A sad stat

Winning the last two games of the Nationals series gave the team the first two game winning streak at home since the All-Star Break. If you're looking for a reason that the Braves have failed to seriously challenge for the wild card, that's a fine place to start.

Anyway, the offense broke out in the two wins, and the pitching wasn't bad overall. The bullpen is still as shaky as ever. I'm fearful as to what JS may try to do this offseason to fix that - I'd rather he worry about making sure we have a starting rotation, which could be started by picking up Smoltz's option.

Now we get three games against the Giants, who are, improbably, in the thick of the NL West race, and also more in the wild card race than we are. Of course, this is the 2006 version of the National League, so they're a sub-.500 team. Nonetheless, if the Braves seriously think they're still in contention for the playoffs, they need to sweep this series.