Playoff picture begins to take shape

Marietta's streak finally came to an end at ten games after dropping the first game to Sardine City yesterday. Tom Glavine pitched a solid game to earn his 8th win of the season. Offensive heavyweights Juan Pierre and Josh Barfield each had three hits to break Sardine City's own little five-game losing streak. Marietta has put some distance between themselves and the rest of the wild card pack - Marietta now stands five games ahead of fourth-place D.C.

While the top half of the playoff order seems pretty much set, the bottom half looks to be a little more contestable. D.C. won two games to hold onto the fourth spot yesterday. Against New Jersey, the Bushslappers slapped out 20 hits in 14 innings, including a 4-run 14th to win 11-7 against the Buddahs. The Slappers also scratched out a 3-2 win over the Falcons after trailing most of the game.

Hillsborough is holding on at number five after splitting yesterday's games. J.D. Drew went 3-4 with 5 RBIs to lead Philly to a 9-3 victory over the Hitmen, but Hillsborough overcame the loss with a 7-3 beating of Honolulu. Carlos Delgado drove in four and C.C. Sabathia won his 10th.

Vancouver split two close games yesterday to remain in sixth. The Fist dropped the first game, 5-4, to South Boston, after the Gang scored runs in each of the last three innings to win the game. But in a nailbiter later in the day, Vancouver edged the Mudcats in ten innings, 9-8, thanks to a huge day from David Ortiz (4-6, 6 RBIs, 3 HR).

The last two teams fighting it out are Honolulu and Hoboken. Honolulu beat Hoboken early in the day yesterday, only to lose to Hillsborough later. Hoboken went on to drop their second game to Marietta. As it stands now, Honolulu is one game out of the last playoff spot and Hoboken is 1 1/2 behind Honolulu. Carolina and Arkansas are still somewhat alive, but need to get on the ball quickly.

Tuesday is roster expansion day as all teams rosters can expand to the full 30 player limit. While some teams have a slew of inelligibles, others will benefit from an increased bench and/or bullpen. We'll take a look at some of the callups on Wednesday.