Division-Watching (2009)

[blue911]

I will never understand why Manny Acta was in such a hurry to get Andrew Miller out of yesterday's game.

[hammondsnats]

hell yeah darnell mcdonald rbi single up the middle reds up 4-3 over the mets

[sportsfan882]

hell yeah darnell mcdonald rbi single up the middle reds up 4-3 over the mets

beautiful melt down by Oliver Perez. gave up 4 runs, all with 2 outs in the inning.

[hammondsnats]

beautiful melt down by Oliver Perez. gave up 4 runs, all with 2 outs in the inning.

haha don't you love those!!!

[hammondsnats]

hahaha perez is terrible.  allows a leadoff taveras bunt single and then walks mcdonald on 4 horrible pitches. 

the NL east is wideeeeeeeee open.

[sportsfan882]

Oliver Perez looked completely terrible today. His velocity was way down (fastball consistently 86-88) and his control was all over the map.

[JMUalumni]

Cole Hamels is getting shelled right now.  Even though I have him on my fantasy team, I am loving it (3.2 IP, 11 H, 7 ER).

[sportsfan882]

The Phils are screwed. Hamels is cooked. Myers is trash. Moyer, Blanton, etc. flat out stink.

Both the Braves and Mets will finish ahead of them this year.

[JMUalumni]

Really, all they need to do is shut down Hamels for like a month and he would probably be fine.  But I have a feeling they are going to push him and end up f#$%ing his arm over, which I wouldn't mind.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Cole Hamels is getting shelled right now.  Even though I have him on my fantasy team, I am loving it (3.2 IP, 11 H, 7 ER).

Damn.

[NatsAddict]

It's only 4 games, but...

Marlins Starters ERA: 2.38 (second best, Braves at 1.59)
Marlins Pen ERA: 6.08 (second worst, again to the Braves at 9.45)
Marlins Pen WHIP: 1.95 (second, not surprisingly, to the Braves majestic 2.48 - no typo)

In late spring, Sanchez looked like he might be in the 2%-3% that come back from labrum surgery.  He was tossing without fear last night, not holding back, though command is still something of an issue (3 BB in 5.0 IP), but very few good swings against him as he had 5 K (Wright twice, Beltran, Delgado and Maine) and 4 H.  If the shoulder holds. he may be able to make it and give the Fish 4 good starters.  If this were Little League and games only went 6 innings, the Marlins would stand a chance.  But that pen is gawdawful. 

Lindstrom, though, did get a vulture win, stealing it from Nunez who stole it from Sanchez as both Nunez and Lindstrom had blown saves.  The pen handed the Mets all 4 of their runs with 7 H, 3 BB, and 1 HBP in 4.0 IP.  Nunez was charged with a blown save though he was the only effective reliever, go 1.2 IP and allowing 1 H and no ER (shows how horrendous the others were as they allowed 6 H, 3 BB and 1 HBP in 2.1 IP - including HBP, a game WHIP of 4.29).  Nunez came in during the 7th as the 4th reliever of the inning, inheriting one hell of a mess with bases jacked and 1 out, and gave up a Sac Fly before striking out Castillo.  Two of the other 3 that created the mess got credits for holds.  I have a lot of problems with Saves and BS stats.  One of them is my belief is that the BS should be like a Loss, and charged to the pitcher responsible for that man on base rather than the pitcher on the mound when the guy scores. 

[NatsAddict]

Former South Florida stalwarts Livan Hernandez, with his array of off-speed pitches, and Luis Castillo power the Mets to an 8-4 win Saturday, handing the Marlins their first loss of 2009.

Palm Beach Post

Somebody staple that quote to St. Claire's forehead.

[sportsfan882]

Palm Beach Post

Somebody staple that quote to St. Claire's forehead.

QFT

[sportsfan882]

Within 5 seconds of when I turned on the Marlins-Braves game tonight the announcers were ragging on the Nats.

[NatsAddict]

Within 5 seconds of when I turned on the Marlins-Braves game tonight the announcers were ragging on the Nats.

Are you getting the Braves or Fish announcers?

Danny had a good AB, picked up a couple RBI and I was passed out for a few moments.

[sportsfan882]

the fish announcers. why are they so arrogant and cocky?

Volstad is dominating.

[NatsAddict]

Tommy Hutton, the analyst, is blunt about everyone, including the Fish, which is something I appreciate.  He is, though, like virtually all others, very much a homer.   He just reamed Uggla for his second K of the night.  If Uggla Ks his next time up, he will match Milledge for K in the same number of AB, but  will have 1 more hit (thanks to St. Claire).  I got to know T-Hutt at the FAU games when his son played 2b.  He's actually much more tactful on the air than in person.  I sure wouldn't have wanted him as my dad.

Rich Waltz, the play-by-plby guy has only been around here a few years, coming over from the Mariners.

Volstad has an extremly promising future, but is show some maturity beyond his years already. 

[NatsAddict]

I'm not sure Wendlestadt has made a correct call on a close play at 1b yet.

[sportsfan882]

I like Volstad a lot. Good sinkerballers are hard to come by now-a-day. You can see why they dumped Olsen. He would be by far their worst starting pitcher.

[NatsAddict]

I like Volstad a lot. Good sinkerballers are hard to come by now-a-day. You can see why they dumped Olsen. He would be by far their worst starting pitcher.

Well, Miller makes his first start (early exit?) tonight.  For the Braves, this may be a gimme.  The kid can show flashes of brilliance, but is inconsistent and should be in AA until he finally achieves more good innings than bad rather than the 1 good to 3 bad he's shown so far last year, in spring training, and in his two relief appearances this year (3.00 WHIP, .455 BAA in 2.1 IP).  I don't know how anyone can say a pitcher has "great stuff" when nobody has any friggin' idea where the ball is going.  "He walked 3 batters on 12 pitches, hit four fans, a batboy, two Manatees, a Mermaid, three peanut vendors and the beer guy, but he has great stuff!"

Nolasco has not been very sharp, 7.36 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and 11.O IP in his 2 starts.  I think he'll definitely improve, but maybe not to where he was last year.  He's not getting much movement on the ball right now, and he lives on his movement.  The first time I saw him pitch, I was thinking I'd never seen a pitcher, especially one making his MLB debut, have such live pitches.  Right now he is having a bit of a Cubs relapse.  Somebody needs to come up with an antibiotic to cleanse former Cubs. 

[NatsAddict]

The resolution of a scheduling conflict could bear some impact at the end of the season.

The Marlins and Phillies were scheduled to have a game on Monday, September 21 at 7:05 in Dolphin Stadium.  They would be joined at about the bottom of the 5th by the Dolphins and Colts for a MNF broadcast.  It's too bad they rescheduled the Marlins game to July 16 (shortening the ASG break by a day) - I was looking forward to seeing Ramirez face off against Manning with Uggla blitzing.

The Phillies were scheduled to only have one day, the 14th, off the entire month of September.  This gives them a much needed break.  The Mets had a much lighter original schedule, the days off on the 7th, 14th, and 24th.  Now, instead of two extra days off down the stretch, they only have one.

[NatsAddict]

He didn't play that poorly (TSN):

[KnorrForYourMoney]

Can't believe I'm saying this, but: go Fish!  I'm pulling for them if the Nats can't make a comeback.  Anything but the Mets/Phillies.

[hammondsnats]

Hayden Penn got the win for the Marlins today

[NatsAddict]

Can't believe I'm saying this, but: go Fish!  I'm pulling for them if the Nats can't make a comeback.  Anything but the Mets/Phillies.

I can't stand the Phillies, but I don't believe in the Mets rights to exist.  After rooting for the Phillies the past two years to keep the Mets out, I had to eat ramps for about a week to get the nasty taste out of my mouth.