Wil Nieves comes up huge, Nats win second in a row

Lastings Milledge showed up late to the game last night and lost his starting spot to Willie Harris. He took responsibility, at first verbally yesterday, and now tonight with his bat. Going 2 for 2 from the plate with two walks, Thrilledge more then made up for his absence the night before, however he was not the hero of the night.
Coming to the plate with one on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Wil don’t call me Will Nieves delivered a much needed walk off homer, clinching the win for the Nats. Big hits were something the team had been missing this season, but the last two nights they have come and the Nats have their first winning streak since the first three games of the season.

Odalis Perez- The best winless pitcher in baseball?

Ok well maybe that’s John Lannan…But still, the bottom line is the Nationals Starting pitching has been excellent. Constantly you can expect six strong innings with no more then three runs, which gives any line up, even the Nats, a chance to win the ball game. Perez is more then earning his pay check so far this year, and for the Nat sake, hopefully him, Tim Redding, and John Lannan keep their early successes going.

Mike O’Connor’s misuse

With the bases loaded in the top of the 8th, in arguably the most important situation of the game, the best managers will not be afraid to bring in their best pitcher from the bullpen. In today’s game the good managers know that closers aren’t only for the 9th, they know that the best pitcher in the pen needs to pitch in the most critical point. Call it closer by committee, call it smart, call it whatever.

Tonight when the Nats had a one run lead and the bases loaded in the 8th, Manny Acta was faced with a decision on who to bring into the game. Jesus Colume was available; he has been lights out all year. John Rauch the make shift closer was available too. No Manny doesn’t use either of them, Manny decides to bring in the pitcher who has been in the majors for all of two days, Mike O’Connor. I’m sure Acta thought…O’Connor’s a lefty, “Murtons a lefty…clearly this is a good idea.”

Reasons this was not a good idea:

1. Mike O’Connor has been a starter in the minor leagues for the last 2 years; he was called up to the big leagues only yesterday and pitched yesterday. O’Connor hasn’t pitched out of the bullpen since 2004 in class A ball which means he clearly isn’t used to pitching on back to back nights yet.

2. Mike O’Connor hasn’t been proven in tough situations yet, especially not in front of a huge crowed with the bases loaded.

3. Relief pitchers and starting pitchers have a different warm up and mentality, starting a game and coming in with the bases loaded are two completely different situations to adjust to.

Reasons to be Happy

1. we won
2. 2 game win streak
3. a win streak in general
4. Heart of the Order has woken up
5. Aside from the newbie, the Nats bullpen did a great job against a good team
6. 2nd walk off homer in Nats Park history.

Box Score

Photos Courtesy of AP/Pablo Martinez

Nats win with help of Lopez

The Nats fought back tonight. Going down 3-0 in the 5th usually has led to the Nats bowing over without any attempt at a comeback; not this time. The Nats rallied, not once, not twice, but three times en route to their 10-5 victory over the Mets.

Felipe Lopez is productive….

No really, he is. Lopez going into tonight had 2 RBI’s in 18 games. Lopez had no homers and only two extra base hits. Tonight Lopez blasted 6 RBI’s tripling his total for the season. Felipe Lopez of the last few nights is the same Felipe Lopez from the Reds all those years ago. The Nationals need that Felipe Lopez and not the one they have seen since he’s come to Washington.

Nats continued to keep the big names quiet

While the Nationals pitching performances in this two game series were far from excellent, they still did a good job of keeping the Mets two biggest players off the base paths.

David Wright in series: 0/8, 0 Hr, 0 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, 0 ST (Wright is now 0 for his last 14)

Jose Reyes in series: 1/10, 0 HR, 0 RBI, O BB, 1 K, 1 ST

Now the Nats need to focus on not letting Luis Castillo, Raul Casanova, or Ryan Church to beat them.

Shawn Hill and the call up of Mike O’Connor

Shawn Hill looked solid in his second start of the season against a good Mets line up. He allowed only 6 hits in 5 innings and struck out five. This is a good sign for the Nats because now they have when healthy a very solid rotation with Hill, Perez, Redding, Chico, and Lannan. Nobody in that list is a star, but all of them are very solid and can promise 6 good innings every time out.

The Nationals best starter in the minors, Mike O’Connor got the call up Thursday and earned the win in his first major league game in 2008. O’Connor had been great in Tripple A Columbus so far this season and looks to take over as the club lefty specialist as Ray King got the demotion in his place. I’m not quite sure what the Nationals are trying to do with this; it’s clear that Acta was completely abusing Ray King. Lefties only hit 4-17 against King, so it’s obvious that he still has the ability to be a solid lefty specialist, he was just kept in to face righties after he got that one lefty out. It’s really risky only having one lefty in the bullpen, perhaps they should have found a way to keep both O’Connor and King on the major league club.

Minor League Monday

Columbus Clippers-
Michael O’Connor- O’Connor is getting a little bit old to be considered a prospect anymore. Now at the age of 27, he got his first taste of the big leagues last year filling in for the never injured John Patterson. A George Washington alumni, O’Connor hadn’t done much in the National’s organization to warrant much more then an emergency call up in the middle of July. So far this year however, O’Connor has been arguably the best pitcher in the National’s system. In four starts for Columbus so far, the lefty has gone 2-0, with a 1.96 ERA. In 23 innings of work he has recorded 20 strikeouts and only allowed 4 walks.

Harrisburg Senators-

Yurendell Eithel de Caster-Who? Exactly…Yurndell de Caster is the epitome of a career journeyman minor leaguer. Signed by Tampa in 1996 at the age of 16, De Caster has only managed two career at bats (last year for Pittsburgh). Even more impressive then de Caster’s inability to make it to the show, is his unbelievable versatility. In 2005 with the Indianapolis Indians, de Caster recorded 28 games at third, 25 at first, 13 at second, and 58 in the outfield. Not only is de Caster’s story just plain weird, it warrant’s mention because of how unbelievably well he has preformed so far this year. In 17 games between Harrisonburg and Columbus, Yurendell has batted .328, hit 4 homers and driven in 19 runs. He’s reached base .434 percent of the time and is slugging just under .600. (Another interesting fact about Yurendell, he hit three bombs in the 2006 Olympics for The Netherlands…)

Potomac Nationals-
Jordan Zimmerman- Building upon last weeks no hit bid, Jordan Zimmerman continues to impress with yet another quality start. Friday night against the Wilmington Blue Rocks the 22 year old tossed 5 shut out innings striking out six and allowing only three hits, while lowering his overall ERA to .061 He is still a long way away from the Nationals clubhouse, but the continued development of the young righty is promising.