Saturday, July 7, 2012

Instant Analysis: Nats 4, Rockies 1


Photo courtesy of US-Presswire

Nationals 4, Rockies 1

Game in a nutshell: The Nationals took an early lead with a solo home run to opposite field by Ian Desmond in the second inning. Colorado tied the game in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, but Washington found their stroke in the 6th inning by scoring three runs. Gio Gonzalez threw a lot of pitches, but ended up with another gem as he now heads to Kansas City to represent the Nationals in the 2012 All-Star game.

Hitting highlight: The Nationals scored three runs in the sixth inning due to some unusual plays. Danny Espinosa led the inning off with a double off the right-center field wall. Then Bryce Harper advanced him to third on a bloop single he almost got thrown out on trying to stretch a double. Ryan Zimmerman singled Espinosa home and sent Harper to third. Josh Roenicke then threw a wild pitch that Zimmerman tried to steal on, catcher Wilin Rosario threw it off the mark and Harper was able to score from home. Then another error later in the inning, this time trying to pick off Ian Desmond at first, sent Zimmerman home from third.


Pitching highlight: Gio Gonzalez threw 102 pitches (60 strikes) in 6.0 innings but allowed only one earned run and three hits. He walked three batters and struck out six for another overall solid outing by the Nationals lefty.

Key stat: Ian Desmond now has homers in three of his last five games and 16 overall on the season. That’s first for shortstops in the National League and sixth overall in the N.L.

Up next: The final game before the All-Star break as Jordan Zimmermann goes for the series win vs. Jeremy Guthrie and the Rockies. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m.

22 comments:

Holden Baroque said...

Thanks for the fill-in, Chase. I think most of the posse was at the game.

sm13 said...

Looks like Bam Bam will be an all star -- replacing Stanton (who is having knee surgery). Good for Bryce and good for Tony LaRussa.

RickH said...

Davey just said Bryce is going to the All Star Game.

baseballswami said...

Yeah! Rest is over-rated for kids anyway.

Depot Master said...

Correction - Bryce did not almost get thrown out. There was no one at first. Had he gone to second that might have happened but the guy is pretty game-aware.

Gonat said...

HARPER IS AM ALL STAR

baseballswami said...

Yes, he is! Just going yo the game? Not the hr derby?

Holden Baroque said...

Depot Master has it right--Harper singled and rounded the bag almost all the way to second, BECAUSE he knew no one was covering behind him.

Excellent field awareness. The kid's impressive.

baseballswami said...

So over 29 K people went to the game in heat over 100?That is impressive. Go Nats fans!

Holden Baroque said...

Bryce Harper is the Chosen One

Holden Baroque said...

Swami, indeed!

Hey, they were showing Gio's ASG jersey. Can we get those? I think I want a Bryce Harper ASG jersey.

NatsLady said...

Gio: No I didn't get an IV. It would be an insult to our Latin heritage to get an IV!! LOL.

Ian Desmond is the most selfless player in MLB. Not only did he put his injury recovery ahead of the All-Star game you know he had to know if he stayed home Bryce Harper would have a good shot of going. Every year a bunch of players bow out.

baseballswami said...

This team is full of unselfish players. The Nats staying in first and him being able to contribute to that is Desi's first priority .

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Well said NatsLady!

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Mark will be super busy in KC

baseballswami said...

Good luck to Stephen with Gio on one side and Bryce on the other. One of the quietest guys on the team with the two chatterboxes. Mark will have plenty to write about.

SonnyG10 said...

I like that, baseballswami. Two chatterboxes and a quiet guy. Hope they don't drive Stras nuts.

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

baseballswami said...

So over 29 K people went to the game in heat over 100?That is impressive. Go Nats fans!


They probably sold 29,000 tickets to the game, but it looked like many of them stayed home due to the heat. Lotta empty seats.

Unknown said...

Why is this a very good team? From today's box score pitching line:

Gonzalez: 2.92 ERA
Mattheus: 1.82 ERA
Burnett: 1.42 ERA
Clippard: 1.73 ERA

I wonder if any other team could run out four pitchers with those types of ERA's into a game. It's simply amazing.

Farid @ Idaho

Dryw Loves the Nats said...

Speaking as a pretty quiet person myself, my guess is that Stras is not bothered at all by Gio and probably not by Bryce (although I could see some room for Stephen to think of Bryce as more of a pest given his age). I can see him just sitting back and enjoying the chatter without feeling any pressure to chime in. And I do remember one game way back early in the season where there was a great shot of Gio cracking Stephen up. Good for him to be around some guys to help him keep it light.

natsfan1a said...

I'm pretty quiet, but some of my best friends are chatterboxes. :-) Plus, it takes away media pressure from Stras.

Holden Baroque said...

although I could see some room for Stephen to think of Bryce as more of a pest given his age

They are about four years apart. Just sayin.

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