With any hope of a successful season effectively shut down, at least now we’re going to get a chance to see some young faces and have a real opportunity to turn our attention toward the future. Harper at OMG began really focusing on the youngsters a few weeks ago, and Zuckerman wrote just days ago about letting kids develop at the major league level, since the season’s a wash.
In that spirit, Balester came up from Columbus to take on the tough Florida lineup. Balester responded with 5 innings of one hit, one run baseball. He cruised through the first four innings and took a no-hitter into the 5th. It was broken up by Cody Ross. The inning would get away from Balester for a bit. He walked the 8th hitter, Treanor, and the pitcher, Hendrickson, to load the bases for Hanley Ramirez with only one out. Ramirez popped up to Lopez, but Andino was able to score from third to put the Marlins on the board. A wild pitch and another walk later, Balester found himself in more trouble with the bases loaded for Cantu. A pop up to Dmitri ended the long inning and finished Balester’s line: 5 innings, 3 walks, 3 strike outs, 1 hit, 1 run and 1 HBP. It was a nice debut for the young rookie and something Randy St. Claire can build on now that he’s here to stay for a few more starts, at least.
Of course, it helped that he had a little bit of run support to work with. The Nats picked up a run in the 4th off of a monster home run by another building block, Elijah Dukes. In the top of the 5th, an unlikely duo put another run on the board for Washington. Paul Lo Duca doubled and Felipe Lopez collected an RBI hit.
Much to Lenny Harris’s delight, the bats weren’t done yet. In the 6th, Henrickson fell apart. Guzman, Dukes and Young hit consecutive singles to load the bases. Ronnie Belliard brought them all home with a grand slam to left field.
Despite a five run deficit, the Marlins wouldn’t go quietly. They hit Steven Shell hard in the 7th with 3 more runs off of a Hanley Ramirez home run to left field. Joel Hanrahan finished the inning and it was a 6-4 game heading into the 8th.
The bats again showed some life when the Nats added on three more runs to make it a 9-4 game in the top of the inning. Dukes led off with a hit and a stolen base. Belliard walked, Lo Duca singled and Casto reached on a force play before an error on Jacobs allowed Dukes to score. Lopez collected another RBI when Belliard scored and Willie Harris brought home Lo Duca.
Despite another 5 run deficit, this rollercoaster game was still far from over. Manning entered the game and collected two quick strike outs, followed by two quick walks. He was lifted in favor of Ayala who allowed two quick singles and two more runs in the Marlins column, though they were charged to Charlie Manning. A throwing error by Dukes moved Ramirez to third. Ayala then struck out Hermida for a critical out.
Rauch came in to close the game, but still couldn’t shut the Marlins down quickly. Two out singles to Jacobs and Ross brought the tying run, Luis Gonzales, to the plate. Rauch battled back from a 3-0 count to get Gonzales to fly out to center, earning his 17th save.
In a game with lots of good at bats, Dukes went 3 for 5 with a stolen base and a homer, Belliard went 2 for 4 with a grand slam, Lo Duca went 2 for 4 and got hit by pitch, and Lopez went 3 for 4. Balester picked up the win in his major league debut.
This afternoon, Odalis Perez takes on Ricky Nolasco (8-4, 4.05). Among active players, only Lopez and Lo Duca have seen Nolasco much. Lopez is 1 for 11; it was a homer. Lo Duca is 5 for 9. Last time we saw Nolasco, at Nationals Park on May 9, he gave up one run in 6 innings and got the win.
PS - Tony Armas Jr., who couldn’t hack it in Washington or Pittsburgh, started for the Mets last night and earned the win. He gave up 4 runs in 6 innings.
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July 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
Armas: It must have been a day game because I don’t think there would be enough time for him to get through six innings before the game would be called.