The Nationals lost to Phily yesterday in 10 innings, despite building an early 1st inning lead of 5 runs off Jamie Moyer. The blast of offensive production early in the game wasn’t enough to pull Bergmann and the bullpen through the second half of the game. Everything changed dramatically in the 6th inning when the Phillies scored 6 runs. Bergmann was pulled in favor of Rivera. Saul’s first pitch was wild and he never re-gained his focus. He faced three batters and never recorded an out. The bullpen continued to face problems throughout the game. King was removed for Hanrahan, who looked alright and recorded a strike out. Ayala was the first pitcher to join in the game’s intentional walk madness. He put Utley on 2nd and Howard on 1st in order to face Jayson Werth. I really hate the IBB, but Ayala seemed to get out of it okay here with Werth hitting a groundball to end the inning. Disaster barely avoided. Colome’s 2nd inning (the 10th) brought the same situation. A mistake with nobody covering third allowed Rollins to reach the base easily. Colome was then asked to intentionally walk both Utley and Howard to face Werth as well. With the bases loaded, Colome walked in the winning run on 4 pitches, with Schroder and Rauch still sitting in the bullpen, ready for additional innings.
The other Jesus, Flores - who made his first start behind the plate, didn’t look like a AA prospect at all. Rotoworld’s Fantasy Baseball news raved of Flores’ performance yesterday. Flores went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and an RBI. Lo Duca is 1 for 12.
Paul Lo Duca’s awful pinch hit (oh, and he already got into a fight with an umpire about a called strike) was part of a series of bad pinch hitting performances yesterday. Nick Johnson had the only pinch hit of the day and Dmitri, you’ve probably already heard, was unavailable. With Dmitri at the plate instead of Lo Duca and Willie Harris, it could have changed the outcome of the game.
Lopez was fine in left. He seemed to show good instincts out there. He went 1 for 5 for the day and still has lots of work to do to get back to his old self at the plate.
Zimmerman had a terrible day, going 0 for 6 with two strike-outs. He left 6 runners on base throughout the game. We can’t expect everything to ride on Zimmerman’s shoulders, but the simple reality is - we can’t do this without him. When he struggled last season, we started 9-25. When he got his groove back, we played .500 ball. Fair or not, his consistency will play a huge part in the outcome of this season. Also, the bullpen, widely thought to be the team’s strongest component, needs to get it together in order for us to continue to be successful.
Odalis Perez faces Braden Looper tonight in St. Louis at 8pm.
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