By the bat of Jesus, Nats win 6-4

After a visit to the dentist Odalis Perez was ready to wash and rinse the Nationals of their short losing streak. Perez had stayed up all night Tuesday with a painful toothache, on no sleep he was taken to a local dentist who preformed a four hour root canal Wednesday morning. Seven hours later, woozy and a little doped up, Perez was on the mound in PETCO Park.

Six and a third innings later Perez was pitching on the better end of a 6-2 lead. Manny Acta let his soldier come off the mound, he had battled, and he had given his team a chance to win. A win is something that has been hard to come by for Odalis this season, despite pitching well through most of the year, but this one was certainly well earned. After an ugly relief appearance by Sanches and three solid innings from Ayala and Rauch, the Nats came out on top 6-4.

Jesus Flores is young and talented; Paul Lo Duca is old and scrappy

Jesus Flores again showed Washington Nationals fans why he is a center block in the building of this young team. With the bases loaded last night in the fourth inning, Flores did something that his team has had trouble doing all year, converted with runners in scoring position. With one swing of the bat he put his team up 4 and recorded his first career grand slam.

It was an excellent overall game for Flores, he tossed out the Padres Tadahito Iguchi on the base paths, displaying an arm that scouts have been a fan of for some time. He finished 2-4 with a single to go with his grand slam. What makes Flores so exciting is that he is refining his tools so much faster then anybody imagined he could, and he’s doing it in the majors no less. He is already more patient then most of the Nationals batters, he’s already better defensively at his position then most of the Nationals, and he is currently using his bats better then anyone on the Nationals.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the sample size of Flores’ success this year is still small…but it keeps growing…

PETCO Park, home run friendly?

No….no it’s not. It’s actually one of the worst home run ball parks in the nation; to the point in fact that it has deterred many power hitters from going to southern California in free agency. It just is home to an RFK like outfield, some argue even bigger. However, over this series there have already been six home runs through the first two games.

This is good for the Nationals line up, who couldn’t score a run to save their life merely a few weeks ago. Lastings Milledge has been killing the ball, Aaron Boone has shown to be a good source of power, and those doubles from Flores may soon be turning into home runs. This however is a bad thing for the Nationals pitching staff. The bullpen has been allowing many home runs over the course of the last several weeks, which is a sign of mistakes. Mistakes are a sign of over use, and over use is the sign of Matt Chico…

Box Score

Photos Courtesy of AP/Lenny Ignelzi