Gäste Forum » hitting streak still in play for St. Louis got ext

MIAMI -- The Miami Marlins are getting a key player back from the injured list on Monday, although its virtually too late for their playoff chances.The Washington Nationals (88-61) are also trying to get healthy.But the big difference is that the National League East-leading Nationals, who open a three-game series at Marlins Park on Monday, are a sure-fire playoff club and the health status of their players truly matters.Key among those players is right-hander Stephen Strasburg (15-4, 3.60 ERA), who has been out with an elbow injury he suffered on Sept. 7. Strasburg tossed a ball -- lightly -- this weekend for the first time since he got hurt.Strasburg, who has already tied a career high this season with his 15 wins, is needed at the top of the rotation if the Nationals can realistically be expected to make a postseason run.The 28-year-old Strasburg has a 1.10 WHIP, and batters are hitting just .218 against him.While waiting for Strasburg, the Nationals got good news on Sunday when right-hander Joe Ross came off the disabled list.The 23-year-old Ross, who hadnt pitched since July 2 because of a shoulder injury, allowed five hits and one run in three innings against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. He struck out five.Hes sort of on a spring training schedule right now, Nationals manager Dusty Baker told media members in Atlanta. Lets see how his arm feels before we increase his workload.While Strasburg recuperates and Ross works on getting extended, Washington will start right-hander A.J. Cole (1-2, 4.71) at Miami. It will be his first career start against the Marlins.As for the Marlins (74-75), left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (5-4, 4.99) is set to return off the disabled list to start Mondays game. This will be Chens first appearance since July 20 when he sprained his left elbow.Chen, who replaces rookie Jake Esch in the rotation and moves ace Jose Fernandez back one extra day, will likely be restricted by a pitch count, somewhere around 80.Meanwhile, Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who suffered a severe groin injury on Aug. 13, returned as a pinch hitter on Sept. 6. On Friday at the Philadelphia Phillies, he played the field for the first time since his injury.Stanton is expected to be back as a starter on Monday as the Marlins are being careful not to overwork him.In Fridays game, he batted second in the order for the first time since 2008, when he played for Class A Greensboro.The reason he hit second was that Marlins manager Don Mattingly, who restricted Stanton to six innings in what became a 4-3 loss in 13 innings, wanted his slugger to get as many at-bats as possible while he was out there.Stanton went 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored before being replaced by Ichiro Suzuki.Were not out of it, Stanton told media members in Philadelphia this past weekend when asked about the playoff race. Its not going to be easy, but the opportunity is there. As long as I can help, thats what Im here for.Despite Stantons claims, the Marlins were officially eliminated from NL East title contention on Saturday, and their chances of securing a wild-card playoff berth are less than one percent, according to projections.In other storylines:-- Nationals rookie center fielder Trea Turner, a converted shortstop who was the San Diego Padres first-round pick in 2014, continues to be on a remarkable roll.On Saturday, he became the first player in franchise history to post four hits, two steals and score four runs in one game. He is hitting .355 for the season.-- Nationals star right fielder Bryce Harper, a four-time All-Star and an NL MVP last year, had been hitless in his past 17 at-bats before getting a single in his final at-bat on Sunday. He is batting .243 this season.-- The Marlins probably regret not trading for Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson when they had the chance -- according to reports -- at the deadline in July. Hellickson beat the Marlins with a three-hit shutout on Saturday and is 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA in six starts against Miami this season.Instead of Hellickson, the Marlins traded away their top hitting prospect and a possible future closer to get right-hander Andrew Cashner, who has been a disaster with Miami. He has a 5.27 ERA this season and lasted just four innings on Sunday, allowing three runs.Hellickson, who is 12-9 this year with a 3.57 ERA, is a free agent after this season. Perhaps the Marlins can acquire him this winter to make up for their non-move on him in July.Wholesale Black Friday Shoes .Y. -- Leading 3-0 with only 11:25 left, the Colorado Avalanche committed a seemingly meaningless penalty to give the New York Islanders a power play. Black Friday Shoes Sale . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net. https://www.shoesblackfriday.com/ . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. Black Friday Shoes China . The Hall of Fame defenceman told Landsberg that he believes fighting still has a place in todays game, but thinks staged fighting needs be outlawed. Fake Black Friday Shoes . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July.CINCINNATI - Four Cardinals have hitting streaks of at least eight games. Another leads the NL in batting average. Overall, theyre the best in the league at hitting in the clutch. Its some formidable offence. And when they play their biggest rival, they really dont need all that much, anyway. Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings for his ninth win, and every Cardinals starter had a hit in a 9-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night that gave St. Louis a four-game lead in the NL Central, its biggest of the season. Yes, its early. But yes, its impressive. "They just get in the habit of grinding at-bats and not giving any away and realizing theres money on the table out there," manager Mike Matheny said. Oh, and the pitchings been as good as it gets, too. Wainwright (9-3) gave up two runs and seven hits as the Cardinals improved the major leagues best record to 40-21. Things are going so well that they try to ignore how theyve started to give themselves a little room atop the division. "The cardinal sin — something we should never do and have done in the past — is look up at the scoreboard and try to figure out where they are," Wainwright said. "Its June. Well look at those things later in the season." On this June night, they had everything going. Slumping Pete Kozma drove in three runs, David Freese and Jon Jay knocked in two apiece, and four Cardinals extended long hitting streaks against a pitching staff in a downturn. Mike Leake (5-3) lasted only five innings for the Reds, who have given up 26 runs while losing their last three games. St. Louis scored six of its runs with two outs, one of their hallmarks this season. "Thats when they usually do their damage," manager Dusty Baker said. "Id like to find out their secret and bottle it." The NL Central rivalry has fallen into a pattern lately — the second-place Reds cant score many runs. Theyve scored two or fewer in their last six games against the Cardinals, the first time thats happened since 1974, the year before the Big Red Machine won its first World Series. St. Louis has won the last four series between the teams and is 5-2 against Cincinnati this season. A day after the Cardinnals hit five homers for a 12-8 win over Arizona, they put together five singles in the fourth inning for all the runs theyd really need.dddddddddddd The Cardinals came into the game with four players on noteworthy hitting streaks. Three of them extended their streaks during the three-run rally. Carlos Beltran led off with a single that gave him an eight-game streak. Allen Craig pushed his run to 11 games with another hit, completing a 12-pitch at-bat against Leake. Freese extended the longest active streak in the majors with an RBI single, giving him a career-best 17-game streak. Jon Jay and Kozma — in a 3-for-33 rut — followed with singles for a 3-0 lead. When runners were in scoring position, the Cardinals delivered. "I dont really see what we do different other than we get hits when we need them," said Kozma, who tied his career high with the three RBIs. That was plenty for Wainwright, who had only one tough at-bat in the first five innings. Shin-Soo Choo drew a base on balls on his 12th pitch from Wainwright, who has walked only seven batters all season. Jay Bruces RBI single ended Wainwrights shutout in the sixth. The only long hitting streak still in play for St. Louis got extended during a four-run sixth inning off Logan Ondrusek. Jay doubled home another run, Kozma doubled in two more, and Matt Carpenters RBI single made it 7-0 and extended his streak to a career-best 16 games. Yadier Molina doubled and singled, raising the NLs top batting average a point to .352. NOTES: St. Louis is 21-9 on the road, best in the majors. ... The Reds optioned RH Pedro Villarreal back to Triple-A Louisville, opening the way for LH Tony Cingrani to make a start next week for the injured Johnny Cueto. Villarreal struggled in his emergency start on Wednesday, a 12-4 loss to Colorado. ... Switch-hitting INF Henry Rodriguez was called up. ... 2B Brandon Phillips was back in the lineup after missing four games with a bruised left forearm. ... LH Tyler Lyons (2-1) makes his third start for the Cardinals on Saturday against Mat Latos (5-0), who has won his last nine decisions. Its the longest winning streak by a Reds pitcher since reliever Scott Sullivan won 10 straight decisions from 2001-02. ' ' '