Every season  fans engage in the debate of which game is better - the AL or the NL. While both have their perks, it’s nights like tonight that I really appreciate the NL game. It can literally turn into a one man show when the pitcher is required to bat instead of having a DH. I love that the pitcher has the power to strike out hitters and score runs for his team during his at bats. It adds a special something to game compared to the DH.

For five innings tonight, fans were treated to a pitchers duel, both on the mound and at the plate. Tim Redding allowed just 2 earned runs in five innings. Even though he gave up some walks in the fifth that came back to hurt him, many of the balls just missed being called strikes. Johan Santana looked sharp through 7 innings, limiting the Nats to 7 hits. In the top of the 3rd, Santana hit a double off of Redding. Not wanting to be outdone, Redding hit a double of his own in the bottom of the 4th, scoring the only 2 runs for the Nats. The ball was close to the 400ft mark and I almost thought it was out of the park.

Redding was taken out in the 6th after the lead off hitter, Beltran, got a single. I somewhat disagree with the decision to take him out at that point in the game. As the Nationals are working through their “plan,” shouldn’t there be a point where we expect our starters to work themselves out of mid-late inning jams? I can’t help but think that perhaps some of the issues with the bullpen this season, stem from their over-use last season. We have seen Lannan, Chico and Redding all work late into a few games this season, but seeing a starter in the 7th is much more of an exception than a rule in the Nationals organization.

The bullpen continued to struggle tonight. King was on the mound for 3 of the runs scored, although one was charged to Redding. Saul Rivera was the bright spot by shutting out the Mets for 1.1 innings. Colome continued to show some inconsistency and was charged with 2 runs in the 9th, which basically put the nail in the coffin for the Nats tonight.

I’m hopeful that the Nats can put everything together tomorrow and finally win one against the Mets. With each game, it’s getting harder to watch Schneider and Church doing so well.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Game Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.