Another Gem By Gio, Good Grief

The Washington Nationals defeated the San Diego Padres at Petco Field 3-1, behind Gio Gonzalez's third consecutive 2 hit shutout (6 strikeouts tonight).  Nat Gio has now pitched 20 straight scoreless innings and is 2-0 with a 1.53 ERA.  The Nats offense once again struggled, but a few late runs is all you need with the pitching the Nats have.  Three straight wins for the Nasty Nattys.

Not much happened in the first half of the game, but after a balk in the 6th inning the Padres manager Buddy Black went out to the mound pretending to talk to the pitcher, and waited for the umpire to get in some words.  The home plate ump didn't take long to toss him from the game.  However the Nats couldn't take advantage and LaRoche struck out with 2 runners on.  More guys left on base.

Baseball games are so much better with quick working pitchers.  Gio does it for the Nats but typically the other guys work slower.  Love watching Gio games.  He is my favorite player.  He does a lot of laughing and smiling which is odd for a pitcher, but it doesn't seem to get him out of rhythm.  He also gets some good wood on the ball.  He is gonna hit a homer this season.

In the 7th inning after a leadoff double by Xavier Nady and a walk of Wilson Ramos, the Lombard-yard sacrificed both guys into scoring position.  With one out, Chad Tracy came in for Gio Gonzalez ending his 2 hit day, and singled up the middle for 2 RBIs, knocking the Padres starter out of the game and giving the Nats a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom, Stammen came in for Gio, walked the lead batter, gave up a single to the 2nd batter, and Davy J had enough.  Clippard in.  After K'ing the first, Jayson Werth let a base hit bounce under his glove a few feet and not only did the error let a run score, but it put the tying run on 3rd. 2-1 Nats (unearned run)

The next batter ended up with a lot of pick off moves, followed by a stolen base.  In the at bat Kotsay lasted 12 pitches but ended up popping out for the 2nd out.  With runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs Clip got the Dre's to ground out ending the inning as Gio breathed a sigh of relief.  Clippard (5th hold) threw 26 pitches...

With the Nats up in the 9th, Ramos hit a liner to the outfield which was whiffed by the terrible Padres defesne.  Ramos made it to 3rd a 3 base error.  Ankiel came up with 2 outs and hit a base hit right up the middle for the 3-1 lead.

H-Rod came in throwin triple digits and picked up his 5th save.

The Nats pitchers are getting taken out of games due to situational hitting and pitch counts.  The manager isn't leaving them in too long.  The Nats offense on the other hand keeps knocking starters out of the game with late scoring.  A huge advantage in a low scoring game.

The Nats go for their 6th straight series win tomorrow in San Diego for a "day game" 6:30pm...