Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman spoke for a franchise when asked about the latest exam to be performed on Stephen Strasburg's valuable right arm. "I'm very anxious about that," Riggleman said. Thursday was a day of suspense at Nationals Park as the 22-year-old right-hander underwent his second MRI in less than a week. Read more..
With three straight wins in Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled themselves back into the NL wild-card race. Casey Blake hit a two-run homer and six Dodgers pitchers combined on a two-hitter as Los Angeles beat the Brewers 7-1 Thursday for a three-game sweep. "We've been saying all along, first let's try to put something together and then we'll see where we are," Dodgers... Read more..
Padres right-hander Chris Young has thrown another simulated game as he works his way back from a shoulder injury with the goal of pitching again this season. The 6-foot-10 Young threw 55 pitches in three innings Thursday before the NL West leaders hosted the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks. Young says he felt better as the simulated game progressed. Read more..
Jordan Zimmermann has been recalled by the Washington Nationals to make his first major league start of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals. Zimmermann returned to the big leagues Thursday, just more than a year after having elbow ligament replacement surgery. He last pitched for the Nationals on July 18, 2009, and had the operation on Aug. Read more..
There's something about the Phillies that brings out the best in the Houston Astros. Wandy Rodriguez pitched seven sharp innings, Carlos Lee homered and the Astros beat the Phillies 5-1 Thursday to complete their first four-game sweep in Philadelphia in 11 years. "Houston has been a team that for years has given us problems," Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. Read more..
LLOYD ELSMORE - Some sloppy defensive plays, a lack of all around intensity, and their manager wasn't happy with the entire display, saying afterward that he would have a "serious" team meeting to discuss it all.
The long and the short of it now is that because of their 19-1 loss to Howick on Friday morning at Lloyd Elsmore Baseball Park, the Wildcats must defeat IPC on Friday afternoon, and Canterbury on Saturday evening at 5pm, to survive in the BNZ National Club Championships.
Win and they're heading to the final. Lose and they go home.
"I don't want to talk about what we should have done and so forth. That doesn't help," West City manager Ken Sommers said when asked about his team's play against its rival. "The team itself will have to have a serious meeting and then we'll have another chance to play. Other than that, I'm not thinking anything. The most important thing is the next two games. We must win.
"And what we did wrong, I don't want to talk about it right now."
Howick moves on to take on Canterbury and IPC in tomorrow’s round robin matches. The finals are on Sunday.
The defending champions, West City, have reached this juncture because of some wildness by starter Matt Mills and some poor play from usually steady field.
Howick, which is 1-0 in the tournament has defeated West City twice in their four meetings this year. The teams have met six times in the Nationals and Howick are 2-4, although five years ago, West City eliminated Howick in a semifinal game on its way to winning the inaugural Nationals title.
On the field, an uncharacteristically off-kilter first inning for West City led to the first three Howick runs and essentially put the game out of reach.
Mills was behind in the count early and the usually solid West City defense struggled for the 26-year-old right-hander.
