After a long away series and a trip across the country, I was happy to head back to RFK last night. We were excited to see Shawn Hill back in action, and were hopeful for another solid performance. 
I am happy to report that we were not disappointed. Hill pitched 6 shut out innings. In fact the only hit he gave up was a single to left/center which should have been caught, chalk that one up to another miscommunication between Nook Logan and Ryan Church. Hill threw 79 pitches and struck out 7 batters - fantastic work - we are very happy to have him back in the rotation!
Hill was replaced by Ayala in the 7th who promptly struck out the first three batters he faced, a great 1-2-3 inning! The Nationals took the lead in the bottom of the inning, when 
Tony Batista pinch-hit a two run double. We also witnessed some exciting defensive plays, including another rundown between second and third, in which Zimmerman tagged the runner for the out. Schneider also had a great throw to second for another caught stealing.
Things started to fall apart in the 8th inning. Ayala was replaced by Rauch on the mound. Zimmerman stopped a ground ball, but the throw to first was wide and the runner advanced to second. Ryan was given his 18th error of the season. When facing his next two batters, Rauch allowed a single, making the game 2-1, then a go-ahead two run homer to make the score 3-2. It was disappointing when these guys had worked so hard for 7 solid innings, to see it all go to waste with a bad pitch.
We were hopeful for a rally in the 9th- at least a tie - as our games with Philly always seem to head into extra innings. Ray King came in to face one batter and was replaced by Rivera (who I think pitches almost everyday!). Rivera struck out the next two batters also. The Nationals tried to start a rally in the 9th but both Langerhans and Logan struck out. It was a sad ending to such a stellar performance from Shawn Hill. Shake it off boys, and lets take the next two against Philly!
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