After a rough start in April and an abrupt demotion to AAA Columbus, Jason Bergmann had a lot to prove over the past few weeks. He spent the time working out the kinks that plagued him early in the season. He came back today and dominated the Mets line-up over 7 strong innings of work. He gave up only 3 hits while collecting 9 strike outs. Congrats to Jason. Welcome back to the rotation!
Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey matched Bergmann almost pitch for pitch. He took a no hitter into the 7th inning, where it was promptly broken up by Aaron Boone. Pelfrey hardly deserved the loss, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits, but his team couldn’t break through Bergmann or the Nats bullpen. Along the way, some bad base running wiped away most of their scoring opportunities.
The Nats run came in the top of the 8th off of Pelfrey. Jesus Flores doubled to lead off, followed by a Harris sacrifice bunt. Lopez’s sacrifice fly brought Flores home for the only Nats run of the day.
The Nats bullpen delivered the win to Bergmann with the help of spectacular defense. In the 8th, Jose Reyes, the tying run, was aboard first base on a short grounder to Ayala with no outs. Castillo bunted and was out at first, but Aaron Boone saw Reyes flying for third base. He threw to Guzman for the tag and caught the speedy Reyes for the 2nd out. Ayala easily worked Wright for a pop up for the third out.
In the 9th, with closer Jon Rauch on the mound, Beltran led off with a single. It looked dangerous when Ryan Church hit a fly ball near the foul line in left field. Willie Harris sped to the line and grabbed the ball inches from the ground before landing on the warning track. It was a beautiful play. Beltran stole second and advanced to third on an error by Jesus Flores. With the tying run at third, Delgado hit a line drive to Aaron Boone. Boone quickly saw that Beltran was off the bag and threw to Zimmerman for another crazy double play.
Jason Bergmann got the win and Jon Rauch collected his 8th 9th save. The Nats took 3 of four from the Mets and return home (sort of) on a great note. The team faces the Baltimore Orioles in inter-league play for the weekend. It sure would be nice to see some red and blue up there! Screech and the Presidents have already invaded the inner harbor. Tickets are cheap, parking is cheaper and the weather is going to be nice (on Saturday night). Shawn Hill is looking for his first win tomorrow night against Garrett Olson (2-0).
Also, congrats to Jason Bergmann and his wife Jarah on the birth of their baby girl Alexandra.
Entries (RSS)
May 15th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Nats caught a bit of a break on the play that ended the game, but we’ll take it. Boone’s play in the 8th was a heads up play, and words don’t do justice to Harris’ catch in the 9th. Hopefully Bergmann can pitch close to what he did today and lock up that fifth spot in the rotation that has been the only real weak spot as far as the starters go. And despite that error in the 9th, Flores had himself a pretty good day.
So, what do you all think the lineups will look like with the DH? You think Boone will stay at first with Young DHing, or do you think we’ll see one of the outfielders as the DH? I personally would like to see Boone stay out there.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I’m guessing we’ll see Dmitri at first 4-5 games a week with Boone getting the other starts and coming in as a late innings defensive replacement. Plus Dmitri will probably DH during interleague play. Now if it at least one of the OF would start hitting for a change.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I’d also like to see Boone keep getting playing time. He’s had a rough couple of years on the field and it seems he’s found a groove here in Washington. I think the Nats are a better team with him playing right now.