The Nationals were shut out for the 4th time this season, and the Cubs walked away with a 7-0 victory. Once again Matt Chico struggled locating his fastball in the first two innings creating an early five run deficit. With the offense performing the way it is, a five run lead is almost impossible for the team to overcome. Chico lasted four innings and gave up five runs on eight hits. After his performance against the Braves a few weeks ago, I thought Chico had turned a corner, but unfortunately I still get nervous seeing him on the mound. It will be interesting to see how long Matt remains in DC.

Once again Chico wasn’t aided by much offense. The Nationals put up just six hits for the night. Felipe Lopez continues to hit well in the lead off spot, and hit two singles tonight. Guzman hit an early double, but no one was able to hit him home. Zimmerman struggled again with runners in scoring position, striking out with two outs and two runners left on base. Austin Kearns looked frustrated with himself also, he went 0-4 again tonight. At least he had a nice catch in right field. To start winning consistent games the heart of the order has got to start hitting. Asking the pitchers to continue to do all of the work isn’t fair.

The bullpen got a work out again tonight. Joel Hanrahan entered the game after Chico, and pitched two scoreless innings. Hanrahan gave up a couple of doubles and two walks, but ended up working himself out of the jam. Chad Cordero pitched a scoreless seventh inning. It looked like Chief was still having issues with his velocity, the scoreboard clocked his fastball at 80 mph. None of the pitches he threw registered anywhere close to the 89-91 balls he usually throws. The Cubs radar however, clocked his fastball at 88, while game day has it listed at 85. Not sure which speed is correct, but hopefully Chief’s throwing program will help him get his fastball back. The team needs Chief in the closing role. Jesus Colome ended up pitching two innings, once again taking a long time to complete the game.  Colome loaded the bases in the eight and then gave up a double adding two runs to the Cubs score.  Colome then pitched a scoreless ninth.

Another frustrating loss last night. Lefty John Lannan takes the mound today. Hopefully we see some good stuff.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 9:05 am 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.