ONCE AGAIN, BRAVES SECOND-RATE

WELL, honestly, what do you expect me to say? I wrote in this same space 2 weeks ago that the Atlanta Braves had absolutely no chance of catching the Phillies in the National League East race.

Some of you, and you know who you are, chastised me for putting the cart before the horse.

You said that I was taking things for granted, jinxing the Phillies or ticking off the baseball gods.

And of course, you pulled out the everlasting Phillies nightmare of 1964 to support your claims that "it ain't over until it's over."

I am not asking for an apology.

I find your lack of faith disturbing, but I forgive you.

So many other Philadelphia sports collapses have programmed you to think rain, even when the forecast is sunny.

The sunshine was brilliant last night as the Phillies polished off the visiting Braves, 9-0, under occasional rain showers.

Two weeks ago when I wrote off the Braves, they were trailing the Phillies by 6 1/2 games with 33 games left, including six head-to-head matchups.

This morning the Braves (82-58) find themselves 8 1/2 games behind with 22 remaining.

OOOooooo, ah, OOoooo!!!

OK, I've had my fun.

I want to emphasize, however, that my previous column on this subject was not a shot-in-the-dark statement so I could say "I told you so" later on.

Yeah, I know that's what I just did.

The conclusion I reached was based on rational and logical processing of the facts.

The Phillies' starting pitching rotation was simply too dominant to allow Atlanta to overcome the deficit it faced on Aug. 23.

As a unit, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Vance Worley are too good to allow the Phillies to go into any kind of prolonged slump.

Last night was another example of that.

The Phillies were coming off consecutive losses at the Florida Marlins and the fact that they had won only six of their previous 10 was supposedly an indication that concerns should be raised.

So Lee goes to the mound in a game that had infinitely more importance for the Braves than the Phillies.

Tell me if this doesn't sound familiar. The Phillies get Lee an early lead with two runs in the first inning and - armed with that insurmountable deficit - he makes sushi out of the Atlanta lineup.

Lee held the Braves to five hits, struck out six and needed just 100 pitches to record his major league-leading sixth shutout.

It was Lee's sixth straight victory and the fifth time in his last six starts that he has not yielded a run.

Again, it could have just as easily have been Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt or Worley instead of Lee.

This rotation is that good.

The last time we saw the Braves in South Philadelphia, the Phillies shellacked them 14-1 in the rubber match of a three-game series just before the All-Star break.

Atlanta had missed a chance to cut the Phillies lead to 1 1/2 games.

When asked if his team had missed an opportunity to have a "statement game" about its intentions to be around for the rest of the summer, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said, "That's the first time I've ever heard that phrase."

For the record, a "statement game" is what the Phillies did by tattooing the Braves again last night.

The statement was, "Son, y'all gonna have to do better than that."

The Braves know the NL East is a lost cause. They've already conceded that.

But this series means something to them.

"We've resigned ourselves to the fact that we just want to go in and win the series," third baseman Chipper Jones said, coming into Philadelphia. "We want to play well against them. We want to sweep them. The more pressure we put on them, the better."

That's not going to happen, now. Tonight's goal will be to avoid falling into a position where they can get swept. They have to do that against Worley (10-1, 2.85 ERA). The Phillies have only won his last 13 starts.

All of this said, I am not dismissing Atlanta as a legitimate threat to the Phillies should they meet in the NLCS.

Jones was correct when he predicted that a potential Phillies-Braves matchup would be a "knock-down, drag-out."

In the NLCS, assuming they both get there, everything that happened in the regular season will be erased.

In a best-of-seven series, the Braves' starting rotation and excellent bullpen could balance against the Phillies' starters.

But in the meantime, Phillies fans, enjoy your fifth straight division championship.

Save whatever concerns you have for October, when things will get serious again.