And again.  And one more time.

On Saturday, the Nats prevailed over the Braves with homer after homer after homer.  Zimmerman and Harris went deep early in the game and Elijah Dukes blasted two to give the Nats a 5-3 lead.  His power at the plate helped make up for 2 costly errors.

Tim Redding pitched a nice game (six innings, two earned runs) and the bullpen came out strong until Hanrahan entered for the save.  Joel surrendered two runs and forced the game into extra innings.  But Ryan Langerhans wanted to end it quickly.  He did with a solo shot off Atanta’s closer Mike Gonzalez.  The rally would continue in the 10th off of Gonzalez allowing the Nats to mount a 8-5 lead for Steven Shell.  Hanrahan took the blown save and the win.

Sunday brought about more power and more extra innings. Alberto Gonzalez had a great 3 for 4 day with 3 RBIs.  He launched his first major league home run in the 7th.  And his sparkling defense earned him a web gem nomination from ESPN.  Dukes also polished his defense with an assist on Sunday afternoon to catch Prado at 2nd.

After Balester’s decent start (6 innings, 4 earned runs, 11 hits), the bullpen pitched EIGHT innings of scoreless ball.   Together, they surrendered only 5 hits and 2 walks.

Milledge also went deep early which may or may not have warranted him an intentional walk in the 14th with runners at 2nd and 3rd.  The walk loaded the bases for Elijah Dukes, one of the hottest bats as of late.   A bases clearing double broke the tie and handed the Nats their 56th win.

The Nats now head to New York to face the Mets.  Bob Carpenter did a nice preview of the series with NY Mets Daily.  The Mets took 1 of 3 from the Phillies this weekend and maintained a two game lead in the NL East over their division rivals.  The Nats have six more against the Mets and three more against the Phils.   Lannan faces Oliver Perez on Tuesday and Odalis Perez meets Mike Pelfrey on Wednesday.  It’s the team’s final trip to Shea Stadium.

Nats Farm Authority has a nice analysis of AAA affiliate moves.  He suggests we’re headed to New Orleans, Las Vegas or maybe Syracuse in 2009.

Update:

Check out this article from ESPN on money in the presidential election from the sports industry and baseball in particular.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 7:21 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.