Four Teams in NL Wild Card Race
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by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Four Teams Still in NL Wild Card Race
Having missed out on the news that the Arizona Diamondbacks have clinched the wild card spot in NL, the following article may have some incorrect info. So, anyone with the correct info is welcome to edit this article.
The San Diego Padres are one game ahead in NL wild card race with the Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, and the Philadelphia Phillies one game behind. All the Padres have to do is win, but that may not be easy with Brett Tomko (4-11) on the mound in their most crucial game of the season. Jeff Suppan (11-12) will start for the Milwaukee Brewers and try to spoil the 2007 season for the Padres in a scenario where they would not win the NL West or the NL wild card.
I was watching the end of the Brewers-Padres game on Fox yesterday and the Padres had all the ingredients for a wild card clinching win with the all time saves leader in Trevor Hoffman on the mound and was one strike away from getting Tony Gwynn Jr. out when Gwynn hit a game tying double that sent the game into extra innings. Two unlikely heroes emerged from the contest in Mitch Stetter winning his first major league game and Vinny Rottino driving in the winning run in the 4-3 win in eleven innings.
With the way the Brewers celebrated, you would have thought they were going to the playoffs. If only they could have won on Friday night, the game could have meant something, but the Cubs won on Saturday. So, even with a win on Friday night, they would have been out of the NL Central race. They did have something to celebrate in that the win insured the Brewers of having a winning season for the first time in fifteen years.
Phillies, Mets Tied in NL East Both Second in Wild Card Race
The Philadelphia Phillies lost and the New York Mets won on the next to last day of the season, allowing the Mets to tie the Phillies for first place in the NL East race and insuring an exciting day of baseball for their fans. John Maine (15-10) pitched the Mets to a 13-0 win over the Florida Marlins allowing only one hit for the third time this season in a game in which he pitched at least seven innings. Maine struck out 14 batters for a season high. He had struck out nine in two other games this season. The win ended a five game losing streak and Tom Glavine (13-7) will be on the mound today against the disappointing Dontrelle Willis (10-15), as the Mets hope to keep the momentum they gained from the blowout win yesterday.
The Phillies lost to the Nationals who played the part of the spoiler again defeating the Phillies 4-2 and allowing only six hits. Ryan Howard has hit home runs in his last three games and has homered in four of his last five. Through the first sixteen days of September, Howard had only hit two home runs, but since then has hit eight home runs, including his 46th yesterday. In my estimation the Phillies have three MVP candidates in Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Chase Utley because they couldn't be where they are today without any one of those three players.
Jamie Moyer (13-12) takes the mound for the Phillies today against Jason Bergmann (6-5) and Bergmann has held righthanded hitters to a .199 average but since Howard and Utley are lefthanded hitters and Rollins is a switch hitter that should not matter against the Phillies.
I have to hand it to Mark Redman after he pitched five innings and allowing no earned runs. Yesterday, I had questioned the wisdom of starting Redman in such a crucial game but he proved me wrong and was the winning pitcher in the 11-1 rout by the Rockies over the Diamondbacks. Troy Tulowitzki hit a grand slam, giving him 24 home runs this season. He needs two RBIs today to reach 100 RBI mark.
After the way Redman pitched, I won't question the Diamondbacks for starting Yusmeiro Petit (3-4) today against Ubaldo Jiminez (4-4).
By the end of today, baseball fans should have seen one of the most exciting finishes to a season ever, with two divisions and the wild card up for grabs in the National League. There is also a chance for a tiebreaking situation but won't go into that since that may not be necessary.
Last Day of Season Goals
Matt Holliday takes a slim one point margin over Chipper Jones in the NL batting race, hitting .340 to .339 by Jones. Holliday has a 2 RBI lead over Ryan Howard going into the last day of season with 135 while Howard has 133. Hanley Ramirez needs one home run to join the 30-30 club and could join David Wright, Jimmy Rollins and Brandon Phillips who have already gained admittance to the exclusive club. Placido Polanco needs one hit today to be the eighth player with 200 hits this season. Bobby Abreu, Adrian Beltre and Jose Guillen need one RBI today to have 100 RBIs this season. 28 players already have 100 RBI's this season. Aaron Rowand needs one RBI today to give the Phillies five players with 90 or more RBI's which shows why Phillies lead NL in RBI's with 844 which is 34 more than the second place Rockies with 810.
