Lidge blows #11

The Florida Marlins were looking to take two of three against the first place Phillies last night and pull closer in the wildcard and division, but were down headed to late innings.  They fought back late in the game with a Gaby Sanchez home run in the eighth, a Cody Ross RBI single in the eighth and finally a Jorge Cantu RBI single to tie it in the ninth.  That wasn’t the end of it though, as Brett Carroll singled home Hanley Ramirez with the winning run against struggling closer Brad Lidge in the bottom of the ninth to win 7-6.  Dan Meyer(3-1) got the win while working a scoreless inning in the ninth as the Marlins try to keep their playoff hopes alive, FishGuts has more.

Brad Lidge is a far cry from last year’s perfect season, now with his 11th blown save of the year.  Lidge only recorded two outs in the bottom of the ninth while allowing three hits and a walk while giving up two runs and his ERA is now 7.48 on the season.  The blown save took another win away from starter Cole Hamels and took the emphasis off a game in which both Raul Ibanez and Ryan Howard homered and Howard had a total of four RBI.  Phillies Phandom will cover Lidge’s struggle.

Cox with an extension and another win

On a night when it was announced that Bobby Cox would manage for another season, the Braves gave him another win.  Tim Hudson(2-1) went six innings allowing nine hits and two runs to continue a successful Tommy John comeback and the bottom of the order did the heavy lifting for the Braves.  Adam LaRoche went 3-5 with two RBI and Kelly Johnson went 1-3 with two RBI on way to the 5-2 win.  Rafael Soriano once again worked the ninth allowing just a walk to get his 26th save of the season, check out Braves Baseball Blog for more.

Mike Pelfrey absolutely can’t find the magic he had last year as he lost again.  Pelfrey(10-12) went six innings and allowed nine hits and four runs (although three earned) in taking another loss.  Luis Castillo singled home Pelfrey in the third and then Angel Pagan had an RBI on a fielders’ choice error in the fourth for their only runs.  The Real Dirty Mets Blog has more on the game and the Mets floundering season.

The Nats win one in walk off fashion

The Nationals took a game from the Dodgers last night, with a final score of 5-4 and in walk off fashion on Pete Orr’s sacrifice fly in the ninth.  Ryan Zimmerman had a big blow in the sixth as he hit a three run home run off Chad Billingsley to temporarily tie the game.  The Nats would go ahead onf Elijah Dukes RBI groundout before giving it back again in the ninth.  Saul Rivera(1-3) got the win as he worked the final two outs of the top of the ninth inning on only three pitches. Check out Centerfield Gate for an in depth recap on the game.

Chad Billingsley pitched well through the first six innings but then appeared to break down in the sixth inning.  Billingsley went six innings allowing just one hit and three runs, but walking four and striking out nine, the one hit being the big three run homer.  On offense, Andre Ethier, James Loney and Russell Martin were credited with RBI’s in the game but no one had more than two hits for the Dodgers.