NL East

Alex Cora and Jon Niese, I tell you. I actually missed tonight’s game, but was watching updates, and when I heard Cora hit a bases-clearing triple, I had to see how legit it was. It was pretty dang legit.

Niese had a heck of a start, allowing one run (a home run by Josh Willingham in the seventh) and striking out a career high of eight batters. He is now 5-0 since returning from the disabled list. Here are a few notes:

In this era of expansion, no pitcher is ever too old or too arm-worn not to get one more chance.  The Nationals have reportedly signed 44-year-old Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez to a minor-league contract.

El Duque has pitched all of 26.2 minor league innings the last two seasons combined, but in fairness, he’s pitched pretty well (30 Ks and great ratios).  It will interesting to see if he has enough left to work his way back up to the majors.

The Philadelphia Phillies were hoping for the best case scenario with star second baseman Chase Utley, but on Thursday they got the worst case scenario.

The Phillies placed Utley on the 15-day DL on Wednesday with a strained ligament in his right thumb. They were hoping that he would only be out a couple of weeks, but after Thursday’s events he will be out more than just a couple of weeks.

Utley had surgery yesterday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb and is expected to miss the next eight weeks. That is a big blow to Phillies.

As if the 2010 version of the Philadelphia Phillies wasn't aggravating enough, the thinned-down and beaten up version of the Phillies is enough to drive a man insane.

Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley, J.A. Happ, Ryan Madson, Brad Lidge, and others have all seen time on the bench or the DL. In fact, the only guy to see time in every game this season has been Ryan Howard—that's it. One guy.

http://mymetsjournal.blogspot.com/2010/07/not-again.html?spref=tw

Joe Petruccio has done an EXCELLENT job this year on recording each game in art afterwards. Check it out!

The New York Mets are coming off of a series loss against the Marlins in Puerto Rico, but they did win the final game. Now they head to Washington D.C. on little rest for a four-game series against the Nationals. Courtesy of NewYorkMets on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/NewYorkMets/status/17516245075 here is tonight’s Mets lineup, with some notes from me:

It’s been reported that the Giants will be sending about $2 million along with Bengie Molina to Texas, which means the Giants got almost nothing for him unless Chris Ray ends up surprising almost everyone.

The Mets are in a rain delay. The earliest they will start is 8:00pm, but I suspect an 8:15 or 8:30 start.

Updated at 7:06pm:

Tonight’s game is currently scheduled to start at 7:15 due to a rain delay, but the tarp is back out there and it might start later.

Updated at 6:12pm:

So where are the Washington Nationals headed?

Just a couple of months ago, the team was five games over .500 and seemed both ready and able to remain competitive until Stephen Strasburg joined the squad and Jason Marquis, Chien-Ming Wang, Jordan Zimmermann, and Ross Detwiler regained their health.

The Nationals could then move some of their surplus starters into the bullpen and trade away the rest for players who could plug some of the holes on the 25-man roster.

With the 2010 MLB All-Star Game in Anaheim right around the corner, a lot of the buzz is being centered around the games brightest young star, Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals.  Just like every other hot topic in sports, everybody has an opinion on whether or not Strasburg should be named to the N.L. squad for this year's midsummer classic. 

A good debate should have strong arguments for both sides, and this debate doesn't disappoint.