Looking Ahead

The Giants and Padres lock up for three this weekend. One of them should be eliminated, for all intensive purposes, by Sunday afternoon.

Florida gets a double header today against Montreal, then gets ready for Atlanta this weekend. The Fish appear to have jumbled their rotation and are scheduled to throw Burnett, Beckett and Pavano at Atlanta. Very Smart. (makes you wonder why Dusty Baker wasted Prior against Montreal's Class A pitcher instead of throwing Rusch or Mitre in that game and saving Prior for Saturday and Zambrano for Sunday). Atlanta only has a five game loss-column lead for the division and needs to take the series.

Houston finishes with St. Loser, then hosts Milwaukee, last year's spoilers. The Stros get Morris and Marquis, then Sheets but miss Santos. The Stros also throw Oswalt on Saturday.

It sums up like this: The Giants and Padres will share three losses. Houston looks to lose at least one at St. Loser and another to Sheets. Outside of a Giants sweep of the Padres, I see this boiling down to the Cubs and Marlins again. The playoff chase may come down to Monday, September 20. The Doubleheader in Miami. And if the Marlins can't throw any of their big 3, advantage Cubs.

So long as the Cubs don't choke it away against Pittsburgh and Cinci.