Game 27: Frustration and a Riggleman Error

Sorry for the extended delay between this post and last night's game. This blogger was coming off of a bad day at work, followed by a Philadelphia Flyers loss to put them down 3-0 to the Bruins, and a Nats near comeback win, with eventual disappointing loss to the Braves. I was in no place to blog without anger and rants. Let's go for it now, however.

The Luis Atilano and the Nats took on Tommy Hanson and the Braves for the 2nd of 3 in this series. I predicted weeks ago that Atilano would eventually have a disappointing night, because he's 24 years old and has only had 3 MLB starts. Well that night was last night. He threw 98 pitches in 5 1/3 innings, but he never got into a groove. He got out of a brief jam in the first, but after that he gave up runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th innings, and put 2 men on in the 6th before getting yanked by Manager Jim Riggleman. Sean Burnett replaced him and, to no real fault of his own with 2 men on with only 1 out and facing the top of the order, gave up an RBI hit and a sacrifice grounder to short stop. But when he left, the score was 4-4 and although those two runners on base were credited to Atilano, giving him 6 earned runs on the night, the Nats saved him in the 8th.

In the 8th, Desmond singled on an error and then Bernadina crushed a double for a runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out for pinch hitter Josh Willingham. The Hammer singled to left field and scored both Ian and Bernie to tie the game. In comes Matt Capps in the 9th for an inning, right? Wrong. In comes Matt Capps for an inning in the 9th, and then back for the 10th. This is where I question the Manager.

Jim Riggleman has done a brilliant job managing this club this year. He's always innings ahead of the game in his decisions and double switches, he uses his bench, and doesn't overuse his bullpen beyond what he needs to do. I understand bringing Capps in in the 9th to try and hold onto the game, although I think he would have been more useful once the club got a lead, because that's... his job. But I digress, Riggleman made a mistake last night. He doesn't make many, but this was a big, fat, massive one.

Riggs brought in his closer to pitch 2 innings, which is 1 inning beyond what Capps should have pitched in this situation. Cappy was 11 for 11 in saves this season and just came of receiving the Delivery Man of the Month for April. Now, Capps has a 1 in the L column, and for a closer, his mentality to pitching could now change. He's no longer perfect, and that tends to affect closers in a very negative way. This club hasn't had a real closer since Cordero in 2007, and you can't take advantage of when when you get him. So Riggs, you've been a great manager all year, but you've made your first mistake. Learn from it, and don't make it again.

Nats take first against Braves

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Cliff Owen

In last night's fantastic game between the Nationals and the Braves, there were a lot of contributors. So many, in fact, that MASN didn't show the Silver Elvis Wig winner last night. Any help from the blogosphere?

Well the Cuban Jedi Knight himself, Livan Hernandez, didn't have his best stuff or anywhere close this best outing of the year, but he got the win nonetheless. He threw 41 pitches in the first inning and 123 in only 5 1/3 innings (his shortest outing of the season by almost 2 full innings). As a matter of fact, in Livan's two shortest outings before this one (both 7 innings), he threw only 88 and 99 pitches. But somehow the offense and defense of the club stepped up, putting Livan at 4-1 for the year with a 0.99 ERA in 5 starts. Here is a great article on Livan and the Nats from Doug Glanville of ESPN.com from before last night's start.

Now let's talk about the defense, because wow. Zimmerman looked great, but come on. He's Ryan Zimmerman. He ALWAYS looks great on defense. He started the 5-4-3 game ending double play to give Matt Capps his 11th save of the year in 11 tries and continues his great run after winning the MLB Delivery Man of the Month for April. (And helping me stay in first in my fantasy league.) Adam Kennedy also had a great pick at first on that double play on a terrible throw from the AG (both of those players were defensive subs by Riggleman at the end).

The real story is Roger Bernadina. Roger dropped a routine fly ball in the first that turned into an unearned run that put the Braves up 1-0. But in the top of the third, with the Nats up 2-1 after a homer by the Hammer and an RBI single by Desmond, Bernadina went after a line drive to right by Troy Glaus with Chipper at 3rd base and 2 outs. Roger went completely horizontal, dove fully extended, to make the most remarkable catch I have seen all year (and it WAS SportsCenter's top play last night).

Photo Credit: Nats320 (What a great picture grab. Thanks!)

Then the bats caught fire once again. Last night featured home runs for Willingham to left, Desmond to center, and Dunn to right... WAY into right. Second deck scoreboard pavilion deep. The offense looked to be firing on all cylinders throughout the game. Desmond had an RBI single to give the Nats the lead in the 2nd, and the team never fell behind again. This team is resilient and so much fun to watch this season at 14-12 and in 3rd place in the East. The Nats will go for yet another series victory tonight with a win against the Braves. If they can win tonight or tomorrow, it would be their 5th series win of the year.

Game 26 vs. Atlanta and Strassy

Welcome back to this very long session of consecutive games. Tonight the Nats will take on the Braves in DC for their first meeting of the season. The Jedi Master (Happy Star Wars Day) Livan Hernandez will take on Sith Lord Kenshin Kawakami. Here are the matchups:

• Hernandez: 3-1; 0.87 ERA; 10 K. Livan hasn't gone less than 7 innings in any of his 4 starts this year. He also has one complete game shut out this year, which was the only time that he threw more than 100 pitches. The pinnacle of effective.
• Kawakami: 0-4; 5.48 ERA; 10 K. He hasn't gone longer than 6 innings all year even though he averages 88 pitches a game (with as many as 103). Kawakami is much less effective this year than he was last year, but last year's record was still a dismal 7-12.

After a day off yesterday, the Nats starters should all be in today and, against this year's Kawakami, shouldn't have any trouble with the bats, which the team needs. The Nats offense has gotten cold, lately, with only 4 regular players with averages above .270 (Rodriguez, Guzman, Zimmerman, and Morgan. And Rodriguez and Zimm were both out with injuries, Zimm for a lot of days).

The Braves are coming of 9 losses in the last 12 games, although they just came off of a sweep of the disappointing 8-17 Houston Astros in Atlanta. But in their last road trip, the Braves were 0-7, and looked simply dreadful. They're hoping that they can break that streak of away losses and get a win in DC. However, if Livan looks anything like he has so far this year, they may easily be looking at 8 straight away losses. The Nats are going to have to get their bats of their shoulders, though.

Today's Lineup

1. T. Plush, 8
2. Guzzie, 4
3. Zimm, 5
4. Freddie Physical, 3
5. Hammer, 7
6. Pudge, 2
7. Roger Bernadina (Bernie from here on out), 9
8. Ian Desmond (Hee-Sop according to Nyjer), 6
9. Livo, 1

In Jesus-related news, Stephen Strasburg has been promoted to AAA Syracuse, putting him on pace for a June 6th start in DC the last weekend game in DC for almost two weeks. Buy your tickets now to see Jesus-burg in action! Except don't buy them just to see Stephen, because rain could totally screw you. Buy them to see baseball. That's what it's all about, after all.

Maybe this blog writer will take a trip up to see Strasburg in his start against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (formerly Red Barons) on May 27th. His family does live there after all.... If he can get off from his day job, this is possible.