Another Nine Straight--Lost

On a night, you had to figure that Our Washington Nationals would be able to get to Livan Hernandez, open up some scoring, and put a Curly "W" In The Books--for the first time in 9 games--they failed even more miserably than before. Our Starter John Lannan had nothing in the tank. He got absolutely pounded. So badly, by the time The Colorado Rockies got their 11 runs on the board--only then did Washington FINALLY get to Old Number 61--for a total of six runs. The Rox Cushion so large, even the Xtra Large Hernandez had enough wiggle room.

And by the time LIVO was taken from this latest of defeats by Colorado--Our Washington Nationals were already out of this ball game.

Poor Pitching, and some pretty bad fielding (three errors) led to yet another blowout, and for the third time in 2008, Washington has now lost 9 straight games--again. This affair was decided early.

Good Notes: Lastings Milledge and Ronnie Belliard both had three hits. In fact, Our Number 10 also added three more RBI's. And Willie Harris made two outstanding catches--the first--on an opposite field liner slapped by The Rockies Ian Stewart in the top of the 2nd. A baseball drifting toward the leftfield corner. A baseball nicely retrieved by Our Number 1 racing all the way to the corner--near the 336FT Sign on the Green Wall--and grabbing the baseball on the full run and nearly knocking himself over by being off balance. An excellent effort that Harris magnified significantly on in the top of the 9th when he deftly moved to his left on a sinking liner off the bat of Brad Hawpe and scooped the baseball in his glove hand, diving to his left, moments before the baseball landed on the grass. Our Washington Nationals may well have been down 7 runs at that point--but once again--Willie Harris continues to play the game right. He cared enough to make The Defensive Play Of This Game.

Effort, which Our Washington Nationals have continually failed over--the past few months.

Honestly, when this game got out of hand so early, The African Queen and I spent the final three innings chatting with some of our colleagues and friends. Still hoping Washington would fight back, we hadn't given up. But, Sohna and I really just didn't expect a rally. No, not tonight on one of the crispest and coolest August Summer Nights in many years. It was gorgeous outside, although the game played before us, was not.

Really not much more to state about Loss Number 80 of 2008. Another Nine Straight Lost. Final Score before 28,909--The Colorado Rockies 13 and Our Washington Nationals 6.

Game Notes & Highlights

Although he pitched into the 5th--John Lannan's line score for this evening--pretty bad. It's a good thing Our Number 31 has pitched so well through most of the 2008. This evening--he had a bad night and 8 Earned Runs scored against him in 4 complete innings--tells it all.

Garrett Mock might have been worse. When he replaced Lannan in the middle of the 5th--Our Number 50 could get NO ONE OUT until the sixth batter he faced in the inning. By that time--whatever chance Washington had to win--was over. Mock charged with three earned runs.

TEDDY!! WON!! The Presidents Race in the middle of the 4th inning. And The Crowd ROARED ITS APPROVAL--maybe the biggest cheer all night. Then actually started booing, when Teddy was disqualified for RUNNING THE RACE. You see, Olympic Race WALKING RULES were in effect. As Abe, GW & Tom walked around the chosen path--TEDDY sprinted to the finish. My Best Friend!! Screech!! reversed the Win by Our Lovable Loser. Tom was declared the winner.

Finally, after the game, Sohna and I spent some time with Our Friend Bill Hall--Baseball Chairman for The D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission. Mr. Hall negotiated the deal to bring The Montreal Expos to Washington, DC. This evening, Bill was hosting the New York City (Manhattan) side of his family at New Nationals Park. After we all watched Michael Phelps win his 8th Gold Medal at the Oval Bar in Presidents Club--Bill Hall asked me to snap this picture of his family--to remember the moment.

Front Row--Benjamin Arno, Spencer Hall and James Arno
Second Row--Ben Arno, Missy Hall, Bill Hall, Nancy (Hall) Arno

All of us just having some fun--attempting to take the sting out of another loss by Our Washington Nationals.