The National League Isn't Good

It's Wednesday August 31st and there are still nine teams within five games of the National League Wild Card lead. Only three of those teams are above .500, one of whom, the San Diego Padres, are the new nominal leader for the playoff spot. The Padres are a half-game up on the Phillies and Reds after last night's play and they are rumored to be the leader in the hunt for David Wells as the Red Sox cut bait on their oversized lefty. He'd join Chris Young in the rotation although he couldn't do much to improve on Young's performance Tuesday night. The righty allowed three hits over seven innings and Mike Piazza homered in the Friars 8-3 win over Arizona that put them back in the postseason for the first time since surrendering the West division lead to the Dodgers.

Those Dodgers enabled the Padre move into the Wild Card lead with a 16-inning 6-5 win against Cincinnati. Ramon Martinez connected with the game-winning homer in the bottom of the 16th to send the Reds tumbling from the Wild Card lead for the first time since June 13. Derek Lowe pitched the last three innings for L.A. in his first relief appearance of the season while Ryan Franklin gave up Martinez's home run for the loss.

• The Marlins and Phillies are nipping right at the above heels. Both of the Eastern afterthoughts won on Tuesday. The Marlins took their ninth straight game, clubbing the Cardinals 9-1, and did it without their manager Joe Girardi, something they may need some getting used to. Girardi remained in Florida with his pregnant wife with Tropical Storm Ernesto approaching the state. Scott Olsen threw eight strong innings, Dan Uggla homered and drove in four runs and Wes Helms drove in three more. That's three people who have never been in your kitchen.
• Ryan Howard tied Mike Schmidt for the Phillie single-season home run record with his 48th in Philadelphia's 10-6 win over the Nationals. His 125 RBI (three last night) are still a good bit behind the 170 Chuck Klein netted back in 1930 but there's still a month to go. It would have to be one helluva month but there's still a shot. Keep those fingers crossed, Klein fans, I think the record is going down!