Exactly what I thought would happened did happen to the Washington Nationals on Thursday.  They were beaten by the Minnesota Twins 9-3 and were swept in their three game series.  We had blogged last night that the Nationals were going to have their hands full with the Twins today and that is exactly what happened.

Shawn Hill got the start on the mound for the Nationals but he sure didn’t stay out there very long.  Hill only lasted 3 2/3 innings as he gave up ten hits and seven runs.  Hill’s season record is now 1-4 and he really needs to turn things around in a hurry.

Brian Sanches pitched the next 2 1/3 innings and didn’t have any problems.  However when Joel Hanrahan came in he gave up two runs in the seventh inning that really put the game out of reach for the Nats.  Jon Rauch did a good job in the eighth inning when he pitched a scoreless inning to hold the Twins to nine runs.

We can’t expect the Nationals offense to score enough runs to win games like this.  Sure they only scored three runs, but I put all the blame right back on the pitching staff.  Cristian Guzman was the guy that did get the Nationals scoring started with a rbi single in the third inning.  Also in the third inning, Elijah Dukes had a rbi single.  It wasn’t until the eighth inning when teh Nats finally scored again when Dmitri Young hit a solo home run.

So now the Natinals are 29-45 on the season and continue to struggle.  It’s going to be a long season in the Nationas capital if you ask me.

Nationals Blog

It sure wasn’t a good night to be in a Washington Nationals uniform on Tuesday night.  The Nationals were clobbered by the Minnesota Twins by the score of 11-2.  Now the Nationals will be trying to avoid the three game sweep by the Twins on Thursday in what I call a must win for the team.

Jason Bergmann took the loss for the Nationals after giving up five hits and three runs in six innings of action.  Bergmann only gave up three runs so that means that the Nationals bullpen once again threw the ball terribly.  Saul Rivera gave up two runs, Jesus Colome gave up five runs, and Brian Sanches gave up one run.  Just a bad bad game for the Nationals pitching staff.

The first for the Nationals came off the bat off Felipe Lopez that hit a solo home run in the fifth inning.  In the ninth inning Cristian Guzman scored on an error by Brendan Harris.  Bad game at the plate for the Nationals as well.

All around it sucked if you were a Nationals player, coach, or fan.  Hell even the Nationals Bloggers are upset with how the team played Wednesday night.

Nationals Blog

The Washington Nationals lost 3-2 to the San Francisco Giants on Monday night and with the loss they were swept in the four game series at home.  Now that is what I call a very dissapointing series as the Nats lost all four games against a medicore team.  It was the Nationals seventh straight loss as well.

Tyler Clippard took the loss after throwing 4 1/3 innings and giving up five hits and three runs.  He was a bit wild as he had three walks in the game.  Clippard gave up two rbi singles to Randy Winn and a rbi double to Bengie Molina in the game.

Brian Sanches, Jesus Colome, Charlie Manning, and Luis Ayala all seen action out of the bullpen and all did a pretty good job.  They did not allow the Giants to score another run, and that is about all you can ask for out of your bullpen.

Jesus Flores had sac fly in the fourth inning that scored Lastings Milledge. That was the only recorded rbi in the game for the Nationals.  Milledge did score an unearned run in the eighth inning on error by Giants catcher Molina.

Nationals Blog

The Washington Nationals blew the lead in the ninth inning but Elijah Dukes made sure that they didn’t lose the game as he hit a game winning walk off two run home run in the bottom of the tenth inning.  The 10-9 win salvaged a split in the double header against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.

After Jon Rauch gave up two runs in the ninth inning to blow the save, Brian Sanches gave up a home run to Joe Mather and it looked like the Nationals were going to lose for sure.  That is when Dukes bailed out his pitching teammates.  You always try to pick up your teammates if they have a bad day and that is exactly what Dukes did.  Sanches actually ended up getting the win in the game because of that.

I should mention that Nationals starting pitcher Tim Redding was rocked in his 5 2/3 innings of action.  He allowed nine hits and six runs.

Dukes led the Nationals with four rbi in the game.  Aaron Boone and Kory Casto both had two rbi while Cristian Guzman and Ryan Langerhans had one rbi.

The Nationals should be glad they were atleast able to come away with a split in the double header.  They will begin a weekend series with the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.

Nationals Blog

The Washingon Nationals lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on a rainy night in the nations capital.  There was a 49 minute rain delay in the top of the fifth inning as the game took longer to play then what had been planned.

The Natinals had hardly any offense in the game as they were only able to come up with six hits and one run.  The one run came in the bottom of the fifth inning Ryan Langerhans grounded out to second and Jesus Flores scored.  The Nationals just weren’t able to string together two or three hits at a time to get a rally going.

Odalis Perez took the loss as he pitched three innings and gave up five hits and four runs.  The Cardinals scored four runs in the first inning with the big blow coming off the bat of Yadier Molina when he took Perez deep for a three run home run.

Jesus Colome came in after Perez exited and he didn’t have any luck either.  Colome gave up two runs on three hits in only one inning of action.  Brian Sanches, Charlie Manning, Saul Rivera, and Jon Rauch were finally able to hold the Cardinals down for the last five innings of the game.

Nationals Blog

The Washington Nationals powered past the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night by the score of 6-4.  The Nationals hit a grand slam, solo home run, and sacrafice fly to score their six runs as they even up the three game series one game each.

Jesus Flores got the scoring started in the fourth inning when he hit a grand slam off of Shawn Estes.  Flores led the Nationals with the four rbi in the game.  Lastings Milledge hit a solo home run in the sixth inning and then Aaron Boone had a sacrafice fly in the seventh inning to finish the Nationals scoring.

Odalis Perez pitched 6 1/3 innings while picking up his second victory of the season.  Perez gave up six hits and three runs to improve his record to 2-4.  Brian Sanches came in after Perez left the game and gave up two hits and a run without even record an out.  Luis Ayala got out of that mess and pitched the next inning as well without giving up a run before turning things over to Jon Rauch who recorded his 11th save of the season.

The Nationals will try to win the series as the two teams face off again on Thursday afternoon.

Nationals Blog