NL East Daily Recap from 7-16-09

Raul Ibanez gives all the offense Philly needed

The Phillies started off the second half the same way they ended the first half: winning.  The Phillies rode Jamie Moyer(9-6) through seven innings on their way to a 1-hit shutout of the second place Marlins by a 4-0 score.  Moyer is now 13-2 overall against the Marlins in his career after this gem completed by Madson and Romero each pitching a hitless inning.  The Phillies got three home runs for their four runs, including a two run shot and a solo shot from Raul Ibanez in the second and fourth innings.  Ryan Howard capped the scoring with his 200th career home run in the sixth inning.  Read more about the Phillies and Howard’s historic home run over at Phillies Phandom.

Marlins starter Chris Volstad actually pitched pretty well in the game, but unfortunately leaving some pitches up.  Volstad(6-9) actually went six strong innings while only giving up seven hits, the problem was that four of them were for home runs.  Without any offense behind him, it was tough to get a win.  Read more about the game from a Marlins perspective at Fish Guts.

Chipper hurts the Mets again

What did every Met fan think was going to happen when Chipper Jones stepped to the plate with runners on first and third in the seventh inning on Thursday?  If you said, “Get a hit”, you were correct.  Chipper singled to drive in the eventual winning run for the Braves on Thursday in a 5-3 win, while keeping the Braves six games back of the first place Phillies.  The Braves added an insurance run in the eighth on a rare Greg Norton hit to score pinch runner and former Met Ryan Church.  Back to back home runs by Yunel Escobar and Garret Anderson in the second put the Braves up early before falling behind later in the game.  Manny Acosta(1-0) got the win in relief for the Braves and Rafael Soriano worked the ninth inning for his thirteenth save.  Braves Baseball blog is your place for more Braves info.

The Mets sent Oliver Perez to the hill in only his second start back from the DL and off a walk-tastic win in NY last week.  He wasn’t great, but was better than last week, going six innings and three runs on five hits while leaving with a no decision.  He was helped out in the fourth inning as the Mets got three runs off Braves starter Derek Lowe while they had been down 2-0.  Pedro Feliciano(2-3) took the loss in relief as the fourth Braves run was charged to him in the seventh inning.  Check out The Real Dirty Mets blog for more Mets information and news.

Derek Lee hits a long ball

The Nationals didn’t start the second half with a new manager and a few new players the way they intended to.  The Nationals and Jim Riggleman lost to the Cubs by a 6-2 score at home on Thursday night.  Derek Lee stayed hot with a home run in the sixth inning which gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead at the time and they never looked back, and they put up three runs in the ninth as insurance.  Rich Harden(6-6) went six innings only allowing three hits and a run while striking out seven in getting the victory for the Cubbies, and three relievers closed out the game for them.

John Lannan(6-7) pitched into the seventh inning for the Nats while only giving up two earned runs and three overall, but the Nationals couldn’t fight back and the relief pitching dug a bigger hole.   The only offense came on a Nick Johnson RBI groundout in the sixth inning at the time cutting the lead to 2-1 and a solo home run in the ninth for Ryan Zimmerman but the game was out of reach at the time.  Check out Centerfieldgate for more Nationals insight.