An empty Great American Ball Park greeted outfielder Drew Stubbs, catcher Devin Mesoraco and a few other Reds on Monday. They tossed a football around in the outfield, and the speedy Stubbs not surprisingly appeared to have a few steps on Mesoraco.

The only sign this wasn’t just another day at the stadium: the Goodyear Blimp flew over at that moment.

The players looked as loose and confident as you might expect after the first two Reds playoff victories in 17 years: 5-2 over the Giants in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday and 9-0 on Sunday.

It has been a good year for the Reds. They might describe it as a great year if they beat the Giants in Game 3 (5:37 p.m. today) and advance to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 1995.

Two years ago, the Reds returned to Cincinnati from Philadelphia for Game 3 of the NLDS needing a win to keep their season alive. Now they’re up 2-0 and playing some of their best baseball.

“It’s all we could ask for,” Stubbs said. “We were just hoping to get out of there with a split. Having two is a bonus. We love the situation we’re in, and it’s just up to us to close it out.”

Teams with 2-0 leads in the Division Series have advanced 90 percent of the time (32-of-48) since 1995. If the Reds eliminate the Giants tonight, they wouldn’t play again until Sunday against the Nationals or Cardinals.

“It’d be nice to clinch, and guys would get a couple of days to get their legs back underneath them and their arms backs,” reliever Sean Marshall said. “It would be a big advantage. It’s a lot like how we clinched (the Central Division) earlier. We got a chance to get some guys some rest, and the guys played really hard in San Francisco the first two days.”

Homer Bailey (13-10, 3.68 ERA) starts for the Reds against Ryan Vogelsong (14-9, 3.37). Vogelsong has had an up-and-down season. From Aug. 13 to Sept. 16, he lost five of seven starts, and his ERA in August and September was 6.38.

Vogelsong pitched better in his last three starts of the regular season but runs into a Reds team that scored more runs in the first two games of the series (14) than in the last seven games of the regular season combined (13).

“Our pitching was carrying us for a while,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “There was a time our hitting was carrying us for a while. I’m hoping now during the course of the playoffs, both of them can carry us and we can be strong on both ends.

“That’s the epitome of having a great team. It starts with pitching, but it’s sure nice to see us score some runs. (Sunday’s game) might have been the first kind of kick-back game I’ve had in about three months.”

When are the Reds' playoff games?