News and notes from the playoff chase:
-
Philadelphia's slide reached four games after the Phils were swept in a doubleheader by the Nationals yesterday. That's largely irrelevant, of course, given the fact that Philly's already clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, but this isn't: Hunter Pence will undergo an MRI today after he limped around the bases in the first inning of game one and exited the contest in the sixth inning.
- Arizona couldn't quite get over the hump in yesterday's 5-3 loss to the Pirates, but the Snakes crept closer to the NL West title when San Francisco lost to the Dodgers, 2-1, last night to snap their eight-game winning streak. Arizona's magic number stands at 3 after yesterday's action.
-
Atlanta rebounded from its stomach-punch loss on Monday night by blanking the Marlins, 4-0, behind five strong innings from rookie right-hander Randall Delgado, who picked up his first career win for his efforts. The win kept Atlanta two (2) games ahead of the Cardinals in the Wild Card race and lowered the Braves' magic number to clinch the Wild Card to six.
- St. Louis can do no wrong right now: after Edwin Jackson turned in a short (for him) outing and the Cards' bullpen scuffled, the offense picked up the slack by scoring six runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning en route to an 11-6 win over the Mets. Ryan Theriot was the unlikely hero, as the grumpy former starter at shortstop plated the go-ahead runs with a ground rule double.
The Wild Card race looks like this right now:
| W | L | GB | Last 10 | Streak | Wild Card E # |
|
|
Braves |
88 | 67 | -- | 4-6 | W1 |
-- |
| Cardinals | 85 | 69 | 2.5 | 8-2 | W3 |
6 |
| Giants | 83 | 71 | 4.5 |
8-2 | L1 | 4 |
| Dodgers | 77 |
76 | 10.0 | 6-4 | W4 |
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 | Magic # |
|
| Phillies (East) | 98 | 56 | -- |
4-6 | L4 | -- |
| Brewers (Central) | 91 | 64 | 7.5 | 6-4 | W1 | 3 |
|
D-backs (West) |
89 | 66 | 9.5 | 5-5 | L1 |
3 |
|
Braves (Wild Card) |
88 | 67 | 10.5 |
4-6 | W1 | 6 |
On tap for today:
- Philadelphia vs. Washington: Worley (11-2, 2.85) vs. Lannan (9-13, 3.68)
-
Milwaukee @ Chicago: Wolf (13-9, 3.45) vs. Garza (8-10, 3.51)
- Arizona vs. Pittsburgh: Miley (3-2, 4.24) vs. Ohlendorf (1-2, 6.82)
-
Atlanta @ Florida: Lowe (9-15, 4.94) vs. Vazquez (11-11, 3.92)
-
St. Louis vs. New York: Garcia (12-7, 3.59) vs. Schwinden (0-2, 5.40)
- San Francisco @ Los Angeles: Vogelsong (11-7, 2.68) vs. Eveland (2-1, 2.25)