Braves sweep 3 from the Marlins
The Good: Rafael Furcal remains hot as the season winds down. He was 5-for-11 with his league-leading 45th stolen base in the series. … Chipper Jones went 4-for-10 in the series while scoring 3 and driving in 1 on his 20th homer of the season. He has now smacked at least 20 home runs the last 11 seasons. 
… Adam LaRoche continues to see the ball well. He registered 4 hits in 10 official series at-bats. … Brian McCann was 5-for-8 in the series, including a clutch single to complete a 4-run comeback Friday night. He appears to be coming around at the right time. … Kyle Farnsworth pitched 3 scoreless innings and now has 10 saves in as many opportunities with the Braves. … On Saturday John Thomson enjoyed his finest outing since returning from the disabled list. He surrendered just 1 run and 4 hits in 7 innings pitched. He walked and struck out 4 in earning his 1st win since May 5th! 
… The Braves’ magic number stands at 2. 
The Bad: Andruw Jones had only 2 hits in 11 at-bats in the series, dragging his average down to .265. That extinguishes his chances at winning the MVP for all intents and purposes. 
The Ugly: John Smoltz’s sore shoulder is still not close to 100%. As his shoulder goes, so go the Braves’ playoff hopes in all likelihood. 
They are shutting him down for the rest of the year in the hopes he’ll be recuperated in time for the first game of the National League Division Series. Smoltz didn’t fool many Friday when he gave up 8 hits, 2 walks and 3 earned runs in 6 innings of work. He did strike out 6, an encouraging sign.
