Washington Nationals Baseball Blog » Collin Balester

Nationals shut out by the Phillies 4-0

NationsNational — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:29:44 +0000

It was a bad night for the Washington Nationals as they were shut out by the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies beat the Nationals for the second straight night and this time it was by the score of 4-0. Both teams had nine hits in the game, but the Phillies were the team to score some runs while the Nationals couldn’t push across a run.

Brett Myers tossed a complete game against the Nats as they struckout nine times and left 16 runners on base. Talk about not coming up with a big hit when the team really needs one when there were runners on base.

Collin Balester was charged with the loss after he tossed six innings and gave up seven hits and four runs. Balester did give up one home run in the game while striking out four. Marco Estrada threw the final two innings of the game and allowed two hits but zero runs.

The Nationals will try to avoid the three game sweep as they take on the Phillies Thursday.

Nationals Baseball Blog

Nationals give up nine runs and lose 9-3 to the Mets

NationsNational — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:59:21 +0000

The Washington Nationals will just want to forget about the game that they played on Thursday night. The New York Mets defeated the Nationals 9-3 as they blew the game wide open in he top of the ninth inning with four big runs. The Nationals had no answer in the bottom of the inning as four runs is just too much for this team to come back from in the the final inning.

Collin Balester was charged with four hits and five runs in six innings of action to take the loss. Balester served up two home runs while walking five batters. Walking that many batters and giving up home runs is never a good combination. Joel Hanrahan was the pitcher that allowed four runs to score in the top of the ninth inning.

All three of the Nationals runs came in the seventh inning when Pete Orr had a two run triple and then he scored on a infield bunt single by Emilio Bonifacio. Just not enough offense to keep up with the Mets.

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Chase Utley’s homerun beats the Nationals 2-1

NationsNational — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:47:04 +0000

One mistake by Collin Balester and the Washington Nationals lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on Tuesday night. Chase Utley hit a Balester pitch for a home run in the third inning and that was all the Phillies needed as the Nationals offense couldn’t quite come back to tie or take the lead in the game.

Balester gave up six hits and two runs over six innings to take the loss. He is now 1-3 on the season. Balester didn’t throw the ball that bad at all, just made the one mistake to Utley.

In the eighth inning, Willie Harris grounded out to thrid base to score Cristian Guzman for the Nationals lone run. The Nats need to start swinging the bats better and scoring some runs. If your pitcher holds the opposing team to two runs, you should be able to get the victory. That just isn’t the case for this team however.

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Nationals blow 8th inning lead and lose to the Giants 6-4

NationsNational — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:10:32 +0000

The Washington Nationals gave up three runs in the 8th inning to the San Francisco Giants and they went on to lose the game by the score of 6-4 on Wednesday night. This was a game that the Nationals should have won but once again they just couldn’t get the job done. The Nats will now have to win Thursday afternoon to avoid the three game sweep by the Giants.

Luis Ayala gave up two doubles and three runs in the 8th inning to take the loss. Ayala gave up a two run double to Rich Aurilia and then another double to Omar VIzquel and that is how the Giants came from behind to win.

Collin Balester got the start on the mound for the Nationals and got the no decision. Balester threw five innings while giving up six hits and three runs.

At the plate, Jesus Flores hit a solo home run which was his sixth of the season. Johnny Estrada also had a rbi signle while Ryan Langerhans went 2-3 and scored two runs.

So will the Nationals get the win on Thursday and avoid the sweep? I really doubt it. Nationals Baseball Blog

Nationals hold off the Marlins for a 9-6 victory

NationsNational — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:28:46 +0000

The Washington Nationals were able to hold off the Florida Marlins for a 9-6 victory on Tuesday night. The Marlins actually had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning but they were unable to in the inning. It was a good win for the Nationals as they evened up the series at 1-1.

The Nationals got down early and just kept plugging away in the game. Ronnie Belliard finished the game with four rbi as he hit a grand slam in the sixth inning for the Nationals. Elijah Dukes also had a solo home run in the fourth inning. Felipe Lopez chipped in with two rbi while Willie Harris had one rbi.

Collin Balester pitched five innings to start the game and only gave up one hit and one run to get a no decision. Balester pitched well enough to pick up the victory and is now 1-0. Steven Shell had some problems as he gave up two hits and three runs in relief of Balester. Charlie Manning also gave up two runs in relief. Jon Rauch pitched the ninth inning to record his 17th save of the season.

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