While I was away...

I apologize for my hiatus, but I have been in Ohio for the weekend without any connection to internet, baseball games, or most importantly, air conditioning. I have made my triumphant return to the district however, and The Nats Blog will return to full operation immediately.

The Nats have taken a turn for the worse in my absence. They have lost 8 of their last 9, they are hitting even worse then before, and the once stellar pitching has become banged up and inefficient.

Here is the write up that was not able to be published for the day night double header by lucky jarmes:

Cardinals Pitchers must have fathered an Elijah Dukes baby:

As he beat the hell out of them. Elijah Dukes, following an impressive day over all at the plate, managed to secure a split of yesterday's doubleheader with St. Louis by blasting a two run homer in the tenth inning of the nightcap.

The Nats bats were active most of the day, though in the day game, runs simply were unable to be knocked in. The Nationals had men on base constantly, and managed to strand 11 runners on base. Things turned around as the sun went down, however.

The Nationals got off to a hot start on a muggy evening last night, scoreing at least 2 runs in each of the first three innings, and one more in the fourth. Though the entire lineup produced, securing 16 hits to knock in 10 runs, Dukes was the stand out last night. Elijah had been pushed up to hte second spot in the order for yesterday's two games, in the hope that he would see more pitches to hit. He did, and proceeded to punish Cardinals pitching all evening. Often early in the count, Dukes went 4-6 on the night, with 4 RBIs. He even recorded a solid non-hit, with a drive to centerfield, which was dropped, opening the door to a three run inning.

Pitching yesterday, however, left little to be desired. After being handed a 7 run lead, Tim Redding went on to allow 5 RBIs to Cardinals pitchers Mike Parisi(2), and Mark Worrell(3). The lead was held at 8-6 through the ninth, setting up a save situation for Jon Rauch. Rauch, after securing the first two outs, allowed a double, triple and single to allow the Cards to tie it up. In the tenth, Brian Sanches allowed a two out home run, to give the Cards the lead.

Guzman answered the lead with a single, followed by Elijah's first homer as a National. The Nats will go on to face the Giants over the weekend. Wave your phones for Elijah, everybody.