Nats catch bad end of a pitchers duel

Cole Hamels work on the mound is at thing of beauty. The long, lean, lefty meticulously does his dealing on the mound with the brains of an aged veteran and the vitality of a 24 year old. He throws all of his pitches for strikes when appropriate, and can place all of his pitches just out of the zone when appropriate too. He is everything you want from a young home grown talent, and he showed the Nationals tonight why he may be giving them trouble for many years to come. Hamels pitched seven shut out innings tonight keeping all the Nats hitters unbalanced and their bats off of the baseball. He struck out 11 and allowed only four hits before giving it up to his bullpen.

On the other side of the hill however Jason Bergmann would not be outdone. It seems that since his return from Columbus he has been on a mission to disprove all naysayers that suggest he isn’t a major league starter. For the second straight start now, Bergmann has pitched seven shut out innings and has allowed five or fewer hits in each start. It was a pitchers duel tonight from beginning to end, with the only allowed run scoring off a bloop single by Greg Bleeping Dobbs.

This was the first time in a while we have seen John Rauch struggle. Coming into tonight, Rauch had not allowed an earned run in 12 straight appearances but tonight he just didn’t seem to have it. He allowed a lead off double to Pedro Feliz to much surprise of the MASN broadcasters (“We haven’t seen anyone turn on Rauch like that in a while!”). He only allowed one run by the grace of Jesus (Flores), who made a great play to block the plate.

The Good:
The Nats pitching staff has only allowed 2 runs in the last 3 games. Starting pitching has been dominant and the bullpen has been very solid. What was even more rewarding was seeing so many Nats fans still in their seats after a long game on a cold night at Nats Park.

The Bad:
The Nats didn’t score a run and had only 5 hits. To be fair Cole Hamels was disgusting on the mound, but 11 K’s is bad no matter the pitcher. I really think Elijah Dukes needs to return to Columbus and work on a few things, including his confidence. It’s tough when you have multiple players in a 1 for 20 plus slump, but you have to play somebody so its not like you can just give them a day of rest and hope they snap out of it.
The Ugly:
Lastings Milledge two strike hitting is terrible. Milledge is batting only .123 with two strikes on him, and it’s not surprising if you look at his swing down in the count. He doesn’t choke up on the bat but he appears to shorten his stride tremendously. He just looks like he’s slapping at it, but not in true slap hitter form. Harris really needs to take him aside to work on this, it’s not that he’s striking out but he has no chance of getting a base hit the way he approaches it now.

Box Score
Photos courtesy of AP/Lawrence Jackson