N.L. Wild Card Preview: Braves' Streak Meets Cardinals' Stubbornness Noteworthy streaks have a funny way of ending in October, as St. Louis Cardinals fans with long memories could tell you. In Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series, the switch-hitting Ozzie Smith came to bat in the ninth inning of a tied game against the right-hander Tom Niedenfuer of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A graphic on the NBC broadcast told viewers that Smith had never hit a home run batting left-handed. Moments later, he did just that. So it should be no surprise if the baseball gods plan a similar fate for the remarkable winning streak of Atlanta Braves' Kris Medlen, who starts the wild card game against the Cardinals on Friday. The Braves have won each of Medlen's last 23 starts, a major league record, and the right-hander is 9-0 with an 0.97 earned run average as a starter this season. "The personal statistics, yeah, I'm a little blown away, because it's never happened to me like that before," Medlen said last month. It's definitely crazy to think about. But the team stuff, we all go out and expect to win, and things just happen that way. Logic says the streak will end sometime, and the Cardinals, who rode a late-season surge to a wild card berth and a World Series victory last fall, might be the team to do it. They won 12 of their last 16 games in the regular season, and their starter, Kyle Lohse, is also not used to losing. Lohse went 16-3 with a 2.86 E.R.A. this season and is familiar with pitching on a singular stage. On opening night, with no other games on the major league schedule, Lohse stymied the Miami Marlins on national television, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He has lost only once since June 15 and will try to make an impression that lasts into free agency this off-season. But the Braves handled Lohse in their only game against him this year, spanking him for five runs and nine hits in five innings on May 30. If they get a lead early, the Braves will be very tough to beat. The veteran Tim Hudson (16-7, 3.62) will be ready if Medlen falters, and Atlanta has a stingy bullpen that includes closer Craig Kimbrel, who struck out 16.7 batters per nine innings this season, the highest rate in major league history for pitchers with at least 50 innings. The Braves finished nearly as strong as the Cardinals, going 13-5 down the stretch, and they have played with a purpose all season, knowing that this is the final year of Chipper Jones' Cooperstown-worthy career. "People who know baseball know what Chipper Jones means," said the Braves' Freddie Freeman, among those who expect to see swirling emotions in the stands at Turner Field all game long.