News and notes from the playoff chase:
- Philadelphia finally snapped its long losing streak, taking a 9-4 victory over the Mets to end an eight-game slide. The Phillies now head to Atlanta to take on the NL East-rival Braves, and the Phils say they're running out their A squad to try to knock the Braves out of the playoff race.
- Meanwhile, the only race that's interesting -- the Wild Card -- is down to a two-team sprint to the finish, thanks to Arizona's sweep of San Francisco this weekend. The sweep not only clinched the NL West for the Snakes, it also knocked the Giants out of the playoff chase entirely.
- Speaking of the Wild Card race: Atlanta continued its one-step-forward-two-steps-back routine, getting blanked by the Nationals, 3-0, in D.C. and dropping the last two games of the series after winning the opener on Friday. That loss, coupled with St. Louis' win over the Cubs, trimmed the Cards' deficit in the Wild Card to one game.
The Wild Card race looks like this right now:
| W | L | GB | Last 10 | Streak | Wild Card E # |
|
|
Braves |
89 | 70 | -- | 4-6 | L2 |
-- |
| Cardinals | 88 | 71 | 1.0 | 7-3 | W2 |
3 |
| Giants | 84 | 75 | 5.0 |
5-5 | L4 | Done |
| Dodgers | 80 |
78 | 8.5 | 7-3 | W1 |
Done |
And here are the playoff participants, if the season ended today:
| W | L | GB | Last 10 | Streak | Magic # |
|
| Phillies (East) | 99 | 60 | -- |
2-8 | W1 | -- |
| Brewers (Central) | 94 | 65 | 5.0 | 7-3 | W3 | -- |
|
D-backs (West) |
93 | 66 | 6.0 | 6-4 | W4 |
-- |
|
Braves (Wild Card) |
89 | 70 | 10.0 |
4-6 | L2 | 3 |
On tap for today:
- Philadelphia @ Atlanta: Lee (16-8, 2.38) vs. Delgado (1-1, 2.70)
-
Milwaukee vs. Pittsburgh: Marcum (13-7, 3.31) vs. Morton (10-10, 3.67)
-
Arizona vs. Los Angeles: Hudson (16-11, 3.43) vs. Eveland (2-2, 3.75)
-
St. Louis @ Houston: Garcia (13-7, 3.45) vs. Rodriguez (11-11, 3.51)