The Nationals hit up Great American Ballpark this holiday weekend, or at least they try to. John Lannan took the mound tonight and probably hoped that the dimensions of Great American would help get him some run support. The game remained scoreless for the first three innings until the Nats put up two in the 4th thanks to some big hits from the heart of the lineup. With one out Guzman hit a single, Dukes followed with a double to score Guzman. Dukes then advanced to third thanks to balk on Cueto. Dmitri worked the count for a walk. Fresh from his rehab start, Austin Kearns knocked out a single to score Dukes.

Elijah Dukes added another run for the Nats with a solo shot to left center field in the top of the 6th. John Lannan pitched solidly and without issue until the 6th inning when he got into a jam. Consecutive singles from the Reds tied the game at three. Lannan earned a quality start though, pitching six innings giving up three runs and two costly walks. It should be noted that Lannan was helped out by some nifty defensive plays from Willie Harris at second base.

Things really fell apart in the 7th with Colome on the mound. With one out Corey Patterson made it safely to first after Colome fielded the bunt but threw a bullet to Dmitri at first from about 20 feet away, Dmitri of course missed the ball and was given the error. Patterson made it to second base. Then Harrison singled to center, but Bernadina’s relay throw was way off and allowed both runners to advance. The Nats chalked up another two errors on two consecutive plays tonight. Colome intentionally walked Keppinger to load the bases, and was then promptly removed for Charlie Manning to face Griffey. Manning got him to pop out to third for the second out. So much for giving the bullpen a rest tonight, Ayala entered the game after Griffey flied out, sending three pitchers the mound in one inning. Ayala promptly gave up a base hit to deep right field, and the Reds scored two. Ayala then fielded a blooper to first to end the inning. The Reds led 5-3 after the 7th, every run in the inning was unearned thanks to careless errors by the Nats.

Trying to mount a comeback, Guzman led off the 8th with a double, adding another multi hit game to his record (he leads the league with 35 multi hit games). Guzman’s effort though, was wasted once again when Dmitri hit into a double play and Kearns flied out to right to end the inning. Shell came in to pitch the 8th and was impressive striking out two. Rain started falling in the 9th and the Nats couldn’t mount a comeback and lost with a final score of 5-3.

I’m still pretty bitter that the Nats aren’t home to play a 4th of July game in their new stadium. You’d think Stan and the Lerner’s would want to get the stadium packed anyway they can…they certainly aren’t going to do it with a winning team. Anyway, the Nats face the Reds again tomorrow in Cincy at 1:15. Think I can watch the game on TV and still make it downtown for the fireworks?

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 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.