GreenJackets rest before push to finish

Most of the South Atlantic League hit the field Monday night, but two of the three teams in a heated race for first place in the Southern Division stepped back for a breather.

The Asheville Tourists (22-13) and the Augusta GreenJackets (21-16), who rank first and second in wins in the division, enjoyed an off day Monday. They used the time to rest up for what could be an exciting final month of regular season play.

"It's too early yet to start pressing on that end, but every game is important the rest of the way," GreenJackets manager Dave Machemer said. "We're in a good position right now. Asheville has been red hot, but we've been able to hang with them."

Bowling Green, on the road in Savannah on Monday night, entered the game a few percentage points better than the GreenJackets in the win/loss column but with two fewer games than Augusta.

All three teams need to finish the second half of the season in first place to earn a postseason bid. The Greenville Drive (17-19) won the Southern Division's first-half title and already own a playoff spot.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE : The GreenJackets trail Asheville by two games with 35 games played and 35 left in the second half. But those games will be played against entirely different opponents.

Augusta has the more favorable schedule. The GreenJackets won't face a team currently more than two games above .500 the rest of the season. Asheville will play Bowling Green (20-15) seven times over the next month and will face the top three teams in the Northern Division: the Kannapolis Intimidators (first place) and the West Virginia Power and Hickory Crawdads (tied for second).

The schedule sets Augusta up nicely for a possible playoff push, but Machemer refused to look ahead that far.

"When you play those Northern Division teams you don't know much about them, and hopefully that means some split series instead of sweeps (for Asheville)," he said. "But we can't look ahead like that with us. We still have to play those games, and we still have to win."

PITCHING CHANGES : A few roster moves shook up the GreenJackets pitching situation last weekend. Kyle Nicholson , the San Francisco Giants' 2007 seventh-round draft pick who led Augusta starters with a 2.80 ERA, was promoted to Advanced-A San Jose on Thursday, a day before his 24th birthday.

The 6-foot right-hander was the hottest starter on the roster. Three of his past four starts were complete-game efforts.

"He's been one of our best starters the past month, and that's definitely going to hurt us," Machemer said. "But it was time for him to move on. He definitely deserved to move up, and I'm happy for him."

- Orlando Yntema , who pitched for the GreenJackets last season, was sent back to Augusta from Salem-Keizer to take Nicholson's place in the starting rotation.

- Andrew Reichard , the Georgia College and State product who has spent almost two months on the disabled list, returned to action last week. He made a short start Thursday when he threw two innings in a 7-3 win over Greenville.

Machemer said Reichard's allowed pitch count will increase and he will remain in the starting rotation, taking Eric Stolp's spot.

- Reliever Mitch Lively was sent to Double-A Connecticut last week. Bryan Millikan , a 6-foot-5 right-handed reliever who played for Augusta in 2006, was sent to Augusta after eight appearances in the Arizona League produced a 1.35 ERA.

Reach Billy Byler at (706) 823-3216 or billy.byler@augustachronicle.com.