Nats lose 4-3, Split series 2-2

The Nats lost a heartbreaker today. Despite the great efforts of the reformed Jason Bergmann, and despite come from behind heroics by the big teddy bear Dmitri Young the Nats couldn’t come out on top. In the end it was a few stupid plays that led to the Nats coming out on the tieing the 4 game series, and out on top.

Some Thoughts:

Bergmann pitched great despite the Nats loss. He went five and two thirds without allowing an earned run and only let up four hits. He also recorded eight strikeouts with only one walk. This outing extended his scoreless streak to 19.2 innings without an earned run allowed, all of which have been recorded since his call up from Columbus. A similar situation to Bergmann’s can be seen in Cincinnati with arguably the best pitcher in the National League this season Edinson Volquez. Volquez struggled greatly in 2006 and 2007 as a talented pitcher who couldn’t seem to put it together. He however attributes his new found focus that has made him a true ace (7-2, 1.31 ERA) to his end of the season demotion to triple last year.

Jesus Flores is making a serious argument for himself to be the full time Nationals Catcher, despite his youth and inexperience. After going 2-4 today with yet another double, Flores is batting .340 with a .463 OBP and a .561 Slugging percentage. These numbers would impress a lot of scouts for a 23 year old catcher in even triple A, much less the majors. His power is developing faster then most would have expected with such little minor league experience and his plate patience is the best on the Nats active roster. 14 of his 33 outs this season have come from strikeouts. At first glance this is troubling that his strikeout rate is so high, but when you counter it with how well he is getting on base you realize a different potential. To put it simply, when Flores puts the ball in play, almost half the time it’s a hit. He is currently batting .460 on balls put in play (BaBIP). It’s a small sample size still, but it’s getting more and more promising.

This is the second game in a row that the first pitch from Saul Rivera has turned into a devastating RBI. I figured out why after the first one, I’m kind of surprised the Nats didn’t pick it up themselves. Saul is a fastball pitcher; he gets ahead in the count, changes locations, and often gets batters out. However when he throws first pitch fastballs to fastball hitters, such as Mike Cameron and Gape Kapler, its no mystery that they’re going to jump all over it. Saul needs to change it up, or he will keep getting burned in clutch situations.

Box Score

Photos courtesy of AP/Lawrence Jackson