Cody Ross

The San Francisco Giants made short work of the Atlanta Braves in the National League Divisional Series.  Tim Lincecum and his teammates gave Braves manager Bobby Cox a rude farewell, winning the series three games to one.

Their reward?  They get to play the Philadelphia Phillies, who swept the Cincinnati Reds in their first round match-up.

But, that series won't start for a couple days, so let's take a look at five players who played key roles in the Giants' first round victory.

The Giants have a magic number of one.

The only way the Giants do not win the division is for the struggling Padres to win four in a row against San Francisco.

What I am trying to say is that it's over.

For those who have commented on my articles, I will say it: I was wrong. But I did say the Giants would win the division at the beginning of the season.

Up against the young Dodgers' ace Clayton Kershaw, the Giants failed to score a run. Barry Zito, too, was dealing for a while until the sixth inning, when he hit Reed Johnson with a pitch and then walked Rafael Furcal and Andre Ethier. With the bases loaded and two outs, SS Juan Uribe bobbled a groundball, allowing Reed Johnson to score.

Andres Torres, the center fielder and lead-off hitter, is the most irreplaceable member of the San Francisco Giants' lineup.

The Giants have to replace him, though, because he's out for the remainder of the regular season following surgery on his appendix.

A few weeks ago, the Giants acquired Jose Guillen in order to give them an extra bat to push them into the playoffs. About a week later, the Giants were awarded Cody Ross off waivers.

Since then, Jose Guillen has been the starting right fielder, with Cody Ross getting occasional playing time. This is a poor decision for several reasons...

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Apparently the San Francisco Giants are trying to set the record for most outfielders acquired in one season.

The MLB trade deadline is almost exactly three days away, and so far the only acquisition the Dodgers have made is the re-acquisition of veteran infielder Juan Castro on Tuesday. Castro will be making his third tour with the Dodgers, and many analysts see Castro's addition in many different ways.

Castro may be trade bait, or he may be insurance should the Dodgers move other veterans such as Jamey Carroll, Ronnie Belliard, and/or Garret Anderson.

Even though the Dodgers have been quiet so far, it may be the calm before the Ned Colletti storm.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports , the Chris Coghlan injury effects the Yankees in more ways than just answering a few questions about pies (he was injured in a walk-off pie throwing celebration), it takes away one of their trade options at the deadline – OF Cody Ross .

With the non-waiver trade deadline looming less than a week away (this Saturday), the Atlanta Braves are sitting in a pretty good spot.

Granted, they just lost two of three in South Florida from the now-.500 fourth place Marlins, but the club still holds the National League's second-best record (57-41) and a five game advantage over the Philadelphia Phillies.

But, there is a little room for improvement.

About a week ago, it may not have seemed as though the Florida Marlins had much life left in them. They were four games under .500 and seven out of the Wild Card lead with a losing series away from becoming instant sellers at the trade deadline.
Flash forward a week later, surprise! The Marlins have reached their first goal of getting to .500 now comes the Wild Card.