Dillon Gee struggled early on and Ian Kennedy shut down the Mets offense most of the way, as they fell to the Diamondbacks 4-3 on Friday night. Gee gave up four runs over the first two innings, including embarrassing back to back RBI doubles to Cody Ransom and the pitcher Ian Kennedy, to put the good guys in a quick hole. The Mets managed three sympathy runs to make this look closer than it actually was, but all in all, it was a pretty quiet loss for the Mets, who fell to two games under .500 with the defeat.
Game two of this series takes place on Saturday evening at 8:10. For the Mets, it'll be Mike Pelfrey taking the ball, while Daniel Hudson will oppose him for the Diamondbacks.
David Wright has cooled down considerably since his initial hot streak at the end of July. Let's just hope for the offense's sake that this is natural regression catching up and that he'll heat up again soon.Angel Pagan's back is okay enough for him to play. Unfortunately, Ike Davis' ankle is still not okay. The whole Ike Davis Saga is easily one of the most disappointing stories of this Mets season.
Howard Megdal tossed out an interesting trade proposal: Jason Bay to the White Sox for Jake Peavy. Very interesting idea as the years, money owed and level of risk for both teams seems to line up pretty well.
In case you missed it, R.A. Dickey has joined Twitter, furthering the legend that is Robert Allen Dickey. I will be quite impressed if R.A. utilizes the #DickeyBePraised or #GospelOfDickey tags.
Around the NL East
The Nationals beat the Phillies 4-2 in Philly, as Livan Hernandez somehow outdueled Cole Hamels, while also contributing a pair of RBI singles. Some good news for the Nats, as Stephen Strasburg struck out 5 batters over 3 scoreless innings for Single A Potomac.
The Braves beat up on the Cubs 10-4 as they rocked Carlos Zambrano for 5 home runs (yes, five) over just 4.1 innings. More on Zambrano down below, but Dan Uggla hit a pair of homers and extended his hitting streak to 32 games in the process. Bobby Cox also had his #6 retired by the Braves before the game.
The Marlins snapped their seven game losing streak, beating the Giants 2-1 in Florida. This was the first meeting between the two teams since Scott Cousins broke Buster Posey's ankle by crashing into him at home plate and thankfully, there were no fireworks. Let's see what happens the next two days.
Around the Majors
Carlos Zambrano's pitching prowess may be deteriorating, but his craziness never seems to wane. After allowing 5 home runs in 4+ innings to the Braves, Zambrano threw in tight to Chipper Jones twice in the same at bat and was tossed from the game after the second inside pitch. Upon his ejection, Zambrano went into the clubhouse, cleared out his locker and disappeared from the stadium, claiming he was (once again) considering retirement. Yeesh. Sadly, the Cubs are probably crossing their fingers, hoping that he will actually stick to his word and retire.
CC Sabathia also allowed 5 homers in his start but luckily, he left the antics to Mr. Zambrano. Alex Rodriguez hit a home run in his first rehab at bat.
Finally, Zack Greinke continues to roll for the red-hot Brewers, as they beat the Pirates on Friday. Greinke's ERA may be a bit inflated, but the process is certainly correct. 143 strikeouts (11.27 K/9) against just 26 walks over 114.2 innings is certainly getting it done.