No error here, Nats win 6-0

Two things the Nats haven’t had this season is run support and luck. They got a bit of both tonight as the Nats went on to score 4 unearned runs on way to a 6-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. With the win the Nationals ended a three game skid and finally may have been able to regain a little bit of their pesky swagger they had last season.

After another brilliant start from John Lannan and a solid showing from the bullpen the Nats led 1-0 going into the top of the 9th. With two on and one out, Nieves bounced a ball to the pitcher that should have led to an inning ending double play, instead an arrant throw allowed Milledge to come around and score, starting a 5 run rally which ultimately lead to the Nationals victory.

John Lannan picks up his first “W”

After two great starts, including an 11 strikeout performance against the New York Mets, John Lannan finally picks up his first win of the season. Although ultimately meaningless in terms of the quality of his pitching, it’s got to be a confidence builder for Lannan to see a W besides the one on his cap. While the line up didn’t necessarily clinch it for him, the Nationals at least found one way to get it done for the pitcher quickly turning into the staff ace.

The only things that Lannan needs to improve upon right now are his consistency (obviously) and his control. After tonight, Lannan has 10 walks in 21 innings. A finesse pitcher needs to keep unneeded runners off the base paths. This is because:

1. Pitchers who don’t throw that hard are more likely to miss a spot and give up the accidental hit, and runners put on base by errors or walks will turn into RBI’s.
2. Finesse pitchers need to use the whole count, its just harder in general to pitch with runners on base.

If Lannan can decrease his walk rate it could really help a lot. If you look at the best finesse pitchers of their era, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, both had incredibly low walk rates.

Don’t be fooled

As I mentioned in the intro, 5 of the Nationals 6 runs were unearned. While I’ll take a run anyway I can get one, don’t think the bats are suddenly back(assuming they were ever here). Look at this line for the Nationals tonight: 9 hits, three walks, twelve strikeouts.

While the Nats may have only walked three times and struck out like a JV high school team, you may be excited about the 9 hits. Consider this however, four of those 9 hits came by the way of Willie Harris and Wil Nieves (By the way I am amazed at the different variations of the name William we have on this team; Wil Nieves, Willie Harris, Wily Mo Pena…and not one Will, Bill, or William). These two players are both reserves filling in for injured players (Lo Duca injured hand, Pena injured pride). While their effort is commendable, don’t think that this means the Nats line up as we know it is producing again.

Who’s going to lose playing time to who?

Austin Kearns was Jim Bowden’s joy, his prized pick. A megaprospect who he drafted 7th overall in 1998, Kearns went on went on tear to make it to the majors ahead of schedule in 2002. He produced, in only 370 at bats for the Reds he batting .315 with 13 homers with an OPS of .907. He was the crown jewel of the Reds franchise…then something set in…perhaps it was reality.
Since his fabled rookie season Kearns has batted .255, and averaged 13 homers a year. So far this year he has been equally awful, batting .213 with only 2 homers. While his on base percentage has continued to be solid, his batting average and slugging percentage have plummeted, continuing to decrease his value.
When Dukes gets healthy, and Wily Mo Pena starts to produce the way he has proven in the last several years he can, who loses playing time? We understand Mr. Bowden your affinity for you’re joy, but show some pride.

Box Score
(Photo’s courtesy of Associated Press/Gregory Smith and Alfredo Lee)