A baseball game on a holiday is a special event for our Nationals, so we decided to forgo the traditional cook outs usually held on Labor Day and headed to the game. Also, I love when we play the Marlins. Yesterday was perhaps even more exciting as we are in a race for 4th place. No one wants to be in last place, and the Nationals proved that yesterday with a 6-3 win over Florida.
We were able to get to the stadium earlier than usual and were rewarded with Guzman’s autograph on our nearly full baseballs. How exciting! When Guz was injured in June we thought our chances of getting his signature were shot. It was great to see him back, and we hope the rumors of his return become a reality very soon.
We settled in to enjoy the game on a beautiful day:
Jason Bergmann pitched a fantastic 7 innings. He struck out 9 batters, one shy of his record. He allowed only one run - a solo shot in the 2nd from Mike Jacobs. After being in and out this season due to injuries its great to have Bergmann back, and in top form. He is now 3-5 and is making quite a case for himself prior to the pitcher’s battle Spring training will bring.
Brian Schneider went 2-4 and hit a key double in the 2nd to score Kearns and Young, who had both reached base on errors. Perhaps Schneider feels the pressure to produce as the rookie Jesus Flores makes quite a case for himself in the big leagues?
Felipe Lopez has been playing well since the long road trip, actually since he became Kristen’s project. He came out strong today when he pulled a triple out of a fly ball that bounced off Ross’s glove. We hope Felipe can keep this up and finish the season well.
Given that it was a holiday - we expected Ryan Zimmerman to have a big play. That came in the 4th inning, after Felipe’s triple. Ryan hit a key double to send in Lopez. In the same inning, Wily Mo Pena hit a 2 run shot to left field. That shot gave us some insurance and put the Nats up 6-1. (Wily signed our baseballs after the game, now our balls really are almost full!)
Jesus Colome entered in the 8th and worked himself into quite a jam. He just didn’t have the stuff today. Jon Rauch relieved Colome with the bases loaded and one out. Rauch settled in and eventually struck Jacobs out looking. With two outs on the board I breathed a slight sigh of relief. Jon faced Ross next and threw three consecutive balls - we were pretty nervous at this point. Rauch worked back though, and threw three straight strikes, ending the inning. Phew it was close!
Chief came in for the 9th, and recorded his 30th save. That’s one more than he had last year. Way to go Nats a 6-3 win on a beautiful day!
…Just one day out of life
It would be, it would be so nice
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