ntpw - lower case edition

the heart says playoffs, the head says golf course

Turners 4, Nats 0

Nats downed by the "franchise" Andruw Jones and rookie sensation Jorge Sosa.

Sosa scattered six hits, didn't walk a batter, and only allowed two runners as far as second base. He did it by throwing 74 of his 99 pitches for strikes. He started off 24 of 29 batters with a strike.

Texans 7, Brewskies 5

In my years of playing Diamond Mind Baseball, I wish I'd had a player like Craig Biggio. He's from Long Island, y'know.

"Obviously, 600 doubles is a heck of a lot of doubles," Biggio said. "I am real proud of it. I remember hitting 500 at home, and who knows if you are ever going to get to 600?"

Flippers 7, Phailers 6

The Florida Marlins relied on four rookie pitchers and an injured catcher to get an important win.

If only the Nats could.

Budweisers 4, Metsies 2

Tavarez said he didn't hit Piazza [on the head] on purpose.

Meh.

Wild card: Biggio
Busted flush: Pat Burrell (0-fer and 8 left on)

At the start of play today:

                W  L  GB GL
  Houston      74 65  -- 21
  Florida      76 65 0.5 20
  Philadelphia 74 68 2.5 20
  Washington   73 70 4.0 19
  NY Mets      70 72 6.5 20

Pitching today:

Turners (Smoltz) at Nats (Starter by committee)
Texans (Oswalt) at Brewskies (journeyman Rick Helling)
Flippers (Valdez) at Phailers (Lieber)
Metsies (Pedro) at Budweisers (Matt Morris)

Best case: Rasnett/Ingmar Bergmann/Rauch toss a shoutout
Worst case: Hondo's upper deck seat has company