Jayson Werth went 4-5 and knocked in two runs — and the Nationals stroked thirteen hits — as the Anacostia Nine beat up on the New York Mets at Citifield 6-2 on Tuesday. This was the first regular season outing for Ross Detwiler, who pitched five complete innings and gave up just two hits.
“He probably could have given me another inning, but he didn’t have a full spring starting. It was an outstanding effort on his part,” Nats’ manager Davy Johnson said of Detwiler’s outing. The night proved to be a long one for the Mets, who entered the game unbeaten. But Washington’s first hitter, Ian Desmond, put a Dillon Gee offering into the left field seats. The Desmond dinger set the tone for the night, as Desmond, Werth and Ramos led the hitting attack.
Werth’s at bats brought a sigh of relief to the Nationals’ right fielder, who was hitting .071 coming into the game. But Werth had been having good at bats and had hit well in Spring Training, with the promise that a strong start would reverse the mediocre year he’d had in 2011. By the end of the game, he’d raised his average to .263.
Unlike their previous outing against the Mets, the Nationals were able to take advantage when they needed to, even though they left eleven men on base during the game. Ryan Zimmerman, who’s also been struggling at the plate, drove in his 500th RBI in the top of the eighth inning, when he brought in Wilson Ramos from third on a sacrifice fly.
Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Tuesday was both a good day (a 6-2 win in New York) and a bad one for the Nationals. It appears that Michael Morse will not be starting in Washington on Thursday, as a strained right lat muscle has failed to heal. Morse was forced from the single-A Hagerstown game on Monday in the seventh inning, when he could not throw the ball into the shortstop from the outfield. The earliest he could return would be Monday . . .
The Nationals are awaiting medical tests on Drew Storen’s tweaky elbow, and the Nationals fear he may need surgery to remove bone chips . . . The injuries to Morse and Storen, and Rick Ankiel’s continued occupation of the disabled list are sure to spur a clamor for the call-up of Bryce Harper, who’s hitting the snot out of the ball in Syracuse . . .
The “New” And Not So New MASN Team: Kristina Akra is the new on-field on-air reporter for MASN, replacing Debbi Taylor. Akra reported for NESN and the Red Sox. Attractive young women reporting from the field is all the rage in baseball just now (well . . . for the last thirty years), and it seems axiomatic: if their name is “Christina” they must spell it with a “k” . . . Our only suggestion? Watching her post-game interview with Jayson Werth last night was like watching a New York brownstone interview the Empire State Building. We’re not the only ones who noticed and kudos to Nats Enquirer for a great “screen grab” . . . Get the poor girl a chair . . .
There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of information on why Akra replaced Taylor. Early word was that the reporting job was being eliminated. Akra’s appearance seems to undermine that theory. It may be that Taylor just didn’t fit (anyway, that’s what we think) — and she could be grating. Carpenter would key her from the booth — “and now let’s check in with Debbi Taylor” — and there would be a silent scream from “Natsland” . . . “noooooo . . .”
We remember, in particular, an on-air interview with Jayson Werth last year, when Taylor pressed him on Ryan Zimmerman. “So, how great is Ryan Zimmerman?” And then she asked him again. Asking once is fine, but twice? Viewers could see that Werth was getting irritated, even if she couldn’t (or, worse yet, maybe she could). “So just how great is Ryan?” He’d already given an answer, so he looked away and nodded. “Yeah, well, he’s great when he gets out of bed in the morning,” Werth said . . . pretty rich, that . . .
The team of Bob Carpenter and F.P. Santangelo are back in the booth this year for MASN, and that’s more than okay with us. We flipped between the Nats’ game and the St. Louis-Cincinnati match-up, and noted that the Cardinals’ duo of sleepy and droopy were doing their we-don’t-have-much-to-say routine . . . during a random switch-over we counted four pitches before a word was uttered: “that’s three and oh on Votto . . .” Hello? Anyone there?
Like any on-air duo, it takes some time to get used to the two, and Santangelo’s self-effacing humor is winsomely attractive. They know the game, they call it well, they’re “homers” (we approve) and their humor has some redeeming qualities. At the end of last year, NatsGM did an unofficial poll of fans on whether the two should return, and the vote was overwhelmingly in favor . . .
For Phillies Phans this is the apocalypse. Chris Carpenter held the “can’t miss” Ashburns to just three hits, and the upstart Cardinals went on to take the NLDS three games to two in a sparkling 1-0 win in Philadelphia, ending the Phillies post-season dream of another October World Series appearance. Phillies fans were so disappointed, they didn’t even boo.
The Philadelphia loss was as surprising as the poor performance of Charlie Manuel’s team, which couldn’t put together enough hits to cage the Redbirds. “Actually, I don’t know what to say,” Manuel said, following the loss. “I just got through talking to our team, and basically when I look at it, we played 162 games, and definitely we had the best record in baseball.”
But the best record (and the best pitching staff), wasn’t enough to carry the Phillies into the NLCS — with Phillies’ fans describing their team’s elimination as “a crushing disappointment.” The depth of the loss is reflected in the Philadelphia blogosphere: “Thud” was the headline of The Good Phight, while Beerleaguer led its coverage with “Failure In Philly.”
But while baseball’s blogworld focuses on “the Phailure in Philadelphia,” Friday’s loss was more the result of Chris Carpenter’s pitching performance than the poor hitting of Ryan Howard & Company. Carpenter walked none and struck out three, taming Halladay in what Cardinals’ manager Tony LaRussa called “a dream match-up” of Cy Young winners. Carpenter threw 110 pitches, 70 of them for strikes. It was a Phorgettable night in Philly, but not in St. Louis.
Of course, there are teams in baseball that would love to have bragging rights to a 102 win season — including the one right here in Washington. But expectations were so high in Philadelphia that what will follow now is an off-season of recriminations, and an effort to find that one missing piece that Phillies’ fans think they need. It might be ugly. “There are no two ways around it: 2011 is a failure for the Phillies,” Crashburn Alley said. Oh, boo-hoo . . .
In the aftermath of Chien-Ming Wang’s steady and powerful outing against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, Davey Johnson faced the Washington baseball press. In light of Wang’s performance against the Braves, he was asked, would he recommend that the righty be offered a contract for 2012? Johnson didn’t hesitate: “No doubt about it,” he said, and then repeated it. “No doubt about it.”
Washington fans might rise to applaud this statement, particularly in light of Wang’s recent outings. The righty, signed by Mike Rizzo while still recovering from a blown out shoulder, has proven to be a good gamble. Wang has pitched no fewer than five innings in each of his last ten starts, and has pitched six complete in his last two — which includes today’s four hit 4-1 spectacular against Atlanta.
Johnson made it clear — he would have left Wang in to complete the game, but the bullpen needed work, and performed to their usual standards, with Gorzelanny, Clippard and Storen combining to hold the Braves to two hits in three complete innings of work. Drew Storen notched his 41st save on the season, and it’s probably not his last.
Wang made it look ho-hum-easy. He threw 85 pitches, 51 of them for strikes. His sinker looked as good as, or even better than, normal — a fact mentioned by Johnson, who said that the more Wang’s pitched, the more progress he’s made. His teammates in the infield agree. “He works quickly and he knows what he is going to do,” second sacker Danny Espinosa said. “When he has such a good plan like that, you stay active in case a ground ball [comes your way]. It keeps you in the game.”
Wang was even able to help his own cause at the plate. In the bottom of the 4th, he singled past first base into right field — scoring Espinosa. It was his first hit as a National, and his first in the majors. The crowd stood and roared its approval. “I had a bad record before,” Wang said of his hit. “All I wanted to do was just swing the bat, make contact, and I was kind of lucky. It was a line drive.
In notching their 77th win of the season, the Nationals put the Tomahawks in a squeeze — the Bravos needed a victory in their race for the Wild Card, and are now just two games ahead of the Musials. “We’ve got to win ballgames,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. “It’s nice to watch the scoreboard and all of that. But we’ve got to win the games that are in front of us.”
The Wisdom of Section 1-2-9: There was an ovation for Chien-Ming Wang among the section’s regulars — and for Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, who might have been making his last start (or his last appearance) in a Nationals uniform. That fact was not lost on Davey Johnson, who noted that the Hall-of-Fame bound catcher has remained a positive force in the clubhouse. “He’s just fun to watch,” a section-mate added . . .
Light-hitting Donnie Murphy took a Collin Balester offering deep into the bullpen in the 13th inning on Saturday, leading the Florida Marlins to a 4-1 victory over the Nationals at Nationals Park. The Murphy homer ended a solid string of relief innings for the Nats’ bullpen, accounting for the second straight loss to the Marlins in as many nights.
Of course, the big news of the night was the start of Stephen Strasburg, who pitched brilliantly through six innings, giving up four hits, striking out three, and walking none. Strasburg’s outing provided further evidence that the young righty is on track for a solid 2012, and is continuing his successful rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery.
Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Phillies clinched their fifth straight N.L. East title with a 9-2 laugher over the St. Louis Cardinals. That the Phillies captured the flag is hardly a surprise, as their victory on Saturday showed. Roy Oswalt threw seven and struck out seven, with Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez homering . . .
While everyone is tuned into the Rays-Red Sox match-up in Boston, the San Francisco Giants have been quietly sneaking up on the Diamondbacks. Last night, the McCoveys held off the Rockies for their seventh straight, while Arizona fell to the Friars. But Arizona’s lead might be too big to overcome: they lead the Giants by five games with ten to play . . .
Ahead Of The Mets In The N.L. East: The Washington Nationals scrubbed the New York Madoffs at Citi Field this afternoon, 10-1 — thereby notching a four game sweep of their division rivals. The win featured a pitching gem from rookie September call-up Tom Milone, and a 5-6 day at the plate from shortstop Ian Desmond. This was the first sweep of a four game series by the Nationals since they swept the Braves in four games in 2009.
Milone’s first win of the year was well-deserved. The young lefty gave up just three hits in 5.2 innings, while striking out four. “I think he had everything working for him,” Nats’ manager Davey Johnson said after the victory. “He had them all messed up. They were talking to themselves. He jammed a lot of guys, who missed by a mile. It was a really fun game to watch. He was totally in command.”
Desmond, meanwhile, moved his batting average into the respectable range — an improvement of some thirty points since the All Star break. Desmond gives Davey Johnson credit for turning him around: the manager said that Desmond has enough power not to attempt to hit everything to right field, and now Desmond is pulling the ball more. “Everybody has been able to give me good advice,” Desmond said following his 5-6 outing. “I’ve been able to take the things that are successful and disregard the things that aren’t and go from there.”
The Nationals scored in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings, but they piled it on in the 9th, which began with yet another fielding error by David Wright (his 19th of the year) to lead off the inning. Danny Espinosa doubled, Chris Marrero followed with a sacrifice fly (that scored a run), Wilson Ramos scored Espinosa, Roger Bernadina singled, and Ian Desmond doubled — scoring two. In all, the Nationals scored four runs in the ninth.
Thursday night’s 5-2 loss in Atlanta to the Braves was, in many ways, a typical game for the 2011 Nationals. The Nationals received good pitching from starting righty Chien-Ming Wang, hit well enough in the middle of the order to win the game and played solid if unspectacular defense — but came up short. Same old, same old.
Which is to say: the Nationals have put a good (but not very good team) on the field, and one that needs just a tad more of everything: better pitching, better hitting and a little more seasoning for its group of you-never-know, they-just-might-be . . . youngsters. Nats’ fans should feel good. This is not the dead-last, no-hope Nationals of 2010, and it’s certainly a better team than 2009.
The return to form of Chien-Ming Wang has to be one of the positives from the season. The Taiwan righty with the killer sinker threw nearly six innings of seven hit baseball, teetering on the edge of very-good all night. A pitch here and there made the difference: a Chipper Jones homer in the second, an Alex Gonzalez single in the sixth. Wang was, arguably, two pitches away from a very good outing, instead of a loss.
Such might-haves now seem standard for the Nationals, who have struggled at the plate all year. That problem was on full display last night in Atlanta. With only one out in the top of the eighth and the bases loaded, the Nationals sent Jesus Flores and Danny Espinosa to the plate. A single from either would have tied the game, but both struck out swinging.
John Lannan pitched into the sixth inning and contributed two hits, and catcher Wilson Ramos hit his ninth home run, as the Washington Nationals defeated the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, 5-2 on Saturday night. The victory, sparked (oddly) by Lannan’s bat, brought the Nats back to .500 — one-half game behind the New York Mets in the N.L. East.
Lannan provided another solid start to what has to now be considered a very successful 2011 campaign by the savvy lefty. But Lannan’s hits were the surprise of the game. He had two in all, his first two of the year, and his first two in 32 at bats. “We have been taking a lot of BP. I have been struggling out there,” Lannan said after the victory. “I never was a really good hitter. Some days, I get good pitches to hit and I was able to hit it back up the middle. Every starter up here is difficult to hit.”
The Nationals were able to tack on runs in the otherwise tight ballgame when Ramos homered with one on in the sixth. The Ramos dinger landed well back in the left field bleachers. “We are used to one-run leads, but that was big. That made us all feel a lot easier,” Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson said of the Ramos home run. “He is a great young catcher. He is looking good.”
Lannan was helped by his bullpen, which held the Braves scoreless in the game’s last innings. Ryan Mattheus, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen combined for 3.1 innings of work, giving up no hits and no runs. Drew Storen pitched the ninth inning, notching his 24th save. It was Clippard’s 24th hold.
Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: John Lackey’s in-game antics are starting to get old, according to the commenters on “Baseball Tonight.” Lackey threw up his arms during Boston’s 9-5 win against Tampa Bay yesterday when Marco Scutaro boofed a grounder and Adrian Gonzalez followed suit. Then Lackey let manager Terry Francona have it when he was lifted with two outs in the sixth, mouthing guttural out loud condemnations that anyone with eyes could lip-read.
