NL East Daily Recap from 7-18-09

Rain, Rain Didn't go away!

The Marlins WERE leading the Phillies 2-0 going to the bottom of the second inning last night in South Florida.  The box scores will never show that now, as the game was postponed and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader in September.  They will hope to finish up what is now a three game set this afternoon in Florida with both teams needing to reshuffle pitching staffs because of the short outtings for starters.  Check out Phillies Phandom and Fish Guts for more info about both teams.

Johan to the rescue

The Mets were in dire need of a win, and they sent ace Johan Santana to the mound yesterday afternoon in Atlanta.  Santana(11-7) delivered with seven shutout innings while allowing only five hits, a couple of walks and five strikeouts.  Through five innings it looked as though the Mets would waste another great start, but they finally broke through in the sixth.  A Bases loaded walk and a fielders choice gave them a 2-0 lead and they never looked back.  The team added three runs in the ninth inning on a Pagan triple, a squeeze play by Castillo and an RBI by Atlanta native Jeff Francoeur.  This was the first win the Mets had since the all-star break and since the game in Miami was rained out, they for once did not lose ground.  Check The Real Dirty Mets blog for more info on this game and all others.

The Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami(5-7) pitched well over 6.2 innings, but those two runs doomed him into the loss for the Braves.  Chipper Jones hit a solo home run in the eighth inning, and the Braves did load the bases, but the Mets were able to get out of the inning and there were no other threats. Go to The Braves Baseball Blog for more Braves content.

The four game set concludes on ESPN at 6pm tonight.

Zimmermann can't hold the lead

Last night in Washington Nationals took an early 4-0 lead over the Cubs, getting two runs in both the first and second innings.  The Nats couldn’t add on to that lead, and starter Jordan Zimmermann(3-5) couldn’t hold the Cubbies from coming back.  The Cubs got five runs in 5.1 innings against the young starter and the Nats only added one run late in the game.  Third basemen Ryan Zimmerman(no relation) hit a sac fly in the eighth to get them within one run, but no more and the Nats are now in danger of being swept today.  Check out Centerfieldgate for more information about the Nationals.

The Cubs starter Randy Wells(5-4) got through five innings and gutted it out after a bad start to get the win.  A Ryan Theriot triple scored two and former National Alfonso Soriano hit a three run homer in the sixth to give the Cubs the lead for good.  Kevin Gregg got a five out save for his 18th of the year.