Coulda caught a few of those fly balls to the outfield that turned into doubles.
Shoulda slammed the door on the Atros in the 7th and 8th with our bullpen.
Woulda won the game with a three home run night, but didn’t thanks to silly mistakes.
After a back and forth night the Nats dropped the first game in the series to the Astros with a final score of 6-5. Last night’s game was one of the most bizarre I have seen this season. Shawn Hill seemed to be off all night. Hill threw 5 1/3 innings but it took him 107 pitches to do it. He gave up eight hits and allowed three runs. Hill seemed to be working awfully hard, he just wasn’t on his game.
Hill wasn’t helped by his outfielders either. Both Pena and Milledge misjudged fly balls which could have been easy outs instead of doubles. Milledge misjudged the ball twice, a big mistake in the 7th inning. I know he’s learning in the big leagues, but personally, I don’t think a lot of the teaching is sinking in. I’m not seeing much improvement on his end. Sad to say, but Wily Mo just looks lost out there. When does Dukes come back? I’m ready for an outfield shake up.
The Nats hung in the sea-saw game with three solo homers. Nick Johnson’s hit came in the 2nd inning and gave the Nats an early lead. Aaron Boone’s pinch hit blast in the 7th was a monster, and put the Nats ahead again. Kearns’ clutch shot in the 8th put the Nats ahead again after the Astros tied the game in the 7th. Thankfully, two days off seemed to have helped Zimmerman, he went 2-5 with a two out RBI double.
The offense was there, but the usually impressive bullpen just couldn’t close the door last night. Colome relieved Hill and threw five straight balls. Remarkably he got out of the jam without an issue. The same can’t be said for Rivera in the 7th or Ayala in the 8th. Both these guys lead the MLB in pitching appearances, so I guess mistakes are bound to happen. Rivera’s 7th inning was a messy one. He issued two walks, then Lance Berkman (who went 5-5 last night) stole 3rd. With runners on first and third, Rivera tried the look at third but throw to first move and the homeplate umpire issued a balk, allowing Berkman to score and tie the game again. Rivera quickly got two more outs, and luckily escaped the inning giving up only one run.
After Kearns’ homer in the top of the 8th, Ayala entered to protect the Nats one run lead. After getting two quick outs, Ayala struggled with Tejada and Berkman allowing back to back singles. With a 0-2 count Carlos Lee hit a sinker to shallow right field. Kearns had a good jump on the ball and dove for it, but just missed and two runs scored, giving the Astros the lead.
It was a tough end to a game the Nats should have easily won. Odalis Perez faces Roy Oswalt tonight for game two of the series.
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May 7th, 2008 at 10:36 am
honestly, i know there were plenty of opportunities to win that game, but Kearns had no business laying out for that ball in the eighth and then letting get by him. he should have played better fundamental baseball and played it in front of him. no one would have scored, and you give your pitcher a chance to get a double play with the next batter. poor fundamental baseball from a guy that is now pressing on defense as well as offense to get out of his “slump”.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Dave,
I totally agree with you there, especially since it was on the foul line side of right and not toward the center where Milledge could have (maybe) backed him up. The entire outfield was a mess last night.
It also felt like it was only a matter of time before we had a balk called on one of our guys. It seemed like Hill tried that move 3-4 times and Colome took a shot at it too before Rivera was rung up.