NL East Daily Recap from 8-5-09

Happ with the complete game gem

Rookie J.A. Happ who had to deal with trade rumors last week and rumors this week of going to the bullpen or possibly being demoted when Pedro comes aboard had a lot on his mind last night.  You sure couldn’t tell with how he pitched though.  Happ(8-2) threw a complete game shutout only allowing four hits and two walks and struck out ten in cooling down the formerly hot Rockies.  He got plenty of run support with a trio of homeruns from the Phillies.   Pedro Feliz hit a solo shot, Rollins hit a two run shot and finally Jayson Werth capped the scoring in the fifth with a three run home run.  The final game is this afternoon, but check out Phillies Phandom for more information on the Phils.

After extending the win streak to five, the Rockies only got four hits and not one batter had more than one hit in being shut out 7-0.  Jorge De La Rosa(9-8) only lasted five innings but got charged with all seven runs on ten hits and only three strike outs.  It was De La Rosa’s first loss since June 16th as he had been on quite a roll.

Are Fish fans sick of this?

The Washington Nationals are on a roll, now winners of foru straight games for the second time in just over a week after beating the Marlins 5-4 last night in Washington.  Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn hit solo home runs in the first and the Nationals would never look back with Lannan on the mound.  John Lannan(8-8) went six innings while allowing eight hits and two runs to get another win.  Mike MacDougal worked the second straight game for his 10th save of the season, but this one was not as stressful.  Ronnie Belliard added a solo home run of his own in the fourth and Christian Guzman tripled and doubled both times scoring Nyjer Morgan to account for two RBI.  CenterfieldGate covers all of the Nationals news here at NLEC.
The Florida Marlins must be wondering what is going on as they have lost two straight to the bottom of the division Nationals after taking two of three from the Cubs and Braves last week.  Rick VandenHurk(1-1) only lasted four innings allowing five runs on seven hits and allowing three home runs in taking his first loss this season.  Dan Uggla also had a big game, with a solo shot and a two RBI single later in the game.  Hanley Ramirez provided the only other run on a double play groundout, but obviously, no RBI.  FishGuts will have more info on how the Marlins fans are feeling about this loss.

Chipper being Chipper

The Braves rebounded the last two days from a bad loss on Monday night against the last place Padres.  Yesterday, rookie Tommy Hanson had another impressive start Wednesday afternoon.  Hanson(6-2) went six innings with five hits and two runs and three walks while striking out five.  He was given runs early, by four RBI singles by Garrett Anderson, two by Nate McClouth and a two RBI  single by Brian McCann.  Martin Prado added a sacrifice fly as well as the Braves won 6-2. Check out The Braves Baseball Blog for more information about this win.

Chad Gaudin(4-10) lost his tenth game of this season and could not get through the fourth inning in this one.  Gaudin gave up nine hits and six runs with two walks in 3.1 innings and the Padres never had a chance.  The only runs they were allowed was on a Will Venable home run scoring two.

Gettin Figgy with it?

New York Mets fans have been through a lot this year, and in the second inning when starter Jonathon Niese went down with an injury, it didn’t help.  Luckily, at least for this game, Nelson Figueroa filled in and did great with the bat and the arm.  Figueroa(1-2) came on and pitched 4.1 scoreless innings of relief while only allowing four hits and striking out five while adding a two rbi triple and a walk at the plate.  The Mets won the game 9-0 behind David Wright going 3-4 with a two run home run and a four RBI day from Angel Pagan who had a two run home run a triple and a sacrifice fly.  Bobby Parnell earned his first major league save by pitching three innings while allowing just one run and striking out three.  Check out The Real Dirty Mets Blog for more information on the Mets and this win.

Kyle Lohse started for the Cardinals and was hit hard and hit early.  Lohse(4-7) went only 2.2 innings and allowed five runs and seven hits for the Cardinals before four relievers combined to give up the nine total runs.  Albert Pujols had two hits and along with Joe Thurston the only two Cardinals batters with more than one hit.