The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Who can believe what we just saw? The Nats had a 5-2 lead going into the 7th inning and the game turned quickly as Gio Gonzalez pitched the bottom of the 7th with a pitch count of 96 and Gio quickly gave up double to put the Nats in a spot and Dusty Baker brought in Treinen who gave up an infield single that was deflected as the run scored to make it a 5-3 lead.  Felipe Rivero gave up a run in the 8th to make it a 5-4 game. The Nationals got back a run in the top of the 9th to make it 6-4.

Dusty Baker brought in Jonathan Papelbon who you could quickly see did not look right.

Papelbon averaged only 90.9 mph tonight on his fastball. He had nothing on it. Papelbon’s  velocity had dropped 3.1 mph from Friday to tonight.

Here is what Papelbon looked like on Friday night:

We now have to worry if Papelbon is injured. Dusty Baker did not pull Papelbon even though he had Oliver Perez and Shawn Kelley both ready. You could see Papelbon wasn’t right as he walked the leadoff batter. The Indians went to the pinch-hitter Tyler Naquin who is left-handed. Still, Dusty wouldn’t pull Papelbon as he could have countered with Oliver Perez. Papelbon got Naquin in an 0-2 count, but Naquin drove an RBI double into the gap to make the score 6-5 and Naquin represented the tying run on 2nd and still Dusty wouldn’t pull Papelbon. On a sacrifice bunt to Zimmerman, he threw the ball down the rightfield line and Naquin scored the tying run.

By the way, Dusty Baker eventually pulled Papelbon with bases loaded and no outs and the score tied. It didn’t get better after that as the Indians walked it off for a 7-6 win.

“He doesn’t have his command…is evident when he walks the lead-off hitter,” Dusty acknowledged that after the game about Papelbon. If Dusty knew that, why didn’t he pull him immediately? Both Oliver Perez and Shawn Kelley were ready to come into the game.

The Nationals offense came alive in this game, but the pitching, defense and baffling managerial decisions were costly in this game.

Ray Knight in the post-game report showed how Michael Taylor once again showed poor defensive instincts on a ball hit to him that ended up being a 2-out game winning RBI to make the score at the time 7-6.

Danny Espinosa made the big error in this game in the 3rd inning as Lucas Giolito‘s start fell apart with no outs as a routine grounder became a man on 1st. That ballooned into a 3-run inning, and the Nats clawed back for 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning with a 2-run HR by Wilson Ramos.

Giolito couldn’t get out of the 4th inning lasting 1 out into that frame. Giolito finished with 3 1/3 innings with 4 runs, 2 earned runs. Giolito was replaced by Matt Belisle which called into question why Dusty did not go to his long-man Yusmeiro Petit.

It was baffling how Dusty Baker managed his bullpen today, and we have seen this before with leaving a young starter in too long and then questionable bullpen management. Felipe Rivero was not available today, but why did he not use Petit early in the game? You learn you never save your long-man for late in a game as you worry about that if you need it as there were other options such as  using Blake Treinen could then be used as your long-man if necessary.

Giolito’s fastball averaged only 93.5 mph with a max of 95.9 and only got 1 swing and miss. Giolito was not fooling batters today and had no strikeouts while walking 3 with 4 hits.

Max Scherzer made one bad pitch in the 2nd inning that got pounded for a 2-run HR to put the Nats in a 2-0 deficit. It was all the Padres would get from Scherzer who really dominated during this outing. The Nats clawed back and tied the game in the 5th inning, and walked it off in the 9th inning after an Anthony Rendon single and a Stephen Drew triple that scored Rendon for a 3-2 Nats walk-off win.

Stephen Drew had not played in 6 days as he was hit hard by the flu that has been going around. He said he had lost between 6 to 8 pounds and still was not feeling great on Saturday. Great enough worked on this day.

Jonathan Papelbon earned the win after a scoreless 9th inning to keep the game tied 2-2, and Shawn Kelley pitched a scoreless 8th inning. Max Scherzer went 7 innings tonight with 10 strikeouts and no walks to keep his team in the game. Continue reading →