The View From Here: Nationals, Cardinals walk off

Welcome to our newest daily segment here on ATL All Day, in which we make your tracking of the crazy playoff hunt the Braves have found themselves in a bit easier. Each morning, we will run a recap from the night before of all the teams the Braves are chasing – be it the division title or a Wild Card spot – to help you better understand where exactly the Braves stand. So, without further adieu, let’s run down last night’s shortened schedule.

Washington Nationals 5 – Arizona Diamondbacks 4 F/11
The Nats blew a lead in the top of the ninth inning, and the DBacks stranded runners in scoring position in both the 10th and 11th innings (the 11th inning saw Craig Stammen load the bases with no one out, and ‘Zona still couldn’t push a run across), but former Brave Adam LaRoche bailed Tyler Clippard out by going way yard in the bottom of the 11th. Also, the Nats are on a seven game winning streak and seem completely indestructible right now.

St. Louis Cardinals 6 – Cincinnati Reds 5 F/10
Another game that went into extra innings after another blown save from the home team and another squandered bases loaded opportunity in the top half of an extra inning. Jhonny Peralta provided the deep bloop to score Matt Holliday.

So, of the teams we care about, the Braves were the only team to not go to extra innings, although it seemed like it was certainly a possibility there for a while. So, after everything from last night, here are the standings;

NL East              GB
Washington 70-53 —
Atlanta          65-60 6.0

Wild Card
St. Louis       66-57 +1.0
San Fran.     65-58  —

Atlanta         65-60   1.0

The San Francisco Giants will begin a series with the Chicago Cubs today, while everyone from last night continues their series. Stay tuned.