Mets fans must have gone through a wide range of emotions last night. I bet when they looked at the schedule in early September and saw 6 games against the Nationals, they believed their spot in the play offs was secure. The lowly Nationals were sure to give the Mets a few easy series. However, as Bob Carpenter said last night, the Nats are anything but lowly, and they proved it last night.

A dazzling come from behind win gave our boys a series sweep, and put the play off fate of the Mets in serious question. The Nats have taken 5 of the last 6 against the Mets, and energetically head to Philly to do some more damage. Say what you want about our team but one thing is for sure, these guys don’t ever give up, they play with heart and a passion for the game that goes beyond win/loss records and payroll. With last night’s 72nd win, the Nats have won more games this season than last year even with the absence of players like Soriano, Gullien, and Vidro. That’s quite an accomplishment for a team that was not expected to win 30 games. The amount of desire, determination, and heart these guys have shown all season has certainly paid off.

Granted things got off to a rocky start last night with Mike Bacsik on the mound. Mike really had a rough outing and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits. He gave up three homers in 2 innings, and the Mets lead by five. At that point it looked like it was going to be a long night. However, when Hanrahan came in as relief things started to look up. In fact, the RBI single Hanrahan gave up in fourth would be the last for the Mets.

Ryan Chruch had quite a night getting the Nats on the board in the fourth with a beautiful two run homer. He gave the boys the spark they needed, the Nats came back to score five runs in the fifth inning. We saw singles from Lopez, Zimmerman, and Kearns (he had a heck of a series and is on yahoo sports hot list!), and doubles from Belliard, Church, and Pena. The Nats led 7-6 after the bottom of the 5th. What a come back!

We saw some great relief work last night from Schroder, Albaladejo, and Rivera. The Nats turned a great 6-4-3 in the 6th. Both Zimmerman and Fick had great defensive plays in the 8th inning guarding the line well.

The Nats put some more runs on the board in the 9th when Ronnie B led off with a single. Kearns followed with a walk. Chruch came through for the second time last night and hit his 43rd double to score Kearns and Belliard. He had a great night with two monster hits and four RBI’s.

After his struggles last night, we were curious if the Chief would make an appearance to close the 9th. Apparently he wasn’t feeling well, so Luis Ayala came in to save the game. Ayala was on fire! He was throwing nothing but strikes. He went 1-2-3 with a strike out, a 5-3, and a pop out to Zimmerman to win the game. Ayala is looking better each game and we hope he returns to his 2005 self soon!

Here’s hoping this momentum carries over to the Phillies this weekend. Hopefully we will see some familiar Nats fans there! We also want to congratulate Justin Maxwell and John Lannan, they were named as minor league player and pitcher of the year.

The Nats continued to look comfortable at Shea last night pounding Tom Glavine with 6 runs and knocking him out of the game after 5 innings. But it truly wasn’t over, until the 54th out.

The offensive production came early and never stopped. The runs came from Austin’s 3 run homer in the first and Tony Batista’s solo shot. In the third inning, Wily Mo hit a single RBI and Justin Maxwell hit another homerun. In the 7th, Schneiderman drove in 2 more runs. In the 8th, Jimenez scored on Ronnie’s GIDP and in the 9th, Schneider collected another RBI. Twenty-three runs in 18 innings.

Jason Bergmann had a nice birthday outting: 5 and 2/3 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs.

Nats fans were also treated to perhaps the double play of the year. Zimmerman quickly handled a sharp Wright grounder to third by throwing a perfect, off-balance throw to Belliard at 2nd before Ronnie turned to complete the double play to Batista. That one was spectacular, but the guys completed 4 double plays last night. Thank you Zim, Belliard, Lopez and Batista.

Heading into the bottom of the ninth, Washington had a 10-3 lead and Mets fans looked defeated. Leave it to Colome to get them on their feet.

Jesus Colome had an easy 8th, so Manny put him back in for the 9th to give Rauch and Chief the day off. Ayala and Rivera were unavailable.

Colome brought that 10-3 lead to 10-6 by giving up a Reyes 3 run homer. Colome struggled with control before Mr. Sutton suggested that he “throw it right across the plate; it’s 10-3, afterall.” That 3 run blast was followed by a base hit to Castillo (it sure felt like Manny took a long time getting Colome out of this game). What’s with Colome? An ERA of 12.00 in his last 10 games.

Enter Chief. 12 pitches. No outs. 2 earned runs on 2 hits, oh and a walk. Mets fans show new life. Lastings Milledge sports a rally cap in the Mets dugout. The score becomes 10-9. Billy Wagner starts warming up for the top of the 10th.

Despite the little debate here yesterday, Rauch came through big last night to end this long 6 run 9th inning. He retired the 2 batters he faced — one with a K and the last with a fly ball to Austin.

Thank guys for an exciting game; for playing hard against your NL East rivals this September; for making those Mets fans rally and fight back, only to shut them down with a curly W. Number 71 as a matter of fact…

“By matching their win total of last year, the Nationals showed that they were better than anyone thought at the beginning of the season, despite losing players such as Alfonso Soriano and Nick Johnson. So much for those predictions that said that Washington was going to be an historically bad team.

“It was ridiculous. There was one guy who said it, and that was [baseball writer] Buster Olney. It shows you how much he knows,” said Brian Schneider. “Honestly, that was a ridiculous comment by him. In a way, it’s asinine. That’s five wins a month. These days, you see teams with small payrolls doing [positive things]. If you look at [our team], you knew we were going to win more than 30 games. We took it with a grain of salt. We laugh at it now. It was nothing to think about.”

The Nats bats were swinging in full force last night as they recorded 4 doubles and 2 3-run home runs in an pounding of the New York Mets. Matt Chico, the lone starting pitcher who has survived this season, got his 6th win of the year last night. The Mets got on the board first, but the Nats stayed patient and scored 2 runs in the top of the 4th to take the lead. Austin Kearns, who has struggled a bit at the plate this year, belted a 3 run homer in the top of the 5th to give the Nats a 5-1 lead. In the top of the 9th, Ryan Langerhans essentially locked up the game when he hit a home run that drove in Felipe Lopez and Justin Maxwell. It’s great to see Kearns and Langerhans hit some big home runs! They have both had a frustrating hitting season. Robert Fick, who has really stepped up for the Nats this month, extended his hitting streak to 10 games. This game showed that the Nats could score under pressure, as they got 10 of their runs with 2 outs!
Saul Rivera, Luis Ayala and Jesus Colome came in to pitch 3.2 scoreless innings. As the season winds down, it is worth mentioning how great this bullpen has been over the season. Our starters often don’t last through the sixth inning, so these guys are seeing a lot of time. They have been able to consistently keep game close and give the offense a chance to win the game.Mike Bacsik, who has bounced from starter to the bullpen more times than I can count, will again take the mound as a starter in the series finale on Wednesday night.

Nats News:
RHP Shawn Hill is scheduled to undergo surgery for a nerve problem, and also to repair his shoulder. He is expected to be back by Spring Training.

Nationals Journal has done a position by position post about the bullpen. Barry Svrluga considers Jon Rauch and Luis Ayala to be locks for next season’s bullpen. Rauch is an example of why we have to look past the numbers when evaluating a player. Yes, he leads the Nats in wins, but most of those are only because he blew the lead and the offense was able to pick it back up. He is a shakier player than Saul Rivera, who I consider to be a necessary weapon in the bullpen.

Check out Mark Zuckerman’s individual awards for the Nats in his Washington Time’s article. We will also be doing postseason awards, so be sure to check back for that after the season!Photo Credit: AP Photo Kathy Willens

“We just like to compete and we showed it,” Church said. “When it comes to heart, we are up there. It goes to show that it starts with the manager. It shows what kind of team we are. We battle. We are not giving up, we are not packing it in. We have an opportunity to make the Mets or the Phillies join us for the offseason. We don’t know. It could be the Mets or the Phillies.”

And, Tim Brian’s column today at Yahoo Sports says Manny should be a runner up for Manager of the Year.

Manny Acta, Washington Nationals. They didn’t lose 110 games. Or 100 games. They might not even lose 90. That qualifies as a monumental (D.C. reference) achievement, if not by the Nats’ front office, then by the guy who convinced the players they didn’t have to be total disgraces. Acta sent 13 different starters to the mound, many of them not as good as the original five, the reason for the dire spring predictions, and the Nationals are about to have their second winning month in the last three.

Nothing like facing Tom Glavine on your birthday….

That’s right. The Washington Nationals continue to reach out to female fans and we really commend them for their efforts. Last night, they again invited women to the ballpark early to prepare for the game with a pre-game Happy Hour, prizes, food and player appearances.

Miss Chatter has an excellent set of photos from the event featuring the players in their pink hats.

The ladies were treated to appearances from Saul Rivera, Jesus Flores and Luis Ayala. The men graciously signed autographs, posed for pictures and talked to fans before heading back to the stadium.

We settled into our seats and joined our crew for the first game of the final homestand. Bergmann was excellent in his outting, handing the bullpen a 6-2 lead in the 7th. Church, Zimmerman and Belliard all contributed to the early inning lead.

In the 7th, Ayala and Munoz were pounded by the hungry Phillies — who excitedly watched the Mets losing to the Marlins on the scoreboard. Ayala (maybe he needed the pink hat or Eye of the Tiger, which mysteriously didn’t play for him) was pulled by Manny after giving up a hit and a walk. Both Ayala and Munoz gave up 2 runs each. The score was tied 6-6, and we know all about crazy extra inning games with the Phillies. We were ready.

Jonathan Albaladejo came in (we’ve been so impressed with him), but he gave up a walk and a run to give the Phillies the lead.

Notably, Rivera collected 3 strike-outs in the 9th to preserve the close game, but the Nats couldn’t pull of a ninth inning rally.

Other interesting things:
How about the new banner on the Nats homepage? Love it!
Zimmerman’s weekly column

Must-Read Story:
Nats’ Carpenter is a class act and will be missed
Jim Williams, The Examiner

“Carpenter deserved to be given an extension; he did a fine job of broadcasting the Nationals games and trust that was no easy task.

For the last 20 years Carpenter has done Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers, ESPN, the Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals. He has been a true professional, always keeping the broadcasts entertaining and informative.
Carpenter is an old-school broadcaster who is solid not flashy, he was a homer for the Nats without over looking their faults, he Sutton and Taylor were a solid trio that seemed to be just like the team they covered getting better with every broadcast.”

On Monday night we were very fortunate to watch the game from the best seats in RFK - the press box. We were able to watch as Bob and Don broadcast the game on TV and Dave and Charlie called the game for Washington Post Radio. We also were able to go down to the production truck to see all of the behind the scenes work. Debbi Taylor even joined us in the press box for much of the game!Before the game began we watched Bob and Don tape several segments for the pre-game show and the 7 o’clock segment before taking their last break of the evening around 6:45pm. Once the game was underway, each of us took an inning sitting between Bob and Don, listening in on a headset. The others watched the game on the MASN monitor and were pleasantly surprised when Debbi Taylor came up to the box for the game. She was so nice to us and made a point to get us some of media materials they use to prepare for the game. It is obvious that she also loves her job and works very hard to prepare for the pre and post game shows. The amount of information they have available each night is overwhelming.

It was such an honor to sit in between these wonderful men as they did their broadcast. Bob’s warm personality is infectious and Don is a natural. We can assure you — while the broadcast looks effortless, the preparation required for each game surprised us. The two of them make a great team and the experience was overwhelming. We have the deepest respect for both of these wonderful men. They helped encourage our transformation from casual fans to serious fans. While Bob and Don were on air, Debbi was keeping score of the game and making notes for the post-game show. They make a great team!

We were also each able to watch Dave and Charlie call the game for an inning. They clearly love what they do and they are absolutely hilarious. I walked in during the President’s Race and had trouble trying not to laugh as they referred to the race as a NASCAR pile up. Like the rest of us, they too are wondering when Teddy will get a win. They also spent several minutes joking about Dave’s Prius and how he gets mobbed leaving RFK. Turns out, he passed us a few days ago and said, “I’m not signing today girls.” On air, he joked that he’s like Springsteen leaving the parking lot now. During Kristen’s inning, Charlie’s enthusiastic scream for a strike-out made her jump. They really try to bring the game to life for the radio listeners and they do an excellent job of it. Dave and Charlie genuinely care about the game and it shows in their voices as they go through the ups and downs of the game with the Nationals. They fly through media guides and stat sheets as they seem to effortlessly rattle off information on the players. It takes a tremendous amount of work to talk constantly for the 3+ hours that they do each night, but they make it look like so much fun.

After our innings in the press box, we were allowed to go into the production truck to see where all the magic happens. The MASN truck was overwhelming. There were so many TVs with different angles of the games and they qued up replays before I even had time to cheer for the play! It gave a great presepective on how much work actually goes into a broadcast…and just think, they do this 160 times each year.

We all agreed that the most difficult part of the evening was keeping quiet. There were so many great plays on Monday night that we would normally have gone crazy for with screaming and cheering, but we had to keep it under wraps while we were in the press box. That didn’t stop us from pumping our fists and jumping up and down in our seats though.

We all took away a little something different from the experience.

Kristen:
The most amazing part of my night was standing between the 2 big cameras watching Felipe hit. You know I’ve been pulling for Felipe for sometime, wanting and hoping that he could pull through this slump and angered by how he was treated by some reporters and bloggers. But, there I was in that moment — convinced that I had the best seat in the entire park, right above homeplate. I can’t lie - I started to tear up thinking about the most amazing summer of my life. To think of all that I’ve learned this summer and all that I’ve experienced. I know I haven’t been the best friend, daughter or grandaughter for the past six months. I’ve spent almost 80 of my summer nights at RFK and almost 80 more in front of a tv set. I’ve found a summer family (you all know who you are) and I have learned so much. My love of this game has grown from interest to passion. What started as an escape from life inevitably became life itself. For all its twists and turns, ups and downs and so much more, this season and this experience has changed me. As I stood there watching Felipe, I glanced to my right. Lindsey was sitting with Bob and Don, Stephanie was laughing with Dave and Charlie. Here we were — holding our own, perhaps the conclusion of the transformation from casual fans to informed and knowledgeable members of this great Washington Nationals family. And I stood there with tears in my eyes knowing that there is a bright future here. Don’t let Buster Olney fool you. This entire organization - fans, players, broadcasters, employees, ushers, security guards - has given me so much this summer. Every dollar well spent. Every amazing moment, something I will remember for the rest of my life.

Lindsey:
It is no secret that I am from the Cleveland area and a lifelong Cleveland fan. I have dreamed of meeting players, watching batting practices and one day, maybe if I was really really lucky, sitting in on a broadcast. I have found love for the Washington Nationals in my heart, and all of my baseball dreams have come true this summer. Over and over again as I sat in the booth, I couldn’t help but think that I was getting an experience of a lifetime - something I know so many people want to do. Bob, Don, Debbi, Dave and Charlie were all so genuine with us and graciously allowed us into the press box to watch them work. All of the crew, especially those that worked on the TV broadcast made us feel so welcome and comfortable. The entire experience was amazing and something I wouldn’t trade for anything. I am so grateful to have an outstanding organization in Washington and I look forward to a great future. I am so grateful for the experience.

Stephanie:
I can’t even begin to describe the magic of this summer. We have experienced so much, from that horribly cold April when it took so long to reach 10 wins, the numerous baseball road trips, and fun interviews, I will always remember this summer as the summer of my life. Everything seemed to hit me all at once while I was sitting in the booth with Bob . I was keeping score, and watching Tim Redding struggle with his location. At one point I leaned to Don and asked him what the deal was. Don told me that Redding had everything over the middle of the plate. That was it, in that moment, I realized nothing could get better than this. I felt the pride well up in my heart, this team, my friends, the whole organization, all of it, makes me so incredibly lucky to be a Nats fan. Bob was so gracious with us, answered all of our questions, Debbi immediately made us feel at home. Dave and Charlie had my heart pumping with excitement as I watched that crazy 6th inning with them. I was amazed with the production truck, everything happening at once, and everyone somehow knew what was going on. It was incredible and definitely a night I will never forget. This whole team has stolen my heart, and I am totally ok with it!.