Nats Fall Short, Wild Pitches Kill

Rockies 4, Nationals 3

The Nationals fell short despite a exciting 9th inning rally and lost to the Rockies 4-3.  Jordan Zimmermann pitched another gem today, going 7 innings of 1 run, 3 hit baseball.  The Rockies got their only run off of J-zimm in the 2nd and the Nats would take the lead in the 4th off an Ian Desmond 2 run homer.

In the 7th, Roger "the Shark" Bernadina came in and reached first base on a 2 out bunt.  He stole second and was driven in by Lombo to get the Nats an insurance run going into the 8th.  That's when the trouble started.

For the first time all season, Burnett didn't seem to have his best stuff.  He gave up a homerun and couldn't record a single out.  He left runners on the corners for a hastly warmed up Mike Gonzalez to deal with.  Gonzo would get out of the inning, but not before a wild pitch brought in the tying run from third.

The wild pitch bug was not gone as T-clip came into the 9th inning to try and keep the game tied.  Clip threw a wild one with Giambi at bat to let the go ahead run come in from third.  The Nats went to the bottom of the inning down by one.

Desmond and Bernadina both managed to reach base, and executed a double steal with two outs to give Jesus Flores a chance to win the game with a base hit.  He did not.  That Nats lost a hot one in DC, J-zimm saw another fantastic start go to waste, and the Nats failed to get to 50 wins before the break.

Still, 49 Wins ain't to shabby though, and the Nats will get some much needed rest this week before continuing their first place campaign into the second half of the schedule.  

Nats Rebound with a Win

Rockies 1, Nationals 4

The Nationals rebounded tonight behind a strong performance from Gio to beat the Rockies 4 to 1.  Gio went 6 innings pitching 1 run baseball, while giving up only 3 hits.  Mattheus, Burnett, and Clippard came in and handled the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning without issue and T-clip earned his 14 save of the season.

Washington took an early lead in the 2nd inning on a Desmond solo shot.  Apparently he has been dealing with an oblique strain and will miss the all star game, but he could have fooled me!  Francis pitched decently, but would leave in the 6th innings, an inning where Espinosa, Harper, and Zimmerman all crossed the plate to make the game 4-1.  

Nat's go out to try and win the series tomorrow afternoon.  Oh yeah, some guy by the name of Bryce was added to the all star roster.  

 

Jackson Shuts Down Birds in B-more

Nationals 3, Orioles 1

Edwin Jackson improved to 4-4 on the year and the Nationals gave themselves to take their three game series in Baltimore with their 3 to 1 victory tonight over the birds.  The Nationals scored twice in the second inning on a throwing error that allowed Morse and LaRoche to cross homeplate. 

That would turn out to be all the run support Jackson would need on the night, as he cruised through 6.1 innings while giving up only 1 run on a homer via Adam Jones in the 7th.  Chen pitched good, but not great as Morse and LaRoche came alive at the plate.  LaRoche notched his 13th homerun of the season in the 4th to give the Nats an extra insurance run.

Ryan Zimmerman continued to look lost at the plate and committed his 4th fielding error at third base this season...Yikes.  The defensive play of the night has got to go to Ian Desmond, who recorded an unassisted double play at second base.

Finally, all is well at the back end of the bullpen as Burnett and T-clip used their 1-2 combo in the 8th and 9th inning to close out the game, Clip's 12th of the season.  The rubber game of the series is tomorrow.

   

Wake Up Davy!

Good Mornin, Good Mornin!  And what a lovely morning it is!  The sun has come up. Tomorrow is now today. Davy Johnson told us last night that he needed to sleep on his decision about the Washington National's closer position.  Well...

 WAKE UP DAVY!

The birds are chirping.  The sun is out (for now).  The Nats won last night.  Everything is sunshine & rainbows.  Well everything except that pesky closer position.  So who's it gonna be Davy?  You have a few choices:
Henry Rodriguez - Tyler Clippard - Sean Burnett - Craig Stammen - Committee 
Say Henry Rodriguez.  I dare you.  After H-Rod gave up a walk-off grand slam to Joey Votto and the Reds a few weeks ago, the young pitcher's time was up.  But as Davy does to a fault, he stuck with his guy.  "Yes, he's my closer."  It was too close a call on Monday night against the Phils.  He fooled you once Davy, shame on him.  If he fools you again, shame on you!
You've got Sean Burnett, but he is your only lefty (besides Gorzelanny) in the bullpen.  You are possibly going to have to use him for a matchup before the 9th inning.  But with three right handers coming up in the final frame, perhaps Burnett would fare well.
You've got Tyler Clippard, but you love having him pitch the 8th inning.  Plus he isn't pitching as well as he has in the past.  Clip has 1 career save under his belt.  Give the guy a chance!
Then you've got Craig Stammen, who has been having a career year this season.  Stammen's ERA is 1.44 and he has struck out 23 in 19 innings.  He's been pitching the 6th & 7th inning, but maybe you can leapfrog him over Clip.
I think you like your 3 inning plan.  The starter pitches 6-7 strong.  Guy C in 7th if needed.  Guy B in 8th.  Guy A in 9th.  But if you really want. you can throw out a committee.  You could Alternate Clippard & Stammen and toss in Burnett to face righties.  You could keep Clip in the 8th slot and alternate Stammen & Burnett.  Or you could just flip a three sided coin?
So as you read the morning paper today, think it over.  Think long and hard.  Because if you put in Henry to close one more time, and he can't get the job done, then your managerial skills need to be questioned.
Who's it gonna be Davy...Who's it gonna be...?...

Season Preview: The Nationals Bullpen

This season the Nationals have three guys who have some decent closing experience.  The young starting pitching staff should be able to go deep most nights, and these guys will be available to finish games:

Drew Storen (Closer):  Storen has been the closer in training for the last few years.  In 2011 he ended the season with 43 saves as the Nationals official closer.  He got about 1 K per inning last season, but he starts the season on the 15 day DL with an elbow issue.

Brad Lidge:  Lidge will start the season out as the closer as Storen heals and will move to a 7th inning type guy (I think).  Lidge was known for choking away big games and has been demoted from his closer role on multiple occasions by multiple teams.  We can only wait and see if we signed the dominant Lidge or the not so great Lidge.

Tyler Clippard:  Clippard made the All-Star team last season as an 8th inning set-up man.  This is a fairly new and unique "position" and Clippard has been lights out leading the league last season with 38.  In fact the Nats like him in this position so much they are having him stay in the position despite the injury to Storen.

Henry Rodriguez:  This guy fires the ball to the plate like nobody else at freak speeds often hitting 100 on the radar gun.  H-Rod averaged over 1 strikeout per inning last year and is a young fireball throwing pitcher, which could be good in the middle innings, or possibly if he has to close out a game.

The pitching staff includes only two lefties, which isn't exactly great.  Tom Gorzelanny, a demoted starter, and Sean Burnett who is in the league mainly because he is a lefty.  The other two righties that will start the season in the pen are Craig Stammen, a minor league type that the Nats tried to use as a starter in the past, and Ryan Mattheus, who pitched well in his first season in the majors last year.