Major League Baseball

First impressions of the matchups

Published Oct. 3, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Quick thoughts on the start of a long month.

BRAVES vs. GIANTS

Atlanta manager Bobby Cox already has said his retirement farewells in every park in the National League. He’s been recognized for his 51 years in uniform everywhere — other than Florida where owner Jeffrey Loria is still pouting for being taken to task by Cox for the Marlins’ ridiculous firing of Fredi Gonzalez.

Cox, however, isn’t going anywhere yet.

Retirement has been put on hold, for a few more games, at least.

It’s October, and Cox is getting a chance to go out in the style that he has become accustomed to.

The Braves’ 8-7 victory against Philadelphia on Sunday, combined with San Francisco’s 2-0 victory against San Diego, earned Cox his record-setting 16th managerial appearance in a postseason, one more than Joe Torre.

It’s a chance for Cox to address that one piece of his resume that the critics bemoan. Sixteen times he has taken a team to the postseason — the 1985 Toronto Blue Jays and the Braves 15 times, including a pro sports record 14 division titles in a row (1991-2005).

It, however, won’t be easy. With the Giants winning on Sunday — and thus avoiding what would have been a three-team, two-game play-in set up to determine the winner of the NL West and the NL wild card — San Francisco has the ideal alignment for the start of its postseason.

By winning on Sunday and avoiding a play-in game with San Diego for the NL West title, and if they lost that game a play-in game with Atlanta for the wild card , the Giants not only get to host the first two games of their division series with Atlanta on Thursday and Friday, but they have Tim Linceum and Matt Cain, their 1-2 rotation punch, on rest and ready to go.

Lincecum, in fact, was moved up in the rotation last week to start on Wednesday against Arizona so he could have pitched, if needed, on normal rest in a Monday play-in game. He’ll be pitching with six days rest, and Cain will be coming back off five days of rest.

And this is not the Tim Lincecum who stumbled through the worst month of his career in August — 0-5, 7.82. This is a two-time Cy Young award winner who is on the hottest extended stretch of his career, having gone 7-1 with a 1.75 ERA in his last eight starts, including 4-0 with a 1.90 ERA at AT&T Park, where he would pitch a possible Game 5 as well as the series opener.

Cain, meanwhile, has been the Giants model of rotation consistency. He’s 13-11, but the Giants won five of his last six non-decisions, and the Giants have won 11 of his 16 starts at AT&T Park, seven of the last eight, where he has a 2.93 ERA.

If that’s not a big enough edge for the Giants, understand that the Braves rival the Colorado Rockies among teams with winning records for home-field advantage. Both the Braves and Rockies had home field winning percentages 259 points higher than their road winning percentages.

PHILLIES VS. REDS

Philadelphia, looking for a third consecutive NL pennant after winning its fourth NL East title in a row, is in position to strong-arm Cincinnati.

When the Phillies acquired Roy Halladay last offseason, it was with the announced intention to have him to start Game 1 of the postseason, which he will. When they picked up Roy Oswalt from Houston in mid-season, they expanded a quality 1-2 postseason punch of Halladay and lefty Cole Hamels into a triple threat.

So what if the Phillies middle relief is sagging? Halladay, about to become fifth pitcher to win a Cy Young award in both the AL and the NL, Hamels, the MVP in both the 2008 NLCS and World Series, and Oswalt, who saw the Phillies win 10 of his 12 starts after coming over from Houston, are workhorses. They ranked among the top 14 in the NL in innings pitched this year, averaging nearly seven innings in each of their 98 starts.

That means they don’t need a lot of help from the bullpen until the late innings, and right now, Phillies closer Brad Lidge is on a roll. He has 21 saves and a 2.17 ERA since the All-Star Break, and since Aug. 1 has saved 17 games while allowing two earned runs in 23 2/3 innings.

The Phillies also have a postseason-proven roster, having made only minor alterations in the last three seasons while the Reds are entering into what will primarily be a new experience. Only two Cincinnati pitchers (left-handed reliever Arthur Rhodes and right-handed starter Bronson Arroyo), and four position players (catcher Ramon Hernandez, third baseman Scott Rolen, shortstop Orlando Cabrera and versatile Miguel Cairo) have postseason experience.

But then the Reds are returning to baseball’s postseason for the first time in 15 years.

TWINS vs. YANKEES

Minnesota is making its sixth postseason appearance in nine years, and the Twins have reason to feel they can advance out of the first round for the first time since 2002.

Having put together the best home-field record in the American League in the opening season of Target Field, the Twins also have cobbled together an effective bullpen despite the loss of All-Star closer Joe Nathan to Tommy John surgery before the season even began.

First, Jon Rauch stepped into the late-inning role, and then, in mid-season, the Twins reinforced their bullpen by acquiring Mike Capps and Brian Fuentes, All-Star closers in years gone by.

Oh, the Yankees, who drew the wild-card berth and the honor of being the visitor in Minnesota for Game 1 of the ALDS, do have Mariano Rivera, but the rotation is such a mess after CC Sabathia that they have been trying to convince themselves that Andy Pettitte is postseason ready.

Pettitte did lead the Yankees with 11 wins and a 2.28 ERA at the All-Star Break, but he strained his groin on July 18, didn’t return to the active roster until Sept. 19, and has worked only 13 1/3 innings, giving up 10 earned runs and 22 hits in three starts since.

Is was not just a coincidence that the Yankees, who were a best-in-baseball 58-33 when Pettitte was sidelined and went 37-33 the rest of the way, finishing second to Tampa Bay in the AL East. Since Pettitte’s injury, the rotation, other than Sabathia, is 17-22.

RAYS vs. RANGERS

Tampa Bay will actually have a rare occurrence for the postseason — crowds at the Tropicana Dome, where despite the fact the Rays are everything fans supposedly want (low-budget, high energy and quality play) the team is one of eight major-league teams to fail to reach the two-million mark in attendance.

Now, however, they figure to have sellouts and a sudden influx of folks who have rooted for the Rays since at least last week, and don’t worry about Tampa Bay when it heads to Texas for Game 3 on Saturday. Tampa Bay was a best-in-baseball 47-34 on the road this season.

While Tampa Bay did win four of six from the Rangers during the regular season, the two teams are quite similar statistically, other than batting average. The Rays are third in the AL in runs scored with 799, 14 ahead of the fourth-place Rangers, but they have done that with a .248 batting average, which ranks 13th among the 14 AL teams. They, however, have hit .266 with runners in scoring position, and they do the little things well, leading the AL in stolen bases (171) and sacrifice flies (57).

And while Tampa is second in the AL with a 3.80 ERA, the Rangers are third at 3.92, and actually have the best bullpen ERA in the AL (3.23), edging out the second-place Rays (3.37).

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