Wes Helms was an important part of the Florida Marlins in 2006. So important that the marlins wanted him back from Philadelphia after losing him to free agency…and all it took was one dollar. After several great plays in the field Friday, and a game winning hit tonight, as far as the Nationals are concerned its money well spent.
The Nats fell in a heartbreaker to Florida tonight, 6-5, after the walk off hit from Helms in the bottom of the 9th. It was a game that saw seven combined errors, the return of Shawn hill, a 9th inning comeback by both teams, and proof that Austin Kearns bat is in fact not hallow.
The Good:
The Nationals are getting out early- In the last two games Washington has scored in the first inning and had a solid lead to build upon for the rest of the game. This is important as it has been shown that the Nats don’t have the bats to come back like some of other teams in the division. The Nationals best asset is also their bullpen, the best way for this team to be successful then is to get out early and hold the lead with their pitching, as they tried to do tonight. Felipe Lopez flashed signs of his old self again tonight in the leadoff role, which has been the biggest impact on the Nats ability to jump out to an early lead. Hopefully Lopez has found his groove and this will be more then just a hot streak.
Shawn returns to the hill- The Nats ace returned to an overall solid start tonight, allowing only
one run and four hits through his first five innings of work. Shawn recorded 6 strikeouts and showed good control with no walks. However as Hill had indicated earlier, he is still not at 100 percent which is likely the reason for his awful last inning of work. Hill finished his start with an ugly sixth allowing three more earned runs and four more hits. Hopefully the 26 year old will not have these types of innings when his endurance returns…
The Bad:
The good situational hitting for the nationals did not continue-The Nats started the game with runners on second and third with no outs. They only managed one run by way of a Nick Johnson ground out…that’s just not good enough. Had both those runs scored, like they should have, the Nats would have had enough runs to come out with the victory. It’s the ability to convert when a team should that separates them from being poor/mediocre and being elite.
The Ugly:
3 Errors, 22 runners left on base
The Nats fell in a heartbreaker to Florida tonight, 6-5, after the walk off hit from Helms in the bottom of the 9th. It was a game that saw seven combined errors, the return of Shawn hill, a 9th inning comeback by both teams, and proof that Austin Kearns bat is in fact not hallow.
The Good:
The Nationals are getting out early- In the last two games Washington has scored in the first inning and had a solid lead to build upon for the rest of the game. This is important as it has been shown that the Nats don’t have the bats to come back like some of other teams in the division. The Nationals best asset is also their bullpen, the best way for this team to be successful then is to get out early and hold the lead with their pitching, as they tried to do tonight. Felipe Lopez flashed signs of his old self again tonight in the leadoff role, which has been the biggest impact on the Nats ability to jump out to an early lead. Hopefully Lopez has found his groove and this will be more then just a hot streak.
Shawn returns to the hill- The Nats ace returned to an overall solid start tonight, allowing only
one run and four hits through his first five innings of work. Shawn recorded 6 strikeouts and showed good control with no walks. However as Hill had indicated earlier, he is still not at 100 percent which is likely the reason for his awful last inning of work. Hill finished his start with an ugly sixth allowing three more earned runs and four more hits. Hopefully the 26 year old will not have these types of innings when his endurance returns…The Bad:
The good situational hitting for the nationals did not continue-The Nats started the game with runners on second and third with no outs. They only managed one run by way of a Nick Johnson ground out…that’s just not good enough. Had both those runs scored, like they should have, the Nats would have had enough runs to come out with the victory. It’s the ability to convert when a team should that separates them from being poor/mediocre and being elite.
The Ugly:
3 Errors, 22 runners left on base
1 comment:
i mean, its obvious that the nats r one of the worst TEAMS in the league right now, there is a difference between how much talent u have and how the talent works as a team. the nats just cannot seem to put it together. they have just as good of players as anyone else, i mean look at what the royals are doing. it kind of reminds me of the ohio wesleyan ultimate frisbee team, great individual players, just cannot put it together. if you look at the recent champions in all of sports, the spurs, patriots, florida basketball, red sox, and even the new york giants, they all won as TEAMS, they all put it together in the end and were not a team filled with a bunch of egos, which is why u will never see T.O. or ocho cinco with rings.
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