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If you thought the Marlins might suffer a bit of a letdown this weekend, you thought wrong.
Florida went into Washington and mowed down the Nationals for a 3-game sweep while winning their 5th, 6th, and 7th games in a row. On Saturday, Jeremy Hermida was the hero by hitting 2 dramatic home runs.
On Sunday, Cody Ross smacked around Washington with 3 hits, a walk, a double, a home run, and 5 RBI.
On Monday, the Marlins travel to Pittsburgh, and the Nationals host the Braves.
Speaking of Pittsburgh, the Pirates took 2 of 3 from the Braves over the weekend. Atlanta was shut out the first two games before erupting for an 11-1 victory.
Javier Vazquez salvaged the series with 6 scoreless innings on Sunday. He allowed just 5 hits and struck out 8.
Atlanta visits Washington today to open a 3-game set with the Nationals.
In Philadelphia, it took a 2-run walk-off home run by Raul Ibanez Sunday for the Phillies to avoid a third straight loss at the hands of the Padres.
If case you missed it, Brad Lidge blew his first save since ‘07 by giving up 4 runs in an 8-5 loss to the Friars on Saturday.
…It’s about time. Maybe we can now stop the Hall of Fame campaign for Lidge.
The Padres and the Phillies get together for the final game of the series at 7:05 PM ET this evening.
In other news…Atlanta catcher Brian McCann continues to have problems with the vision in his left eye. McCann recently saw a doctor in Atlanta and was told he had a couple of “dry spots” that were diminishing his vision.
The Braves backstop is scheduled to see a specialist in Washington on Monday.
Philadelphia players and fans paid their last respects to legendary announcer Harry Kalas on Saturday. More than 9,000 fans filed past Harry’s casket for over 4 hours to pay tribute to the voice of the Phillies for the past 39 years.
Washington Nationals 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman reportedly agreed to a contract extension on Sunday…even after Zimmerman said he’d discontinue in-season negotiations. The deal is said to be worth $45 million over 5 years. An announcement can come as early as today.
For more news, notes, analysis and statistics from around Major League Baseball, be sure to visit Baseball Daily Digest.
I knew Saturday was it for Lidge. He has been shaky so far in this young season, and I didn't think a one run lead was enough. Phillies fans kept it classy by giving him a standing ovation after he came off the field.
yea he had been shakey to start the year but the phills played for him to blow the save. They played the infield back to play for the out, not the run. The pads just took advantage.
He did let up more runs after that and was pulled from the game. :-D
Like everyone, I give nothing but respect to Harry Kalas, and will miss him greatly.
That said, I don't recall Bob Murphy's death being such a dramatic national news event. And that makes me mad, because Murph was everything to Mets fans that Kalas was to Phillies fans. And he was in the business just as long. I just don't get it, I guess.
Kalas was also the voice of NFL films. Murph was great, but I don't think he had the national or multi-sport angle.
Kalas did both TV and radio, as well. Murphy was usually on the radio.
Krum,
Bob murphy was a consumate professional, his analysis was far more superior and objective to Mr.Kalas who bashed the Mets (very professional) every chance he got.
forget about those 2 other replies the fact is that Bob Murphy was a pro's pro.
The marlins have had the easiest schedule imo for april. Next month they got cubs/diamondbacks/mets/philly/col/dodgers…lets see if they stay hot through that. Bonofacio has already cooled down…..so will the team.
6 of the marlins' 11 wins came against the awful, awful nationals.
you can only beat who you play, but you could also argue that the mets are the only halfway decent team they've played all year.
agreed. I dont think poeple should buy into the hype until they play real competition…i will give them credit however because they do what they are supposed to do when playing an inferior team and win, but lets see how they do when they play the juggernauts of the league…
But they still beat us 2 out of 3 and couple important games last couple years. I don't think they'll be the next Tampa, but I think they'll be fairly competitive.
well…the last couple of years i believe it falls on us more than florida. We put ourselves in a position for those games against florida to matter. Anyway, like bomb was saying..we were the only half way decent team they faced and one of those ggames was decided on an error. They will stick around and be competitive..ive said that several times but to think they will win the division based on this hot start is a bit premature…
The schedule will balance out eventually, but it certainly isn't in May. The Mets have just as brutal a month as anyone will have all year in May. 1 off day, and its a travel day from the west coast to Boston. Brilliant!
Oh well. at least we're not Washington Nationals fans. first in war, first in peace.. and last in the national league
Glad they signed zimmerman. solid player
Lidge was really pitching bad Saturday night. I guess Charlie thought getting out of the top of 9th tied wasn't the end of the world considering what was Brad's command, and we had the active leader for pinch hit home runs coming up in the bottom of the 9th.
I'm actually glad it has happened this early in the season. Its nice to now wash our hands of the WFC 08 and know we have a new season to compete in, we can't just ride last years coattails. With this tough division they really need to refocus and start playing better baseball (they are 5-6, omg the season is over!!!)
Darn good thing we didn't go after that rotten Ibanez!
Why? Because he can hit homers in that bandbox? Or because we didn't have enough lefties on the team already?
Pretty sure he's hitting them out of the Band Box, too. Frankly, he's flat out hitting, but then we knew he could.
Anyway, I'm only being half-serious. Not like I was dying for him. I was for ManRam.
i guess you missed the whole offseason then….omar tried his best to get ibanez here but he decided to go to philly.
Yeah, that's doesn't make much sense, considering Ibanez is a NYer and originally wanted to play here. It's all in how you deal, but, again, and let me stress this, so that you get the point: I really am not lamenting NOT GETTING Ibanez.
Seriously, who thought the Marlins would suffer a bit of a let down this weekend? They were playing the Nats, right? I fully expected them to take at least 2 f 3 from the Nats.
Has anyone seen that BP this year? It's starting to make ours from a year ago look not so bad….
lol whos teh nats or braves….
Good point. And actually, the Phils BP hasn't been too stellar either. We definitely have the better BP, hands down.
Definitely. I think we have one of the best BP in NL.
45 mill over 5 years is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but you have to think that somewhere in Zimmerman's mind he wants to get out of there. He just has absolutely no protection in that lineup. Kind of a shame casue he could be a real star, but doesn't get the attention he deserves on that team.
he gave away at least two years of free agency with this deal, very similar to Wright's deal in terms of service time and years. I guess he doesn't mind DC all that much.
so we can get pimped like the dodgers right…..
All my respects to Harry Kalas. Just a question – Did they actually have his funeral at Citizen's Bank Park?
They had a memorial at CBP. The private funeral took place later.
This is something that the Mets should do. Beat the teams that they should beat like the Nats or Padres or Brewers, etc… They had trouble doing that last year.
Yes he does have lots of talent. I wish he would hit 50 HRs and 150 RBIs this year. He's in my fantasy team lol
Trust me I've been there. I actually had him a couple of years ago and he had a decent year, but fantasy wise he isn't going to give you the #'s he is capable with that lineup. I stay away…then again I've solved that problem with Longoria, so I'm cool with how it played out. Haha.
I agree. I don't think they'll win the division, but they'll be competitive. They have good nuclear of young talents. Their defense is terrible though.
agreed. That is something they have to do a better job at.
Hope McCann is okay. I hate the Braves as much as anybody – but having potential vision problems just sucks. That isn't a blown knee….it's seeing!!!
The Marlins are 11-1. They have 150 games left to play. If they play .500 ball the rest of the way (75-75), they will finish with 86 wins.
Now someone tell me fast starts are not important.
Some more tidbits……
If the Mets win 3 games every turn in the rotation (5 games) they will play .600 and finish with 96 wins. The Mets need to sweep St. Louis to get back on the pace, or go 5 – 1 against St. Louis and the Nationals.
David Wright has 4 RBIs. Three of them came on one swing against the Padres in the Citi Field Opener.
The combined records of the Mets first four (Reds, Marlins, Padres, Brewers) opponents is 30-18
Take out the Marlins and it's 19 – 17.
Against other teams (minus the Mets) the four teams are combined 24 – 12
Take out the Marins and it's 15 – 12
The Mets lead the Majors in most one-run games. 7 out of the 12 games played have been one run ball games.
The Mets are 3-4 in one run games.
The Mets have had 5 games in which they have scored less than 5 runs. They are 2-3 in those games.
Likewise the Mets are only 4 – 3 in games where they score 5 runs or more.
At this rate the Mets are going to have to sweep the Nationals next weekend just to keep pace with the rest of the division.
Just like at the end of last year,when Washington beat them twice,including shutting them out 1-0?That didn't work out too good for the Mets last year,or better yet for last few years,winning when you HAVE to win.
This is going to be a long and agonizing season …………………. THANK YOU, FRED WILPON FOR HAVING THE VISIONARY FORSIGHT TO NOT INCLUDE ANYTHING REGARDING METS HISTORY AND TRADITION AND FOR NOT ALLOWING OMAR TO PURSUE AND SIGN MANNY RAMIREZ OR DERICK LOWE.
As Archie Bunker once said, "Patience is a virgin."