The Arizona Diamondbacks showed in this series why they are a serious force to be reckoned with come playoff time. The D-Backs very easily have the best starting pitching rotation in all of baseball. With back to back shut outs in the tail end of the Nats visit to the desert, they saw this first hand.
Dan Haren punished the Nationals Sunday night. He used good accuracy one his fastball and smart put away pitches to keep Washington hitters off balance all night. Through seven solid innings he only allowed four hits, three walks, and fanned five Nats. With a little help from the bullpen the D-Backs shut the door on another shut out, making it over 18 innings since the last Nationals run.
Shawn Hill may need to go on the DL. This isn’t from any suggestion from the ball club, merely my own opinion. Since his return he hasn’t looked healthy, hasn’t played as if her were healthy, and has said that he is in fact, not healthy. The only thing the Nats are doing by letting him play is risking the future of his career. He isn’t throwing strikes (only 44 on 70 pitches Sunday) and now he isn’t making outs. The only question is who do the Nats replace him with?
Aside from the poor performance of Shawn Hill and the Nats line up, the rest of the game went relatively well. The Nats recorded no errors, and the new guys Brian Sanches and Charlie Manning threw four shut out innings after Hill left the game. It was all for nothing however, as the Nats lost 5-0.
Stat Standout
Arizona scored 13 runs in three games against Washington this series. 10 of these runs came at the hands of home runs.
Dan Haren punished the Nationals Sunday night. He used good accuracy one his fastball and smart put away pitches to keep Washington hitters off balance all night. Through seven solid innings he only allowed four hits, three walks, and fanned five Nats. With a little help from the bullpen the D-Backs shut the door on another shut out, making it over 18 innings since the last Nationals run.
Shawn Hill may need to go on the DL. This isn’t from any suggestion from the ball club, merely my own opinion. Since his return he hasn’t looked healthy, hasn’t played as if her were healthy, and has said that he is in fact, not healthy. The only thing the Nats are doing by letting him play is risking the future of his career. He isn’t throwing strikes (only 44 on 70 pitches Sunday) and now he isn’t making outs. The only question is who do the Nats replace him with?
Aside from the poor performance of Shawn Hill and the Nats line up, the rest of the game went relatively well. The Nats recorded no errors, and the new guys Brian Sanches and Charlie Manning threw four shut out innings after Hill left the game. It was all for nothing however, as the Nats lost 5-0.
Stat Standout
Arizona scored 13 runs in three games against Washington this series. 10 of these runs came at the hands of home runs.
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