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The Philadelphia Phillies have made another late-season surge in order to pass the Atlanta Braves in the National League East standings, stretching their own lead to three games.

The Phillies are preparing for another deep playoff run, but first they need to fend off the Braves for the division crown. It’s a big series as Atlanta comes to Citizens Bank Park for three games, hoping to cut into the lead and in a best case scenario make it all even once more.

Via the NY Post:

Joe Torre and Don Mattingly will attend the unveiling of George Steinbrenner’s monument in Monument Park, according to multiple people with knowledge of the names who will be on hand at Yankee Stadium.

With just a few weeks left in the 2010 baseball season, teams will begin to rest players down the stretch, unless their division won't be decided until the last few days.

For those that have their division well in hand, days off will help their most productive players get ready for another month of baseball.

It won't be a easy stretch and not having those players could be detrimental to any World Series chances.

Here are 10 players that need to be healthy for their teams to make a legitimate October run.

The baseball season is a lengthy one, and can often be a roller coaster ride for players, coaches, and fan bases alike.

Things can go from good to bad, and bad to worse in the blink of an eye, and there have been a number of huge collapses through the years leading up to the pennant race.

However, for the following 10 teams, their collapses took things to an epic level, as they all but had a playoff appearance in the bag before, for one reason or another, the wheels fell off and the teams spent their October watching from home.

via the NY Daily News:

The Yankees dropped the series finale against the Orioles yesterday, but still were able to take two of three and win the series. Today they start a much bigger series against the Rays, which could determine who wins the AL East.

Here are some notes:

In sports, the ability to win on enemy turf often distinguishes the contenders from the pretenders.

That’s proven to be true during the 2010 MLB season, particularly in regards to the marathon-style NL East race.

The Phillies, who begun the season just 22-30 away from home, have now won 17 of their last 20 on the road. The 2010 season will mark the seventh straight season in which the Phillies have had a winning record when needing room service. Simply remarkable.

If they're not playing for all the marbles the next few days at Citizens Bank Park, they're playing for a lot of them.

The host Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves, owners of the best two records in the National League, open a three-game series tonight with the Phillies leading the Braves by three games.

The Philadelphia Phillies outfield has one major question mark surrounding it heading into 2011;  two, if you are concerned with the age of Raul Ibanez.

Of course, the major question surrounds Jayson Werth and if he re-signs with the Phillies. Of course, when you have a talent like Domonic Brown waiting in the wings, the concerns are minimized.  He’s gotten a taste of Major League action in 2010 (.214 in 56 AB), but he spent the majority of time in Double & Triple-A, posting the following line:

In most years, the Pittsburgh Pirates would be fortunate to have one breakthrough pitcher. This year, they may have found two. And neither of them were Pirates at the beginning of the year.

Neither James McDonald nor Brian Burres were highly regarded by their former teams. McDonald was traded to Pittsburgh with an outfield prospect (Andrew Lambo) for all of reliever Octavio Dotel in July.