Momentum Favors Braves

If regular-season momentum carries over to the playoffs, the Atlanta Braves are going to be hard to defeat.

In their largest shutout victory in 114 years, the Braves pounded out 21 hits and Tom Glavine threw five scoreless innings in his postseason tuneup Sunday to close out the regular season with an 18-0 rout of the Florida Marlins at Atlanta.

Atlanta, winning 11 of its last 13 games en route to a record eighth consecutive playoff berth, finished the regular season with the best record in the majors (103-59). The Marlins wound up with the worst mark in the NL at 64-98.

“I think it’s good to end on a good note. I’d rather end it like today--getting a lot of runs and throwing a shutout--rather than getting blown out and going through the motions,” Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said.

The Braves open the postseason at Turner Field. Greg Maddux will start in the opener followed by Kevin Millwood. Glavine will start Game 3 on the road.

Arizona 10, San Diego 3--Brian Anderson pitched five shutout innings at Phoenix as the Diamondbacks won their 100th game, completing the biggest one-year turnaround in baseball history.

The NL West-champion Diamondbacks, the first team to reach the playoffs in only its second year, went from 65-97 in 1998 to 100-62 this year. The 35-game turnaround beats the previous best of 34 1/2 games, set by the 1903 New York Giants, who went from 48-88 in 1902 to 84-55 the following year.

Also, Manager Buck Showalter announced that Randy Johnson, Todd Stottlemyre and Omar Daal with start the first three games of the playoffs.

Philadelphia 6, Montreal 5--Alex Arias hit a two-run bloop single in the eighth off Ugueth Urbina to give the Phillies a comeback victory at Philadelphia.

Expo starter Dustin Hermanson was replaced after seven innings with a 5-2 lead, retiring the last nine batters before the bullpen blew it. The Phillies avoided a season-ending sweep, but finished with their 12th losing season in 13 years.

Colorado 9, San Francisco 8--The Rockies gave Jim Leyland a nice going-away present at Denver--a two-run rally in the ninth inning for a victory in Leyland’s final game as manager.

A disappointing season for the retiring Leyland ended on a positive note when Edgard Clemente hit a sacrifice fly with one out. The Rockies avoided a three-game sweep at Coors Field and finished 72-90 in their only season under Leyland.