Unlucky nights for the nats

The nats lost another unlucky game against the fish today, losing 3-2 in the 10th inning. John Lannan had a great game, striking out 8 in 6.1 innings and giving up 1 run. The nats got their offense going in the bottom of the 1st, with Nick Johnson singling to right field for Ryan Zimmerman. Zim hit one that looked like a 2B at first, and it was slicing away from Cameron Maybin in CF. He then dove out full extension and somehow caught the ball, saving at least a 3B and a run. The fish took the lead in the 4th on a solo HR by C John Baker. Then the nats took the lead in the bottom of the 4th by RBI singles by Jesus Flores and Alberto Gonzalez. That is when the fish started to become really lucky. The home plate umpire Tim Timmons was very inconsistent today- of course only to the Nationals. Even Manny got ejected on a heck of a pathetic called 3rd to Elijah Dukes. Jim Rigglman then became the manager for the rest of the game. The nats really got Rick Nolasco and started crushing baseball after baseball- later to become outs at the warning track. There were something like 3 innings where the nats had a runner on 3rd, and failed to score. In the top of the 9th, up 2-1, Hanrahan gave up a solo shot to Cody Ross, and the game was into extras. Nick Johnson crushed a line drive, caught by 1B Jorge Cantu, and then Zim hit a fly ball to right field which looked like a walk-off HR at first- only to be caught at the warning track. Then Jim Rigglman really made a bad call, bringing in Saul Rivera in the 10th, even though he wasn't that bad at all. He gave up a harmless ground ball and 2 little blop shots- which turned into a run somehow. Elijah Dukes lead off the ninth with a long fly ball almost a game-tying homer which turned into a double that hit in between 2 advertisment signs in left field. Then the nats went harmlessly in the rest of the inning.

The next day the nats also lost the next game 9-6 in another extra-inning-marathon. I didn't see the game but Austin Kearns had a grand slam in the 1st inning and the nats were up 6-0 early. Scott Olsen had a great performance, going 7 innings and giving up 3 runs, 2 earned. With the nats up 6-3 going into the 9th, Hanrahan faltered AGAIN. He blew another save, giving up a game tying 2 run shot by Jeremy Hermida to tie the game at 6. Then in the top of the 11th Jeremy Hermida hit another 3 run HR, this time giving the fish a 9-6 lead. For the 2nd night in a row, a great starting performance, a good offensive show, and a late breakdown by Joel Hanrahan occured.

In other news, SS Cristian Guzman has been placed on the 15 day DL, and IF Alex Cintron will be called up to replace him. Also Roger Bernadina is now on the DL. The injuries although haven't been as bad as last year, as long as starters are fine, and Alberto Gonzalez has done a great job replacing Cristian Guzman at SS. There is no recent news on Ryan Zimmerman and his long term deal.

Tomorrow there will be another day game, Daniel Cabrera VS Chris Volstad.