And now the Giants-Atlanta series shifts to San Francisco -- or at least it does if you're able to figure out what channel it's on and what time it airs -- and a matchup between the finest pitcher in the National League over the past 15 years and the finest player in the National League over the past 15 years.

	Maddux

	Bonds

Greg Maddux and Barry Bonds, two first-ballot Hall-of-Famers, two of the greatest ever at their positions, two guys who we somehow ignored while voting for the All-Century team three years ago. Two guys who have four MVP (soon to be five) and four Cy Young awards between them. Two guys still looking to answer doubters in the postseason.

I heard from a lot of Maddux fans when I wrote a column praising him after he became the only pitcher other than Cy Young to win at least 15 games in 15 consecutive seasons. I also heard from a number of fans criticizing him for his supposed poor postseason performances, obviously focusing on his 10-13 record. But Maddux also has a 3.24 ERA in the postseason, which indicates the problem has been less with him than with a lack of run support. Take away his first awful postseason with the Cubs and his ERA drops to 2.79, which is lower than his career ERA.

And remember, that's while facing the best teams in the game under the most pressure.

In other words, he's pitched better than people think, if not always quite as well as he's hoped.

"I don't think it's any secret that it's harder to beat the first place team than the last-place team,'' Maddux said. "I feel like I've made mistakes in the postseason but as I look at my postseason career overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I got beat up pretty bad when I was with the Cubs the first time through, but since then I think I've had as many good games as bad games.''

There are no such stats supporting Bonds. He likely is among the top 10 players in baseball history but his postseason performance has been dismal. He enters Game 3 with a .200 career average, two home runs and seven RBI in 29 postseason games. His team has never won a postseason series.

Bonds singled and walked in Game 1 on Wednesday and also had a home run taken away by Andruw Jones. He went hitless in his first three at-bats in Game 2 before slamming a meaningless home run in the ninth inning when San Francisco trailed by five runs. For the most part, Atlanta has challenged him, which was not the case during the regular season when Bonds walked a record 198 times this season, including a record 68 intentional walks.

"He's the best player in baseball and has been for awhile. It didn't just happen last year,'' Maddux said. "If he hit .280 like everybody else, he would probably get pitched to more.''

The postseason is a funny thing. Some great players struggle under the pressure and never produce as they should. Other players thrive on it. Livan Hernandez, who will start Game 4 for San Francisco, is 69-69 for his career, exactly .500. Yet he is 5-0 in the postseason. He and his half-brother, Orlando, are a combined 14-3 in the postseason.

"This is the time to show people how good you are,'' Livan said. "I think a lot of people put a lot of pressure on themselves. But you need to do things the same way as in the regular season. It's a bigger game, but you can't put pressure on yourself. If you do that, you make more mistakes.

"I don't know how other players do it, but I feel pumped when I walk on the mound. I feel good.''

Bonds needs to feel that way, and perhaps his Game 2 home run, however meaningless to the final outcome, will help him come in without feeling the weight of five postseason failures on his broad shoulders.

Look, Bonds could strike out in every at-bat the remaining games of this series and it won't diminish his career. When we remember Ted Williams, it's for hitting .406 in 1941 and homering in his final at-bat. We don't remember him for hitting .200 in his only World Series. We remember Willie Mays for his catch off Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series but we don't remember him for hitting .247 in the postseason.

And yet ... Bonds has a postseason average at the Mendoza Line and has never been to the World Series. The Giants haven't won a World Series game in his lifetime. You never know. He's 38 and this could be his last chance to reach the series. It's time for him to step up and carry his team in the postseason as well as he carries them in the regular season. A player of his stature deserves to shine in the postseason.

With the series tied, Bonds and Maddux enter Game 3 with the chance to lift their clubs on their backs and personally take them to the brink of a series win. It's the best of an era versus the best of an era.

It should be a good show. If you can find the right channel.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at cuffscaple@hotmail.com.