Game 133: Cardinals at Nats

Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

Stephen Strasburg starts today's series finale at Nationals Park.

This won't be Stephen Strasburg's final start of the season, but the finish line for the Nationals' young ace is without question fast approaching. The club plans to give Strasburg one (maybe two) more appearances after today's outing, so might as well enjoy it while you can.

And the Nationals better hope the right-hander is a bit more successful today than he was last week in Miami when he was torched for a career-high seven runs in five innings. He'll be facing the Cardinals for the first time, leaving only two NL clubs he's never gone up against (the Reds and Brewers).

Veteran Jake Westbrook gets the nod for St. Louis, which will try to maintain its lead for the final wild-card berth in the NL and salvage a four-game series split.

I'm off today, but never fear: Chase Hughes of CSNwashington.com has the keys to the blog and will be providing updates all afternoon from the park...

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, Ch. 50, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500 AM), XM 185
Weather: Scattered storms, 84 degrees, Wind 4 mph in from RF

NATIONALS (80-52)
RF Bryce Harper
CF Roger Bernadina
3B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Michael Morse

Cards steal one from Nats

Associated Press photo

Drew Storen watches Allen Craig score the winning run in the ninth.

For five months, the Nationals have known they could lose a game because of their inability to stop opponents from stealing bases off them. When it finally came to fruition Saturday evening, there was nothing they could do but acknowledge once again this is a problem area and that they'll continue to try to address it.

That didn't make this 10-9 loss to the Cardinals sting any less. In what proved to be among their most frustrating losses of the season, the Nationals wasted an early offensive outburst, saw their presumed playoff ace get smoked for a career-high eight runs, rally to take the lead on some heads-up baserunning and then watch as the back end of their bullpen gave up the tying and winning runs before an exasperated crowd of 34,004.

There were no shortage of significant developments that took place over the course of 3 hours and 29 minutes on a muggy, 91-degree late-afternoon in the District, but the defining moment surely came when Drew Storen let Allen Craig steal second base without drawing a throw in the top of the ninth of a tie game. Moments later, Craig came around to score on David Freese's single to left, the final blow of a wild ballgame.

"I'm just concentrating on trying to get a groundball there," Storen said. "And he just took the base."
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Instant analysis: Cardinals 10, Nats 9

US Presswire photo

Bryce Harper is congratulated after scoring in the bottom of the first inning.

Game in a nutshell: What should have been a fantastic pitchers' duel between two of the NL's best (Jordan Zimmermann and Kyle Lohse) instead turned into a wild slugfest filled with twists and turns. The Nationals stormed out to a 6-2 lead after two innings, but then Zimmermann gave all the runs back and more, putting the Cardinals up 8-6 after four. A three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth put the Nationals back on top, 9-8. But then Sean Burnett coughed up the lead in the eighth and left this a tie game. Drew Storen recorded a huge out to end that inning and was given a chance to return for the ninth. But a leadoff single to Allen Craig and then the inability to prevent Craig from stealing second cost the Nationals. David Freese's RBI single scored Craig, and when the Nats went down in the bottom of the ninth, they were handed a frustrating, 10-9 loss. On the bright side, the Braves lost again to the Phillies, so the lead in the NL East remains 6 1/2 games, with the magic number down to 24.

Hitting highlight: They stormed out the gates with six early runs, then were silenced and saw their lead disappear. But a sixth-inning rally got the Nationals back on top, with contributions from several players.

Game 132: Cardinals at Nats

Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

The Nats seek win No. 81 this afternoon at Nationals Park.

Given the position they've put themselves in over the last five months, the Nationals won't be celebrating too much this evening if they win their 81st game of season and match the club record set in 2005. This team has visions of much greater things than a .500 record, but it's still no small feat for a franchise that has experienced nothing but losing for the last six seasons.

Jordan Zimmermann will be the man on the mound seeking that 81st team victory and his 10th individual win. He'll be up against a potent foe in Kyle Lohse, who enters with a 14-2 record a 2.64 ERA.

A friendly reminder that this game (which was originally scheduled for 7:05 p.m.) will start at 4:05 p.m. because it was picked up by Fox. That broadcast will be available to the majority of the country. You can see the map here.

Updates to come...

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: Fox
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500 AM), XM 185
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 92 degrees, Wind 11 mph LF to RF

NATIONALS (80-51)
RF Jayson Werth
CF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche

On to September

Associated Press photo

Gio Gonzalez got a shaving cream pie to the face after his first career shutout.

Chants of "Let's go Gio!" as the ninth inning began. A Gatorade shower and shaving cream pie to the face that came moments later. Thumping music in the clubhouse after another lopsided victory. And then applause from those remaining players watching the Braves blow a ninth-inning lead to the Phillies.

These are the sights and sounds of a pennant race, and Washington is smack-dab in the middle of one right now.

A 10-0 whitewashing of the Cardinals Friday night gave the Nationals as many wins as they posted in all of 2011 -- one shy of the club record -- with 31 games still to play. Atlanta's meltdown shortly after extended Washington's lead to 6 1/2 games and lowered the magic number for the NL East title to 25.

"We have a long ways to go, and we haven't done anything yet," Ryan Zimmerman cautioned. "But what we have done is give this city a baseball team to cheer for, and they've wanted that for a long time."
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