I’m of the mindset that a shutout loss can’t truly be attached to the starting pitcher’s performance. Shawn Hill had a very tough outing today, but 1-0 or 5-0, not a single Washington runner crossed home plate. Seven runners were left on base throughout the game and the team only managed to collect 4 hits.

Those hits came from the bats of Lopez, Milledge, Flores and Pena. Only Flores went for an extra base - but none of it really mattered.

While Hill struggled (5 runs, 4 innings), AZ starter Dan Haren combined with his bullpen (Chad Qualls and Tony Pena) to throw 9 shutout innings, collecting 7 strike outs between them and handing Washington it’s 8th shutout loss of this season.

For all the promise, all the potential and all the calls for patience, this team’s offensive production is still abysmal heading into June. Today, the Nats are 24-34, 5th in the NL East and 6th to last in all of baseball. Despite those off-season “improvements,” last year at this time, we were just about at the same place (22-32). We’re dead last in batting average, 29th in on base percentage and hits, and 27th in total runs.

The Diamondbacks combined to hit 8 home runs off of Washington in a three day series. The Nats, on the other hand, accumulated 8 home runs over the past 8 days. Mark Reynolds hit 2 off of Bergman on Saturday. Wily Mo Pena has yet to hit his 2nd as we enter the 2nd third of the season.

The Nats fly home tonight for a day off before taking on the Cardinals on Tuesday. St. Louis swept us earlier this season. Odalis Perez (2-4) will take on Kyle Lohse (5-2).

On that note, a trip to PA this weekend made for some use of my XM radio and some exposure to the Arizona Diamondbacks radio team. Arizona’s broadcasters shared our confusion about Milledge’s centerfield instincts, commenting several times that he played the position awkwardly and will cost our pitchers hits and runs throughout the season.

Zimmerman continues to talk about recovering day-to-day.  While we really hope that Ryan feels better after a day of rest, we sure hope this wait and see game ends soon.  If it’s necessary — do the MRI, make some decisions, give Manny a full roster.  While we sure hope he can avoid a trip to the DL, we do want him to do what is best for the shoulder and best for the team. 

Also, we’re happy to hear Ryan Church has recovered from his concussion complications and is back in the Mets line-up. Speaking of — I guess it’s time for some real baseball…

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 7:38 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.