The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

The Dodgers were on the brink of elimination, and they finally got to the Nationals bullpen to force a winner-take-all game 5 back in Nationals Park on Thursday.

Joe Ross only lasted 2 2/3 innings as he was victimized by a flyball that fell between Trea Turner and Jayson Werth and that led to two runs that made the score 4-2 in favor of the Dodgers. Oliver Perez came in for relief and held the Dodgers scoreless in 1 1/3 innings for work. Reynaldo Lopez worked 2 innings of work and gave up one run making it a 5-2 game. Continue reading →

You wouldn’t know it from the final score that this was a 1 run game from the 5th inning until the top of the 9th inning. The Nationals take a 2-1 lead in the series in the best of 5 NLDS with game number 4 tomorrow in Los Angeles.

The Nationals bullpen has now gone 12 1/3 scoreless innings. They were stellar as each reliever did their job. Shawn Kelley came up huge as he pitched 1 2/3 innings and entered with Chase Utley on 1st base in the 7th inning. Melancon finished off the 9th inning, but was not credited with a save as he entered with a 5 run lead.

Anthony Rendon had the game winning RBIs on a two-run home run in the 3rd inning to make the score 4-1. Gio Gonzalez exited the game in the 5th inning after he gave up a two-run home run to pinch-hitter Carlos Ruiz to make the score 4-3 in favor of the Nationals.

The score remained 4-3 until the top of the 9th inning when Jayson Werth led-off against Kenley Janssen with a 450 foot mammoth home run. After that Ryan Zimmerman connected for an opposite field two-run double, and the last run scored on a Chris Heisey sacrifice fly for the final tally to make the score 8-3.

Jayson Werth went 3-4 with a walk in the game and averaged just 4.8 pitches per at-bat. Werth and Rendon were the offensive stars of the game, but every starting position player had a hit except for Daniel Murphy and Danny Espinosa.  There was a double-switch to remove Espinosa who got up 3 times and was 0-2 with a HBP.

The Nationals had 16 baserunners tonight and all Nationals starting position players reached base safely via hit, walk or HBP.

By winning this game, the Nationals are in a situation they have never been in before with a 2-1 lead in a NLDS.

Baseball has redemption as Jose Lobaton went from the outhouse to the penthouse in consecutive at-bats. Lobaton with bases loaded and one out in the 2nd inning swung at the first pitch and bounced into a doubleplay as the ball went only 60 feet back to the pitcher for an easy 1-2-3 doubleplay. Then Lobaton dropped the ball on a sure out on a play at the plate on a throw from Bryce Harper. It almost felt like Lobaton gave up 2 to 3 runs between his offense and defense, but Lobaton got up in the 4th with Daniel Murphy and Danny Espinosa on base and Lobaton jacked a home run into the visitor’s bullpen for the 3 RBIs and the difference in the game. Redemption is a dish best served warm!

The pitching by the Nationals bullpen was great again today as they have now combined for  7 2/3 scoreless innings and each reliever had some Hi Leverage pitches they had to throw.

Dusty Baker believed in Jose Lobaton’s 3-3 lifetime record against Rich Hill, and the move was looking like a bad move until Lobaton took a 73.1 mph curveball up in the zone on a 1-1 pitch from Hill, and Lobaton hit it just far enough through the cutting wind like Wilson Ramos had done so many times this year in dramatic fashion to win a game for the Nats. This was no doubt Lobaton’s biggest hit as a Washington National.

Some might say Daniel Murphy was the offensive star today as he went 3-3 with 2 RBIs with 2 RISP hits and a run scored and was on-base for Lobaton. Trea Turner got two hits today, and Bryce Harper had a RISP hit to add to his post-season resumé. In fact all Nats starting position players had a hit today except Espinosa and Rendon. Danny Espinosa got on-base twice with two hit-by-pitches. Continue reading →