Braves 4 Phillies 1

Of all the surprise contributors to the Braves success this year, is there anyone more surprising than Jorge Sosa? Seemingly every single start he walks a tightrope, on the verge of getting blown out, but he wriggles out of it every time. Next thing you know, he's got a 2.45 ERA and might just end up with 15 wins. 15! He's not going to get enough innings to qualify for the ERA crown, but right now he's only .03 ERA points and 10 innings or so from having the second best ERA in the major leagues. As A Brett said, he should be a lock for the third starting slot in the playoffs, and I'm starting to think he can actually do us some good in the postseason.

The biggest play in this game was a bad third strike call on Burrell with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, with the Braves clinging to a 1-0 lead. LaRoche then made a great play on a Ryan Howard screamer, then the good guys proceeded to push across a few more. Thanks mainly to poor control by the Phillie bullpen, which Charlie Manuel just couldn't wait to employ. Lidle got pulled after only 58 pitches, having given up just one first-inning run. He walked off the mound as though someone was playing a joke on him. Sorry, Cory, the only joke is the Phils chance at overtaking the Bravos. Magic number down to 6.