News and notes from the playoff chase:
- Philadelphia's been in something of a funk (relatively speaking, of course) after clinching the NL East crown over the weekend, and Roy Halladay said the team looked "flat" in yesterday's loss to the Cardinals. Still, the Phils clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs with the Brewers' loss to the Cubs.
- Arizona got back on track after dropping a series in San Diego over the weekend, clipping the Pirates, 1-0, thanks to a broken-bat homer from Justin Upton. The win lowered the Snakes' magic number to clinch the NL West to four.
- Things are getting uncomfortable in Atlanta, where the Braves have gagged away most of their lead in the Wild Card race in the last week-and-a-half. Yesterday's loss to the Marlins was especially painful: the Braves lost in walk-off fashion when Omar Infante crushed a two-run, two-out homer off of Craig Kimbrel to give the Fish a 6-5 win and to trim Atlanta's lead to 2.5 games over St. Louis.
- St. Louis is streaking right now, having just completed a 5-2 road trip with a 4-3 win over the Phillies on Monday night. Now the Cards head home to get fat and happy against the Mets, who have slumped to seven games under .500 in the last month of the year.
- San Francisco has injected itself back into the playoff chase by tearing off eight straight wins (the Giants had the day off yesterday), and they got more good news when closer Brian Wilson returned after a month on the DL on Sunday.
The Wild Card race looks like this right now:
| W | L | GB | Last 10 | Streak | Wild Card E # |
|
|
Braves |
87 | 67 | -- | 3-7 | L2 |
-- |
| Cardinals | 84 | 69 | 2.5 | 8-2 | W2 |
7 |
| Giants | 83 | 70 | 3.5 |
8-2 | W8 | 6 |
| Dodgers | 76 |
76 | 10.0 | 6-4 | W3 |
Done |
Note: If the Brewers were not leading the Central, they would have a three (3) game lead on the Braves for the Wild Card spot.
And here are the playoff participants, if the season ended today:
| W | L | GB | Last 10 | Streak | |
| Phillies (East) | 98 | 53 | -- |
4-6 | L2 |
| Brewers (Central) | 90 | 64 | 9.0 | 5-5 | L1 |
|
D-backs (West) |
89 | 65 | 10.0 | 6-4 | W2 |
|
Braves (Wild Card) |
87 | 67 | 12.0 |
3-7 | L2 |
On tap for today:
- Philadelphia vs. Washington in a doubleheader: Kendrick (8-6, 3.22) vs Detwiler (2-5, 3.76) (Game One); Lee (16-7, 2.38) vs. Milone (1-0, 4.60) (Game Two).
- Milwaukee @ Chicago: Marcum (12-7, 3.40) vs. Wells (7-4, 4.93)
- Arizona vs. Pittsburgh: Hudson (16-10, 3.39) vs. Morton (9-10, 3.81)
- Atlanta @ Florida: Delgado (0-1, 3.24) vs. Sanchez (8-8, 3.62)
- St. Louis vs. New York: Jackson (12-9, 3.71) vs. Pelfrey (7-12, 4.48)
-
San Francisco @ Los Angeles: Lincecum (13-12, 2.59) vs. Kershaw (19-5, 2.30)