In a loss to the Marlins the Nats had their share of ups and downs throughout the evening. The Nats were unable to come out on top of the back and forth battle that ensued through the top of the 7th until the Marlins finally ran away with the game.Up: Justin Maxwell’s first big league hit was a Grand Slam!!! He was so excited he almost passed Brian Schnieder going around the bases.
Down: There appeared to be no one at the Marlins game last night with over 70% of the seats looking vacant. Bob and Ray even made a joke in the late innings that they remained at the ballpark with a couple hundred of their new friends. Up: Mike Bacsik continues to show maturity and class in taking responsibility for last night’s loss. He stated that, “Unfortunately I set the tone, and I couldn’t really get anybody out consistently.” He has been in AAA ball this year, and in and out of bullpen more times than I can count. It must be extremely difficult to mentally prepare for a role as a reliever and a different role as a starter. Mike has had to switch back and forth several times in the last month and the fact that he has done so without any complaints shows that he is here for the team and a class act. Up: The Nats bats were cracking last night. Even though they lost the game, hopefully guys got into a rhythem that will carry over into tonight for the series win.
Big Up: In 2 days, the Nats will return for the final homestand at RFK. We are certainly sad this is it for RFK, we are looking forward to an amazing week that will include Baseball 101 and another Ladies Night.
Down: It was clear that the Marlins were in a groove last night and it is difficult to stop a team when they are hot like that. However, it is also clear that the pitching from the Nats bullpen was not typical of we have come to expect from these guys, who are called on so much. Regardless of what they may say, they have to be tired from a long season and pitching so many innings. We are certainly proud of these guys and hope they are able to get some rest tonight and tomorrow to come out strong for the remainder of the season.Up: Buffalo Bills player Kevin Everett, who sustained a life-threatening spinal cord injury in Sunday’s game against the Broncos, has voluntarily moved his arms and legs. Doctors are optimistic now that he may have a chance to walk again. This comes after the grim prognosis of Monday morning when doctors initially thought walking would be highly unlikely. Our thoughts are with Everett, his family and the Bills organization as they work through this difficult time.
Rain proved lucky for the Nationals again tonight when they beat the Marlins 5-4 after a 40 minute rain delay. With the season winding down the Nationals have focused on trying to stay out of last place. Tonights win put them even further ahead of the Marlins. I like when we play the Marlins. The Nats seem to feel more comfortable around them, they are a relatively young team, and I see a lot of similarities between us.
Tonights game was a fun one to watch on TV with Ray Knight filling in for Don. I really liked the chemistry between Bob and Ray. The Nats opened strong in the first inning with Nook taking a lead off walk off of Olsen. Nook then stole second and eventually scored on Zimmerman’s sac fly.
The boys opened up in the 3rd inning when Wily Mo hit a two run laser beam home run over the left field wall. It was a great shot, only about 12 feet in the air and going about a mile a minute. Wily Mo had a great night with a single in the 1st inning and another home run in the 5th. He was interviewed by Debbie after the game and said he enjoys Washington and the team. We are fans. Shawn Hill pitched another great game. He allowed only one earned run - Uggla’s solo shot homer in the 3rd. He is proving to be our ace.
Jesus Flores started as cather tonight for the 3rd consecutive game. Apparently tonights start wasn’t only because Schneider has the flu. Flores went 1-4 with a single. He got pretty wet during his at bat when the skies opened up with a steady downpour. The game was delayed for about 40 minutes, during which I happily watched Nats Access - good stuff this week!
Jesus Colome entered in the 7th after the rain delay and had some trouble. He gave a two run homer. He was replaced by Jonathan Albaladejo who was great! We like that the new guys are stepping up. Jon Rauch pitched a 1-2-3 8th, and Chief came in for the 9th and earned the save.
“…You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” - Bob Feller Again, thanks to TBS, I was able to convince my Steeler-crazed family to at least flip back and forth to follow the Nationals. Once Pittsburgh had an unbelievable lead, it was easier to work out a good balance between the two games. Thanks, Ben (and sorry Lindsey).
As expected, the Nats bounced back from some devastating weekend losses and sloppy play to avoid the sweep and add a win on Sunday afternoon. Jimenez and Church were the heroes, both coming through with great at-bats in key moments. Church came through big for the Nationals with a 3 run shot to take the lead. Zimmerman overcame his tough weekend with a solo-shot for some insurance.
Bergmann had another nice performance and finally had some offense to work with.
Ayala struggled, giving up 2 hits to start the 7th inning. With 2 outs, he got fired up over a borderline called ball. Manny came out to settle him down, but Ayala ended up walking Renteria to load the bases. Munoz came in and got Ayala out of the jam, “the out of the game,” according to Manny. Rauch and Chief - excellent work. The Nats held on to win 7-4 and head off to Florida on a happy note.
I had actually planned on missing Saturday and Sunday’s Nats games due to a trip to Pennsylvania to visit family. I had completly forgot about TBS. I was able to convince my mom to watch most of both games with me.
Unfortunately, on Saturday, I was a little bit embarrased of the team I had told her so much about. The loss was sad and frustrating.
While I sincerely missed hearing the thoughts of Bob and Don, it was nice to hear about the Nationals from Atlanta’s perspective. I also learned a little more about the Braves.
During both games, the broadcasters spoke with praise about “the plan” in Washington and how important signing all of our draft picks was for building a contending team for the future. They had great admiration for Stan Kasten and Jim Bowden.
Additionally, they spoke a lot about Dmitri’s comeback story, Zimmerman’s potential, and our “unbelievable” bullpen. They described Saul Rivera’s meltdown on Saturday night as “uncharacteristic” and perhaps a sign of him being overworked this year.
The team was funny, personable and very informed — despite pronouncing Nook — Nuke. The only irritating part was cutting to the press box between almost every play to watch the announcers tell a story. The announcers also kept saying that Dmitri was a great pick-up because the Nationals “aren’t sure that Nick Johnson will play again.” Aren’t we? That aside, Tony Gwynn and Chip Carey were enjoyable to listen to.
Back to the game –
On Saturday as Zimmerman approached the plate for the first time, one of the announcers said, “If anyone ever needed a hug, it’s Ryan Zimmerman…today.” After 3 errors and 4 strike-outs on Friday night, we wanted and needed our #11 to get back in the game. Zimmerman assured members of the press that he was fine — that the evening was a fluke, but he did commit another throwing error on Saturday.
In addition, Pat Corrales was ejected from the game for arguing for Teixeira’s strike-out in the 5th inning. The inning closed with Francoeur’s homerun that bounced over the glove of Austin Kearns. Austin threw his whole body into the right field fence as that ball barely got out of the park.
Thank goodness Ronnie came out to play and get the Nats on the board. His homerun prevented the shut-out.
In Other News:
We failed to mention Ross’s debut in Friday night’s game and apologize for the oversight. We were really excited to watch him pitch and thought he did a great job. We were stunned by all of Friday’s crazy baseball moments and forgot to recap Ross’s big moment.
On this odd Friday night, John Smoltz carried a no-hitter into the 8th inning against our Nats. Ronnie Belliard and Ryan Church were the only Nats to get hits. Austin did reach first on an error earlier in the game.
Chipper Jones was a triple short of a cycle.
In the first inning, the ball boy caught Felipe’s foul ball on the 3rd base line while Harris watched - inches away from making the catch himself.
A “gentleman, and I use that term lightly,“supposed fan,” “fool,” hooligan ran onto the field and was restrained by security guards (Bob and Don couldn’t choose a strong enough word to describe their disgust). A guard tackled him and fell to the ground. He laid on the ground motionless for ten minutes before he was able to get up on his own to a standing ovation from the Atlanta crowd. The players surrounded him throughout the scary moment as he is their clubhouse security guard.
Additionally, Ryan Zimmerman committed three errors and struck out four times. Two of the errors came in one inning. The second one was so far over Dmitri’s head that he didn’t even look up at it. Lopez and Schneider joined Zimmerman with errors of their own.
Boswell’s piece on the end of the era of steroids spoke just a week too soon. St. Louis’s comeback guy, Ankiel, was tainted by accusations of HGH today.
And if all of that isn’t freaky enough…
The angry, sad Baltimore Orioles are having a really tough go of it. They lost their 11th in a row…15 of the last 17. On top of that, Cabrera’s temper ignited a bench clearing and rare bullpen clearing. The AP article mentioned that several players scaled the 7 foot bullpen wall as they charged the field. Cabrera was ejected before the Red Sox shut out the struggling Orioles. No punches were thrown but the incident sums up the O’s pathetic year.
In other news, check out this cool new photo of the view from our seats in Right Field next year!
Bowden talks about Manny deserving a Manager of the Year bid, Austin Kearns and Ryan Zimmerman competing for Gold Glove Awards and Dmitri’s amazing comeback earning him a chance to win a batting title or the Comeback Player of the Year. He said,
“We might not be playing in October this year, but there sure has been progress and there will be some well-deserved awards heading our way for some inspirational solid performances.”
We agree with Jim and we’re proud that these guys made Buster Olney look foolish. Here’s to having heart!
In front of a small crowd, the Nationals swept the NL East last place Marlins to bring their record to 63-77 - just eight wins shy of last year’s record with 22 games left in the season. Officially, the Nationals can no longer reach 100 losses. Not historically bad — not even close.
This is why it’s good to come on time. Mitre started the game but left after 2/3 of an inning - having already given up 3 runs on 4 hits with 2 walks. After throwing 2 balls to Redding, Mitre was pulled for Daniel Barone.
In the third inning, Hermida’s double got Redding in some trouble. He gave up 2 runs in his outting and took a Cabrera bouncer to his elbow. He tried to complete the play but fell hard on his right elbow. He is expected to be out for 7 to 10 days.
With Redding out early, we got to see some of these exciting September call-ups. Albaladejo, who got a lot of praise from our friend Doug who caught a few Clippers games this year, looked great. He struck out 3 in his 1 and 2/3 innings, giving up no hits.
Jesus Colome, however, did struggle tonight in the 6th inning. He gave up 2 hits and a 2 run shot to Olivio which tied the game at 4-4.
Ayala pitched a scoreless 7th before a big Nats rally in the bottom of the inning which gave him the win. Pena and Schneider both had 2 out RBI singles to make the score 6-4. With a 4-2 lead, Rauch was on fire in the 8th collecting 3 strike-outs.
After a quick scoreless 8th, the child in front of us revealed his true self — Chad Cordero’s biggest, loudest, craziest fan…ever. His chant, “Chief, Chad, Chief, Chad!” lasted through the entire top of the ninth. He waved his red t-shirt that he caught from the Nat Pack and screamed “Chief, Chad….” enthusiastically as Cordero struck-out three in the ninth — not without some drama.
Chief gave up a double to Ross and a walk to Ramirez — a walk that followed a foul pop to right field that Ronnie couldn’t grab. He tossed the ball to Lindsey. With Dan Uggla at the plate and 2 outs, we knew Chief had the game wrapped up. Uggla is third in all of Major League Baseball in strike-outs this season with 145. Sure he has lots of homeruns (28), but Dan’s batting only .247. Sure enough, Chief got Uggla to swing and the game was over.
A series sweep. 5 wins in a row. No chance of losing 100 games. Chief! Chad! Chief! Chad! did it..again.
Felipe Lopez is no longer talking to the media. We’re supportive. Felipe’s human and there’s no good reason for how he was treated after his errors in Los Angeles.
The team honored one of baseball’s greatest heroes with a pre-game tribute, an award presentation to Ryan Zimmerman, and Clemente facts and memorials throughout the game.
MASN’s broadcast included an interview with Jerry Morales and some comments from Saul Rivera about how meaningful Roberto Clemente was for their baseball careers.
Clemente is my dad’s baseball hero which made tonight very special for me. The legend’s life and legacy should be celebrated. On the field, Clemente shined. As a person, Clemente tried to change the world around him.
Ryan Zimmerman, our young but mature beyond his years third baseman, truly deserved the Roberto Clemente award he was presented tonight. Throughout the season, Ryan has made trips to Boys & Girls Clubs, libraries, clinics and hospitals to speak to children and soldiers. Additionally, he launched the ziMS foundation which raises money for MS research in Virginia Beach and Washington DC. Fans can vote for Ryan Zimmerman to be named Major League Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award recipient.
Rookie catcher Jesus Flores was officially welcomed to “the show” last night when he produced big time with his first walk off situation. The Nats trailed by one in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and runners on 1st and 3rd. With a 1-1 count Flores nailed a DOUBLE down the left field line to score Ryan Langerhans and Wily Mo Pena. The Nationals won their 6th straight game against the Marlins at RFK.
Flores struggled a bit with pop ups during the game (he missed one in the 4th and another in the 8th, which was a very questionable call) and was charged with two errors. Those unimportant mistakes were long forgotten as his teammates mobbed him on the field after his game winning hit. Our number 3 was GRINNING from ear to ear! Welcome to the show Mr. Flores, we hope you stay for a long time. Flores has sure been making people rethink their original plan to send him to Harrisburg next year for double A ball. We just don’t see that happening. For a young guy to be able to call a great game, recover from two fluke errors, and win the game in grand style is more than the Nats could have ever hoped for. We have no doubt that Flores will continue to grow as a player with more big league experience, he is a future All-Star. Did you see his rocket arm at work tonight?! Lets not forget about his MASSIVE home run over the center field wall on Saturday night. He is consistently proving that he can be trusted in clutch situations, 11 of Flores’s 21 RBI’s have come in late innings. Flores was rewarded for his dramatic hit with a shaving cream pie in the face during his interview with Debbie Taylor, courtesy of Zimmerman and Schneider. Hopefully that will help Jesus forget about those silly mistakes and allow him to focus on the great successes he has had this year.
I guess the game wasn’t all about Flores, some other guys on the team did well too…
Shawn Hill pitched six solid inning and earned a quality start. He did give up 3 runs on 11 hits though, which we found a bit unusual for him. He struck out six and walked none. He threw 97 pitches 71 of them strikes.
Ryan Zimmerman doubled in the 3rd to score Nook Logan. He has now produced at least one RBI in 13 of his last 17 games.
Felipe Lopez seems to be hustling more and more. He beat out the tag at first twice last night to get on base at key moments. Way to go Felipe! Felipe also scored last night off of Austin Kearns’s single in the 1st.
We saw Arnie Munoz relief pitch for the first time. He did well and we are excited to see more. Luis Ayala gave us a solid performance, and Chris Schroder closed the 9th beautifully.
The Nationals took the series from the Marlins with a walk off 4-3 win.
Where was everybody last night? The crowd of less than 16,000 was the smallest yet since baseball has returned to DC. Lets get out there people and watch the Nats SWEEP tomorrow!
Again, thanks to TBS, I was able to convince my Steeler-crazed family to at least flip back and forth to follow the Nationals. Once Pittsburgh had an unbelievable lead, it was easier to work out a good balance between the two games. 
In the third inning, Hermida’s double got Redding in some trouble. He gave up 2 runs in his outting and took a 
Jesus Colome, however, did struggle tonight in the 6th inning. He gave up 2 hits and a 2 run shot to Olivio which tied the game at 4-4.
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