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Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER Will the Nationals celebrate this afternoon at Busch Stadium? |
Today, though, when the Nationals take the field at Busch Stadium, they won't need to look at the out-of-town scoreboard. Their task is simple: Win and they're NL East champs. Yes, they could also back their way in if the Braves lose to the Mets in a game that begins 40 minutes before this one. But the players in the visitors clubhouse prefer it not come to that. As one guy said this morning: "We want to dog-pile."
So it will be a motivated group this afternoon, led by St. Louis native Ross Detwiler and catcher Kurt Suzuki (starting his ninth consecutive game behind the plate). All the regulars are in the lineup, another sign Davey Johnson wants to end this thing right here and right now, then give everyone a rest during the final three games against the Phillies.
Enjoy this day, everyone. And, of course, be sure to check in here for live updates and analysis throughout...
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Busch Stadium
Gametime: 2:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, Ch. 50, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500 AM), XM 187
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 70 degrees, Wind 8 mph in from RF
NATIONALS (96-62)
RF Jayson Werth
CF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche
LF Michael Morse
SS Ian Desmond
2B Danny Espinosa
C Kurt Suzuki
LHP Ross Detwiler
CARDINALS (85-73)
CF Jon Jay
RF Carlos Beltran
LF Matt Holliday
1B Allen Craig
C Yadier Molina
3B David Freese
2B Daniel Descalso
SS Pete Kozma
RHP Lance Lynn
UMPIRES
HP Chris Guccione
1B Jeff Nelson (cc)
2B Bill Welke
3B Cory Blaser
2:14 p.m. -- We're about to get underway here, but they're already underway in Atlanta, and David Ross just belted a three-run homer for the Braves to give them a 3-0 lead the bottom of the second.
2:16 p.m. -- And now we're underway with a strike from Lance Lynn to Jayson Werth. Buckle up, folks. Could be a wild ride.
2:27 p.m. -- Jayson Werth, doing what he always does: Getting on base. He roped a double to left-center to get this one started and put the Nats in great position to take an early lead. But then, the unthinkable: Bryce Harper made an out. In the first inning. For the first time in seven days. Still, it was a productive out, a flyball to center that advanced Werth to third. The bigger problem was that the big boys behind Bryce couldn't finish the job. Ryan Zimmerman grounded out to third, and Adam LaRoche (seeking his 100th RBI) struck out to end the top of the first with no score on the board. Meanwhile, the Mets did get a run back in Atlanta in the top of the third, so the Braves now lead 3-1.
2:36 p.m. -- Plenty of fastballs from Ross Detwiler in the bottom of the first, though a good number of them outside of the zone. He threw only 8 of 17 for strikes, walking Carlos Beltran with one out. The lefty battled back, though, and struck out Matt Holliday and got Allen Craig to ground out to end the first inning scoreless.
3:06 p.m. -- Wow, that was ugly. Detwiler and the Nats completely crumbled in the bottom of the second. It began with a pair of walks, then Danny Espinosa booted a tailor-made, 4-6-3 double play grounder. That prolonged the inning, but Detwiler did nothing to help his cause after that. Pete Kozma doubled home two runs into the right-field corner, with the Nats catching a break and throwing out Daniel Descalso trying to score all the way from first. Jon Jay then singled home another run. Carlos Beltran then crushed a 1-2 pitch into the bullpen for a two-run homer. Throw in another walk (his fourth of the game already) and Detwiler is in serious trouble. How bad? So bad that Chien-Ming Wang has begun warming in the bullpen. It's 5-0 Cardinals, while the Braves continue to lead 3-1 in the fifth.
3:12 p.m. -- Meanwhile, Lynn has retired nine straight since Werth's game-opening double. Five of them are strikeouts. The Nats couldn't have scripted the first 2 1/2 innings of this game any worse.
3:27 p.m. -- And that's it for Detwiler. He strikes out Molina to open the third, but then issues his fifth walk of the day and serves up his fourth hit. Just like that, the St. Louis native is done after 2 1/3 innings. In comes Chien-Ming Wang, who naturally throws his first pitch to the backstop, then throws his second one there, too. In comes another run. Then in came another run on a sac fly. Incredibly, the Nationals trail 7-0 after three innings. They may be pleading for the mercy rule to be instituted before this one ends.
3:47 p.m. -- Hold the phone, folks. This one ain't over yet. Harper led off the top of the fourth with his 22nd homer, leaving him just two shy of Tony Conigliaro for the all-time record by a teenager. Hits by LaRoche and Desmond kept the inning going. Espinosa then launched a two-run bomb to right, and all of sudden it was 7-4. In a curious move, Wang got to hit for himself with two outs and a man on first. Predictably, he struck out. As much as Davey has been insisting all hands were on deck until the Nats clinch, you have to wonder why that wasn't the case right there. Why not send up a pinch-hitter? You've got plenty of arms out in the bullpen to get through this game.
4:03 p.m. -- And sure enough, Wang opens the bottom of the fourth by walking Jay and then serving up a two-run bomb to Beltran. Just like that, it's 9-4. Not Davey Johnson's finest managerial hour here today.
4:10 p.m. -- Another walk for Harper. On this road trip, he's now 11-for-23 with three doubles, a triple, three homers, seven RBI, a .520 OBP, a 1.087 slugging percentage and a 1.607 OPS. It's quite possible he's the only guy on the Nats roster right now not caught up in the moment.
4:29 p.m. -- It's over in Atlanta. The Braves win 6-2. So unless the Nats can rally from five runs down, they won't be clinching today and they'll head home hoping to do it against the Phillies tomorrow night.
4:40 p.m. -- Christian Garcia mows down the Cards in order in the bottom of the sixth. Guess he wasn't available to pitch the bottom of the fourth, when the Nats trailed by only three runs. It's still 9-4 as we move to the seventh.
4:56 p.m. -- Onto the eighth, still 9-4. The Reds, meanwhile, came back to win in Pittsburgh. So if the Nats lose today, those two teams will again be tied for the NL's best record. Remember, the Nats would win a tiebreaker against them, based on head-to-head record, so they would still be the NL's No. 1 seed in that scenario.
5:05 p.m. -- Still 9-4, the Nats now down to their last three outs.
5:16 p.m. -- 10-4 now as we go to the ninth.
5:23 p.m. -- It's over. The Nats lose 10-4. They lead the Braves by three games with three to play. The magic number remains 1. They'll head home and try to clinch tomorrow night against the Phillies.
241 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 241 of 241 Newer› Newest»Prediction: Rizzo is not bringing back Johnson -- too weird -- too odd -- too many brain farts.
The team won in spite of Davey -- afterall, no small ball, no stealing, average pitching staff management (and that mcCatty's job).
Davey is Earl Weaver: sit back and wait for the three run homer: and Earl had phenomenal pitching too. interesting.
Zim this weekend trying to pull outside pitches. A bad habit for sure
We have all these promising young guys on the roster--why is Wang sucking up innings if he is not going to be on the roster? Are they evaluating him for next year? Virtually, every pitcher on the squad has had good games and shown promise except for Lidge, who is gone, and Wang, who should be released immediately.
I'm worried about Det too. That's not the issue with how this game was managed. If you were managing the team, would you have (1) relieved him with Wang; (2) left him in after two straight wild pitches; 3) let him bat for himself in the top of the 4th with a man on base; (4) left him in after walking Jay to face Beltran. Those were five separate decisions. The only one I can even see a rationale for is the first.
NL -- if you're basing this on the percentages -- which are BS with this team and its demonstrated capacity to come back, but anyway -- then you're saying Davey was in fact giving up the game for lost, waving the white flag by bringing CMW in, and only pulling Det to limit the damage to his psyche.
Why do we strike out so much as a team?
The multi-million waste of money on Wang is hanging around our necks. Using him in any situation is a joke. Even when he won 19 games twice for the Yanks, his ERA was over 4.00. Wang never was any good.
Using him is irresponsible -- and not fair to the fans who follow, support, and spend huge amounts of money at Nats Park. Shame on you, Johnson.
Manassas, you are right. I am not worried about the BP, and Davey putting Wang is was the measure of him saving the BP.
Nothing says if he put Stammen in he wouldn't have given up a dinger and scored the runs (he's done that before and so has Mattheus). Remember it was only the 3rd inning. You need 5-6 innings from the BP, where are you getting them? You are not getting them from Garcia--you simply do not want to wear him out in a 94.7% lost cause. So you bring him in for 1 inning, what next? I admit, I would have brought in Duke over CMW, I said that in a post. But do you know how many times the Nats have scored 4-5 runs early and held on to win a game? Probably at least 20-30 times, maybe more. The Cards are not the Mets or Brewers with their lousy bullpens.
The percentages were simply not on the side of Davey blowing out his bullpen.
Davey's a great manager. He wants to win every game, including this one. He's coming back next season. He really screwed up today. We'll see if he admits it.
CMW was never in any consideration for the postseason roster. Period.
NL, do you always have to "correct" people by essentially repeating what they just said?
It's still a marathon, folks.There is still a game that must be won, and then, hopefully, a playoff series. I honestly think that Johnson looks pretty bad with his decisions today, but it's not all on him. Ross gave up 7 runs, with a little help from Danny and Wang. If Danny doesn't flub the made to order double play ball, that whole inning probably looks at least a little different. Werth got to third with one out in the first and Zimmerman and ALR stranded him. We just had two guys on and one out and didn't score in the sixth. Now, in the eighth we strand ALR at third.This is a team loss, dealt to us by our inability to produce in several fazes of the game.
PS. I'm bummed, because my prediction that the final Phillies series would be meaningless has now almost certainly been proven wrong.
I think Johnson is very good at managing personalities. I doubt beyond that, that any manager really matters a lot. Casey Stengel won five World Series in a row and then managed the Mets in 1962, winning 40.
Eddie, someone said that, that Davey bringing in CMW was Davey's version of the "white flag." I didn't like the ragging on CMW (who is, after all, a human being) but I agree with the sentiment.
Seriously?
NatsFanSinceStart said...
Prediction: Rizzo is not bringing back Johnson -- too weird -- too odd -- too many brain farts.
Wang isn't and wasn't under consideration for the playoff roster. Nor was Davey thinking about next year. Davey just wanted to follow Det with a RH long reliever. Someone who could go more than one inning. Stammen pitched last night. He thought Wang pitched decently against the Dodgers after the initial lack of control. So he brought him in. I'm not going to criticize him much for that decision. But the subsequent ones are another story. It was clear Wang wasn't going to keep the deficit stable and he should have been replaced ASAP.
Eddie, someone was asking about CMW and the postseason. I can't figure who said what. I'm outtta here. There has GOT to be a better blog. Bye.
Natslady: 5-0 in the fourth inning is not a game you give away. Get off this Fangraph thing -- I don't care if 'they say' it's a lost game. This is baseball and you don't give up a game down 5 runs in the fourth.
You are bending yourself into pretzels defending a horrible job by the manager. But you make a fool out of yourself sighting Fangraph's contention the game was lost in the fourth to defend Giving the game up.
Where did you play your ball? Oh, I forgot. Everyone who can quote Billy Beane, Fangraph and read Sabermetrics is a Baseball Guru. Give me a break.
Oh My God! Pus Throwing Lannan goes tomorrow night. What a waste of good money.
Thanks, NatsFanSinceStart. I want everyone to realize as well just how mediocre Wang is. People said he was decent last Sunday--he was not. He got in trouble every inning. He did get a double which may have fooled Davey into letting him hit.
The Nats have spent a huge amount of resources on this guy and, unlike Lannan, Wang has give zero back in return.
I don't know if he is a nice guy or not since he apparently doesn't speak English, but I do know that he apparently lacks the concentration to come into a game as a reliever and throw a pitch within ten feet of the catcher. Please Wang, go foist your wares on some other unsuspecting team.... Tell them that you are pitching like it is 2008, whatever it takes....
NatsFanSinceStart-- That's the second time you've pulled this "where did you play your ball" crap. It's sexist and stupid. Lots of very good analysts, male and female, never played ball (or played it in Little League only, which doesn't qualify you for anything.) So cut it out.
NL -- the "somebody" was me, and I wasn't asking, I was saying no way.
So you can respond but can't be bothered to see who you're responding to or what they actually said?
Now you see why you don't bring in the soft tossing lefty Zack Duke to pitch against this heavy hitting RH'ed lineup.And how long do you think that you could have left Garcia in if you had brought him in for Det in the 2nd? Or even for Wang in the 4th?
Not a great day at the office for Davey, that can't be denied. But with what he's done with this team since he took over? No question he gets a pass for a bad decision now and then.
Lets get 7 in the 9th
We cut to 7-4. Then Wang gives up 2 and the batters quit.
I dont like when we quit
RealDeal - I'm with you. I feel this year about CMW like I felt about Lannan last yer. Don't give him the ball.
Folks, when Wang came in we were already down 5-0, and there were runners on base. We scored 4, count them, 4 runs. Do the math, it's no hard. Wang did not cost us this game. Neither did Johnson, unless you want to blame him for starting Ross.
No, Eddie, it wasn't you. It was that idiot William O. Douglas Loeffler I was responding to. this is what he said,
Were they seriously considering Wang for the post-season?
And I remembered perfectly well who said it, I was trying to be polite and not name names. I won't try that again.
Men on first and second, one out. The score was 5-0. Wild pitch moves men to second and third. Wild pitch scores one run. Sac fly scores second run. Ground ball ends the inning. W
Leaving Wang in to give up another couple when you'd just scored 4 to make it a ballgame is a questionable decision.
Especially when you let him hit with a man on third.
Detwiler obviously left us in a bad situation, but a decent inning of relief would have kept the score at 5-0. Instead Wang, (I am not cool enough to use his initials) comes in, and apparently cannot be bothered to throw either of his first two pitches in the vicinity of home plate.
Wang takes an inning that was imminently manageable and converts it into essentially automatically 2 runs. 5 run comebacks happen much more often than 7 run comebacks and Wang was not done yet.
This one was on Wang.
Off -topic,, but NatsFanSinceStart, didn't you say some time ago that your son played on the MD Patriots when Justin Maxwell played for them? My son also played with that team the whole time Max played there. What position did your son play?
222, thanks for the defense, but don't worry about it. My IQ is probably 40 points above anyone else who posts here and still not close to Davey's.
I'm used to the sexism. Once I submitted an article to a magazine and it was rejected. Years later I found the article in an old file, sent it to the same magazine but used a (non-identifiable) pseudonym. Of course, it was accepted and published and I got the check in the mail...
Yuck, just yuck. That one was deflating. Just try to shower it off and head for home, sweet home. FP put out the Nat signal. It's time to get after it tomorrow.
My guess is that Davey Johnson will take the blame for the loss. He usually does.
Seamhead, who I very much doubt is a stathead, is exactly correct. As I said, I don't agree with what Davey did, but I understand his reasoning.
And if you want to be even more cynical, Davey wants home games for player bonuses. The more games, the more gate.
You tell me. Would you go to the game if the Nats had clinched in St. Louis? Will you go to the game tomorrow (or Tuesday or Wednesday) if they haven't clinched. It's a business, people.
Seamhead, of course he will. :) I don't even have to watch the postgame. That's a lock.
Davey is a very bright guy and he certainly would never attempt to put all of the blame for what happened here on Detwiler. We have seen the Nats come back from five runs down in the late innings quite recently. No one who understands even a little about baseball would view Wang's performance as anything short of a fiasco.
Absolutely. Wang was a fiasco. He's done. And he only did "marginally" well in his previous outing (not horrible, but certainly not great).
NatsLady, I am certainly not a stathead, at least not in the contemporary sense.I felt that Johnson used, and stuck, with CMW for exactly the reason he just stated. He didn't want to burn the best of the pen in a game that the starter couldn't even give you three innings. Look, Wang is done for the year, maybe forever, but like I said in an earlier post, you couldn't get 7.2 innings out of the rest of the BP without jeopardizing your options tomorrow.
Now I want the Nationals to just win tonight, since I'll be there!
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