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 . . .
Martin Prado’s bases loaded home run in the bottom of the 7th inning tied the game at 5 — and the Atlanta Braves went on to win, 6-5 in ten innings against the Nationals in Atlanta. The Prado blast came against reliever Sean Burnett, but the game might have gone the other way: a check swing on a 2-2 count should have put Prado back on the bench and preserved the Nationals’ lead, but the call gave Prado a second life. The loss in Atlanta prevented the Nationals from notching a sweep of the Braves, and a victory that would have provided a positive end to a tough N.L. East road trip.
Prado’s ten pitch at bat, and the check swing, remained the topic of conversation after the game. “I think Burnett got the non-benefit — or whatever the terminology is — on a couple of check swings,” Nats’ manager Jim Riggleman said after the loss. “That irritates the heck out of me, those check swings. He’s got to end up throwing a pitch to Prado with the bases loaded, when maybe that wouldn’t have been the case.” The might-have-been loss squandered a good outing from Nats’s starter Jordan Zimmermann, who threw 6.1 solid innings. This was the kind of outing the Nats were looking for from Zimmermann, who struck out 11 and walked just one.
Once again, the Nationals seemed unable to loosen up their bats. The team registered just five hits against Atlanta’s very average Derek Lowe and a gaggle of relievers. Lowe struggled through six, but Craig Kimbrel — the goat on Thursday — gave the Braves a badly needed three-up-three-down 10th inning. Kimbrel struck out Ian Desmond, Jayson Werth and Laynce Nix to pitch a perfect frame. “That might have been the best outing he’s had all year,” Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said after the Atlanta win. The Nationals are at home tonight, where they will face off against the Florida Marlins.
Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The most exciting game on Thursday night took place just up the highway in Baltimore — and featured one of the best pitchers’ duels of the 2011 campaign. The Orioles, as inconsistent as any team in baseball in the early going, pulled out a 1-0 walk-off win in the 12th inning, but the story of the night was the pitching of O’s rookie Zach Britton and Mariners’ semi-veteran Jason Vargas. Both hurlers threw the best games of their career.
Britton, a 6-3 California lefty, was the odds-on early season favorite for Rookie of the Year honors — and last night’s performance confirmed that judgment. Britton’s nine inning stint was a thing of beauty: three hits, no runs, no walks and five strikeouts. Vargas matched him pitch-for-pitch — nine innings, four hits, no runs, one walk and four strikeouts. Baltimore won the game in the extra frames on a single from just-returned shortstop J.J. Hardy. The victory notched an Orioles’ sweep of the Mariners. “We wanted to win in the ninth for Zach,” Hardy said. “Once we were down, we definitely didn’t give up. That was a big win for us. I know everybody in the lineup wants to go out and score runs for a pitcher who does that. You want to give him the win.”
The Orioles are a fascinating team to watch, the first time anything like that could be said in, oh, about ten years. Their off-season moves included a swap with Minnesota of two relievers for Hardy, the signing of on-his-last-legs Vlad Guerrero to a one year $8 million deal and former North Side Drama Queens first sacker Derek Lee (one year $7.25 million). The Orioles completed the overhaul of their infield by trading for Showboats’ third baseman Mark Reynolds and signed sometime closer Kevin Gregg (for $10 million over two years with an option). The only real head-scratcher in all of that was the trade for Reynolds, a strikeout and long-ball machine who — when he’s not stroking the ball out of the park — can’t hit worth a lick.
But the story of the O’s is their young starting pitching. In addition to Britton, the Birds of Baltimore feature Chris Tillman (don’t laugh, he turned in a long-awaited gem against the Mariners on Thursday), and righty sleeper Jake Arrieta (who’s 4-1 so far this year), to go along with Jeremy Guthrie who, on odd occasions (mostly against Minnesota), pitches like Jim Palmer. Waiting in the wings is uber youngster Brian Matusz, who’s just about to return from a torn intercostal muscle. Matusz’s return will be welcome, as it will nudge struggling wannabe Brad Bergesen back to where he belongs: as a sometime starter who has yet to learn command.
The Orioles could use another pitcher (or two), but a rotation of Guthrie, Britton, Matusz, Arrieta and Tillman not only isn’t bad, it’s damn good. If the Birds can get that done, they’ll be more than halfway to respectability — which hasn’t happened in Birdland for an awfully long time. The only thing left then, will be for Buck Showalter to tell Reynolds there’s a place for him on the pines, counsel Nick “big-hat-no-cattle” Markakis that it’s time to become the star everyone thinks he is, and find a place for Cubs castoff Felix Pie — dumped by the North Side Drama Queens because . . . because that’s what they do. But nevermind, the story (as proved last night by Britton), is that there’s finally a team worth watching in Baltimore, and it’s chock full of young arms.
The second in a series of exchanges on match-ups between teams in the NL East has been posted on NL East Chatter. Wally at FishGuts is the questioner, and he kind of puts it to CFG — asking at one point whether it bothers Nats’ fans that the team is now constantly referred to as the ”Natinals.” Oddly, I felt compelled to defend the Lerners in my answer, noting that a family that is such a success in business didn’t get that way by not paying attention to the details (obvious evidence to the contrary). Now I know there are a lot of Nats’ fans who won’t like that, but here’s the rule — especially when it comes to the NL East: all of this stuff stays here. And this is a franchise worth defending.
And I go the other way on all-world pitcher Stephen Strasburg. “Are the Nats going to ”show him the money?” Here’s my answer:  ”Yeah, sure. We’re going to show him the money. The question is, will he take it? I think the Nats are committed to making a bank busting offer to Strasburg – topping any amount paid to any draftee ever. But that might not matter. It may be that the Scott Boras agenda is to use Strasburg to transform the dollars paid to draftees. So any offer might be dead on arrival. Which is too bad: because the owners will get blamed. But I think I would break ranks on this and defend them. Strasburg questioned the way the team was run and said he might play in Japan. Here’s a kid who’s never thrown a pitch in the majors, and he’s in the position to judge how a team is run? To turn down a payday that will make him rich? I don’t like threats. Bust the bank. Fine. And I hope he takes it and turns into a star. But if he doesn’t take it, he can play for the Hanshin Tigers.”Â
Matt Fournier of Braves Baseball Blog is much less expansive, but on target. He praises the acquisition of Nate McLouth, but says that’s not enough. “The team needs speed,” he says. He’s right. Watching the Braves go through an inning is like watching a snail make his way to water. Chipper Jones is entering his last and slowest years and Braves’ outfielders are not exactly fleet of foot. But Matt praises the Braves’ surprise find — second baseman Martin Prado: “I had heard of him before this year, but never saw him play consistently enough to see what he was truly capable off,” Matt says. “I honestly don’t think he is a one year wonder, he has shown signs of being a a reliable fielder and consistent hitter. I think he could be the teams second baseman for a good amount of years.” And which pitcher is Matt the most afraid of in the Nats’ line-up? His answer is predictable, if poignant — John Lannan. That’s right. Unfortunately, Braves hitters seemed to handle him just fine last night.
