The fat lady woke from her nap Wednesday night in Houston. On Thursday night in Atlanta, she gargled a bit. Saturday night, she started doing her vocal scales. The volume intensified on Sunday afternoon, and she is now ready for her aria.

In other words, the Brewers' playoff hopes are on life support.

A 7-4 loss Sunday at Turner Field capped a disappointing weekend in Atlanta for the Brewers.

Even more disappointing was the fact that the Cubs steamrolled Pittsburgh again, 8-0. When the Brewers-Braves score became final, 42,000 people at Wrigley Field began doing the "Tomahawk Chop" as a way of saying "thank you" to the Braves.

The Brewers trail the Cubs by 3 ½ games in the National League Central. Milwaukee has seven games left. Chicago has six. The Brewers' tragic number is 4, which means any combination of four victories by the Cubs or losses by the Brewers will give Chicago the title.

Actually, a case could be made that the Brewers' tragic number this year was "7." Sunday marked another example when the team puked away a lead in the seventh inning this season. This time, some shaky umpire calls played a major part, but again it boiled down to the pitching staff's inability to record outs when needed.

If you want to be optimistic, the Brewers' "magic" number for clinching the division is 11. That pretty much means if the Brewers go 7-0, a tall order against St. Louis and San Diego, the Cubs need to go 2-4 at Florida and Cincinnati.

It's over, folks.

A week from now, sports fans in Wisconsin can turn full attention to the unbeaten Packers and Badgers and their postseason aspirations. The Brewers will begin looking toward a happier ending in 2008.