Tonight, Our Washington Nationals Won a Series against The Baltimore Orioles:
Because--They DID NOT give up when their bullpen lost the lead--TWICE.
They won:
Because--Matt Chico continues to emerge as a serious Major League Starter.
Because--Our Manager Manny Acta, outwardly, shows no sign of panic, even when most every other MLB Manager would.
Because--Early in the game, with runners on 2nd and 3rd with No Outs in the 2nd--Ryan Church and Brian Schneider were able to score both runners playing small ball--grounding to the right side of the infield.
Because--Ryan Langerhans hammered out a solid Home Run to Dead Center at Camden Yards, not moments after Byron Kerr on MASN interviewed Langerhans' Father watching the game in Baltimore.
Because--Our Washington Nationals got lucky when Corey Patterson tried to make an ill advised diving catch on a Ryan Zimmerman drive to center in the 6th. Patterson missed and Ryan ended up on third with a triple. Our Number 11 scoring a vital 4th run of the game on a single by Austin Kearns.
Because--After Our Bullpen effort by Jesus Colome, Ray King and Jon Rauch gave up three consecutive hits scoring three Baltimore Runs and giving The Orioles the lead in the bottom of the 7th--Our Washington Nationals turned the tables on The O's Bullpen immediately scoring two runs in the top of the 8th. Life can be sweet sometimes, mear moments after you want to kill someone.
Because--In that decisive top of the 8th with FLop on second and Zimmerman on first with two outs--Kearns again delivered with a CLUTCH single just under Shortstop Miguel Cabrera's glove for the game tying single. And, My Main Man!! Ryan Church, with an ugly swing, mostly fooled, was able to muscle a grounder up the middle to the second base side, scoring "Z" with the night's sixth run. Both runs scored off My Favorite Underarm/Sidearm Pitcher Of All Time--Chad Bradford.
Because--"The Most Thrilling Closer In The Game" facing the Heart of The Orioles Lineup could not record the final out of the game. Aubrey Huff and Jay Payton knocking two out, two strike, check swing singles to tie the ballgame at six apiece--sending this game to extra innings.
Because Our Washington Nationals DID NOT GIVE UP!! After most any other team would have quit.
Because although Our Bullpen faltered badly tonight--The Orioles Bullpen is downright terrible.
Because with two out in the top of the 11th, Robert Fick (YES, ROBERT FICK) bloops a single just over Miguel Tejada's head that should have been caught to retire the side. But, Tejada thought Leftfielder Jay Payton was going to catch it. Shades of Our Washington Nationals that confusion.
Because Ryan Langerhans followed with a TERRIFIC 9 pitch walk after being down 0-2 to Orioles Closer Chris Ray.
Because "The Guz" followed with a bases loading walk.
Because FLop, after bitching and arguing over a bad strike call by Home Plate Umpire Bill Miller, decided to seek revenge and hammered a hard hit Ray inside pitch down the right field line that Baltimore First Baseman Kevin Millar could not reach. All three runners scored with the baseball rattling into the right field corner, giving Washington its third come from behind lead of the evening. A play that included a CHORUS of YELLS AND SCREAMS by Nats Fans Celebrating Our Fortune in The Home of The Baltimore Orioles, Camden Yards. There might not have been many fans left, but those Washington Fans still in attendance were mighty loud, and mighty proud.
Because Saul Rivera wasn't fooling around in the bottom of the 11th. Saul retired The Baltimore Orioles in order to preserve a nice 9-6 extra innings victory.
Because in Baseball anything can happen, at any time.
Because this was one of those frustratingly, satisfying victories.
Because this was a win that could easily have been lost.
Because Curly "W" Number 28 gave Our Washington Nationals their fourth consecutive road series win.
Because RIGHT NOW, I want to see a SERIES SWEEP tomorrow night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
And All This, Because Our 2007 Version Washington Nationals have some Heart.
Game Notes & Highlights:
As happens so often in baseball, Matt Chico was deserving of a win tonight. Getting through 2 outs in the 7th, ahead by two when leaving--Our Number 47 saw his bullpen implode and give Baltimore the lead. Matt threw 75 of his 112 pitches for strikes and continues to cut down on issuing free passes. This evening only one walk, scattering 8 hits. Slowly, Matt Chico is becoming a decent pitcher, although he still has a long way to go.
Ryan Zimmerman despite scoring two runs had a difficult night this evening. In the first, he fielded Brian Roberts leadoff grounder to his right, then, with plenty of time--promptly threw the baseball so far over Tony Batista's head at First Base, there was no way Batista could catch the ball. 11 errors for "Z" this year, almost all on throws. His footwork at times, not good when setting himself. Later, Zimmerman would ground out to Tejada at shortstop, only to see Miguel throw the ball away. With Zimmerman well past first and the play basically dead, Ryan for some reason, flinched toward second base with Kevin Millar standing a few feet in front of him with the ball. Millar tagged out Zimmerman. The frustrating look on Ryan's face said it all. Was he EVER PISSED AT HIMSELF.
Late in the game tonight, once again MASN's audio on The Nationals Broadcast was unacceptable. The Crowd noise was significantly higher than announcers Bob Carpenter and Ray Knight. They were difficult to hear. So, I turned over to MASN2 where Jim Palmer came up with a couple of doozies on The Orioles Broadcast. Its interesting how Gary Thorne and Palmer always refer to Our Nationals as WASHINGTON. Yet, Carpenter and Knight always call Baltimore, The Orioles.
Anyway--with Chad Cordero on the mound in the 9th--Palmer speaking about Chad: "I can't understand how a pitcher with no velocity has been as successful as he's been. Its really amazing." Gary Thorne replying: "I agree."
Then, just a few moments later when it appeared that Washington was going to win this game in regulation, Palmer said:
"If Washington wins tonight and takes the series, it will be their fourth consecutive road series wins. That's remarkable for a team that's really suppose to be terrible."
I couldn't help but laugh. Palmer's honesty and bluntness was a marked contrast to the smoozing over The Orioles on the MASN Nationals Broadcast. A difference between night and day. Clearly odd this MASN TV DEAL.
Tonight's InGame Photos--(AP) Nick Wass
I'm not surprised that on MASN, the Orioles broadcasters avoided the word "BALTIMORE." Under Peter Angelos, the Orioles have treated "Baltimore" as if it were kryptonite to their Superman. If you look at the scoreboard at OPACY, they will use "O'S" as a three letter contraction rather than "BAL." In fact, the only place where you will see "Baltimore" at all in that place is on the mailing address of the Orioles' letterhead...
ReplyDeleteAnother thing. It's one thing to win the series, but who would have ever thought the Nats would OUTDRAW the Orioles during this series? Looks like more fans came to RFK to see the Pirates than to OPACY to see the Nats...
ReplyDeleteLate in the game tonight, once again MASN's audio on The Nationals Broadcast was unacceptable. The Crowd noise was significantly higher than announcers Bob Carpenter and Ray Knight. They were difficult to hear.
ReplyDeleteAnd this was a bad thing . . . how? ;-)
So, I turned over to MASN2 where Jim Palmer came up with a couple of doozies on The Orioles Broadcast. Its interesting how Gary Thorne and Palmer always refer to Our Nationals as WASHINGTON. Yet, Carpenter and Knight always call Baltimore, The Orioles
I get the criticisms over MASN's logos in the first Beltway (B/W Parkway?) series. And the Angelosian insistence on "O's" rather than "Baltimore" is egotistical and dumb. But I don't have a problem with the way the announcers referred to the Orioles or Washington informally during a broadcast. "The Orioles" name has been around for a half-century, and it has lent itself to an easy and popular abbreviation. The same can't be said for "the Nationals," though it will be in time.
Just my opinion, but my opinion is it doesn't bother me.
"And All This, Because Our 2007 Version Washington Nationals have some Heart."
ReplyDelete...all ya really need is heart!
It was wonderful to see this all unfold at Camden Yards.
Are the Nationals on the verge of something incredible? Not to jinx anything, but should they win tonight, then go .500 to the half-way mark, about the All-Star Break, they will be 8 games under .500 for the first 82 games. Is this conceivable facing Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh: sure.
ReplyDeleteComing out of the All-Star Break, where Nats lone representative, Demitri Young will park one into McCovey Cove: Acta should have a starting rotation of S. Hill; J. Bergmann; J.Simontacchi; M. Chico; and J.Williams. Note that I left out J.Patterson - since something tells me that Nats are better putting him down for the entire season, and revisiting the question in the off-season.
L.Speigner and M.Bowie to the bullpen and spot starts, etc.
Does N.Johnson return after the break, or shortly thereafter. I mean after the All-Star break, not his leg, of course. Probably. Will it work out. Not certain. But this much is: Lopez, Schneider, Zimmerman, Church, and Kearns are likely to raise their collective average by 20 points, even while Young and Guz likely to come back to earth by about 40 points. The net gain is still 15 points for the entire line-up.
Reduce overall team ERA to shade over 4.00, doable with Ayala back: and, you can actually see team end the year at .500 fulfilling Acta's goal.
Is it time to swap Nook for Brandon Watson, or do we wait a bit, and see if Watson is another KC? Kasten and Bow-Bow aren't willing to give up on potential of platooning Logan-Langerhans for production this season.
Hope springs eternal - Fick hit his "home-run" last night which ignited 11th inning (girl's rules or something like that) - but his fielding did preserve the game. Good guy - NO HIT.
Orioles are going nowhere: they are the Kansas Royals East and the Tampa Bay Rays North and the Pittsburgh Pirates South. You can call them the Crabcakes, and it will not matter. They are the Washington Redskins of MLB - a team jinxed by the officious meddling of its owner...
Trust in Kasten. All Good.