NL East Series Preview 7-9-09 thru 7-12-09 ATL,WAS,FLA edition
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| The Florida Marlins(44-42, 2nd in NL East 2GB) really need All-Star shortstop and slugger Hanley Ramirez to get healthy quick. They did take the final game of a three game set in San Francisco, but their offense is much different with him out of the lineup. The Marlins are still only two games back of the Phillies for first place, but they will need to find ways to win without Hanley to keep pace. They head to Arizona this weekend in hopes of getting closer to first place.
The Arizona Diamondbacks(36-49, 4th in NL West 17.5GB) are hot right now, winners of five straight games, including a sweep of the Padres this week. They will look to stay hot, but are currently thirteen games under .500 and 10.5 games back of even the wild card in the National League. At this point, you need to wonder if they are already out of it? The probable pitchers are shown below: |
| Thursday @ 9:40PM EST - Miller,FLA(3-4,4.42 ERA) vs. Petit,ARI(0-3,8.46 ERA) |
| Friday @ 9:40PM EST - Nolasco,FLA(6-6,5.42 ERA) vs. Haren,ARI(8-5,2.16 ERA) |
| Saturday @ 8:10PM EST - West,FLA(3-3,4.47 ERA) vs. Garland,ARI(4-8,4.80 ERA) |
| Sunday @ 4:10PM EST - Johnson,FLA(7-2,2.82 ERA) vs. Davis,ARI(4-8,3.13 ERA) |
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| The Braves(41-43, third in NL East 4GB) were able to rebound from a letdown weekend in Washington where they lost two out of three games after pulling within two of first place. They won the final two games in Chicago against the Cubs to put them alone in third place for the time being and only be four games back of Philly and two under .500 for the season. They will hope to rely on their starting pitching and solid bullpen this weekend in the hitters park that is Coors Field. Check out The Braves Baseball Blog for more information on the Bravos.
Colorado(45-39, third in NL West 8GB) improved to six games above .500 and continued their hot play since the manager change this week. They were able to sweep the Washington Nationals using different game plans this week. One game was won via great pitching, another via bad defense for the Nats and one with clutch hitting. They hope to march toward the wildcard lead this weekend against the Braves. The probable pitchers are shown below: |
| Thursday @ 8:40PM EST - Hanson,ATL(4-0,2.25 ERA) vs. Cook,COL(8-3,3.76 ERA) |
| Friday @ 8:40PM EST - Lowe,ATL(7-7,4.56 ERA) vs. Jimenez,COL(6-8,3.86 ERA) |
| Saturday@8:10PM EST-Jurrjens,ATL(6-7,2.91 ERA) vs. Marquis,COL(11-5,3.61 ERA) |
| Sunday @ EST - Vazquez,ATL(6-7,2.95 ERA) vs. Hammel,COL(5-4,4.07 ERA) |
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| The Washington Nationals(24-58, 5th in NL East 20GB) continue to give their fans little bits of hope and then dash them away a few days later. Over the weekend, they cooled off the Atlanta Braves by taking two out of three games and had some high hopes going to Colorado. Once they got to Colorado, the Rockies swept them right out of town, and the Nats defense was also on display, but not in a good way. They hope that a matchup with the Houston Astros will heal some of their wounds. Check out CenterfieldGate for more information during the series between the teams.The Astros(41-42, 5th in NL Central 3.5GB) are 6-4 in their last ten and currently sit only 3.5 games back in the competitive National League Central. They are fresh off a series in against Pittsburgh and have won three out of four games.
This series features the completion of a suspended game from May prior to the game Thursday. That game was suspended in the 12th inning in Washington and since Houston would not be returning to Washington, they will play it in Houston, with the Nationals being the home team until that finishes. Probable pitching matchups are listed below: |
| Thursday @ 8:05PM EST - Lannan,WAS(6-5,3.45 ERA) vs. Ortiz,HOU(3-4,4.11 ERA) |
| Friday @ 8:05PM EST - Olsen,WAS(2-4,6.04 ERA) vs. Oswalt,HOU(5-4,3.81 ERA) |
| Saturday @ 7:05PM EST - Stammen,WAS(1-4,4.88 ERA) vs. Hampton,HOU(5-5,4.16 ERA) |
| Sunday @ 2:05PM EST- Zimmermann,WAS(3-3,4.52 ERA) vs. Moehler,HOU(5-5,5.52 ERA) |
A full NL East Series Preview with Mets and Phillies will publish tomorrow. Since a few teams are playing series starting Thursday night though, this needs to be published. Enjoy!
6-5, 3.45. Good for Long Island Lannan!