Manny changed the batting order up a bit tonight, with Milledge in the three spot, he moved catcher Jesus Flores up to clean up batting fourth. With Flores continually having solid at bats, this seemed like a smart move. Acta also held a team meeting before tonight’s game, his message was more of a reminder. He told the players to remember that they are lucky to be playing in the majors and that they should continue to play hard and not get complacent with losing. It was a good message, if not a little overdue. Manny’s talk worked, the guys showed some pep tonight and finally got a win after suffering four continuous losses.

Of course on the night we decided to take off, big things happened. We watched from home tonight for only the second time this season, each needing a bit of a break to regroup and get ready for the weekend series against Baltimore. Leave it to the Nats, to hit home runs, and win in walk off fashion when we aren’t there!

Veteran Tim Redding pitched another solid game relying mostly on his fastball. Redding went six innings and gave up only two runs. Unlike Lannan or Bergmann, Tim had some runs to work with going into the first inning. Angels starter Santana issued a lead off walk to Elijah Dukes. Lastings Milledge followed and snapped a mini slump with a massive home run to center field. His blast put the Nats up by two. Wily Mo is also swinging the bat better, he followed his home run last night with two opposite field hits tonight, one helping to put the Nats up 4-2 in the seventh inning. I hope his hitting continues, we really need him to live up to his “potential,” whatever that may be.

The game got dramatic in the later innings. Luis Ayala came in to pitch the eighth, a role that’s been his all season. Ayala has struggled this season, more than usual, and tonight was no different. He gave up a run on a double to right field, and put another runner on base before Manny relieved him in favor of Jon Rauch. With one out, Rauch got the fly out, but a run still scored and the Angels tied the game 4-4 in the eighth. We really hope Ayala gets out of this pitching slump soon, with Cordero still on the DL we need capable veterans in the bullpen.

The Nats couldn’t score in the bottom of the eighth, but Aaron Boone, Dmitri’s replacement at first, hit a sharp liner to third base, and beat out the throw at first. The play meant he had recorded his 1000th career hit. With that feat, Aaron follows in his Grandfather’s, Father’s, and older brother’s footsteps. It was a nice career moment for him.

The game remained tied going into the bottom of the ninth. Dukes hit a lead off single off Shields. Lastings Milledge followed with an infield grounder, but Dukes advanced to second. Jesus Flores, who was having a rough night batting in the clean up spot, going 0-4 in his previous at bats, showed patience at the plate, and laced a breaking ball into right field for a game winning RBI single. The story tonight has got to be the young guys, the efforts of Dukes, Milledge and Flores won the game. Are we finally seeing the potential of the future? Ironically Flores’ hit came with Lo Duca in the on deck circle, all Lo Duca could do was watch the future win the game.

With tonight’s win the Nats are 31-49. It’s always nice to head into an off day on the tails of a win. The Nats look to improve this weekend with the end of interleague play and a series against Baltimore.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 10:26 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.