Phillies vs. Indians

The Phillies scored 5 runs in the 2nd thanks to some hits by Shane Victorino, Placido Polanco, and Chase Utley.  The Indians scored 2 runs in the 5th thanks to a 2 run homer by Jason Donald.  The Phillies scored 2 more in the bottom now leading 7-2.   In the 6th the Phillies tacked on 5 more runds thanks to a Dane Sardinha homer,  Placido Polanco double, Jason Werth sac fly, and a Wilson Valdez single.  The Indians scored again in the 8th when Trevor Crown doubled home Jason Donald.  With 2 outs the game went into a rain delay with Carlos Santana at the plate.

Joe Blanton got the win after he  pitched 7.2 innings giving up 6 hits, 3 runs, with 8 strikeouts.  Fausto Carmona got the lose and pitched just 4 innings give up 9 hits and 7 runs and no strikeouts.

Marlins vs. Orioles

The Orioles beat the Marlins in a score of 11-5. The Marlins struck fist scoring 2 runs in the 1st with singles from both Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla.  They added another run in the 2nd when Gaby Sanchez doubled home Ronnie Paulino.  The Orioles scored 5 runs in the 3rd thanks to to hits from Julio Lugo, Miguel Tejada, Ty Wigginton, Luke Scott, and Adam Jones.  The Marlins scored in the 5th when Dan Uggla singled home Gaby Sanchez.  Adam Jones added another run for the Orioles when he hit a solo shot in the bottom of the inning.  The Orioles added another run in the 6th when Luke Scott doubled home Miguel Tejada, the scored 3 more runs in the 7th when Miguel Tejada hit a 3 run bomb, and another in the 8th when Craig Tatum doubled home Adam Jones.  The Marlins added another run in the 9th when Dan Uggla singled home Gaby Sanchez.

Kevin Millwood got the win and pitched 5 innings giving up 8 hits, 4 runs, with 3 strikeouts.  Nate Robertson took the lose after only lasting 2.1 innings giving up 7 hits, 5 runs, with 2 strikeouts.

Braves vs. White Sox

The Braves lost to the White Sox in a score of 2-0.  The only runs of the game came in the 8th when Paul Konerko homered scoring Juan Pierre.

Derek Lowe started for the Braves pitching 7 innings giving up 5 hits, no runs, with 4 strikeouts.  Takashi Saito got the lose pitching 1 inning giving up 2 hits and 2 runs.  Gavin Floyd started for the White sox pitching 7 innings  giving up 2 hits, no runs, with 9 strike outs.  JJ Putz got the win pitching just 1 inning.  Bobby Jenks got his 17th save of the season and 1 strike out.

Mets vs. Tigers

The Mets lose to the Tigers in a score of 5-6. The Tigers scored in the 1st when Miguel Cabrera hit a sac fly to score Austin Jackson.  The Tigers added 2 more runs in the 3rd when Magglio Ordonez hit a 2 run shot.  The Jesus Feliciano scored for the Mets in the 4th on an Ike Davis ground out.  In the 5th Ryan Raburn hit a solo shot, with the bases loaded Brandon Inge walked scoring Magglio Ordonez, and  Danny Worth grounded out to score Miguel Cabrera.  The Mets added 3 runs in the 6th from hits by David Wright, Ike Davis, and Jason Bay.  Chris Carter singled home Ruben Tejada to get the Mets another run in the 7th.

Armando Galarraga got the win pitching 6 innings giving up 5 hits, 4 runs, with 1 strikeout.  Hisanori Takahashi took the lose after he pitched 4 innings giving up 8 hits, 6 runs, with 4 strikeouts.  Jose Valverde got his 17th save of the season including 1 strikeout.

The Nationals were off today

Jason Werth's Granny clinches the win

The story for the Phillies win last night went from a solid start for Joe Blanton after a tough one, to a big blast by Jayson Werth in the 6-1 win.  Jayson Werth hit a grand slam to put the game out of reach in the seventh inning for his 34th home run of the year against the last place Nats.  Joe Blanton(10-7) went six innings and allowed only five hits and four walks and seven strikeouts in getting his 10th win of the year.  Phillies Phandom has much more on this game and all Phillies news.

The Nationals once again could not muster any offense and let this game get away from them late even though they weren’t down much most of the game.  Livan Hernandez(8-11) took the loss but did go six innings only allowing seven hits and two runs during the game.  The only run was scored in the ninth inning on a RBI single by Willie Harris which scored Jason Maxwell.  Centerfield Gate is your place to go for all Nats news.

Cody Ross backs the fish

Cody Ross and the Marlins went on to beat the NL Cenrtal leading Cardinals again yesterday by a final score of 5-2.  Ross went 3-4 with two RBI and two of those runs were scored by second basemen Dan Uggla.  Josh Johnson(15-4) got back on track with a six inning outting allowing nine hits and just one run and no walks.  Once again Leo Nunez came in for the save recording the final two outs for his 22nd of the year on a Matt Holliday double play.  FishGuts has more on this game.

The Cardinals are having a rough go lately, losers of five of their past six against NL East opponents.  Joel Pineiro(14-11) went 5.1 innings and allowed ten hits and four runs for one of his worse outtings in taking the loss.  Julio Lugo got the first RBI for the Cardinals on a single in the sixth and the only other run was credited to Albert Pujols as he was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the ninth, but that would be it.

Braves beat the Mets on an error

The Atlanta Braves were down two going into the bottom of the ninth against the Mets, but came out winning 6-5.  The Braves tied the game with an Omar Infante sacrifice fly to start it and then an error by Daniel Murphy allowed David Ross to score the winning run to keep the Braves hot.  Former Met Ryan Church was the person who hit the error and also had an RBI single earlier in the game too.  Derek Lowe left this one early with a blister and Eric O’Flaherty(2-1) as the seventh Braves pitcher got the win with a scoreless top of the ninth.  Check out The Braves Baseball Blog for more info on the Braves late march towards the postseason.

The New York Mets seem to want to lose games sometimes.  Francisco Rodriguez(3-5) got his 6th blown save of the year in this one and then took his fifth loss on the Daniel Murphy error.  It was a good night for Mets catchers as Josh Thole got a two RBI single in the second and Omir Santos hit a pinch hit solo homer in the eighth inning as well but it all got overlooked with the blown game.  The Real Dirty Mets Blog has more on this game and the Mets follies.

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Blanton with another strong game

The Philadelphia Phillies were looking to have another successful series and take two out of three games from the formerly Central division leading St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.  They ended up routing them for the second straight day, led by home runs from Utley, Howard, Rollins and Ibanez, all of the two run variety on way to a 9-2 victory.  Starter Joe Blanton(7-4) went eight innings, having yet another strong start giving up seven hits, two runs and six strike outs as Brad Lidge worked the ninth in a non save situation.  Check out Phillies Phandom for more info on the Phils.

The Cardinals once again had production from their latest trade pickups, but they will need the rest of the team to produce to be successful.  Lugo went 2-4 with a run scored, Holliday was 1-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly and Mark DeRosa was 2-4 with a solo home run for this game.  The rest of the team only had three hits and produced no runs as Todd Wellemeyer took the loss.  Wellemeyer(7-9) went 5.2 innings giving up seven runs, five earned on this day.

HanRam takes one for the team

The Florida Marlins yesterday were able to derail the best team in the National League, by taking two out of three games from the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers.  Hanley Ramirez finished with three RBI while going 2-4 with a run scored to lead the Marlins and even was retaliated against by Jeff Weaver for having such a game.  Chris Volstad(8-9) worked 5.1 innings giving up eight hits and four runs but that held up for the win by a final of 8-6.  In the bottom of the seventh inning, Burke Badenhop was ejected along with manager Fredi Gonzalez for retaliation for Hanley Ramirez being hit, or so the umps thought so.  Check out  FishGuts for more Marlins insight.

The Marlins were down 8-0 yesterday before fighting back with six runs between the sixth and ninth innings.  James Loney had a two RBI double and an RBI single, Russell Martin had a two home home run an RBI single by Ethier capped the scoring.  Jason Schmidt(1-1) only lasted three innings while getting tagged for five runs and five hits, but only four earned runs.

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Kotchman with a bomb

The Braves were only up 1-0 yesterday on the Brewers when entering the sixth inning yesterday but Casey Kotchman and the rest of the team wanted to put this one out of reach.  Kotchman hit a three run home run to make it 5-0 in the sixth after Matt Diaz had produced a run with a single before him.  They added five more runs in the final four innings on a McCann and Kelly Johnson home runs, a Prado Sac fly, and a bases loaded walk for Yunel Escobar.  Derek Lowe(10-7) worked six strong innings only giving up a two run home run as the Braves won 10-2 to take the series in Milwaukee.  The Braves Baseball Blog will have more info on the Braves for you.

The Brewers offense was held in check yesterday by Brave pitching except for one inning in the game.  In the sixth inning after falling behind 5-0, Corey Hart hit his 10th home run of the season to cut the lead to 5-2.  Braves relief pitching though couldn’t hold on to allow them to come back.  Braden Looper(9-5) went six innings giving up seven hits and five runs on four walks to take the loss in this one.

Livan rebounds for a good outting

After the first inning yesterday in Houston, it looked like the same old rubber game for the Mets this season.  Livan Hernandez(7-5) gave up three runs on three consecutive doubles to start the game before the Astros made some baserunning mistakes to get him out of an even bigger inning.  After that, Hernandez settled in for six more innings allowing no more runs than the initial three as the Mets came back to win 8-3.  The Mets had three triples in this game, one each from Luis Castillo, Angel Pagan and Jeremy Reed.  Sean Green worked the final out of the eighth and the ninth inning to get his first save fo the season.  The Mets now return home to face the wild card leading Colorado Rockies for four at Citi Field and hope to bring some momentum with them.  Check out The Real Dirty Mets Blog for more.

Doubles in the first by Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee and Geoff Blum after a single by Kaz Matsui provided all three runs for the Astros.  Hunter Pence followed with a single by Blum was thrown out at home for the second out by a mile, followed by Pence being caught stealing while Pudge was at bat.  Brian Moehler(7-6) worked 4.2 innings but gave up five runs on eight hits and walked two in taking the loss for the Astros.

Kearns sends fans home happy

The Washington Nationals completed their second straight series victory with a walk off victory against the San Diego Padres.  Austin Kearns with his first at bat of the game, replacing Adam Dunn hit a walk off single which scored Nyjer Morgan to give the Nats a 3-2 victory.  Josh Willingham homered in the seventh to even them with the Padres at 1 and then Adam Dunn singled home Willie Harris in the eighth inning for the lead.  John Lannan worked eight innings but got a no decision as Mike MacDougal blew his first save of the year for the Nationals.  Joe Beimel(1-5) worked two thirds of an inning and qualified for the win.  Centerfieldgate has more info for you on the Nats.

The Padres started Chad Gaudin pitched well but also got a no decision and Luke Gregerson was thankful for Kyle Banks hitting another home run, this time off Mike MacDougal to save him from a loss.  Greg Burke(2-3) took the loss as he was an out away from getting out of the rally when Kearns won the game for the Nats.

Rollins with a grand slam

The Phillies played a game on Saturday that entailed 29 hits and 20 runs, lucky for them, they had 14 of those 20 runs, winning 14-6.  Jimmy Rollins saved starter Rodrigo Lopez by hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning.  The Phillies took an early 3-0 lead, but squandered it by the top of the sixth inning.  Lopez (3-0) worked six innings giving up three earned runs and four total in staying undefeated on the season.  Jimmy Rollins finished the day with a career high five RBI and Shane Victorino went 4-4 with three runs scored, three RBI and even added in a walk.  Check out Phillies Phandom for more Phillies info from this game and all others.

Cardinals pitching could almost have not been worse today.  Three pitchers combined to give up the fourteen runs, starter Kyle Lohse was let off the hook of a bad start by giving up three runs in only four innings of work as he left for a pinch hitter with a high pitch count.  Jason Motte(3-4) left after getting one out and giving up back to back home runs, one of them being the grand slam to Rollins.  New Cardinals Julio Lugo and Matt Holliday had good games again, going 6-9 with two runs scored and two RBI combined.

Blake gets the game winning RBI

In Los Angeles, Casey Blake saved the Dodgers from another possible loss to the Marlins.  With two out in the ninth inning, Casey Blake stepped to the plate and singled to drive home Rafael Furcal to win the game 4-3.  Blake had also scoredt he tying run in the sixth inning as the Dodgers came back from a 3-1 deficit to win this game.  Jonathan Broxton(7-0) got the win as he worked the top of the ninth for the Dodgers in this game and Andre Ethier and Orlando Hudson each had three hits for the Dodgers.

The Marlins as mentioned took a 3-1 lead in by the sixth with RBI singles from Cody Ross and Jeremy Hermida and an RBI double in the first by Jorge Cantu.  Besides that though, their bats couldn’t break Dodger pitching.  VandenHurk had a second straight solid start going five innings of one run ball and left in position for his second straight win, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it.  Renyel Pinto was charged with two runs in one third of an inning in the sixth and then Dan Meyer(2-1) took the loss in the ninth as he had put the baserunners on, even though Luis Ayala let up the final hit.  Check out FishGuts for more info on the Marlins.

Gallardo does it again pitching and hitting

The Brewers were able to rebound from a late loss to the Braves and their bats on Friday night, and sent their ace to the mound.  Yovani Gallardo(9-7) pitched 7.1 innings only giving up four hits and four runs and striking out six as the Brewers went on to win 4-0.  Gallardo helped himself with an RBI single in the fifth for the games first run.  Craig Counsell had an RBI groundout in the same inning and pinch hitter Casey McGehee had a two RBI single in the eighth for insurance.

The Braves sent previously undefeated Tommy Hanson to the hill on Saturday.  Hanson(5-1) took the loss even though he went seven innings and only gave up two runs because the Braves bats were silent.  Check out The Braves Baseball Blog for more on the Braves.

Niese pitches a gem

There have not been many days where I have been able to write about multiple story lines for the Mets.  Tonight you can take your pick, as the Mets won 10-3 against the Astros with a great performance from a rookie, a superb game from a newcomer and a home run from a player who hadn’t hit one all month.  Jonathon Niese(1-0) went seven innings giving up a single run on four hits and two walks to get his first win since last September on a day the Mets needed it.  Jeff Francouer also went 2-4 with a run scored and four RBI, three of them coming on a home run fifth inning, it was his second as a Met and seventh overall.  David Wright hit his sixth home run in the ninth inning and it was impressive because he hadn’t hit one this month.  The Real Dirty Mets Blog has more info on the Mets.

Russ Ortiz(3-5) started for the Astros and only lasted 4.1 innings while giving up six runs on five hits and four walks.  The Astros managed a run early on a Pudge Rodriguez RBI single and then nothing until the bottom of the ninth when they had a nine run deficit.  Hunter Pence hit a two run homer in the ninth off Francisco Rodriguez, but that was all they would get.

Adam Dunn hits a granny

The Padres and Nationals waited out an over three hour rain delay in the second inning of the game Saturday in Washington, it could have been local time for the San Diego fans.  The Nationals got two runs in the first on a Zimmerman homerun and never looked back after the rain delay in the second.  Off a new pitcher, the Nationals scored five more after the delay, on a Adam Dunn grand slam.  Zimmerman ended this game with three RBI and Dunn had five RBI as the Nationals won 13-1.  Tyler Clippard(2-0) worked four innings after the rain delay to qualify for the win in this game as J.D. Martin had to leave after two innings because of the delay.  Check out CenterfieldGate for more info on the Nationals.

Padres starter Tim Stauffer(0-2) didn’t come back after the rain delay and went one inning giving up three hits and two runs to take the loss.  Five more Padre relievers combined to give up eleven more runs to make this game way out of reach.  The two finish their series on Sunday afternoon in D.C.