"With three more strikeouts, Braves closer Billy Wagner will pass Jesse Orosco for the most strikeouts in a career by a left-handed reliever.

Orosco has 1,169 strikeouts as a reliever (he had 10 strikeouts as a starter); Wagner was sitting on 1,167 entering Thursday's game against the Nationals.

"It's just time," said Wagner, shrugging off the milestone. "Pitching that long you're going to get near something."

But pitching long is an accomplishment in itself. And at age 38, in what Wagner says is his last season, he has already surpassed 400 saves for his career, only the fifth reliever ever to do that. He needs 10 saves to catch John Franco for the most saves by a left-hander at 424.

But the one thing on his mind at the moment, Wagner said, is a World Series championship. Wagner has never won one in 15 seasons in the majors."