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

Nats vs. Brewers Series Preview

Last season the Milwaukee Brewers (22-25) recorded their best start in years putting many Brew Crew Fans into an early frenzy. The young team faltered down the line and missed the playoffs, leaving many hopeful that this season with some added maturity they could make a run at the post season. Things haven’t gone as planned, the Brewers have hit but not pitched, and the owner has put manager Ted Yost on the hot seat.

The Washington Nationals (20-28) are coming into this series after a disappointing stint against the Phillies where they lost two of three. The Nats had looked to continue playing .500 baseball since their early 9 game losing streak but got pounded back into place by the Philadelphia line up Tuesday night getting obliterated 12-2. The Nats need to take the better end of this four game series to save their season, they can’t fall 10 games below .500 if they want any amount of respect or to be attractive to free agents.

Brewers Last Series

Milwaukee pitched well this week en route to taking two out of three from their division rival Pittsburgh. Manny Para and Ben Sheets both recorded good starts for the Brewers, while sub Mendoza Line Rickie Weeks woke up in the leadoff spot and helped the team produce runs. Even in their loss last night the Brewers previously slumping hitters got involved as Bill Hall and Prince Fielder woke up. The Brewers have a scary line up if they ever start to work on all cylinders together with a more then able pitching staff, they could do good things.

Who’s Hot?
Rickie Weeks- 5/12, 2 HR, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
Bill Hall- 5/8, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K, 1 SB

Who’s Not?
No one…

Probable Starters
Jeff Suppan (2-3, 4.78 ERA) vs. Odalis Perez (1-4, 4.34 ERA)
Seth Mclung (1-1, 3.54 ERA) vs. John Lannan (4-4, 3.40 ERA)
Manny Parra (2-2, 4.40 ERA) vs. Tim Redding (6-3, 3.16 ERA)
Ben Sheets (5-1, 2.92 ERA) vs. Jason Bergmann (1-1, 5.47 ERA)

Get Out to the Ball Park

Everyone should make an effort to get to the ball park this long weekend. The Brewers are an exciting young team and should be a lot of fun to watch, I know I’m always intrigued by young all stars and always want a chance to get to see them play. They’re obviously fronted by last years rookie of the year Ryan Braun, the 24 year old hit .324 last year with 34 homers and is fallowing it up with a solid sophomore year. They also boast the Cecil Fielder upgrade, Prince Fielder. Prince has been struggling this season but last year earned some MVP votes batting .268 with 50 homers and 119 RBI’s.

A notch below the Brewers boast Corey Hart, is a 6-6 right fielder with speed and potential power. He’s batting a solid .305 this season. The Brewers also have the fast and dynamic Bill Hall, Mike Cameron, and Rickie Weeks.

While these players will be fun to watch it will also be essential the Nats pitchers find ways to neutralize them. The hitting for Washington has been way too poor to get into a slugfest with this team and the Brewers are too deep to pitch around just one batter.

(The Milwaukee sausages may make the trip to Washington to race the presidents!)

What to look for:
With Kearns out for a while, Elijah Dukes will get the permanent nod in right. It’s possible that with that bit of confidence that he may perform better, which wouldn’t be hard to do. Elijah however has never had great success at the major league level, batting only .190 last season in 50 plus games for Tampa, and less then .100 this season, which may mean he’s just not ready.

Odalis Perez has been struggling recently. He can’t make mistakes and hope to beat this Brewers line up tonight, they’re too solid all the way through and like to get out early. If he masters the focus and control he had at the start of the season he will be able to pull out the victory tonight.