Viva LaRoche! Nats Beat White Sox Behind 4 Homers

White Sox 7, Nationals 8

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
White Sox	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	2		7	11	1
Nationals	0	0	0	1	1	4	1	1	x		8	13	0

Read the full box score at ESPN

Adam LaRoche was stuck in a rut.  He hadn't gotten a hit in his first fifteen at bats this season.  But on Tuesday night at Nats Park, after missing 2 straight games with a sore back, the slugger crushed his first two hits of the season, both homeruns, in a 8-7 win over the Chicago White Sox.

(A character from an HBO show joined the President's Race...lame...)

Gio Gonzalez started for the Nationals, but struggled early on raising his pitch count.  Much to his dismay, Captain Hook yanked Gio after 5 innings at 99 pitches.  Gio only gave up 1 earned run, on a bases loaded balk, and struck out 7.

Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Bryce Harper, and Adam LaRoche aptly named by FP as Murderer's Row

The Nats were in great position with a 6-2 lead heading into the 7th inning but Tyler Clippard gave up 3 runs and made the game much closer than it should be.  The Nats picked up insurance runs in the 7th and 8th, and Rafael Soriano came on in the 9th to seal the 8-5 victory.  Instead the new closer gave up a 2 run homer to Alex Rios and walked the game winning run before closing the game for his 3rd save of the season.

The Nationals finished the game with 4 homers, all big.  Ian Desmond a solo shot in the 5th, Jayson Werth (with a new walk-up song) hit a 2 run homer in the 6th, and LaRoche added one a few batters later in the 6th for his first hit of the season.  Bob Carpenter (continuing the hits) was so excited he exclaimed, "VIVA LAROCHE!" as the ball cleared the centerfield wall.

Later, in the 8th inning, LaRoche belted a second homer.

"He's baaaack!" - FP Santangelo

The Nats are now 5-2 with another 2 games against the White Sox starting tomorrow at 7...

Nats Blow Lead, Beat Reds In Extras

Nationals 7, Reds 6 (11 Innings)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11		R	H	E
Nationals	0	0	2	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	2		7	10	3
Reds	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	2	0	1		6	13	0

Read the full box score at MLB

Tim McClelland Just Called Strike 3...

The Nats bounced back from an embarrassing 15-0 loss on Friday to defeat the Reds 7-6 in an 11 inning affair on Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati.  Ian Desmond and Wilson Ramos hit 2 big time homeruns (watch at bottom) in the 11th inning to help the Nats make up for a blown save in the 9th inning by Rafael Soriano.

With Ross Detwiler set up for the win after 6 innings of 1 hit ball and a 5-3 lead, the Reds scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th to stun the Nats and new closer Rafael Soriano.  But the Nats fought off the adversity, taking home the win in extras.

Great American Ballpark once again showed why it is one of the toughest parks on pitchers as the Nationals hit 5 homeruns in the contest. (Cincinnati hit 7 the night before).  Bryce Harper hit a 2 run shot in the 3rd inning, Wilson Ramos hit a 2 run shot in the 6th inning, Werth hit a solo shot in the 7th, and then Desmond and Ramos homered in the 11th to seal the victory.

Man With Baby Catches Jayson Werth's Homerun Ball (FP: "That is impressive...just don't drop the kid")

With the score 5-2 in the bottom of the 8th with the tying run at the plate, Davey Johnson let Drew Storen fight through the situation.  An Ian Desmond error allowed a run to score and a terrible throw by Bryce Harper who tried to throw out a guy at home who had already scored, allowed the runners to advance and the tying run to stand on 2nd base.  Storen stepped up and struck out Xavier Paul to end the danger and the inning.

But in the bottom of the 9th, the collapse was completed.  Sin-Soo Choo lead off the inning with a homer, and then Joey Votto hit a triple off the wall and scored on a wild pitch.  It was Rafael Soriano's first blown save of the season.

Craig Stammen pitched the 10th and 11th innings giving up a run, but taking home the win.

One of the most interesting plays of the game was a Bryce Harper single up the middle.  Reds shortstop Zack Cozart came across the infield and booted the grounder, the ball rolling a few feet away right in the 1st-2nd baseline.  Bryce Harper hustled to first base, then took a big turn around the bag, considering trying to take 2nd base on the play.  Only Bryce.

The Nats and Reds meet again on Sunday afternoon...

Nationals, Teenage Mutant Ninja Hurlers Shirts

Here's a shirt that the Nats players are possibly wearing at Spring Training.  Google puts a date of January on this, so I don't think that this was randomly created today.

If this is the same shirt as described above, the players are Rafael Soriano, Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard, and Craig Stammen I believe.  I can't tell anything from this picture, lol.  Heroes On The Half Street!

Nats shirt created by @ambp77 (See links below)

You can get this shirt online here for $30 bucks.

Allan (@ambp77) first created the Photoshop for Tumblr then sent Ross Detwiler the image to create shirts.  It appears that Ross created the shirts, and a cause for minor buzz before a Spring Training game.  I suggest you see the other photoshops of Nats players at his Tumblr, they are awesome.

VIDEO: A Quick Look At Rafael Soriano, New Washington National

We take just one minute to look at what the deal is with Rafael Soriano, who was acquired by the Nationals from the New York Yankees on Tuesday afternoon.  Check it out!

Nationals Sign Rafael Soriano And His Untucked Shirt

According to everyone on the recently exploded Twitter, and the Washington Post, the Nationals have picked up Yankees closer Rafael Soriano.  The online reaction seems to be "WTF" and over the next couple days you will hear everyones opinion.

Storen?...Clippard?...left handers?...cash money?...lots of questions...

The deal is done, and if you want more info on that check out the link above.  But for now, lets take a look at our favorite part of sports, the weird stuff that has nothing to do with the game.

Whenever Soriano gets the final out and the save, he untucks his shirt.  Oooh.  Ahhhh.  Check it out:

I'm down with the shirt untucking.  I'm very anti-tuck.