"A Braves fan held up a sign in honor of Derek Lowe Monday night that read: "D Lowe is D Man." Oh and how he almost was.

Facing elimination from the postseason and from Bobby Cox's 25-year tenure as Braves manager, the Braves turned to the geeked-up guy on their staff who's been auditioning for this job the last month of the season - go-to pitcher.

Lowe continued his renaissance on the mound for the better part of 6 1/3 innings Monday against the Giants. He allowed only two hits - one a Cody Ross solo homer, the second a dribbler down the third base line from Buster Posey.

But that swinging bunt and a walk to Aubrey Huff opened the door to a two-run seventh inning for the Giants and a 3-2 win that clinched them the series.

"This is a tough one to swallow," Lowe said afterward.

Giving an indication how good Lowe was? At his first sign of significant trouble, with those two runners in the seventh inning, he drew Cox to the mound for a conversation and not the ball.

"I saw him halfway, and it was like, 'Please tell me I can stay in this game,'" Lowe said. "He said, 'You all right?' And I said, 'Yeah, we can get a double play here.'"

Arms crossed, Cox heard Lowe out and then left him there despite his 96 pitches on three days' rest.

With some 44,000 fans at Turner Field chanting "Let's go D Lowe," Lowe couldn't find the strike zone on four of his next five pitches. After he walked Pat Burrell, Cox had no choice. Knowing his chance had passed, Lowe bent over at the waist, standing on the back of the mound."