HallELIJAH!

Sometimes even on a night when only one player has it going, the team can come out on top. On a night where the teams leading hitter, Cristian Guzman, went 0-7, and the teams number 3 hitter, Lastings Milledge, went 0-5, it was the man in the two slot who put his team on his shoulders and carried them to victory. That man, Elijah Dukes, had himself a career night going 5-6. He stole two bases, scored two runs, hit the game tying homer in the 8th, and the game winning single in the 14th.

Dukes of Hazard

Dukes has come alive, and is showing Nats fans the potential that Bowden and Acta see In him. His season started so abysmally. Dukes hit below the .100 mark for most of the month of May, it wasn’t just frustrating, it was down right embarrassing. The month of June has been much, much kinder to Dukes however. In this month he is batting .347 with a .437 OBP. He has recorded eight extra base hits and swiped five bags.

Austin Kearns, remember him? Dukes took over for him officially after Kearns went on the DL with ‘loose bodies’ in his elbow on May 22nd. On May 21st Dukes’ batting average was a lowly .067, he finished the last week of May with a more then doubled .160 batting average. Coincidence? You tell me. The bottom line though is that since Kearns has gone to the DL, Elijah Dukes has played at an All-Star level.

The bullpen, thank god for the bullpen

The Nats bullpen got destroyed in Minnesota, to the tune of an above 12 ERA. The Rangers are one of the best hitting teams in baseball, so the prospect of a game in which the bullpen had to pitch 8 innings would in most cases look disastrous for the Nats. The pitching staff stepped up however, pitching 12 shutout innings after allowing 3 runs in the second. This is a good and bad thing. Good, because it was an excellent performance all around. Bad, because the Nats now have a tired bullpen and two more games this series.

Game Notes:

Jesus Flores busted out of a mini slump going 3-6 tonight with 2 RBI. He has continued to show good 2 strike, and 2 out hitting. If he can improve his plate patience there is a very real chance that he could be a .300 hitter in the major leagues, smacking 20 homers a year and driving in close to 100 runs.

By the bat of Jesus, Nats win 6-4

After a visit to the dentist Odalis Perez was ready to wash and rinse the Nationals of their short losing streak. Perez had stayed up all night Tuesday with a painful toothache, on no sleep he was taken to a local dentist who preformed a four hour root canal Wednesday morning. Seven hours later, woozy and a little doped up, Perez was on the mound in PETCO Park.

Six and a third innings later Perez was pitching on the better end of a 6-2 lead. Manny Acta let his soldier come off the mound, he had battled, and he had given his team a chance to win. A win is something that has been hard to come by for Odalis this season, despite pitching well through most of the year, but this one was certainly well earned. After an ugly relief appearance by Sanches and three solid innings from Ayala and Rauch, the Nats came out on top 6-4.

Jesus Flores is young and talented; Paul Lo Duca is old and scrappy

Jesus Flores again showed Washington Nationals fans why he is a center block in the building of this young team. With the bases loaded last night in the fourth inning, Flores did something that his team has had trouble doing all year, converted with runners in scoring position. With one swing of the bat he put his team up 4 and recorded his first career grand slam.

It was an excellent overall game for Flores, he tossed out the Padres Tadahito Iguchi on the base paths, displaying an arm that scouts have been a fan of for some time. He finished 2-4 with a single to go with his grand slam. What makes Flores so exciting is that he is refining his tools so much faster then anybody imagined he could, and he’s doing it in the majors no less. He is already more patient then most of the Nationals batters, he’s already better defensively at his position then most of the Nationals, and he is currently using his bats better then anyone on the Nationals.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the sample size of Flores’ success this year is still small…but it keeps growing…

PETCO Park, home run friendly?

No….no it’s not. It’s actually one of the worst home run ball parks in the nation; to the point in fact that it has deterred many power hitters from going to southern California in free agency. It just is home to an RFK like outfield, some argue even bigger. However, over this series there have already been six home runs through the first two games.

This is good for the Nationals line up, who couldn’t score a run to save their life merely a few weeks ago. Lastings Milledge has been killing the ball, Aaron Boone has shown to be a good source of power, and those doubles from Flores may soon be turning into home runs. This however is a bad thing for the Nationals pitching staff. The bullpen has been allowing many home runs over the course of the last several weeks, which is a sign of mistakes. Mistakes are a sign of over use, and over use is the sign of Matt Chico…

Box Score

Photos Courtesy of AP/Lenny Ignelzi

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