Daily Heat: NL mild-card race stalls. - The Postgame Pub

**cruzg24** · 09-17-2008, 04:21 PM

That’s quite a wild-card race the National League is conducting – the Mets, Brewers and Astros within three games of each other, all of them coasting through losing streaks of at least three games.
Odalis Perez hasn’t thrown a shutout in six years, but came within six outs of one Tuesday night in Washington, and remember when Jerry Manuel’s most pressing concern was the bullpen? Well, it still is. But, his lineup has scored 13 runs in five games (against such luminous adversaries as Mike Hampton, Jorge Campillo, John Lannan and, yes, Perez), the Mets have lost four of them and now they’ve lost Fernando Tatis for the season. The Mets give the ball to right-hander Brandon Knight, who, at 32, makes the second start of his career Wednesday night in D.C.

The Brewers did the unthinkable in Chicago, losing a CC Sabathia start for the first time. They are scoring fewer than three runs a game in their five-game losing streak, meaning their Monday managerial switch resulted in nothing but the Sveum ol’, Sveum ol’. Crazy, but Sabathia and Ben Sheets haven’t won on consecutive nights since Aug. 8 and 9. Sheets goes Wednesday night in Chicago with an awful lot riding on the outcome. The Brewers on Thursday afternoon get Rich Harden, who hasn’t lost since July and has a 1.80 ERA at Wrigley. A smattering of September batting averages: Mike Cameron .111, Corey Hart .164, Jason Kendall .191, J.J. Hardy .194, Ryan Braun .196. Uh-oh …
After leaving the free-falling Cardinals behind, the Astros have lost three consecutive games while being outscored 16-2. They were no-hit in one (Carlos Zambrano), nearly no-hit in the second (Ted Lilly) and, clear of Cubs pitchers, exploded for a double and three singles in eight innings Tuesday night against Marlins right-hander Chris Volstad. And one more September batting average to consider: Lance Berkman .171.

Sources: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

**cruzg24** · 09-17-2008, 04:25 PM

Whoever gets hot in this week and a half will win the Wild Card obviously. It will primarily center around who can beat the Cubs more. The mets have a 4 game series against the Cubs, the Brewers face the Cubs 5 more times. As for the Astros, they will have a pretty light schedule playing the Reds and Pirates, finishing off with a makeup game against the Cubs.

09-17-2008, 04:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
cruzg24 PGP Moderator Join Date: May 2008 Location: New York Posts: 2,705 vCash: 32419 Donate My Blog: Frontpage Stardom PSN Gamertag: cruztoro24 Blog Entries: 10 Rep Power: 60 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 2	Daily Heat: NL mild-card race stalls. That’s quite a wild-card race the National League is conducting – the Mets, Brewers and Astros within three games of each other, all of them coasting through losing streaks of at least three games. Odalis Perez hasn’t thrown a shutout in six years, but came within six outs of one Tuesday night in Washington, and remember when Jerry Manuel’s most pressing concern was the bullpen? Well, it still is. But, his lineup has scored 13 runs in five games (against such luminous adversaries as Mike Hampton, Jorge Campillo, John Lannan and, yes, Perez), the Mets have lost four of them and now they’ve lost Fernando Tatis for the season. The Mets give the ball to right-hander Brandon Knight, who, at 32, makes the second start of his career Wednesday night in D.C. The Brewers did the unthinkable in Chicago, losing a CC Sabathia start for the first time. They are scoring fewer than three runs a game in their five-game losing streak, meaning their Monday managerial switch resulted in nothing but the Sveum ol’, Sveum ol’. Crazy, but Sabathia and Ben Sheets haven’t won on consecutive nights since Aug. 8 and 9. Sheets goes Wednesday night in Chicago with an awful lot riding on the outcome. The Brewers on Thursday afternoon get Rich Harden, who hasn’t lost since July and has a 1.80 ERA at Wrigley. A smattering of September batting averages: Mike Cameron .111, Corey Hart .164, Jason Kendall .191, J.J. Hardy .194, Ryan Braun .196. Uh-oh … After leaving the free-falling Cardinals behind, the Astros have lost three consecutive games while being outscored 16-2. They were no-hit in one (Carlos Zambrano), nearly no-hit in the second (Ted Lilly) and, clear of Cubs pitchers, exploded for a double and three singles in eight innings Tuesday night against Marlins right-hander Chris Volstad. And one more September batting average to consider: Lance Berkman .171. Sources: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns __________________

09-17-2008, 04:25 PM	#2 (permalink)
cruzg24 PGP Moderator Join Date: May 2008 Location: New York Posts: 2,705 vCash: 32419 Donate My Blog: Frontpage Stardom PSN Gamertag: cruztoro24 Blog Entries: 10 Rep Power: 60 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 2	Re: Daily Heat: NL mild-card race stalls. Whoever gets hot in this week and a half will win the Wild Card obviously. It will primarily center around who can beat the Cubs more. The mets have a 4 game series against the Cubs, the Brewers face the Cubs 5 more times. As for the Astros, they will have a pretty light schedule playing the Reds and Pirates, finishing off with a makeup game against the Cubs. __________________