There Is Not Much Surprise Among the Teams in The National League East
The National League East is expected to be good once again. The Atlanta Braves is a respected franchise that should end up battling for the best record in their division. They are no strangers to the playoffs.
With their first sweep of the season in sight, the Braves were reminded that they still have a few more days before they can truly put an end to this frustrating and sometimes physically painful road trip.
Instead of saying goodbye to Washington D.C. with a third straight win over the Nationals, the Braves instead saw Tom Glavine wave goodbye much earlier than expected. His first-inning exit with a strained right hamstring caused the Braves to lose 4-5 at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
But still the Braves had a chance to claim a third straight win, right up until Nationals right fielder Austin Kearns ran almost into center field to catch Brian McCann’s ball long fly ball with the bases loaded. That ended it and the Braves couldn’t pull off the sweep.
Braves manager Bobby Cox said that it would have been a nice win. They also would have won half of their games if they had won that one.
When Glavine was forced to the clubhouse after just 16 pitches and without recording an out for just the second time in his career, there was no reason for the Braves to think they’d even be in the position they were afforded when Nationals closer Chad Cordero was unable to notch his first save of the season on the same day he came off the disabled list.
The Braves should not be disappointed about their team because they always get on a hot streak. Some Braves fans made the trip to our capital with their Atlanta Braves Products to see their team play and also to see in-person the Nationals new stadium.
Chase Utley’s low throw got by Ryan Howard and allowed the winning run to score in the Cubs’ 6-5, 10-inning victory over the Phillies on Sunday.
With Carlos Zambrano pinch-hitting — the Cubs were out of position players — and runners on first and second and one out in the top of the 10th, Rudy Seanez induced a grounder to Eric Bruntlett for a potential double play.
Bruntlett tossed Utley for the ball for second out, but Utley’s relay throw was into the runner and low. Howard didn’t come off the base to block the ball. Ronny Cedeno scored the winning run.
The Cubs should not have won the game. In the sixth inning, a disputed home run gave the Cubs an extra run in the sixth, when a Mark DeRosa drive off Moyer was ruled fair by third-base umpire Adrian Johnson. Major League Baseball does not allow umpires to review the instant replay. Television replays showed the ball went to the left of the foul pole.
With the gap widened to two, the Phillies plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead. Eric Bruntlett began the frame with a solo home run to left — his first homer since Sept. 18, 2005. Three singles and a sacrifice fly later, the Phillies had a 5-4 lead.
The lead evaporated in the eighth inning, when Tom Gordon issued a one-out walk to DeRosa and a single to Ryan Theriot. Cedeno stole third and scored on a soft single by pinch-hitter Geovany Soto.
There was almost a packed house to see the game on Sunday. Most Phillies fans attended the game with their Philadelphia Phillies Gear on.
The New York Mets are trying to do something that most thought they would do last year and that’s win their division to secure a playoff spot. Well, last year the division was not as strong as people thought but clearly they were the best team.
Then something happened. A detrimental collapse that hasn’t been seen in MLB history happened that caused the Mets to miss the playoffs after almost clinching a spot.
The Mets lost most of their 16 remaining games and that allowed their rival to overtake them in the last couple games of the regular season. That’s why the Mets went after the Twins ace pitcher Johan Santana. They don’t want to have a repeat of last year.
Their team remains almost intact, while some players have been switched around to different roles and the batting order has been changed.
The Big Apple is usually focused solely on the Yankees, giving little attention to the Mets who usually are placed on the back burner. After what happened last year, many have raised their expectations. Why shouldn’t they raise their expectations? The Mets are expected to win their division, just like they were last year. If they don’t do better than they did last year, then their manager will be fired. Also, the Mets franchise will look into why their team didn’t live up to expectations. Either way, Big Apple area residents will come check out a good Mets team and have on their New York Mets Gear, as they watch a team that is just as good as New York’s primary team.
The Washington Nationals snapped their nine-game losing streak, but it wasn’t easy as they defeated the Braves, at home today.
Washington was up, 5-3, going into the top of the eighth inning. Wily Mo Pena and Chad Cordero, two Nationals players who were taken off the DL list on Sunday, played important roles in the late innings.
In the eighth inning, with Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur on first and reliever Ayala on the mound, Kotsay hit a liner right at Pena. The ball hit Pena’s glove and dropped in for a two-base error. Francoeur scored all the way from first base on the play to make it a one-run game.
It got even worse in the top of the ninth inning. Cordero was able to get two quick outs, but then he walked Escobar and gave up a double to Chipper Jones to put runners on second and third.
The Nationals are known as an aggressive team when it comes to swinging the bat.
Redding ended up pitching five-plus inning and gave up three runs on six hits, but he was more concerned about the team ending the losing streak.
The Nationals team and fans, with their Washington Nationals Gear, are glad to win against their division rival. They hope this win will spark their team.
The Florida Marlins picked up right where they left off from last year. It’s not a good thing to lose from one year to the next.
The Marlins haven’t done much of anything since surprisingly winning the World Series back in 2003. Their fans haven’t been faithful either.
As a matter of fact, they didn’t support their team until towards the end of the regular season. Even during the playoffs, they still didn’t sell all of their tickets. Well, for some games they did show up. Where have all those people gone? I will tell you. They are the same people who are representative of most other major league baseball franchises in America.
They came out of the shadows to show their "support" for their team but the minute the team suffered several setbacks, the fans ducked and dodged. The Marlins got to the point where they were trying to offer Buy One Get One Free tickets.
It’s a shame because that really didn’t help. The only thing it really helped was to allow the opponents to bring large crowds to the games. Some players said that they felt like they were the visiting team because their opponents were so loud and numerous compared to their own few loyal supporters.
Florida Marlins Gear went on sale a lot cheaper because there seemed to be no one who wanted to buy anything dealing with the team. Maybe the team’s losing record had something to do with it.
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