Utley with the eventual winner

Chase Utley and the Phillies were able to get back in the win column on Saturday with a 4-1 victory at Citi Field, ruining the Mets ’69 World Series celebration.  After being shut out for five innings, Chase Utley got to the Mets relief pitchers with a two run home run, and the Phillies needed no more.  Starter J.A. Happ(10-2) gave up one run over seven innings scattering eight hits and got his 10th win of the season, to continue leading all rookies.  Brad Lidge got his 24th save of the season and Carlos Ruiz and Pedro Feliz added RBI’s for the Phillies, Phillies Phandom will have more information on the Phillies.

Tim Redding started the game for the Mets after Livan Hernandez was released and pitched five shutout, one hit innings before giving way to the relief corp.  Pat Misch(0-1) came in to start the sixth after being recalled and walked Victorino and gave up the two run shot to Utley immediately afterwards, taking the loss.  The Mets only recorded a run on a single by Omir Santos in the second which scored Jeff Francouer from third.  The Real Dirty Mets Blog will have more on the Mets loss.

Hanson keeps winning

Two home runs and four runs in the first inning yesterday proved to be all the offense Atlanta would get, but more importantly, all they would need in a 4-3 victory.  Omar Infante led off the game with a home run for the Braves, LaRoche added an RBI single and finally Yunel Escobar capped the inning with a two run blast scoring LaRoche, and Hanson cruised.  Tommy Hanson(9-2) went seven innings giving up three runs on four hits while striking out seven in keeping the Braves playoff hopes alive.  Rafael Soriano worked the ninth to get his 19th save of the season.  The Braves Baseball Blog has more.

Chris Volstad(9-10) only got through four innings of work, but except for a bad blemish in the first, had a pretty solid start.  Volstad was charged with four runs on six hits and all four runs coming in the first inning, but the Marlins offense could not get him off the hook.  The Marlins got their three runs in the fifth on a double by Wes Helms and then a two run single by Jorge Cantu.  The Marlins looks to take the series today in Atlanta, but FishGuts has more on the team.

How silly does this look?

The Milwaukee Brewers appear to have found the Nationals of early season, as they took their second in a row by a score of 11-9 on Saturday.  Ths win did not come easy though, after being up 7-0 going to the bottom of the second, Mike Burns and the Brewers relief let the Nats right back in the game.  Casey McGehee went 2-5 for the Brewers but drove in the eventual winning run, and Mike Cameron contributed four hits and three runs and three RBI including a home run during the victory.  Chris Narverson(1-0) picked up the win as he pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief and Trevor Hoffman got his 27th save of the season in this game.

John Lannan may have had his worst start of the year in this one, going only 1.2 innings and allowing seven earned runs and putting the Nats in an early hole.  Luckily, they got him off the hook, but still lost the game.  Ronnie Belliard produced the biggest blow with a grand slam home run in the third and had two other hits and a total of two runs scored.  Jason Bergmann(2-2) took the loss as he worked one inning giving up two hits and a run.  CenterfieldGate has more on the Nationals latest losing streak.

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Prado drives in the winner

Martin Prado had a huge night in Atlanta on Thursday night, going 4-5 with four of Atlanta’s five runs batted in and a run scored of his own including a home run in the fifth.  Prado drove in Matt Diaz in the bottom of the tenth inning off Chan Ho Park(3-2) who took the loss in 0.2 innings pitched giving up three hits and a walk.  The win brought the Braves   within four games of first even though they are four games under .500.  Peter Moylan(2-2) got the win for the Braves with two thirds of an inning of perfect relief.  For more Braves news, go to The Braves Baseball Blog.

The Phillies got another mediocre pitching performance from one of their starters as Joe Blanton only lasted five innings while giving up three runs, including giving up the lead twice.  Philadelphia took the lead late in the game with back to back homers by John Mayberry and Pedro Feliz in the top of the eighth inning.  The lead was erased when Ryan Madson blew his fourth save of the year and this eventually led the game to extras.  For more Phillies news, please check out the new Phillies Phandom blog.

Game two of the series is tonight at 7:00PM with Cole Hamels going against Jair Jurrjens at Turner Field.

How many times is his picture gonna be here?

Is anyone else noticing a trend of Hanley Ramirez being pictured for the Marlins in the recaps? Ramirez has been on a tear and it did not end last night in Miami against the Washington Nationals.  Hanley Ramirez had two hits in four at bats with a run scored and four more RBI to get the Marlins to their second straight win and eighth straight against the Nationals, 7-5.   This was only a seven inning rain shortened game, but The Marlins took the lead in the sixth and added to their lead in the seventh off Joe Beimel(0-4) and four more Nationals errors.  Renyel Pinto(3-1) worked a perfect inning and picked up the win for the Marlins who are now only 1.5 games back of first place with the Philly loss.

Adam Dunn once again had a solid game for the Nationals while getting two hits, three RBI including a home run in the fifth inning off Marlins starter Sean West.  The two teams will face off in the finale of the series at 12:10PM in Miami this afternoon.  More Nats news at CenterfieldGate.

Its been that kind of year for the Mets

The little league New York Mets once again lost a very sloppy game, which was their fifth loss in a row.  Even ace Johan Santana(9-6) couldn’t help them on this night and was hurt by two errors (really three) en route to a 6-3 loss to the Brewers.  David Wright hit a two run home run in the first and that was all the offense the Mets received until the ninth inning of the game.  In the fourth inning, rookie Fernando Martinez managed to find and get stuck in a divet in center field while trying to track a routine fly ball.  Fast forward a few walks, errors and a double by Ryan Braun and the Brewers had all the runs they needed to win.  Mike Burns(1-1) in only his second major league start got the win while pitching into the seventh inning.  The two teams conclude this afternoon at 2:05PM with Pelfrey going against young Brewers ace Gallardo.  For more on the Mets, go to The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

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