>>The Diamondbacks and Brewers are neck and neck for the better record between them, the Brewers holding a one game lead. It looks like that will determine which of them gets the Phillies in the first round.
>
>Well, that depends on whether the Braves can hold on to the wildcard. After both they and the Cards lost last night (to the Phils and Astros, respectively), Braves have a 1-game lead with 2 to go. The good news for the Braves is that they won't face Halladay at all or Lee again. Oswalt starts tonight and he's looked pretty good his last few starts.
>
>> That's going to be a tough matchup for anyone. Halladay, Lee, Hamels. Repeat. You probably have to go through them anyway but you hate for it to be in the first round.
>
>Actually, Charlie's planning a 4-man rotation, including Oswalt, for the playoffs. With the new, compressed schedule, 3-man would be tough.
>

That's good news for whoever plays the Phillies. Nothing against Oswalt but he has been fighting injuries this season and hasn't been himself.

As you can imagine, there is some consternation here over the Cardinals' inability to capitalize on their opportunities. They had a really bad loss Thursday night (blew a lead of 6-1 in the 8th and 6-2 in the 9th) and then lost last night to the Astros. If you can't beat the worst team in baseball with a playoff spot on the line you won't get much sympathy from me.