Daily Archives: April 8, 2009
Kelly Johnson and Chipper Jones each went deep, and Jair Jurjjens gave Atlanta its second straight quality start as the Braves blanked the Phillies last night, 4-0.
Jurjjens tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings.
Atlanta also got some encouraging news regarding Tom Glavine. The veteran lefty pitched six scoreless innings of two-hit ball in a simulated game at Triple-A Gwinnett on Tuesday.
In Miami, Josh Johnson struck out 8 over 6 2/3 shutout innings, and Dan Uggla and Jorge Cantu belted 2-run home runs to lead the Marlins to an 8-3 victory over the Nationals.
Washington’s Scott Olsen gave up all 8 runs on 8 hits to his former teammates in just 3 innings of work.
In a Wednesday matinee, the Marlins go for the sweep of the Nationals as they send Chris Volstad to the mound to take on Washington’s Daniel Cabrera. And in Philadelphia, Joe Blanton hopes to salvage the final game of the series for the Phillies as he opposes Atlanta’s Javier Vazquez at 3:05 PM ET.
For more news, notes, analysis and statistics from around Major League Baseball, be sure to visit Baseball Daily Digest.
Tagged MetsBlog |
Question: Which team in the NL East will not win the division, and why?
Edward Chigliak, Nationals, from Ferderal Baseball: The Nationals will not win the NL East. I don’t think they’ve added 30 wins to last year’s 59-win roster, and it will take 90+ wins to win the Division this year. The Marlins aren’t going to either. The other three all have a shot at it.
Jason Weitzel, Phillies, from Beerleaguer: Rather than the Nats, I’ll go with Atlanta, which will be an improved squad, but short of having enough game-
changers to leg out the front-runners. They’re also frail in too many critical areas.
Martin Gandy, Braves, from Talking Chop: The obvious answer here is the Nationals, but since that is so obvious, I’ll pick on the team I like to pick on the most, the Mets. When I look around the division, the team with the least depth at key positions is the Mets. As a Braves fan who watched his team’s starting rotation get decimated last year, I know the importance of having depth in an organization, and I just don’t see that depth in the Mets organization. They are two or three injuries away from total collapse. If you think it can’t happen, see the Braves in 2008.
Matthew Cerrone, Mets, from MetsBlog.com: I’m with Edward, the Nationals fan, who said the Nationals. The Marlins pitching scares me. The Phillies are the defending champions. The Braves are always a threat, as for as I’m concerned, so long as Bobby Cox is at the wheel. And, of course I believe in the Mets. The Nationals just do not have the pitching to run a full season’s race and make it the end, let alone win the division from the other four teams.
Craig Strain, Marlins, from Fish Stripes: The Nationals. Their talent just doesn’t match up well, at this point, against the other four teams. It’s not that I don’t think the Nationals will be improved, I do. But they are especially lacking in starting pitching and aren’t very deep. For them to compete for the title it will require their starting players to have career years and no injuries. Also, it will require the other teams in division to have injuries to key players.
In Newsday, David Lennon breaks down the Mets Opening Day offense, which may have been affected by the cold weather.
“If I go out there and I don’t hit with runners in scoring position, that’s one thing,” Wright said to Lennon earlier in the month. “I love all the perks that come with playing in New York, so I’m willing to accept when I don’t play well, and I don’t get the job done, and the team doesn’t get the job done, there’s going to be a lot of criticism out there.”
…jeeez, settle down, man… this worries me, because i hope wright doesn’t psych himself out…
…the fact is, like Ben Shpigel noted in the New York Times, wright hit .286 in situations labeled Close and Late last season, which, although it’s 21 points below his career average, is hardly enough to warrant such a bad rap and tilted discussion…
…by the way, why is one run in the ninth inning any more or less important in the first inning…
Speaking of offense, Rob Neyer of ESPN.com asks, Do the Mets really believe in Ryan Church?”
Mike Pelfrey and Jon Niese are on a list of red-flagged pitchers by Tom 
Verducci of SI.com, who could be at risk of injury based on their age and the number of innings pitched last season.
…the best part of the report is how it is written, in which pelfrey confronts verducci, and talks with him about the findings, because mike is well-aware of verducci’s study from last season… nicely done, tom…
Pelfrey will start for the Mets tonight in Cincinnati at 7 pm against the Reds and RHP Edinson Volquez.
In a report for the Daily News, Adam Rubin takes a closer look at Pelfrey, as well as John Maine and Oliver Perez who will pitch later in the week.
Tagged Mike Pelfrey |In the Star-Ledger, Brian Costa explains what the Mets planned to do during yesterday’s off-day, with no baseball activities scheduled.
Alan Schwarz of the New York Times analyzes specific baseball strategies, 
such as the intentional walk and the sacrifice bunt, using science and computers, like Diamond Mind.
According to Dayn Perry, of FoxSports.com, Johan Santana is one of handful of players and teams who must get off to a fast start, saying, “Perhaps no player is more essential to his team’s success than Santana.”
Lastly, in a post to his blog for 1050 ESPN Radio, Mets beat reporter Rich Coutinho believes the NL East could come down to more than just the Phillies and the Mets.
…speaking of the NL East, later today, i will be begin running a series of blog posts i did with one blogger from each team in the division on a variety of questions that help preview how we all think of one another’s chances this season… stay tuned…
Newer posts →
