National League

Frederick W. "Fred" Brocklander III, a former National League umpire who called balls and strikes in the majors and minors for nearly 30 years, died of complications from a stroke Aug. 13 at a daughter's Severn home. He was 69. Born in Baltimore, the son of a city liquor board inspector and a homemaker, he was raised in Highlandtown. He was a 1958 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School, where he was an outstanding baseball and soccer player. He attended the University of Baltimore.

Think the Orioles are struggling? Things probably couldn't be going any worse for the Nationals, who entered Thursday's series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a seven-game losing streak and a major league-worst 11-28 record. While the offense, led by red-hot third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, has the third-best team batting average in the National League (.275 entering Thursday), their pitching staff and defense have been a disaster. The Nationals' staff took a major league-worst 5.84 ERA into Thursday, with much of the damage being done by the bullpen.

Cardinals@Nationals 7 p.m. [MASN] Heading into Thursday night's games, the Cardinals had the best record in the National League, and the Nationals had the worst. One would think that makes this a mismatch, but you know the old saying: They don't play games on paper; they play them on TV.

The Philadelphia Phillies are playing for the National League pennant even though in the opening playoff series, they really didn't do what they're supposed to do best - hit. They dispatched the Milwaukee Brewers in four games, scoring just under four runs a game, more than a full run below their season average. And their two most dangerous hitters, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, went a combined 4-for-26 with three RBIs. So, for starters, is it likely that Howard and Utley will stay this quiet?

As we learned in the first round, the Los Angeles Dodgers are no longer the team that appeared destined to miss the playoffs in August and scraped in with an 84-78 record. They're a versatile outfit with dangerous bats up and down the lineup and a stingy starter in every rotation slot. Their matchup with the Philadelphia Phillies is no easy call, but I'll take the team that's hitting and pitching better than at any point this season. Not only do the Dodgers boast a nuclear-hot Manny Ramirez in the three hole, they have their chief table-setter, Rafael Furcal, back at the top of the lineup.

It's hard to imagine this fall being better scripted for TV executives and Major League Baseball. Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Boston are all involved as baseball kicks off its postseason with three games today. New York teams failed to join the high-powered mix, but it was the Milwaukee Brewers, a pretty good story and baseball commissioner Bud Selig's hometown club, that ruined things for the Mets last weekend. So MLB can't be too upset with that. Besides, there are plenty of story lines worth following.

Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano has right rotator cuff tendinitis and inflammation, magnetic resonance imaging confirmed yesterday, a potential obstacle to Chicago's chances of winning the World Series for the first time in a century. Zambrano received a shot of anti-inflammatory medication and hopes to return to the rotation next week. General manager Jim Hendry said Zambrano hopes to start throwing again when the team begins a series in St. Louis on Wednesday. If all goes well, Zambrano would start at Houston in the next series.

WASHINGTON -- Interleague play is officially over for 2008, and this time the Orioles might actually miss it. Heading into this season, the Orioles had the worst interleague record in the American League at 79-114. Of all major league teams, only the Pittsburgh Pirates were worse. Despite yesterday's loss to the Washington Nationals, it has been a strong interleague ride for the Orioles in 2008. They won four of their six series this year - losing only to the Milwaukee Brewers and the Nationals - and their 11-7 mark ties their club record set in 1999.

The Orioles just completed a two-game sweep of the defending World Series champions, their latest attempt to prove that a rebuilding club doesn't have to hit rock bottom before bouncing back to its collective feet. Think that was tough? Now they'll try to take down the ghosts of their interleague past. Sort of makes the Boston Red Sox seem a lot less formidable. Since interleague play began in 1997, the Orioles have posted the worst record among American League teams at 79-114. "We haven't really had a good record in a lot of things the last 10 years," second baseman Brian Roberts said, "so I don't think it really matters who you're playing."

He's 36. He's brittle, pitching in just five games last season. And he has made 30 or more starts only three times in his past nine seasons. But when healthy, he can dominate, especially in a pitchers' park such as Shea Stadium. If Pedro is Pedro, the Mets will cruise into the National League playoffs as the favorites behind the 1-2 punch of newly acquired ace Johan Santana and Martinez. But if Pedro can't sustain his health, the Mets come back to the rest of the pack. Here's betting Pedro bounces back with 15 wins after combining for just 12 the past two years.