NL East

This is not the storybook ending to the Bobby Cox era that the Atlanta Braves had envisioned.

In fact, it is a nightmarish beginning to the end of the illustrious Braves manager’s 29-year career.

Cox, in his 25th season with the Braves and in the final year of his brilliant managerial career, just watched his club endure an 0-7 road trip, their worst since 1949.

His team has lost nine straight games to drop them to an embarrassing 8-14 on the season.

R.A. Dickey pitched a one-hit shutout for the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo. He gave up a hit to the first batter and then retired the next 27 in a row.

After the first batter, Dickey pitched a perfect game, and only needed 90 pitches to do it.

“I felt like I could throw another nine (innings) right now and have the same result,” Dickey said. “That’s a good feeling.”

In 2007, Jim Bowden made a mostly-unnoticed move to acquire Tyler Clippard from the Yankees for reliever Jonathan Albaladejo, in what may become the best trade in his time as general manager of the Washington Nationals.

John Maine was supposed to be a big part of the Mets rotation this season. General manager Omar Minaya said as much this offseason as he skipped out on signing any free agent starters and elected to stand pat with what he had. However, after Maine’s second start of the season it was abundantly clear that he might not be the pitcher they thought he was.

Continuing our 162-game journey, Fantasy Baseball Insiders Tonight got a close look at Nationals’ starter Luis Atilano on Wednesday.

" Who the heck is Luis Atilano," you ask? Let’s find out...

Game No. 19 —Washington Nationals vs. Chicago Cubs

Frank Wren is preaching patience…but is anyone listening?

The Atlanta Braves have missed the playoffs for four consecutive seasons. In his reign at the helm of the Braves, Wren is 0-3 for his efforts.

So, in effect, he’s batting .000 as general manager.

That number looks comparable to the number of wins the Braves have mustered in the past eight days…a bunch of zeroes.

While the Nationals are off to a hot start, some question their ability to maintain their current level of success. Offensively, however, the club only has one batter who is clearly over-achieving and who will likely see a sharp decline in the near future: Ivan Rodriguez.

Earlier this week, the Phillies gave first baseman Ryan Howard a contract extension through the year 2016.

This contract makes him the second highest-paid player in baseball and seems to ensure that he will be a member of the Philadelphia Phillies for the foreseeable future.

They locked up one of the franchise’s greatest players for years to come. This should be a good thing, right?

Not if you believe the statheads.

Coming into this season, Oliver Perez was one of the bigger question marks for the Mets' rotation, and after four starts he’s more of a question mark than ever.

The Mets continued their hot streak with a 7-3 win against the Dodgers today behind some early offense and a strong pitching performance by John Maine. They have now won seven games in a row, and have wrapped up this homestand by winning 9 out of 10 games. Not bad.

Be careful though, these Mets were clearly not as bad as they were early in the season, but they probably aren’t this good either.