Happ watches Upton

Justin Upton wanted to make sure that the Diamondbacks won at least one game out of three against the Philadelphia Phillies.  In the first inning, he hit a two run home run off of Phillies starter J.A. Happ and int the eighth inning, he added an RBI single for insurance.  He also had three of the Diamondbacks total seven hits on a night the D’backs won 4-0.  Yusmeiro Petit(1-5) got his first win of the season as he went six innings but only gave up four hits and a walk while striking out eight.

The Philadelphia Phillies team, fresh off trading for last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, Cliff Lee, came in this game with the ability to sweep.  J.A. Happ(7-2) took his second straight loss after seven straight winning decisions but pitched well.  He gave up only the two run home run to Upton ion the first and only three hits in total and two walks. in six innings.  Two Philly relievers gave up a run each and the Philly offense couldn’t get a run home, which is a rare occurrence.  Read more about this game and other Philly news at Phillies Phandom.

Johnson pitches, and hits!

Josh Johnson decided to take the game last night against the Braves into his own hands, in every possible way last night.  Johnson deposited a Kawakami pitch in the fourth inning into center field for a three run home run which at the time gave the Marlins a 4-0 lead on way to a 6-3 win.  Hanley Ramirez contributed a RBI triple in the third and a solo home run in the fifth and Dan Uggla even got into the home run derby in the fifth as well.  Johnson(10-2) got his tenth victory of the year as he went six innings and gave up eight hits on three runs, all from home runs.  The Marlins sent four relievers to the mound to finish it off, with Leo Nunez getting his eighth save of the year working a scoreless ninth.  Check out FishGuts for more about the win and the Fish.

Kenshin Kawakami(5-8) had a terrible start, and the home run ball hit him harder than any other pitcher in the game, and it always hurts to give one up to the opposing pitcher.  Kawakami went 4.2 innings giving up seven hits and six runs, including the three home runs and even walked four.  The Braves offense did its best against one of the best pitchers in the NL as Casey Kotchman hit a solo shot and Garret Anderson hit a home run for the second consecutive night, of the two run variety.  The Braves Baseball Blog has all the Braves info you need.

If you hadn’t heard, New York is now Seattle East, so as seems to be a normal occurance, the rain came and didn’t stop last night.  The Mets and Rox will play a day-night double header today at Citi Field.

McGehee gets a hold of one

The Brewers were looking to avoid being swept by the worst team in baseball (by record that is) last night in Milwaukee.  After the second inning though, it wasn’t looking good as they were already down 4-0.  The Brewers came back though starting in the third on a Ryan Braun triple that scored a run, and he later scored on a wild pitch.  After going down 5-3 in the sixth, they Brewers got three in the sixth and never looked back.  J.J. Hardy missed an RBI chance in the sixth as he grounded into a double play scoring a run, but got an RBI groundout in the eighth to pad the stats.  Casey McGehee had the biggest blast as he hit a pinch hit two run home run to give the Nats the lead in the sixth.  Manny Parra(5-8) went six innings but gave up five runs and five walks on nine hits to get a shaky win for the Brewers.  Trevor Hoffman came in and struck out two in the ninth for his 23rd save of the season.

The Nationals’ Garrett Mock left the game after the fifth in line for a victory if the bullpen could hold on.  Unfortunately for him, Tyler Clippard(1-1) who had been very solid of late, blew his first save of the year going 1.1 innings and gave up two runs on the home run to McGehee.  Christian Guzman and Nyjer Morgan continued their hot play though, each having two hits and a run scored and Guzman even added an RBI.  Ryan Zimmerman added two RBI as well as Nick Johnson getting an RBI for the night.  Check out CenterfieldGate for more Nats info.