Back to back jacks bury the Nats

It must have been a difficult situation for Nationals manager Manny Acta. He knew as well as anyone that his bullpen had been overworked this season, but he also knew that his starting pitcher, Shawn Hill, was coming off an arm injury that kept him out of his last start. Surely he wanted to monitor Hill’s pitch count, but at the same time he wanted a starter to eat up some innings to relieve his worn-out pen. He ended up with the worst of both worlds, running up Hills pitch count while only seeing him get to the 5th. With the score at 2-2, the game was in the bullpens hands.

After one inning of scoreless Jesus Colume pitching, the Nats were still in the clear, tied through six with a chance to steal the win from the good pitching Padres. Manny Acta decided to go against experience and brought in the 29 year old rookie, lefty Charlie Manning, to pitch against the heart of the order. It looked to be a smart move after he retired the weak hitting Iguchi and the left handed Brian Giles, but all was lost when the rookie showed his rawness. In a high pressure situation Manning made a mistake, he left a big meaty pitch over the center of the plate to the Padres best power hitter. The next thing we knew Adrian Gonzalez was trotting the bases with his 15th homer of the year. Relievers in the show cant afford to make mistakes, especially in the seventh inning of tied games. After a call to the bullpen, the very next pitch saw a Kevin Kouzmanoff homer to make the score 4-2. The Nats couldn’t recover.

The troublesome Shawn Hill

Occasionally last night Shawn Hill showed the stuff that made him the presumed ace of the staff this spring. He had good movement on his fastball and his curveball was breaking both for strikes and for deception. It was obvious though that he wasn’t 100%. He fell behind on hitters, and later in the game he had trouble locating his breaking pitches. Through 5 innings he recorded 5 K’s only allowed 5 hits with 2 runs earned, however he also walked five batters.

Acta let him throw 112 pitches which is really troubling. Most managers will limit their starting pitchers to a select pitch count when they come off an arm injury, especially when that injury involves soreness or tightness. It had to be a warning sign for Acta that out of his 112 pitches; just more then half (58) were strikes. I wasn’t aware we had Dusty Baker managing our pitching staff…We need to be more careful and find ourselves a solid long relief pitcher, and not throw our pitchers arms off.

Kouzmanoff and Gonzalez

Only two players accounted for the Padres four runs last night. Kyle Kouzmanoff and Adrian Gonzalez both scored on a Michael Barrett single in the third, and both had back to back solo bombs to take the lead in the seventh. On a poor team like the Padres its very important to not let their two or three best hitters beat you. Even last year when the Padres were a playoff team they had a week line up, it’s only gotten worse this year.

If the Nats pitchers have to pitch around Gonzalez and Kouzmanoff so be it. I’m not afraid of Michael Barrett, Khalil Greene, or Paul McAnulty. Let’s be smart and efficient with our game plan, because right now we don’t have a line up that can produce after mistakes.

Notes:

When Joel Hanrahan came into the game last night, he threw a first pitch fastball which was launched into the stands for the second home run in as many pitches. The Nats Blog has called for it before but it seems the Nats still aren’t getting it. Hitters facing the Nats have come to expect first pitch fastballs when people come out of the pen. It hurt us against the Brewers last series and hurt us again last night.

Elijah Dukes got on base TWICE last night. I really think the absence of Kearns has given him an extra confidence boost, if he can actually reach close to the potential we were promised we’re going to have a good player on our hands.

Guzman Watch
Guzman had himself a solid game, going 2-4 while scoring a run. Both of hits were doubles which will raise his slugging percentage, something surly interested teams will look at. He hasn’t messed up in the field for a while either, but I still hope he is traded at the break. Guzman has one walk in his last 44 at bats.

Box Score
Photos Courtesy of AP/Lenny Ignelzi