Labor Day Weekend is here but that doesn’t mean we here at NLEastChatter take a day off. Without further ado I give you the “Labor Day Edition” of the “NL East Daily Recap“.

Nelson Figueroa was a victim of the Long-ball as Home-runs by Aramis Ramirez in the 4th and Derek Lee in the 5th proved too much for the Mets to overcome as the Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets 5-3. To read more check out The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

Kaz Matsui’s bases loaded single in the bottom of the ninth off Phillie’s closer Brad Lidge helped the Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4. It was Brad Lidge’s (0-7) 10th blown save of the year. To read more check out The Phillies Phandom Blog.

Jair Jurrjens (10-10) only gave up 3 runs over 7 innings but it wasn’t enough as Kip Wells (1-3) gave up 0 runs over 6 innings helping the Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1 keeping the Braves 8.5 games back of the Phillies. To read more check out The Braves Baseball Blog.

Josh Johnson (14-4) gave up 1 run over 5 innings and Hanley Ramirez hit a 2-run HR in the 4th helping the Florida Marlins beat the Washington Nationals 9-5. Livan Hernandez (7-10) gave up 6 earned runs over 5 innings putting the Nats in a hole that they never dug out of. To read more check out The Fish Guts Blog for all your Marlins info and The Centerfield Gate Blog for all things Nats.

Rollins breaks out of his slump

Jimmy Rollins went 2-5 with 2RBI and a run scored last night, further breaking out of his slump while helping his Phillies win versus the New York Mets 7-2.  The Phillies got all their runs in the first three innings against Mets starter Livan Hernandez(5-4) who lost his third decision in a row and looked terrible from the start last night.  Greg Dobbs, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley each had two RBI each for Philly to move back into first place all alone in the NL East.  Rodrigo Lopez(1-0) won his first game in almost two full years pitching into the seventh inning only giving up six hits and two earned runs.  To get more info on the Phillies and their win last night, check out Phillies Phandom.

Some bright spots for the Mets were that Ryan Church continued to be hot, going 3-4 with a run scored, and his one out actually was a trapped ball by Greg Dobbs.  Also, the bullpen in their second straight day of long relief, pitched five innings of one hit ball.  To get additional info on the loss, check out The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

The Phillies and Mets will meet up today at 4pM on the Fox game of the week, Fernando Nieve takes on Jamie Moyer.

Volstad didn't have it tonigh

Rain delays aren’t a new thing to the Marlins being in Miami, and lately the Pirates have seen their fair share too.  The Pirates went through two rain delays Thursday against the Mets and dealt with another delay during the opening game of a series in Florida last night.  After all was said and done though, former Brave Charlie Morton(1-1) pitched six innings of one hit and no run ball against a big hitting Marlin team to get the win.  Pittsburgh pitching chased Marlins starter Chris Volstad(5-8) after only three innings and 47 pitches but four earned runs and added more later against Marlin relief.  Three pirates contributed two RBI each for Pittsburgh to take the opening game of the set and knock the Marlins out of their first place tie temporarily.

The Marlins’ Hanley Ramirez ended his RBI streak at 10 games when he failed to drive any runs in during this game and actually had no hits as well.  Catcher Scott Baker contributed three RBI on two hits and had two RBI in the game to lead the fish.

The two teams match back up at 6:10 in Miami tonight.

Nice debut

Brooks Conrad who was just called up to replace the injured Kelly Johnson wasted no time in making an impact for the Bravos.  In the seventh inning of a 5-5 game between the Nats and Braves, Conrad hit a three run home run to give the Braves the lead in a game they would eventually win 8-5 over the last place Nats.  Neither starting pitcher in this game could last a full five innings, and it was up to which relief pitchers could get the job done to win it.  The Braves had the better relief pitching, but by a slim margin as Rafael Soriano gave up two runs in his save chance in the ninth to record his ninth save by one run.  Boone Logan(1-0) worked a perfect 1.2 innings to earn the win for the hot Braves, winners of 5 in a row now, and they stayed two games behind the Phillies and moved into a third place tie with the Mets.  Jesus Colome(1-1) gave up the three run home run and took the loss for the Nationals who have now lost four games in a row.  Check out The Braves Baseball Blog for more.

The Nationals continuously fought back in this game, including Christian Guzman getting two hits in four at bats and driving in three runs.  Adam Dunn hit his 21st home run as well to lead the team.  Check out CenterfieldGate for more Nats news.

The two teams continue their series at 1:05PM on Saturday afternoon.

Today at NLEC we welcome the brand new Phillies Phandom Blog(http://www.nleastchatter.com/philliesphandom), run by Matt Smith.  I encourage everyone to at least stop in, say hello and definitely inform any Phillies fans you may have of this new Phillies information source.  The RSS Link has been added to the left sidebar and I will be sure to link to his articles whenever possible.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to Phillies Phandom Blog

If interested in helping the NLEC, please contact mrose@nleastchatter.com