Marlins Feel Good About Position

The Florida Marlins got what they wanted in Atlanta. Now they head home for the rest of the regular season, confident they’ll win the National League wild card.

Derrek Lee homered and had four runs batted in as Florida beat the Braves, 6-3, Monday night to extend its wild-card lead to one game over Philadelphia.

The Marlins play host to the Phillies for three games starting today in a series that could determine if Florida makes the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 1997.

“This is the position we wanted to be in,” said Juan Pierre, who sparked Florida with a pair of bunt singles. “We’re one game up and we control our own destiny.”

The Marlins split a four-game series with Atlanta, which already clinched the NL East. After the Phillies, they’ll close the season at home with three games against the last-place New York Mets.

The finale in Atlanta was played on a damp, dreary night before an announced crowd of 17,345 -- the smallest in Turner Field history. The actual turnout appeared to be fewer than 10,000.

Atlanta’s Gary Sheffield hit a three-run homer, his 38th of the season, and has 127 runs batted in, tying the Atlanta record set by Hank Aaron in 1966.

San Francisco 6, Houston 3 -- Pinch-hitter Pedro Feliz and Ray Durham hit consecutive homers in the ninth off Billy Wagner (1-4) at Houston and the Astros lost their third game in a row to drop into a tie for the NL Central lead with Chicago.

The NL West champion Giants (96-59) boosted their record at Minute Maid Park to 12-1 and moved one percentage point ahead of Atlanta (97-60) for the best record in the league.

Marquis Grissom and Andres Galarraga also homered for the Giants. Barry Bonds went 0 for 4 to end his streak of reaching base in 58 consecutive games.