It was an extra bases night for the Nats, even though there weren’t enough of them to win.  Jesus Flores hit his first career triple and Willie Harris, who continues his hot streak, went 2 for 5 with a home run.  Lopez, Kearns and Lo Duca all hit doubles.  Lo Duca drove in 2 of the Nats 3 runs.  Newly extended Guzman went 0 for 4 with a walk. 

After a day full of other news, wasn’t it great to see Zimmerman back on the field? (and he already blogged about it!)  Ryan went 1 for 3 with 2 walks but somehow, someway, it seems like the universe is back in order with him on the field.

Bergmann struggled early giving up three runs in the first inning.  Homers to Lewis and Molina gave the Nats an early deficit. The Giants would add 2 more runs in the 4th off of Molina’s second home run of the night and an RBI double to Vizquel.  They added the final run in the 8th off of Saul Rivera.  Aaron Rowand collected the RBI single to bring the final score to 6-3 and hand the Nats their 62nd loss, albeit one overshadowed by much more important news.

It was hard to stay focused on the late West coast game when all the big news broke earlier in the evening.  Rauch gone, Guzman extended, Mock back up and a new second baseman announced for next season. We’re still trying to figure out where we stand on all of that.  Look around the blogosphere for some great research and analysis about the big moves.  One thing we did expect was Joel Hanrahan to get the opportunity to close, and it looks like that will in fact be the case.  Ayala and Rivera will continue to share the 7th and the 8th inning roles.  Ryan Wagner continues to rehab, but will likely join the bullpen soon.  The call-up of Mock is curious too.  Does Jim have a trade in the works for Redding or Perez that will offer Mock a rotation spot?   

Nats 320 celebrates the news about the Weekender Promotion - which is good for you non-season ticket holders.  Half Street Blues echoes the complaints we’ve heard from a lot of season ticket holders who have already spent a lot of money watching this not-so-great team.

Chico Harlan’s chatting at 2pm.

The Columbus Clippers jumped out to an early 3-run lead tonight and hit the visiting Pawtucket Red Sox’s pitching staff hard all night en route to a 4-1 victory.

Jorge Padilla, who went 3-4 with a double, started off the bottom of the first with a single on a line drive to right field.  Roger Bernadina followed with a single and reached second on a fielding error by Red Sox CF Sean Danielson, allowing Padilla to score.  Red Sox starter Michael Bowden’s early troubles continued as Bernadina was then knocked in by Luis Antonia Jimenez who notched a double.

A third run was added in the bottom of the second after Leonard Davis started the inning with a ground-rule double.

The Clippers offense hit up the Red Sox pitching staff for a total of 11 hits - only Yurendell de Caster and Luke Montz failing to hit safely.

Garret Mock pitched a solid 7 innings and earned his 6th win of the season as he gave up one unearned run while notching 6 strikeouts.

Chris Schroder struck out two of the three batters he faced to record the save.

Picture: C Luke Montz had a tough time getting anything going.  He was 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and 5 runners LOB.

First off we apologize for being a little tardy with this post. We were cut off from the internet this weekend, a scary feeling for us bloggers! We had a jammed packed weekend in Atlanta. We managed to see all three games of the series, tour CNN, the Coke Factory, and see MLK Jr.’s grave site. The purpose of the trip was baseball though, and after Friday’s mess we were worried our trip might be a waste. Thankfully, the Nationals proved us wrong and managed to put on quite a show for Saturday and Sunday’s games.

John Lannan took the mound on Saturday. Lannan, who has the lowest amount of run support in the majors, was actually given a cushion early in the game. It’s a good thing John had some help from the offense because it wasn’t one of his best outings. We headed to the visitors bullpen about 6:45 to watch Lannan and Estrada warm up. We were surprised to not see Lannan on the field yet, as he is usually out there pretty early. John came out about 15 minutes before the game and immediately started throwing. He looked a little flustered and rushed. Turns out he has a ruben instead of his usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich before the game. Maybe that had something to do with him seeming rushed. Regardless, Lannan pitched effectively working out of bases loaded situations twice.

We complained about the triple A lineup on Friday night and were admittedly surprised by the offense generated on Saturday. The former Braves tore up their old team this weekend. Willie Harris, and Ryan Langerhans had great series. Langerhans hit a double and Willie Harris went 3-5 with two RBI. Big hits also came from Guzman, Lo Duca and Kearns.

After working with Randy St. Claire on Friday and with a four run lead, Manny allowed Ayala to pitch the 8th. He escaped the inning without many problems, giving up only one base hit. Rauch was back with the team and pitched the 9th. He gave up a solo shot to Norton, but the Nationals won the game 8-2.

We are still annoyed with the four catcher roster situation and a little unsure of seeing Lo Duca at first base everyday. Estrada didn’t prove his worth this series, he went 1-4 on Saturday. We were thinking, that with four catchers on the roster, maybe the Nationals can get rid of one of the bullpen catchers and put Estrada out there for a while. It might cut back on some expenses which would please the ownership and really how important are the bullpen catchers anyway? The seem to just take up space to me.

Sunday’s game was a regular hit parade. The Nationals run count reached a season high, hitting really was contagious. In fact, the only National that didn’t have a hit ironically was Cristian Guzman. Odalis Perez wasn’t lights out at all, but he had enough run support to last five innings. Perez gave up five runs off of nine hits. Austin Kearns, who is looking great after coming off his rehab stint, hit his 100th career home run. Jesus Flores is steadily climbing out of his “slump” too. He went 5-6 with all singles. The Nationals loaded the bases a couple of times thanks to walks and infield hits.

Willie Harris had a heck of a series. He closed out the series against the Braves going 2-3 with three walks, a home run and five RBI. Willie also looked like a natural in center field. His performance this weekend lead the MLB to name him NL Player of the Week.

It was pretty cool to see Bobby Cox get ejected in the 3rd inning. With the bases loaded, Carlyle threw a border line pitch to Harris, the umpire called it a ball, forcing Carlyle to walk in a run. Buddy turned his back on the umpire but didn’t show any emotion. Cox came out to argue and was actually thrown out of the game even before he made it all the way out of the dugout. We thought his ejection was a little uncalled for, but it really did wake up the mellow Braves fans.

The Nationals belted out an incredible 15 runs on 17 hits and won the game 15-6. We chose seats by the visitors bullpen on Sunday to try to catch the shade. Let me just say, it’s a good thing the offense gave the team such a big lead because the bullpen was pretty distracted during the game. I bet only a couple of relievers could have told you the actual score before they read the report after the game.

It was great to see some big wins at Turner Field, it made our trip worth it. Hopefully the Nats can build on their last two performances, or at least keep up the momentum. Good news is that Zimmerman should be back. We can’t wait to see the third baseman back on the field. We took a bunch of pictures this weekend, check them out here!

This weekend’s series against the Astros started favorably for the Nats.  The boys of summer belted out ten runs and held the Texans to a shutout. The 10-0 victory was the largest margin the Nats have won by so far this season. Tim Redding finally earned another win, his first since May 19th.  Steven Shell came out of the bullpen and was solid pitching three shutout innings and earning his first career save.

The Nationals started their offense early when Ronnie Belliard hit his first homer of the night after Flores reached first base on a single.  The Nats quickly led 2-0.  Astros starter Oswalt was taken out after the first inning with a hip injury, but the Nationals’ bats stayed hot for the rest of the night. The Nats scored again in the 3rd when Kearns and Guzman hit back to back doubles.  In the 5th, the Astros loaded the bases by intentionally walking Kory Casto.  Jesus Flores, who is steadily working his way out of a slump, hit a two RBI single to put the Nats up again.  That brought hot-hitting Ronnie Belliard to the plate.  Ronnie then hit his second home run of the night and the 100th of his career, to clear the bases.  The Nationals fans were loud and Belliard took a well deserved curtain call.  The Nats capped off the night with a two run shot from Austin Kearns, who is looking much better at the plate after coming back from the DL.

Friday’s victory was much needed.  It proved that the team is much better than they have been playing.  Hopefully the win is a sign of good things to come after the All Star break.

While productive offense launched the Nats to victory on Friday, poor defense on Saturday caused the Nats to fall 6-4 in game two against the Astros. Two errors and two unearned runs put a win out of reach for the team. Starter Colin Balester pitched just 4 and 2/3 innings giving up six runs, 4 earned. Errors, from Belliard at third and Guzman at short, gave the Astros a comfortable cushion.  The worst mistake though, came in the fifth inning.  With one out and runners on the corners, Lo Duca fielded a grounder close to the first base bag.  He touched the bag for an out, but then didn’t throw the ball to third to try to get Berkman who had a big lead, or tag Carlos Lee who was on his way back to first base. Lo Duca could have easily tagged Lee for the third out, but with Lo Duca confused, Lee reached the bag safely.  Berkman then scored a batter later, giving the Astros a bigger lead.

The Nationals played small ball with singles, bunts and sac-flys to score early, but with silly baseball mistakes their efforts weren’t enough.  They tried to rally in the 6th when Willie Harris led off the inning with his 5th home run.  The Nats then loaded the bases with one out.  Jesus Flores was hit by a pitch and all of the runners advanced to put another run on the board.  The guys had a chance to at least tie the game, but struggling Wily Mo Pena grounded into a double play to end the inning.  That was the most disappointing at bat of the night.  After that, the Nats couldn’t mount a comeback.

Given WMP’s struggles this season, trade rumors are circulating about picking up Matt Holliday. Holliday is headed to the All Star game with a .337 average.  He’s 28 and signed through next season on a two-year, $23 million contract.

On Sunday, as fans baked in the afternoon sun, the Nats took off for All Star break early.  Perez pitched pretty well for 6 innings.  He gave up 3 runs, including a home run to Wigginton in the 2nd inning.  He did strike out 6 while only walking one - Wigginton.  Manning gave up another 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning, but Colome, Ayala and Rauch finished the game without a problem.

To Houston’s twelve hits, Washington put up just 5.  Only Wil Nieves hit for an extra base with a double off of Backe.  Backe walked four in his seven innings of work but never allowed the Nats to put runs on the board.  With the 5-0 victory, they took two of three from the Nats before beginning the All Star Break.

So, here we are.  Half a season down with little hope in sight for tolerable baseball anytime soon.  Nobody’s watching on tv, the park is filled with casual fans and tourists, progress with draft picks has been slow, the Lerners are waging a financial battle with the city and there’s just not a lot to feel good about.  But, if you visit wevegotheart.com, you should get a little more heart and a little less doom and gloom.  I suppose.  Perhaps it all started when fans shot down the idea of playing the song regularly at the new park at the beginning of the season. 

We were joined by a special guest on Wednesday, a beloved professor who taught each of us as much about Aristotle and James Madison as he did about living a full life and having an impact on those around you.  A lifelong Red Sox fan, on Wednesday, he again taught us something new.  After prying with questions about the team, players, prospects and front office, he made the observation that we needed to change our attitude a bit.  He was a new source of enthusiasm, a light in the otherwise dark fanbase in despair.  Throughout the game, he was optimistic while we tried to pull him back to reality.

The oddest part of this pleasant learning experience came later.  This professor is by no means a fountain of optimism when it comes to trusting in political systems and citizens.  Pretty words, nice speeches and promises for a better tomorrow don’t inspire this sober mind. 

So, to see him inspired and enthusiastic that this last place team could turn a double play and properly execute a hit and run baffled me.  When I pointed out the discrepency in his life philosophy, he said, “that’s baseball,” the one thing that allows him to live outside of reality, if only for a few hours.  There’s some magic in setting aside the numbers for a night and believing it could be better.

And it was.  Wednesday brought about a desperately needed shut-out win for the Nationals.  And for the first time, in a long time, I was able to put it all in perspective.  You blog, you watch, you rush from work to get there in time, maybe you get soaked in a downpour or sit through a three hour rain delay, or maybe its 100 degrees and you spend more than you should on 5 bottles of water.  It takes a toll on your sanity.  You’re bound to get angry from time to time.  You care too much.

With that out there, here’s what happened last night.  The Nats battled.  They lost the end game but they battled back twice, which is more than we’ve seen all season.  The Diamondbacks battled too.  We saw a beautiful game from Bergmann, seven quality innings in his pitching duel with Dan Haren. 

When the bats came alive to rally in the 9th, fans stood up and hoped for the best.  A Lopez walk followed by consecutive singles for Casto and Guzman loaded the bases for Austin Kearns.  We think Manny unwisely wasted Willie Harris as a pinch runner for Casto.  Both Lopez and Casto scored easily when Austin Kearns’ hard grounder was bobbled by Mark Reynolds.  With Guzman, the winning run, on second - Young and Flores couldn’t get it done.  Wily Mo reached first on another error by Reynolds to load the bases.  With the winning run now just 90 feet away, Acta allowed the struggling Bernandina to hit for himself.  He battled through nine pitches but eventually grounded out to end the inning.  

With a tie to protect, big Jon Rauch took the mound.  He got the first two outs quickly, but things fell apart just as quickly.  Two singles and two doubles later, the Diamondbacks were up by 3 and Mark Reynolds had made up for his 2 errors.  Normally, I would have been dejected, impressed with the 9th inning rally and ready to call it a night, but I tried to believe, for a change, that we might come out fighting.  Sure enough, Pete Orr led off with a double.  After Lopez grounded out, Willie Harris singled to score Orr.  The gap was closing.  Guzman singled then Kearns doubled and advanced to third on the throw.  The game was again tied, but the winning run was on third base with only one out.  Fans again went crazy.  Tony Pena was pulled for Chad Qualls.  After Dmitri was intentionally walked, he was replaced by Wil Nieves, probably to prevent the double play ball.  Flores made contact but right to third base where a quick toss home to Montero caught Kearns out at the plate.  WMP ended the inning with a grounder, stranding two men on.  The rally fell short yet again.

Ayala came in and hit Ojeda on his second pitch, an omen almost worst than walking the lead off batter.  Ayala fielded Young’s sacrifice bunt well for the first out, but gave up a double to Stephen Drew which scored Ojeda.  He intentionally walked Hudson to face Conor Jackson.  Though Jackson singled, Harris’ throw to Flores beat Drew home for the second out.  Ayala still had one RBI base hit left in him and he gave it to Chad Tracy.  Worst of all, the two runners who scored off Ayala reached base by getting hit by pitch and intentionally walked.   While he’s struggled mightily this season, this loss is certainly not all his fault.  There’s enough blame to go around.  For one, Bernadina and Flores both left 5 runners on base and Young left 3.

As a sidenote, fans really gave Angel Hernandez a tough time throughout the final innings, booing and yelling Balk at every Diamondback’s pick-off attempt.  It was fun.

And the game was fun.  There are tough losses and there are times when you leave knowing everybody gave their all.  Last night, we lost a hard fought battle, which is worlds better than being shut out.

Tonight, we begin a series with the Houston Astros against Roy Oswalt, who missed his last start (7-8, 4.60 ERA).  Tim Redding takes the mound for the Nats.

The Nats finally scored some runs for starting pitcher John Lannan, and he got a much deserved victory last night.  The Nats shutout the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0.  The Nats hadn’t shutout an opponent since May 19th. More importantly, last night’s win put an end the team’s six game losing streak.

With the team’s struggles this year, I think we have all learned to appreciate the little things.  I was impressed with the Nationals defense last night.  Lannan allowed runners on base, with a few walks and some hits, but the guys behind him were solid, turning three double plays. Lannan once again, pitched a nice game going six no run innings. He threw 85 pitches, 42 for strikes. The outfielders looked solid also; I liked seeing Willie Harris in center field.  It was refreshing to watch a game with no errors. 

Arizona pitcher Owings was all over the place with the ball last night.  He couldn’t seem to find the plate to throw a strike.  He actually hit three Washington batters in the game.  Paul Lo Duca got nailed on the inside of his knee pretty hard, he didn’t look to happy about it, and even less so when he almost got hit again a couple innings later.  The Nationals scored their first run in the second inning thanks to Owings erratic throws.  After giving up a single to Young, Owings hit Belliard and Lo Duca with pitches to load the bases. Dmitri crossed the plate on a force after Kory Casto earned a walk.

The Nats held their one run lead until they added some insurance runs in the sixth inning.  Kory Casto, who was recently called back from Columbus to take Dukes’ place, had a great the game.  Kory played solidly in left field, and made a really nice backhand catch.  In the sixth inning Casto hit an RBI double to score Young again.  Kory also stole his first major league base last night.  Hopefully this kid is finding his groove in the bigs this time up.  Jesus Flores, who has been struggling offensively for the last couple of weeks, pinch hit for Lannan in the sixth.  On a 1-2 count Flores, found a good pitch and launched the ball about 380 feet into the visitor’s bullpen.  His three run shot put the Nats up by five.  A pinch hit homer has to be good for Flores’ confidence.  Flores is actually 3-6 in the pinch hit position this season, but I like seeing him behind the plate much better.

The bullpen of Hanrahan, Ayala, and Rauch held the D-Backs to a shutout, but it was the young guys, Lannan, Casto, and Flores that ensured the Nats victory. 

As expected, the Nats suffered another loss last night, in fact a major league-leading 11th shutout and dropped their record to 34-57.

Odalis Perez got tossed after home plate umpire Angel Hernandez called two balks on Odalis in the 3rd inning.  He had only faced 10 batters.  At least somebody besides Lo Duca has some fire these days.  The ejection may have took a toll on the bullpen, but it was a welcome sign of life from a lethargic team that has quickly put enthusiastic fans to sleep.   This team desperately needs leadership.  Someone needs to wake up and say, we’re better than this.  Because yes, there have been a lot of injuries, but we were better than the 100 losses we’ll collect this season.

And a quick note on Hernandez.  Some quick research reveals that he once ejected a “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” singer before the game.  He also has a history of holding grudges, which is exactly why Odalis was so upset.

In addition to the balks, the Nats had two errors last night, and both led to unearned runs.  Early in the game, Guzman couldn’t complete a throw to first.  The runner, Burke, would soon score.  Then again in the 6th, Bernadina misjudged Bobby Hammock’s fly ball to put another unearned Arizona run on the board.   On the other hand, Wily Mo and Lopez both made nice defensive plays.  WMP charged a short fly ball from Mark Reynolds in the 8th to end the inning.  Earlier in the game, Felipe Lopez dove full force to stop a grounder before rolling it into Guzman’s glove for the out.  Effort? Energy?  Yup, at least a little bit.

The bullpen held up nicely too.  Shell came in without much of a warm up and quickly issued a walk on 4 consecutive balls to Stephen Drew.  But, he got out of the third inning with no damage.  In his next two innings, he gave up 1 hit with 4 walks and 2 strike outs.  After that, Saul Rivera and Joel Hanrahan finished the game strong.  Manny was impressed with their efficiency.  Rivera faced 8 batters; Hanrahan faced only 6.  They did it on 50 pitches between them. 

Sure, the team faced the dominating Webb last night, who gave up 6 hits in 6 innings with 6 strike outs.  Several of those hits came off the bat of Austin Kearns.  Austin went 2 for 4 with a strike out.  He’s only been back for a week, but he’s batting .317 since his return.  We doubt his numbers will ever reach Bowden and Ladson level expectations, but he may be on his way back to a more tolerable mediocrity.  Young also had a good night (3 for 4 with a walk).  Kory Casto had a welcome return to Washington, after going back and forth to Columbus.  He had another big pinch hit, a double in the 5th off of Webb.

Tonight, Micah Owings (6-7, 5.15) faces John Lannan (4-9, 3.60).

Zuckerman’s chatting at 1 pm.  I’m starting to think he’s the only beat writer we should be listening to these days.

Game three in Cincinnati didn’t bring much offense for the Nats yet again. The Nats didn’t score until Tim Redding - of all people - hit a single in the second to plate Kearns. The game would stay at 1-0 until the fifth thanks to solid pitching from Redding. The Reds eventually tied the game after singles by Hariston and Griffey and a sac fly by Phillips.

The injury curse hit the Nats yet again in the 7th inning when Elijah Dukes hit the left field wall while tracking a fly ball. He made the catch, but it looked like he planted his legs weird and in the process hurt his knee. Dukes crumpled to the ground and really looked to be in pain. Manny and the trainers immediately ran onto the field and called for the cart to take Dukes off. Things looked pretty grim. MASN showed JimBo and he looked pretty upset with the injury…maybe because his experiment was falling apart right before his eyes? News on Dukes came a bit later in the game, and it wasn’t good, he strained his patella. This is certainly another crippling blow to an already defeated team. Dukes was having a great run and was one of the only guys generating any sort of offense.

After getting just one run in the first eight innings, the Nats were able to mount a bit of a rally in the 9th when Dmitri Young took a lead off walk thanks to Reds closer Cordero. Kearns followed with a base hit to center, and Jesus Flores had a great at bat and hit a deep fly ball to center to earn a sac fly and tie the game.

Hanrahan came back out to pitch the bottom of the 9th and immediately gave up a base hit, Hariston then stole second, Flores didn’t have a chance to make the throw. They intentionally walked Griffey to put runners on first and second with one out. Luis Ayala came in to face Phillips, who hit a walk off single. The Reds won 3-2.

The Nats look to avoid the sweep tomorrow when the rookie Colin Balester faces Edinson Volquez at 1:35.

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?

Rain ruined a good start by Odalis Perez on Wednesday afternoon.  Perez cruised through 6 innings giving up only one run.  In the bottom of the 7th, he had 2 runners on and 2 outs, but the skies opened up on Dolphin Stadium, prompting a 95 minute rain delay.   Manning was set to take over where Perez left off and face Amezaga.  On the third pitch, Amezaga homered to left field to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead.  Rivera allowed another run in the 8th to bring the score to 4-2.

Meanwhile, Nolasco handled the Nationals without much of a problem.  In 7 innings, he struck out 8, giving up only 3 hits.  We were lucky to even put two runs on the board.  Both came in the 2nd inning when Lo Duca singled to score Boone and Belliard.   The only other hit came in the 7th when Flores singled.  After the rain, Pinto and closer Gregg finished the game without another hit by the Nats.

And that’s about all.  The Marlins take the series and improve to 10-2 against the Nationals this season.

The team now heads to Cincinnati for a four game series against Ken Griffey Jr. and the Reds.  There, they will be reunited with RF Austin Kearns.  Tomorrow night John Lannan faces 22 year old rookie Johnny Cueto (6-8, 4.68).  Chances are Lannan will get some run support in Great American, but how will his ERA hold up?  Throughout the series, Griffey will be looking to break a milestone.  Two runs will give him 1584, 44th all time passing George Brett.