It wasn’t so long ago (the Nationals were playing out in Los Angeles, to be specific) that we wrote about walk-off grand slam home runs. They’re really, really unusual — a walk-off grand slam that results in a single run victory has happened (by our count) just 25 times in major league history. A two out walk-off grand slam is even more unusual. And, as we noted in our previous post, an inside the park walk-off grand slam home run has happened just once.
Which makes last night’s walk-off grand slam off the bat of Brian Bogusevic in Houston (albeit, on a 2-2 and not a 3-2 count, but wouldn’t that be something) even more special. The fact that thousands more watched it live than normally would have (during an MLB “live look-in”) is stunning.
The GWRBI (GS) came off the arm of Chicago reliever Carlos Marmol and sent the fans in Houston into ecstasy, and it was a bomb: Bogusevic scorched the ball to dead center and it hit above the yellow home run line in Minute Maid Park. A shot. The grand slam gave the Astros a 6-5 victory.
That’s five walk-offs in a single night in baseball, equaling the season record of five set back in late May. Still . . . still, the Houston walk-off was the most uplifting (so to speak) and jaw-dropping. Oh, and Bogusevic’s walk-off grand slam was hit by a pinch hitter . . .
Jayson Werth might well have broken out of his season-long slump on Wednesday, as the frustrated right fielder, went 3-5 in accounting for two doubles and a home run (his 11th) — but the Washington Nationals lost in extra innings to the Houston Astros, 3-2 in Houston. The loss means that the Astros took the three game series, and sent the Nationals on to Los Angeles with a 2-4 road trip.
Livan Hernandez turned in a badly needed solid start, after struggling with two bad outings in his last three mound appearances. Hernandez turned in six complete innings, while giving up seven hits and only one walk. But as in previous games, the Nationals’ bats went silent when they were needed most, and the team stranded Werth on second base with the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th.
Aside from the tough loss, which came at the expense of usually reliable reliever Todd Coffey (who put the blame for the loss on his shoulders), the big news of the day was Werth. “I’ve seen really good signs for about a week,” Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson said of Werth. “He’s started to feel a little better. He was a lot more aggressive today. He hit a couple of first-pitch fastballs, which he hadn’t done. He’s probably leading the league in pitches taken. But it’s good to see him get aggressive out there.”
The Nationals have had to play through some tough one run losses, and Wednesday was another example. While Henry Rodriguez was shaky on the mound in relief of Hernandez, Tyler Clippard came in with two Astros’ runners on and nobody out and saved the day — which is becoming standard practice for the All-Star. “It’s tough in a situation like that,” Clippard said after the game. “You try to limit the damage. I made a good pitch to Barmes to make him pop out in the infield. I was able to pound the zone and put my fastball where I wanted to.”
Is Werth out of his slump? While the veteran (who raised his average to .218) wouldn’t say, it’s clear he keeps looking for ways to help the Nats win games. This afternoon presented a perfect, but missed, opportunity. “It seems like all [the one-run games] we lose, we don’t match up,” he said. “We hit when we don’t pitch and we don’t hit when we do pitch.”
This is exactly what the Washington Nationals needed: Jason Marquis pitched eight beautiful innings and the Nats scored three in the ninth to down the Houston Astros, at Minute Maid Park, 5-2. Marquis threw 102 pitches, 69 of them for strikes, as his patented sinker baffled Houston hitters. The win put the Nationals back at .500 — and in third place in the N.L. East.
The Nationals stayed in the game against Houston’s tough young pitcher, Jordan Lyles, by featuring the long ball. Michael Morse hit a soaring shot onto the glass screen in left field in the 5th inning, and Ryan Zimmerman put one into the right field seats in the seventh inning. The Zimmerman homer tied the game. But the 9th inning was key, as the Nationals scored three on singles by Bernadina, Zimmerman and Morse and a Laynce Nix bounder to the right side.
Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson was more than pleased with the Marquis outing, as it not only provided the win, but allowed the team to rest their overused relievers. “I was able to get ahead early,” Marquis said in reflecting on his outing. “I got some quick outs. They were being aggressive. I’ve been feeling pretty good all year. I had a good sinker-slider combo tonight.
Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: There are three things that just aren’t gonna happen, no matter how much we talk about them: the apocalypse, the rapture, and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Until this year, we might have added a fourth — the Pittsburgh Pirates winning the N.L. Central. And yet, there they are, atop the scrum that includes semi-powerhouse Milwaukee, perennial favorite St. Louis, and last year’s winner, the Cincinnati Reds.
Rookie and second base phenom Danny Espinosa’s two run homer in the seventh inning provided the Washington Nationals with their second straight victory over the Houston Astros 4-3 on Tuesday night at Nationals’ Park. The Espinosa homer, which came with one on, broke the young rookie’s hitting slump — and provided the Nats with a measure of pride: this was the second win in a row for the team, and it came against a surging Astros’ Nine which has the second best record in the N.L. Central since late July. Jason Marquis provided a strong outing on the mound, throwing six innings and giving up just two runs. “I was consistent early in the count,” Marquis said, following the win. “I controlled the counts and was able to get some quick outs. The defense did a great job. It was definitely nice to get back-to-back wins.” And once again, the Nats bullpen came through — with Doug Slaten (who walked the only batter he faced), Tyler Clippard, Joel Peralta and Sean Burnett closing out the game. Burnett notched his third save.
Will He Stay Or Will He Go: Tom Boswell writes that Stan Kasten is reconsidering his future with the team and is considering resigning his position. The rumor that Kasten is rethinking his employment is so pervasive that it reached into the stands during last night’s game — with one Nats’ watcher saying that Kasten would actually resign his position not just soon, but today. The reason for Kasten’s rethinking, Boswell speculates, is Kasten’s desire to move on to a new challenge, as well as frustration over his continuing skirmishes with team ownership about the tight wad philosophy that has landed the Nats in last place in the N.L. East. “My preference for the Nats’ sake: He stays. My firm opinion: He’s gone,” Boswell writes. There seem to be three possibilities here: Kasten is fed up with the Lerners and wants out, he wants to take on a new job with a different team or (and it’s a distinct possibility), he’s sending a signal to the Lerners that they will either increase payroll or he’s gone. “If Kasten leaves,” Boswell writes, “. . . the Nats’ reputation will take a hit within the industry.” And with the fans.
Lightning In A Bottle: All the oohing and ahhing about the emergence of youngsters Tyler Clippard, Doug Slaten, Sean Burnett and Drew Storen is more than justified; the four relievers have steadied the Nats’ bullpen and provided headlines for a team without a starting rotation. But all the talk of just how good the Clippard-Slaten-Burnett-Storen quartet has been ignores the steady contributions of perhaps the Nats’ most effective middle-innings reliever — Joel Peralta. Last night’s win over the Astros provided a useful antidote, as Peralta was the focus of a MASN post-game interview and in-game praise from the Bob Carpenter-Ray Knight MASN tag team. Peralta has been a wizard, with last night’s outing symbolic of his competence: Peralta gave the Nats 1.1 innings, registering his ninth hold and striking out three. Success has come late for Peralta, who toured the U.S. (Butte, Boise, Cedar Rapids, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, and points in between) for several teams before arriving at the Nats’ doorstep at the age of 34. The Nats signed Peralta in the off-season and he was so good at Syracuse that he could no longer be ignored. His numbers are stunning: in 45 innings he’s given up just 27 hits, while fanning 44. Over the last ten games he’s lowered his ERA from 2.57 to 2.00. Which is to say: Peralta’s steady presence means he’s here to stay.
While Nats bloggers have been going back-and forth about whether the team needs another bat or another arm, Mike Rizzo seems to have made up his mind. They need both. Yeah, okay — that’s the right answer. But if Rizzo was pressed (and trade bait was short), what do you think he’d really want? Given John Lannan’s continued troubles and the uncertainty surrounding the return of any number of potential starters, the answer should be obvious: not only can you can always play Roger Bernadina in right field, but you absolutely need to; we’re never going to find out whether this kid can hit unless we put him in the line-up every day. Which means that the Nats should be looking for a pitcher to supplement their front (and only) two hurlers — Stephen Strasburg and Livan Hernandez. Let’s be honest. You never know what you’re going to get with Atilano and Martin, Olsen is just too tweaky too often to be counted as a stalwart, pitching messiah Jordan Zimmermann is a ways away from rehabbing and Ross Detwiler is still an unknown. That leaves Chien-Ming Wang (who won’t be here until July) and Jason Marquis — who has yet to show the team anything. So . . .
So who’s out there?
There’s Cliff Lee, who will be available once the cratering Navigators figure out that doling out $91 million in salaries for a last place team isn’t going to cut it. Lee is in the last months of a four year deal, and the Nats would have to look to sign him longer term, but our guess is that the Mariners will happily take good prospects for him — including Triple-A pitchers and Double-A position players that have a future. The Nats have either, and both. In exchange, the Nats would get a veteran fastball pitcher who could mentor Strasburg and an absolutely lights out number two starter (number one anywhere else), who can rack up some badly needed wins. The folks in Seattle say they won’t part with Lee without getting a big time power hitter in return, but that sounds like wishful thinking. Lee isn’t going to stay in Seattle after this year, especially to anchor what promises to be a development team of young prospects and remaining big contracts. It’s an ugly but pertinent truth: the Mariners will take prospects — or they can keep Lee and try to catch the fast disappearing Belinskys, White Elephants and Whatchamacallits. They’ll make the trade — maybe Mike will too.
Then there’s Roy Oswalt, but his contract is a nightmare: just over $9 million over the rest of this season, $16 million in 2011, and $16 million in 2012 with a club option buyout of $2 million. The Nats say they have money to up their salary ceiling, but Oswalt’s price might be a little high — particularly if (as expected), the Nats would have to pick up most if not all of the salary and throw in prospects. Bottom line: he won’t be cheap. But then, there’s always Jake Peavy. Don’t laugh: the former Friar has struggled with the Pale Hose and it appears he’s losing patience with wheeling-and-dealing Kenny Williams and the perpetually enraged Ozzie the G. He recently told a reporter that he would rather be traded than go through a rebuilding process in Chicago. Translation? “Get me the hell out of here.”
It’s hard to blame him: Peavy was a part of a rebuilding process in San Diego — and the team only started to rebuild when he left. Then too, the ChiSox probably look at the Peavy trade with some remorse; they dealt prospects to San Diego, one of whom (Clayton Richard) has turned into a front line pitcher — 4-3, 2.71 ERA. That’s a damn sight better than Peavy (5-5, 5.62 ERA). Ugh. The White Sox might try the same magic, trading Peavy for pitching prospects in the hopes of striking gold. The Nats could help. Of course, Peavy sports a huge contract ($52 million, three years), a teensy bit bigger than Oswalt’s which (for paperclip counter Mark Lerner) is always a problem. But in the end (and if you carefully weigh this out), the Nats could find a rental (like Lee) for some front line prospects or they could take the longer view (which is probably what Rizzo wants) and pony up some prospects and some cash. In either case, while none of these pitchers are going to come cheap, bringing any one of them aboard right now (or in the very near future) will probably mean the difference between a club that will continue its slow-but-certain downward spiral and one that might be able to contend — and fill the seats.
The Washington Nationals return home after suffering through a disasterous road trip: losing three in a row in Houston, and dropping seven of their last ten. What was so painful about the losses is that they could have easily been wins. Yesterday’s contest in Houston was emblamatic of the Nats troubles — after trailing throughout the game, the Nats mounted a breathtaking rally at the last minute, only to see their efforts squandered by more bad defense (what is becoming a franchise habit) and strangely poor pitching (for some reason, Matt Capps simply refuses to throw his heater). The latest disaster was yet another last-of-the-ninth win for the Astros, courtesy of a walk-off home run by Carlos Lee — resulting in a 6-4 Astros win. “It turned out to be a miserable day for us,” Nats manager Jim Riggleman admitted. And a miserable road trip that included two losses in San Francisco, three in San Diego, and three more in Houston. In truth, the Astros didn’t look like the worst team in the NL — the Nats did.
At the heart of the Nats troubles is a poor defense, a weakness that (after ’09) was supposed to be solved. After a three error game by Ian Desmond on Wednesday, Cristian Guzman followed with a remarkably similar feat on Thursday, the worst offense being a lost-in-the-lights fly ball that Guzzie botched in right field. As a result, the Nats rank dead last in team defense in the majors with 50 errors (six more than the next-closest L.A. Dodgers, and seven more than the pathetic Detroit Tigers). Last year, after being installed as manager, Jim Riggleman sternly lectured his team on playing smart and tough, focusing his words on the importance of fielding and throwing. Lectures don’t win ball games, but a new focus on defense is in order, particularly with the tough hitting Reds coming into town.
The Strasburg Hype: Washington Nationals fans wait expectantly for the arrival of Stephen Strasburg, leveraging his nationally watched first appearance against a (let’s admit it) mid-week poor attendance game. Strasburg’s appearance next Tuesday will feature a sellout crowd, with ticket holders who made bad guesses (that he might appear against the Reds, or against Pittsburgh on the following Thursday) spiking attendance figures for both series. So the pressure is on Strasburg, but it’s also on the Nats — who could build a stronger fan base with well-played games and lots of bells and whistles . . . which is not say that Strasburg won’t be under his own pressure. And you have to wonder: what if Washington’s newest “phenom” gets rocked by the weak Ahoys instead of (as expected) mowing them down in order. Don’t say it’s not possible — this is the major leagues, and good hitters who have seen MLB pitching have a tendency to adjust to even the best kids with heaters and 12-6 curves . . .
It’s not that the Washington Nationals have slipped back into their old 2009 ways (they haven’t, at least not completely — and at least not yet), it’s that their sloppy defensive play of the last two days (and their successive losses to the forlorn Houston Astros), are a cautionary note for the future. The Nats are a poor defensive team and will need to improve their fielding performance if they hope to contend this year. We begin this sad tale on Tuesday, when the Nats blew a one-run seemingly in-the-bag win against the Astros, with an unusual error by Nats third sacker Ryan Zimmerman. The error put the Astros back in the game and led to a Matt Capps blown save that gave the Astros a 8-7 win. That Lance Berkman, whose checked swing on a Matt Capps offering should have been called a strike notwithstanding — the simple fact is that if the Pedro Feliz grounder had been fielded cleanly, Berkman (an intimidator, and Nats slayer) would not have come to the plate.
The Nats’ defensive woes were even more evident on Wednesday. In the midst of a sixth inning in-the-MASN-booth love fest between Bob Carpenter and Ray Knight over how Ian Desmond reminded them of the young Derek Jeter (Holy Cow!), the rangy rookie Nats shortstop committed two errors on one play: failing to step on second on a force and then throwing wide to first. The otherwise impressive Desmond (and it’s true, he’s a work in progress) bobbled a grounder from Berkman in the seventh. It was an unusually poor play, as Desmond seemed unsure whether to charge the ball, or play it back. “Berkman doesn’t really run that well,” Desmond explained. “I figured if I stayed back on it, I’d still be able to turn the double play. It kind of took a bad hop on me. Ate me up a little bit. I trust myself as a player. Tomorrow will be a new day, bounce back and everything will be fine.” Okay. But the defensive failures and the team’s high strikeout total (thirteen, against so-so Astros’ pitching) led to an indifferently played and disappointing 5-1 loss.
All of baseball was abuzz on Wednesday with the blown call of umpire Jim Joyce that cost Detroit Tigers starter Armando Galarraga a perfect game. The call came with two out in the ninth inning: an infield roller was scooped up and served to Galarraga covering first. The ball and Galarraga clearly beat a sprinting Indians hitter Jason Donald to the bag, but Joyce called Donald safe. Joyce maintained his stance — the infield hit was a single, transforming a perfect game into a one-hit shutout. But after the game, Joyce saw the replay and admitted that he’d made a mistake. “It was the biggest call of my career,” Joyce told reporters, “and I kicked it. I just cost that kid a perfect game.” The admission set off an explosion of commentary about the use of instant replay — but that debate isn’t likely to be resolved soon.
I was hoping that Tim Kurkjian (who seems to know this kind of stuff) could have added some perspective to the Joyce call, by citing the number of calls that had gone the other way; that is, that gave pitchers no-hitters and perfect games when they didn’t deserve them. There must have been at least some small numbers of such incidents, which is not to mention the widened strike zone that recently (and in at least two cases) gave Roy Halladay strike outs instead of walks. So it is: no perfect game is possible without such calls, just as no no-hitter can go into the books without some kind of fantastic play somewhere. It’s a given. Then too, as we might remember, Milt Pappas was one pitch away from a perfect game (on September 2, 1964) when umpire Bruce Froemming, after calling two strikes on the last batter, called the next four pitches (all strikes) balls. Pappas never forgave Froemming and told him, the next day, that he’d blown a chance to call a perfect game. Froemming — who, like Pappas, could be a nasty piece of work — just smiled. “Show me an umpire who ever called a game without making a mistake,” he said.
