Georgia sports for Friday, September 14th

Storms played havoc yesterday with the 1st round of The Tour Championship golf tournament from Atlanta’s East Lake course. Only 10 golfers were able to finish their 1st round of action, as play was delayed for 3 hours. Tim Clark tied the course record with an 8-under-par ‘62’ for the early lead. Tiger Woods still has 7 holes to go on his 1st round, 4 off the top.

The Braves open a series against the Nationals in Washington DC tonight. Chuck James gets the starting pitching call. The Braves are down to 16 games remaining on their schedule--the playoffs appear to be out of reach for a 2nd straight season.

Georgia sports for Thursday, September 13th

The Braves dropped another game they couldn't afford to lose in order to keep their faint playoff hopes alive, as the Mets won last night 4-3. The Braves lost 2-of-3 in their series at New York.

Down 3-1 in the 8th inning with 2 outs, Jeff Francouer delivered a 2-RBI single to tie the game. But the Mets regained the lead in their half of the 8th, as Shawn Green came up with the tiebreaking RBI-single. It wasted another solid starting pitching effort from John Smoltz.

With the loss, the Braves' record fell to 74-72. Including last night's defeat, the Braves since July 17th are only 8-19 in 1 or 2 run games. In the bigger picture, with only 16 games remaining in the season, it appears Atlanta will miss the postseason for a 2nd straight year. They are 9-and-a-half games behind the Mets for the top spot in the NL-East. The Braves trail the wild card leader by 5 games.

Veteran 3rd baseman Chipper Jones missed all 3 games of the Mets' series, but says he expects to return to action tomorrow night in Washington D-C. He's been battling a sore oblique muscle in his right side.

The stars of professional golf are back in Georgia this week, as the Tour Championship tees-off from Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club this morning. The PGA's top 30 golfers are vying for this weekend's title, as well as the inaugural FedEx Cup. Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, and Phil Mickelson are top in the standings heading into action.