Nats drop second in row by 1, lose to the Astros

The Nats dropped their second in a row tonight as they could not capitalize on a two run lead they established in the first inning. While they got ahead on the talented Roy Oswalt, when e settled in he caught fire stopping any chance the Nats had on significantly building on the lead. Zimmerman did his best, in vintage style making the plays in the field and with the bat…but it wasn’t enough for the Red, White, and Blue.

A days rest goes a long way

Lucky Jarmes had called for, I think we all deep down felt it was a good idea too. Zimmerman was struggling and couldn’t get anything done at the plate. He was the focal point of young franchise that was struggling, he wanted to be the reason the team turned it around, he wanted to save HIS team. In baseball, as in life, sometimes the best thing you can do is just take a step back…as Zimmerman did by taking the night off for the first time in 200 plus games.

It’s seemed to have worked…since taking the day off and recieving the day of rest before the Nats road trip, Zimmerman has gone 5 for 9 with two homers and a double. Tonight Zimmerman carried his team driving in every run for the Nats who inevitably came up short. While it may be rough watching the Nats drop two in a row, it sure as hell is good to see our number three hitter hit like he can.

Odalis Perez

Odalis has had trouble in his career staying consistent. He broke onto the scene in 2002 as a talented 25 year old lefty starter for the Dodgers. He posted great numbers; 15 wins, 3.00 ERA 0.99 WHIP, only 38 walks in over 200 innings, but to this day he hasn’t been able to come anywhere close to matching that break out year. In all of his starts along the way he’s had solid starts, got settled, and lost focus. He’s had to battle weight problems and has not been able to turn it around on or off the field. His laziness seems to set in when he starts to feel comfortable, and it is often what can turn a good start for Perez into a lousy finish.

Perez had a couple flashes of laziness today which scares me. First he falls apart on the mound in the 4rth inning with a combination of what must have been a 500 foot home run, hit batters, and an RBI single allowed to Roy Oswalt. The next inning, after ripping the ball to the pitcher, Perez forgot out run out the groundball. This may just be an anomaly. Perez could be having a bad day, ate a bad hot dog, or could even have just been distracted by a hot chick behind home plate…whatever the reason lets hope its one of the latter rather then a regression into the tactics of Perez that have made him a journeyman as opposed to a staple in a teams pitching rotation.

Game Notes:

Wily Mo Pena was waved home in 7th off of a hard hit single to center by Felipe Lopez. He never had a chance, which isn’t really his fault, he was waved in. It’s rough seeing a rally end at home plate, especially when it would have been the go ahead run. What’s more frustrating is when your linebacker of an outfielder slides feet first into home on a throw that beat him by 5 steps. Come on Wily Mo…be a man…take out grandpa Ausmus behind home…it’s your only chance of scoring and there is NO WAY it will hurt you as much as it does him…show some fight for your team for god sake.

Christian Guzman botched a couple plays with poor hands and just plain slow feet. Is he really still effective at short stop? More to come on this in the mail bag...

Box Score

Photo's courtesy of AP/Dave Einsel