NL East Daily Recap from 6-30-09

Prado drives in the winner

Martin Prado had a huge night in Atlanta on Thursday night, going 4-5 with four of Atlanta’s five runs batted in and a run scored of his own including a home run in the fifth.  Prado drove in Matt Diaz in the bottom of the tenth inning off Chan Ho Park(3-2) who took the loss in 0.2 innings pitched giving up three hits and a walk.  The win brought the Braves   within four games of first even though they are four games under .500.  Peter Moylan(2-2) got the win for the Braves with two thirds of an inning of perfect relief.  For more Braves news, go to The Braves Baseball Blog.

The Phillies got another mediocre pitching performance from one of their starters as Joe Blanton only lasted five innings while giving up three runs, including giving up the lead twice.  Philadelphia took the lead late in the game with back to back homers by John Mayberry and Pedro Feliz in the top of the eighth inning.  The lead was erased when Ryan Madson blew his fourth save of the year and this eventually led the game to extras.  For more Phillies news, please check out the new Phillies Phandom blog.

Game two of the series is tonight at 7:00PM with Cole Hamels going against Jair Jurrjens at Turner Field.

How many times is his picture gonna be here?

Is anyone else noticing a trend of Hanley Ramirez being pictured for the Marlins in the recaps? Ramirez has been on a tear and it did not end last night in Miami against the Washington Nationals.  Hanley Ramirez had two hits in four at bats with a run scored and four more RBI to get the Marlins to their second straight win and eighth straight against the Nationals, 7-5.   This was only a seven inning rain shortened game, but The Marlins took the lead in the sixth and added to their lead in the seventh off Joe Beimel(0-4) and four more Nationals errors.  Renyel Pinto(3-1) worked a perfect inning and picked up the win for the Marlins who are now only 1.5 games back of first place with the Philly loss.

Adam Dunn once again had a solid game for the Nationals while getting two hits, three RBI including a home run in the fifth inning off Marlins starter Sean West.  The two teams will face off in the finale of the series at 12:10PM in Miami this afternoon.  More Nats news at CenterfieldGate.

Its been that kind of year for the Mets

The little league New York Mets once again lost a very sloppy game, which was their fifth loss in a row.  Even ace Johan Santana(9-6) couldn’t help them on this night and was hurt by two errors (really three) en route to a 6-3 loss to the Brewers.  David Wright hit a two run home run in the first and that was all the offense the Mets received until the ninth inning of the game.  In the fourth inning, rookie Fernando Martinez managed to find and get stuck in a divet in center field while trying to track a routine fly ball.  Fast forward a few walks, errors and a double by Ryan Braun and the Brewers had all the runs they needed to win.  Mike Burns(1-1) in only his second major league start got the win while pitching into the seventh inning.  The two teams conclude this afternoon at 2:05PM with Pelfrey going against young Brewers ace Gallardo.  For more on the Mets, go to The Real Dirty Mets Blog.