Washington @ Philadelphia-

Stephen Strassburg’s starts are must see T.V..  But what Nats fans must have seen last night may be something they won’t want to TIVO in the future.  Strassburg came out of the game complaining about his forearm, the second time he came out of a game in a month.  The Nats however did take over for Strassburg after he went out in the 5th inning and went on to win the game 8-1.  The Nats got offense from Roger Bernadinha who hit a 3 run home run, rookie SS Ian Desmond had four hits to help lead the Nats offense who came alive in support of their young ace.  The Nats battered Kyle Kendrick and Strassburg hadn’t thrown a pitch and he had a 3-0 lead already.  The Nats are going to put Strasburg under an MRI Sunday.

Mets @ Pirates-

Its been so hard for the Mets to find a road series victory that perhaps the only way they could do so was by winning a rain-shortened game.  That’s exactly what they did, as they beat the Pirates 5-1.  David Wright hit a 3 run home run in the 5th inning and the game was called off due to heavy rain after the inning.  Jon Niese went the “distance” in securing the first road series victory of the season of the Mets in the NL.  They already had beaten the Yankees earlier this year.  Niese pitched his third complete game of the season and got the win, not bad for a guy who had gone 7 innings and given up a run in his last three starts only to get no-decisions on each.  The Mets offense has been that pitiful.  The Mets go for the sweep Sunday.

Braves @ Cubs-

The Braves just couldn’t pull it off again tonight.  In what is becoming a magical final ride for their lame duck manager, Bobby Cox, the Braves could not get any damage off of Carlos Marmol as the Cubs won, 5-4.  The Braves however did score three runs in the 8th after Cubs starter Tom Gorzelanny pitched into the 7th only allowing one run.  The bullpen which has been the weak link for Chicago gave up 3 runs in the top of the 8th but Sean Marshall got out of his own mess and gave it over to Marmol who the night before had given up a 3 run triple to Rick Ankiel.

Houston @ Florida-

Season best winning streaks usually take a bit of rare magic that you don’t see everyday, and in the Marlins 6-3 win, that’s exactly what they got.  A baseball rarity, the back to back triple by Cody Ross and Wes Helms helped the Marlins tie and then take the lead over the Astros as the Marlins won for the 5th consecutive time.  Wandy Rodriguez struck out 10 and had a three game winning streak snapped by the streaking Marlins who had 6 strong innings by Chris Volstad for the win.  The Marlins go for the sweep Sunday but not with Ricky Nolasco who sustained an injury during batting practice Friday, and will be replaced by Andrew Miller who was called up from Triple A.  Gaby Sanchez added a two run double and Wes Helms knocked in two more insurance runs.