It was pretty nice to finally see a win again.  The park was dead but that’s to be expected on a rainy, cold night late in August when kids are back in school and Democrats have all took off for Denver.

There was a lot of good things to take away from that game and the win on Tuesday as well.  Holding a one run lead is always a challenge.  Twice, the bullpen performed quite well.  Joel is really stepping up in the closer’s role and showing that he can get out of high pressure jams.

Zimmerman certainly seems ready to bring this team back strong over the final weeks.  Sparkling defense on Tuesday and his first homer since May on Wednesday have provided a nice boost for this team.  And, the young girl who picked Zimmerman in the Home Run ball give-away actually won the ball.  Has anyone won this season yet?  Congrats to her!

Redding took the win, his 9th for the season and surprisingly enough Maddux took the loss (his 11th).  It was of course great to have the opportunity to see him and Manny Ramirez play.  Manny managed to squeeze out a base hit off Hanrahan in the 9th to bring the winning run to the plate, but Hanrahan worked out of it.

Milledge too provided some drama.  After getting nailed by Maddux, Milledge fell over dramatically and slowly took first base.  A moment later, he tried to steal second, but the ball went foul.  Belliard grounded out to send Milledge to third base.  Flores hit the ball at Maddux who turned to third for what would become an intense rundown with Milledge.  Gameday lists the play as: P Greg Maddux to 3B Casey Blake to C Russell Martin to SS Nomar Garciaparra to 3B Casey Blake.  All the while, Milledge was waving Flores on to second base.  Despite the out, it was pretty entertaining.  Milledge would not give up.

So all in all, last night was actually fun (for a change). While we were beating the Dodgers unexpectedly, the NL East Showdown continued in Philadelphia with the Mets edging the Phillies to reclaim the lead in the division.  Former Nat Ayala earned his second save.  Fire Jim Bowden has a nice tribute to Ayala today.  You should definately check it out.  What we may not be able to explain in stats and numbers, we know anecdotally.

Just a few complaints and I’ll try to keep them brief.

As an FYI to season ticket holders:

Your season ticket holder package explains that you can exchange unused season tickets for three selected games, two of which are in September — the 3rd and the 24th.  Apparently, this is not the case.  They are only allowing you to exchange unused tickets for the 23rd now, which doesn’t help much if your package already includes tickets for that day.

And another thing…

It’s one thing for Mark Lerner to shag balls during batting practice once a series.  It’s goofy and silly but it is what it is.  It’s another thing for the GM to show up in a Manny Ramirez wig.  If we were racing for a division title and he was the best GM in the league, then maybe he could have some fun.  But his showboat flashy tactics are just too much right now for angry fans.  He needs to grow up and show some respect to this franchise.

And with that, the Nats try for the sweep tonight.  John Lannan (3.95, 7-12) takes on Clayton Kershaw (4.11, 2-4).

Oh and Congrats to Smiley on winning the GCL’s batting title!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 7:14 am 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.