Giants Value Rest Over Home Games

The San Francisco Giants determined that rest is more important than home-field advantage.

The Giants won’t travel to New York on Monday for a possible makeup game against the Mets that would have been necessary only if San Francisco finished the season half a game behind Atlanta for the best record in the National League.

The NL West champions would rather skip the cross-country flights and stay in San Francisco ahead of Tuesday’s Game 1 against Florida in the first round of the playoffs -- even if that means losing the home edge to Atlanta.

“Imagine the visual image if the Giants fly out late Sunday afternoon as the Marlins are flying in,” Giants’ owner Peter Magowan said Saturday. “The Giants are supposed to have home-field advantage, and we’re flying out of town. For an older team like us, we probably wouldn’t recover as well as a younger team.”

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Florida third baseman Mike Lowell took batting practice for the first time since breaking his left hand Aug. 30, and hopes to start today against the New York Mets. The Marlins have until Tuesday to decide whether to include him on the playoff roster.

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Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield will start for Boston in Game 2 of the AL divisional series against the Oakland Athletics. Pedro Martinez will pitch the opener. Derek Lowe will start Game 3.