobby Cox may have done a lot for this club, but he should probably think about retiring if he's not open to making changes to his managerial style. Cox will be particularly challenged next season if the team loses one or both of Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux as free agents.

I heard one of the broadcasters comment that acquiring Vinny Castilla "allowed" the Braves to move Chipper Jones to the outfield. Allowed is hardly the word I'd use to describe that position change. Chipper was much more valuable to the Braves at third than he is in the outfield, and Atlanta would be much better off with a big bat in left than Castilla at third. The Braves' bullpen moves this season were worthy of great praise, but the organization needs to wake up and obtain some offense if they want to give their fans a reason to believe the first round of the playoffs means something.

We struck out fairly thoroughly with our forecasts for the playoffs, so here are our revised predictions after the first round.

Anaheim at Minnesota: Anaheim's crowds matched if not surpassed Minnesota's fans exuberance, so I don't think that will be a big factor in this series. I like the Angels' pitching a bit more than the Twins in every match-up, and Anaheim owns a slightly superior offense. Anaheim in 5.

San Francisco at St. Louis: I think Matt Morris can win both his games. Jason Schmidt, Livan Hernandez, and Russ Ortiz will win Games 2, 3, & 4, but the Cardinals will rally at home off of Morris' start and win 5 & 6, forcing a game 7 that postseason-wonder Livan should put in the bag. San Francisco in 7.

San Francisco at Anaheim: I like the Giants' offense better, but the Angels' pitching should be rested after quickly dispatching the Twins. They'll be able to work their starters any way they want, while San Francisco should be slightly off their optimum rotation. Anaheim in 7.