Magic Number Now 4.....Now 3.....

Braves win, Phillies lose. Good stuff.

John Thompsaon (finally) gets a win, thanks to his 7 very fine innings of work and homers from Furcal and Francoeur and both Jones boys. (Chipper and Furcal also managed to steal a base too.) Andrew now has 51 and still leads the majors. Reitsma and Farnsworth also did fine. Very good to see that. A 5 game lead with 7 to play looks very much like a done deal. The streak lives on.

Marlins coach, Jack McKeon, showed himself to be a master of the obvious by pointing out that the Braves taking the division crown is "no fluke." Really, Jack? You just needed to see us win it once more to be sure that the last 13 times weren't just lucky?

Also, the Braves players have again been saying that they would rather face San Diego than Houston. I really get uncomfortable hearing the team put out bulliten board material for the other play-off teams. But it looks like wishing the Astros away won't help. They lead Philly by 2 games in the wild-card race, with 7 games to go. And our Game 1 opponent, Roger Clemens, was scratched from his start yesterday. I'm hoping for lingering stiffness in his 43 year-old hammie.