The Dodgers, who lost their fifth straight, have already won the season series, meaning that Colorado will have to win the final two games of the regular season in L.A. to win the division since both teams have already clinched playoff spots.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... Chris Carpenter may win one of the closest NL Cy Young races in years, but his final start of the regular season will be better remembered for what he did with that bat.
The right-hander threw five shutout innings in a 13-0 win over the Reds. Six of those Cardinal runs were driven in by Carpenter, who hit the first home run of his career, a grand slam, in the second inning. He added a two-run double later.
"That was one of the funner days I've ever had," Carpenter said. ... "I think the only other home run I hit had to be in high school. I was a really good hitter, I guess, but I grew up in New Hampshire, and we didn't see many 90 mph fastballs."
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Braves are all but done in the NL wild-card race, not that there was anything they could do about it. Atlanta, which had surged into contention over the last few weeks, ran into the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco Wednesday night.
Nolasco struck out 16, a Marlins record, including a stretch where he fanned nine in a row, one shy of the major league record of 10 straight held by Tom Seaver.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ...
That a couple of game tying three-run homers threatened to make the NL wild-card chase really wild, but the teams that hit them both lost, leaving the Rockies three games up on the Braves with five games to go.
The excitement began in Atlanta, where the Braves' Matt Diaz hit a sixth-inning shot to erase a 4-1 lead. Unfortunately for Atlanta, the Marlins responded with Jorge Cantu's tie-breaking single a half inning later, and Florida held on to snap the Braves' seven-game winning streak.
A few hours later, Rockies closer Huston Street was looking to convert his 27th consecutive save opportunity when he gave up a game-tying homer to the normally powerless Jason Kendall of the Brewers in the ninth. Like the Marlins, the Rockies overcame it, winning in the 11th on Chris Iannetta's two-run homer.
Atlanta has two more games with Florida and then four against Washington. Colorado hosts Milwaukee for three before finishing with three games at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"Right now we feel like we're in control," [Chipper] Jones said. "We're dictating at-bats whether it be on the mound or whether we're hitting. And a lot of good things are happening."
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ...
That Zack Greinke is doing everything in his power to win the American League Cy Young Award.
The Royals ace will not get anywhere close to 20 wins, but he did pick up his 16th of the year with seven innings of one-run ball against the Twins. He's now won five straight decisions dating back to Aug. 25 and his ERA is down to 2.06. As pointed out by FanHouse's Jacob Wheatley-Schaller, if Greinke pitches seven shutout innings in his final start of the year next Saturday in Minnesota, he'll finish the year with his ERA under 2.00.
Only one AL pitcher in the last 15 years -- Pedro Martinez in 2000 -- has thrown more than 200 innings in a season and finished with a sub-2.00 ERA
Apparently a North American professional sports record 17th straight losing season wasn't enough of an indignity, so the 2009 Bucs went out and put together the second-worst 24-game stretch in the franchise's 123-year history.
The Pirates lost for the 21st time in their last 24 games Tuesday night, a 10-4 defeat suffered at the hands of the Reds.
"It's no fun, that's for sure," Pirates manager John Russell said. "It bothers every player in that clubhouse and everyone on our coaching staff. All we can do, though, is come back tomorrow and prepare ourselves to come back out and try to win a game."
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Twins are still surging.
Minnesota shook off a loss to the Tigers Sunday that pushed it three games back in the AL Central and routed the White Sox 7-0 to cut Detroit's edge in the division to 2 1/2 games.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
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