Bye Bye Mile High, Hello Drew Storen, & Good Riddance Brian Bruney

Well, this blogger has been calling for the Nats to fire RHP Brian Bruney since I started the blog. The Nats listened. Brian Bruney has been designated-for-assignment, so he'll likely be a free agent before long. Listening to his own inner-brilliance, Mike Rizzo has promoted RHP phenom Drew Storen, likely a few weeks before his "Super Two" date. So the Nats may lose some cash on him in the long run, but this shows that the club is looking to keep winning now, rather than looking to the future. That's exciting for someone who rarely misses a game.

Unfortunately, the Nats set the wrong kind of record this past weekend from Denver, although it was going to happen eventually. The team lost their 3rd consecutive game for the first time... all season. That's right, before the 3 consecutive losses to the Rockies in Colorado this past weekend, the Nats had not lost more than 2 games in a row in 2010. The Nats record has just plummeted to 20-18 (he says with juuuust a hint of sarcasm). I am still in awe of the Nats club that can lose 3 in a row, still be 2 games above .500 and be 3rd in the NL East.

A few thoughts on Brian Bruney are bulleted below, and why the Nats bullpen will be significantly better without him:

• He sucked a lot and here's the proof.
• This season as a reliever, Bruney had a disgusting 7.64 ERA in 19 games. In those 19 games, he gave up 18 runs on 21 hits and 20 walks. In 17 2/3 innings, he put 41 players on base.
• The Nats lost 12 of Bruney's 19 appearances. Although he didn't get many decisions, Bruney was often put in the game with the Nats down only a run or two, and put the game out of reach by giving up runs.
• Only twice in May did the Nats get a win on a Bruney appearance. In the final one as a National, the Nats were up 14-6.

To the big story, though, is Drew Storen's promotion to the Nats nearly 3 weeks before Stephen "the Messiah" Strasburg. This is great for the team, for Drew, and for Jesus for a few reasons bulleted below:

• Although Strasburg is the #1 prospect in the organization, Storen would certainly have been the #1 pitching prospect if it weren't for Baseball Jesus.
• He has been the antithesis of Bruney in the minors by sporting a 1.08 ERA in 16 2/3 innings with 15 Ks.
• Storen now gets the benefit of coming up early and getting the stories focused on him for a few weeks before Jesus takes over national baseball coverage. He earned this by signing literally the week the Nats drafted him. He deserves the spotlight becaues of talent, dedication, and loyalty.
• Strasburg will be happy to see his very young quasi-mentor in the minors get some well-deserved praise I'm sure.

Drew Storen is supposed to be the closer of the future for the Nats, although Matt Capps has fulfilled this role well this year. If Storen meets expections and is as great as advertised, Matt Capps may join Cristian Guzman on the trading block in July. However, if the team is still competing and the rest of the bullpen continues to under-produce, Capps may stay to close while Storen shares setup responsibilities with Clippard. And if nothing else, Clippard can give his violent delivery a rest a little more often to put off his inevitable surgery in the next few years.

I know I'll be closely monitoring the game today for a possible Storen appearance with Craig Stammen on the mound, who hasn't made it into the 6th inning in 2 of his last 3 starts. You know that Riggs will get Storen in there if he can.

The Inevitable Happens: Nats Lose Heartbreaker 8-6

Last night's game was bound to happen. At the time, I was a bit too frustrated to objectively blog about it, so I've put it off until this morning.

Scott Olsen looked great again last night, although his outing was shorter than you'd like to see from your starter when your bullpen hasn't been great (minus Clippard and Capps who both needed a day off). Well that day off didn't come for Clipp, or Bruney, or Walker, or Batista, or Slaten. The Nats used 5 relievers in 3 2/3 innings that give up 6 runs and cost the Nationals the game.

It wasn't all bad, so let's go there first. The offense looked dominant again. In the top of the first inning, Adam Dunn hit a 3 run home run (Guzman and Zimmerman scored) for his 7th on the year. In the 5th, Ivan Rodriguez got yet another RBI hit to score Guzman and Zimmerman again. The next batter, Ian Desmond, scored Willingham on a single and before you knew it, the Nats were up 6-1 in the 5th and looked to be well on their way win #19 on the year and 2 games up on the Mets. Then... the bullpen happened.

Tyler Walker, the new #39, came in with 1 out in the 6th and got the next two batters, although he let the runner on third come home, but that earned run went to Olsen. It was not 6-2 going into the 7th. And then Doug Slaten came in for the 7th, gave up a hit and a walk, but got out of the inning with no more runs on the board. The Nats were rolling and looked to have it locked up. And then, as it has happened too often this year, Brian Bruney came in to just ruin the game.

Bruney entered the game in the top of the 8th inning, and in yet another outing failed to retire a batter. Bruney threw 7 pitches to 3 batters, and all of them got on base. Two solid hits by Jason Bay and David Wright, and a throwing error charged to Desmond on an Ike Davis ground ball. That scored Jason Bay. And that was it for Bruney. He failed to retire a single batter and for the 4th time in his last 6 outings, he gave up at least 1 run. This is not the job of someone you're paying $1.5 million to be the "set up guy." Then it was Clippard's turn to try and save the day.

Clippard came in inheriting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Clipp struck out Jeff Francoeur and looked to be on his way. Instead, on the next batter he left a pitch over the plate for the new-found power hitter Rod Barajas who crushed one to deep left that hit off the wall for a double. It scored both runners on base, so Clippard let his 10th inherited runner score in 16 opportunities. Not the best situation for your #1 set up man to be in. Alex Cora then hit a bunt single moving Barajas to 3rd, Angel Pagan then singled to right, scoring Barajas and blowing his 5th save on the season.

Just to remind you, if you've already forgotten, the Nats entered the 8th up 6-2! It was now 7-6 and the Nats were losing. An epic bullpen meltdown, made possible by none other than the Brian -Gas Can- Bruney. Clippard then gave up another double, scoring Pagan and putting him in line for his first loss of the year. Miguel Batista came in to relieve Clippard (yes, this was the 3rd reliever on the inning, with only 1 out). He immediately intentionally walked Reyes to get the double play in order. Fine and good. Except, then he walked the next batter, Jason Bay, with the bases loaded. That's right, walked in the run. He then struck out David Wright and got Ike Davis to fly out, ending the painful 8th.

There would be no offensive heroics this time. The Nats (Rodriguez, Willingham, Desmond) went in order in the 9th to end the game and move back into a tie for 2nd in the NL East with the Mets.

Today's afternoon game to end the series at Citi Field will really show if the Nats are able to come back from such a meltdown. I know I've used meltdown twice in this post, I simply can't think of another word to describe last night's game. Craig Stammen will try to reverse the momentum of the 8th inning to move the Nats toward another win.

Game 32 vs. the Mets

After a rough 1st, Atilano looked good through his 5 1/3 innings and got his 3rd win on the year to put the Nats at 18-14 and 1.5 games out of first place as the Phillies are playing in Colorado tonight and this blogger isn't staying up to wait.

Yet again, Ivan Rodriguez had a great, great night. He went 4 for 4 with an RBI single to put the Nats up 3-1 in the 8th, which ended up being the game winning hit. Pudge is now hitting .393 on the year. Wow.

Tyler Walker changed his number to 39, and it worked. Walked had solid outing to eat up an inning plus. Burnett had a bad outing again, and it was brief again. More on Sean Burnett's disappointing season in my next post. And then, there was Brian Bruney. Ugh. This guy hurts my life expectancy every time he comes in to pitch. Bruney is 18 BB on 14 Ks in 15 2/3 innings this season. That sucks. There's no way around it. He had an ugly wild pitch a mile over Pudge's head putting both runners that he inherited in scoring position with 2 outs. He got out of the jam. He's gotten better results in recent outings, although he's looked just as bad.

T. Plush had a great delayed steal in the top of the 9th. After Kennedy K'd and Zimm was walked intentionally, Taveras came in and hit a solid grounder up the middle that Alex Cora played brilliantly on a diving stop and a flip to 2nd to end the inning.

Miguel Batista came in to save the game, because the perfect save man Matt Capps needed a day off desperately. In the last 5 days, Capps has thrown 4 innings. He's been working hard. Back to Batista, he got a ground out to start the inning, then Angel Pagan (who?) hit a home run to deep center. Batista struck Castillo out looking and then gave up a single up the middle to Alex Cora, who was replacing the ejected Jose Reyes. Then he had to face Jason Bay who struck out swinging for Batista's 40th save on his career and first as a Nat.

Oh, the bullpen: Game 22

Luis Atilano, now 2-0 in two CAREER MLB starts, had another strong start today, for the Nats 7th quality start in a row (Thanks Mark Zuckerman for the stat). He had a few hickups, but worked his way out of almost every single decision. However, the Nats bullpen once again give the team the shakes.

Brian Bruney enters the game and immediately puts 2 men on with no outs. Luckily, the Cubs continued to strand base runners, and Bruney got out of the inning unscathed. Tyler Clippard entered the game and, like Bruney, gave up a silly hit to Marlon Byrd on an 0-2 count w/ a fastball down the middle. He got himself out of that jam quickly, as a good set-up guy does.

Then it was Cappy time. Matt Capps entered the game and Desmond made a remarkable throw from short to get the (questionable) out. Then Capps K'd Lee. Then Ramirez popped out in foul territory to win the game. Capps is 10 for 10 in save opportunities and this ball club is 12-10, 2 game ABOVE .500, and has sole possession of 2nd place in the NL East. AHEAD of those damn Phillies. For the first time in a while, it feels good to be a Nats fan.

Finally, it's W, L, W, L, W, L, W, L, W, L, W, W. They broke the streak!

Nats Pitching Lets Team Drop Back to .500

Well, here we go again. The Nats first game at Wrigley last night was a cold one. The wind chill at times was literally freezing. Unfortunately, while the Nats bats were hitting well considering the wind blowing straight in from the outfield, it wasn't enough to beat Carlos Marmol, Carlos Silva, and the Cubs. Why? Pitching.

Yet again, John Lannan, the "ace" of the Nationals pitching rotation had a rough start and got better with time. I like Johnny quite a bit, for his personality and his resiliance. And I'd much rather have the New York kid have a rough first inning or two and still make it through 6 innings than the alternative of a strong 1 2/3 and a complete and utter breakdown after that. That said, only giving up 3 runs in 6 innings isn't the worst outing in the world, although John give up 5 walks. The wind was whipping around out there, but 5 BBs is an unacceptably high number from your starting pitcher; or any pitcher for that matter.

The breakdown really happens with the bullpen, as has been the consistent problem with the Nats for a few years now. While the bullpen is stronger this year with Capps, Clippard, and (kind of) Burnett, Brian Bruney (1-1) has been a Nationals bullpen disaster. Bruney has appeared in 10 games, and has walked at least one batter in all but 3 of them. One of them was a walk off bases loaded walk to end the game last night. On 4 pitches.

The Washington Nationals are paying Bruney $1.5 MILLION this year to be the "primary set up guy," although it's pretty easy to see why Tyler Clippard has actually taken over that role with his bottom basement 0.61 ERA and 19 Ks in 14 innings pitched. Clippard has shown more consistency and stamina in all of his outings. Clippard's paycheck? Just over the league minimum at $401,000.

The 2010 Nationals have proven that they are able to compete with the best of the best, when we get some sort of pitching (i.e. more than 5 innings from a starter and a bullpen performance where the "set-up" guy doesn't walk in the winning run) so maybe it's about time for the Lerner's and Mike Rizzo to find a way to get some consistent arms out in the 'pen to get this team competitive sooner rather than later.