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Braves and Phillies battle for playoff lives

Sep 4, 2007 - 1:36 PM Philadelphia (72-65) at Atlanta (70-68) 7:35 pm EDT

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies continue to jockey for position in the National League East on Tuesday when they play the second game of a three-game series.

Atlanta snapped a three-game skid in Monday's opener and remains 7 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets (76-60). Meanwhile, Philadelphia (72-65) has dropped three straight to fall five games behind New York.

Lance Cormier threw six effective innings and Brian McCann hit a go-ahead two-run double in the fourth to give the Braves a 5-1 win Monday. The Phillies trail the Arizona Diamondbacks (76-63) by three games in the wild card race, while the Braves are five games back.

Buddy Carlyle (8-5, 5.02 ERA) takes the hill looking to end his woes against Philadelphia. Carlyle is 0-2 with a 8.64 ERA in two starts against the Phillies this season.

The righthander allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings of a 5-3 loss on August 12. On Wednesday, the 30-year-old journeyman allowed three runs and four hits in five innings of a 7-4 win over Florida.

Kyle Lohse (7-12, 4.54) gets the ball for the Phillies, who are 1-3 on their six-game road trip.

Lohse will be looking to give Philadelphia a much-needed solid outing. Phillies' starters have allowed 24 runs in the last three games after allowing just 20 during their six-game winning streak.

Lohse was staked to a 5-0 lead against New York on Thursday but allowed three runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings and received a no-decision in an 11-10 win.