Braves-Astros Preview

After 11 straight playoff appearances, the Atlanta Braves will miss the postseason for the second year in a row.

One day after being eliminated from postseason contention, the Braves open a season-ending series at Houston on Friday.

Atlanta (83-76) lost 6-4 at Philadelphia on Thursday to see their slim playoff hopes finally end. The Braves will try to avoid a third straight loss after winning eight of nine.

The Braves, though, will finish with a winning record after going 79-83 last season and missing the playoffs for the first time since 1994.

"Everybody here can improve on their year and I'm looking forward to it," Thursday's losing pitcher John Smoltz said.

Chipper Jones, Mark Teixeira and Jeff Francoeur each homered Thursday for the Braves, whose rally from a 6-0 deficit fell short.

Jones went 1-for-4 for the third consecutive game and is hitting .339 to remain in the mix for the NL batting title with Colorado's Matt Holliday.

Jones, who has homered in three of his last five games, has struggled against the Astros this season, going 2-for-11 (.182) in three games.

Rookie Jo-Jo Reyes (1-2, 6.75 ERA) will look for his second straight winning decision for the Braves. He allowed four runs and four hits in 5 1-3 innings, but didn't factor in a 7-4 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday.

The left-hander will make his second start against Houston. He allowed four earned runs in three innings of the Braves' 12-11, 14-inning loss to the Astros on Aug. 2.

Houston (71-88) will try for its fourth straight victory after a 4-3 win at Cincinnati on Thursday to sweep the three-game set from the Reds. It was the team's first three-game road sweep since accomplishing the feat at Pittsburgh from Sept. 26-28, 2006.

Carlos Lee had a tie-breaking, RBI single in the ninth inning to give him a career-high 117.

"It feels good to go out and have the satisfaction that you did the job -- that you did everything you could," Lee said. "You'd rather be in another situation, like a celebration for clinching the playoffs, but things don't always work out the way you want."

Despite the team's struggles, Lee has had a solid first season in Houston, hitting .303 with 32 homers. He is batting .471 (8-for-17) with two homers in his last four contests.

Matt Albers (4-10, 5.88) will start Friday for Houston in place of ace Roy Oswalt, who was shut down for the season because of soreness in his left side.

Albers will try to avoid his fifth straight loss after allowing two runs and 11 hits in six innings of a 7-4 defeat at St. Louis on Saturday.

Houston dropped two of three at Atlanta from July 31-Aug. 2.