Ricky Nolasco

As it stands right now, the Colorado Rockies are 4.5 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants in the National League Wild Card race. The Rockies have been a bit of a surprise team this season, after an unimpressive '08 campaign and the loss of Matt Holliday during the offseason. They've thrived after the firing of Clint Hurdle, as Jim Tracy has pushed the right buttons, rarely ever taking a misstep.

Continue reading "Have the Rockies locked up the NL Wild Card?"

ter his next pitch to Baker left the yard for a solo home run, and his 1-2 pitch to Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco chased Endy Chavez to the warning track to make the catch, Manuel and Warthen decided they had seen enough, and pulled Maine in favor of Carlos Muniz.  Maine is listed as day-to-day with shoulder stiffness, and Warthen said he was most concerned that Maine might develop further injuries if he tried to compensate in his delivery to protect his shoulder.  In all likelihood Maine will miss a start in order to rest his shoulder, and hopefully pitch again next week.  After the game Manuel was adamant that Maine will not pitch through any pain.

Continue reading "Mets Fried By Fish, Maine Leaves Early"

the Mets open a three-game series in Florida Monday night against the Marlins.  John Maine and Ricky Nolasco are the scheduled starters.

Game of the Week

    The best game of this past week was the series opener between the Red Sox and Yankees at Fenway Park.  This duel between Joba Chamberlain and Josh Beckett was one of the best pitched games of the season.  It was a statement game for Chamberlain, who scattered three hits and struck out nine over seven shutout innings.  The only run of the game was scored in the third inning, when Jason Giambi grounded an infield single to the left side of second base, scoring Bobby Abreu from third.  The only reason shortstop Jed Lowrie couldn't come up with the easy grounder was that the Red Sox infield was playing the overexaggerated shift on the pull-happy Giambi.  Beckett pitched an excellent game of his own, allowing just the one run over seven innings.  The Red Sox mounted a rally off Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth, but Joe Girardi brought Mariano Rivera in with one out to record a five-out save.  He struck out Jacoby Elsbury and got Dustin Pedroia on a come-backer to hold the 1-0 lead.  Mo was at his best in the ninth, striking out Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew to close out the game.

Continue reading "Santana Goes the Distance, Mets Stay Hot"