Sunday, September 9, 2012

Fried by the Fish

Associated Press photo
Edwin Jackson departs after allowing six runs in 4 2/3 innings.
It was only 12 days ago when Ricky Nolasco was handed the ball by Ozzie Guillen to face the Nationals and didn't give it back to his manager until he had completed a five-hit shutout.

When the 29-year-old right-hander was again handed the ball by Guillen on Sunday afternoon, members of the Nationals certainly were familiar with his repertoire and though that would have played to their advantage.

"Normally, I would say yes," Adam LaRoche said. "But I guess not in this case."

No, not at all. Nolasco didn't just enjoy another successful outing against the Nationals. He shut them out again, this time allowing a scant four hits while once again going the distance during an 8-0 throttling of the previously red-hot, best team in baseball.

"He did the exact same thing," LaRoche said. "He was the exact same pitcher. We knew what we getting. We knew what he has. He just locates to the point that you look up and its 0-2, 1-2 in your at-bat and you're grinding. Tip your hat to him. He did a great job."
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36 comments:

LoveDaNats said...

I will tip my hat to him and thank the baseball gods that we won't see the Fish again this year.

baseballswami said...

So , imaginary friends, is this our worst shellacking of the year? Or will it remain the night the Barves came back from 9 runs down? Thankfully there have not been but a couple of games in the running for that dubious honor. Previously this season the Nats have rebounded nicely from bad games/ series. They seem to keep very level and don't panic. If Desi needed a rest he might as well have it today and be ok for upcoming games. Zim doesn't sit very often, hope the rest did him some good. The rookies look very - well, interesting in their leotards. Go Nats! Done with the fish!

Section 222 said...

The loss after being up 9-0 is definitely worse. These kind of shellackings happen from time to time. Nothing to get all excercised about. Tomorrow's another day, and Gio will be on the mound.

So all the women on my twitter feed just love the hazing of the rookies. Not a single guy that I'm following finds it the least bit interesting. Funny, if the women's gymnastic team dressed up as baseball players I don't think I'd find it funny or sexy either.

baseballswami said...

I agree sec 222 - the Braves loss was a result of mistakes by the nats and bad play. Today was a pitcher completely on his game. It could have been 10 to nothing or 1 to nothing. Hope the stinkers are out of the way for 2012.

Steve Walker said...

Nats go 8-3 on home stand, but Braves go 9-2 or 10-1 in same time. Nats need to keep winning. Braves capable of nearly running table with weak schedule ahead. Those three head to head games are going to end up being decisive for the division. Braves are not collapsing this Sept, so Nats cannot either. May be the nls two best teams!

Steady Eddie said...

Yup. Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. We've squashed a lot of bugs in the past dozen games, and thankfully won't be seeing Nolasco again this year.

Kind of bizarre when you consider how we've owned him this year before these past couple starts. Just shows you can't predict baseball, you just can't! So to speak.

Steady Eddie said...

Actually, Unknown, the Barves have been 7-3 the past 10 games, just as we have.

MicheleS said...

The Rookie Hazing.

Sexy, umm, no, Funny, heck yes, especially when some of the enterprising Nats fans added McKayla's not approving look to it. All in good fun and hopefully something that can break the tension. 11 days in a row without a day off plus an additional 3 in NY, they might need something to break the ice. Who knew that Christian Garcia was the biggest one of the bunch.

baseballswami said...

Nowhere to hide if you are not in shape.

peric said...

Clearly Werth should stay at lead-off and never again see the heart of the lineup. This team is hitting for power on a regular basis and in spite of that he still has hit only 5 and his ISO is that of a good lead-off hitter not a #5.

Have to figure Davey put him there after his home run post rain delay. Lobo has hit homers as well ... as has Bernadina. Hopefully, Davey has seen that Werth needs to be at the top of the lineup or at the bottom and nowhere in the middle.

Gonat said...

Fried by the fish? Their pitching was better. One ball lost in the sun didn't help but that only cost a couple of runs.

baseballswami said...

Tracy and Lombo had 2 of the hits. Rookie with one more. Morse the other. After a total, offensive explosion lately, that was just odd. BABIP was not kind today.

Steady Eddie said...

Swami --"nowhere to hide if you are not in shape"...

Same as with the Smurfs last yer.

Eugene in Oregon said...

Once again had to miss the game; watched the replay (quickly, once I saw the direction in which it was heading). Oh well.

Bottom line: a 8-3 home stand. I think anyone would have taken that if it had been offered beforehand. But the losses to the Marlins do smart.

Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said...

see ya in 2013, Ozzie. Don't enjoy the offseason.

Manassas Nats' Fan said...

Magic number now 10

Tcostant said...

I for one am happy that we won't see Miami in the playoffs.

Tcostant said...

It should be noted that I think the team will be fine, just that the fish always play good Vs. us.

Scooter said...

I just need to not go to games. I'm like 3-612 this yar.

Positively Half St. said...

Oh, the gymnast hazing picture is a terrible sight this early in the morning. I think that a laugh after a terrible game was probably healthy, though.

I agree that the Braves' remaining schedule is softer than the Nats', but Milwaukee will be desperate to beat the Braves the next few days. Six games out of the wild card, this probably represents their last chance.

Remember, too, that the Cubs didn't have anything to play for after the Nats utterly embarassed them, but they swept the Pirates, who might have prematurely penciled in some wins from that series.

The Braves could play the rest of the way at a .667 clip (better than anyone has so far), and the Nats would only have to go 10-12 to clinch the division. Let the Braves see the rookies-as-gymnasts picture, and perhaps they will get overconfident.

+1/2St.

baseballswami said...

Imagine my surprise this morning - the local pointy ball team had a special day yesterday and when I opened the WaPo hard copy this morning I found - count them - four articles about the Nats. One gamer, and two very good articles.Well, the fourth one was junk. But, wow. A clear indication that the Nats have arrived.

blovy8 said...

Yeah, swami, that was the most encouraging part of the morning so far.

Anonymous said...

Unknown said...

"Braves capable of nearly running table with weak schedule ahead"


Sorry, no. This isn't college football. Baseball doesn't work that way. They have 21 games left- they'll lose more than a couple, guaranteed.

Also I'm not sure why people think their schedule is week. The Brewers and Phillies are both red-hot and well over .500 since the ASB. The Marlins haven't thrown in the towel, as we've seen. And they have to play us, and then wrap things up with Pirates team that is folding but still in the playoff chase and has the pieces they traded for when they thought they'd contend.

Sure, we can wrap it up easily if we put together a little winning streak. But we don't have to. Someone along the way is going to give us a big hand by winning a few from the Braves. That's a bowdenball guarantee.

mick said...

question for us to ponder.... can Phillies still make it in?

Anonymous said...

The Brews are much better at home than on the road this year. That may work in our favor. (41-28 vs, 28-43.)

MicheleS said...

Mick, they won't make it in, too many teams to leap over. They can make it difficult for others.

BigCat said...

Yes, they sure can......us for one

Alex Howard said...

i find davey ridiculous in that it was an important game yesterday, series on the line, and he rests zimmerman and desmond, decisions like that cost the nats. This mets series will be real tough, nats have trouble with dickey always, and matt harvey is a really good pitcher. I think if we get to the braves series with a 4.5 game + lead and dont get swept i think we have it

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Alex Howard, no series are easy given matchups. Just look at what the Cubs did to the Pirates.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

mick said...
question for us to ponder.... can Phillies still make it in?


What did I write last week? The Phillies have the easiest part of their schedule and swept the Rockies and now have the Marlins, then the Astros and then the Mets again and I predicted 11-2 or 10-3 in that stretch after they went 8-2 in their last 10.

While I think they will end up over .500 when all is said and done, it would be highly unlikely to think they can slip into the playoffs with 22 games left and 69 wins, but they aren't stastistically eliminated.

Alex Howard said...

i think the phillies are out of it, if they had started like they are playing now id have said otherwise, they have too many teams to pass to make it in

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

NatsJack in Florida said...
Ghost... what's my mantra?.... It's not WHO you play...It's HOW you play.


A lot of people said the Cubs stink and are AAA. I disagreed with guys like Rizzo, Soriano, Barney, and Starling Castro. I think their problem is pitching and not hitting. They have a decent lineup. The Nats pitchers just shut them down.

Bad is the Houston Astros all the way around. Even they can win every once in a while (44 times this year).

I look at hot trends and the Cubs went into Pittsburgh beaten up and humiliated at the hands of the Nats. The Pirates are now 3-7 after getting swept by the Cubbies. They next face the Reds. If they get swept by the Reds, the Pirates would be only 2 games over .500 heading into Thursday in a monumental collapse. Even though the Pirates are only 2.5 games out of the 2nd Wild Card spot, they seem much further given their poor performance the last 30 days.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Alex Howard, they are probably out of it since they may need to finish at 18-4 to make the playoffs and hope the Cardinals, Dodgers and Pirates fall apart.

Playing a doubleheader for the Phillies yesterday may have winded them some so big game tonight for Halladay against the Marlins.

JD said...


I thought the Phillies were done but as badly as Pittsburgh,LA and St.Louis are playing you just never know. I hope the Brewers feel they still have a decent chance when they take on the Braves tonight.

JD said...


I am not 100% sure the Phills are done any more. If St.Louis stumbles on the west coast it is not inconceivable that Pittsburgh and LA will keep losing.

I would put their chances at about 5% which is pretty damn good considering where they came from.

Anonymous said...

And watch those Braves. Chipper really wants it this year.!!!!

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