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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The Washington Nationals lost to the Philadelpha Phillies on Wednesday night by the score of 8-5.  The Nationals gave up five runs in the fifth inning and then was not able to come back and get back into the game.  This was one of those games that Nationals could have won but made a couple of mistakes that really cost them.

Tim Redding was hammered for ten hits and seven runs as the took the loss.  Redding lasted just four innings in the game as he has a very bad outing.  Steven Shell pitched the next three innnings and allowed one more run to score.  Luis Ayala and Jesus Colome finished things up on the mound in the eighth and ninth innings.

On the mound for the Nationals, Willie Harris and Jesus Flores both hit home runs.  Flores finished the game with two rbi while Harris, Lastings Milledge, and Ryan Zimmerman all finished with one rbi each.

I should let everyone know that I will be out of town until August 12th and will not be able to update the blog until I get back.  If there is a Nationals fan out there that reads the blog and wants to try doing some game recaps please use the contact us link at the top and send me a email.

Thanks – Cliff

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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Exactly what I thought would happen.  The Washington Nationals lost to the San Francisco Giants on Thursday afternoon by the score of 1-0.  With the one run loss, the Nationals were swept by the Giants.  Definately not the way the Nationals players had expected this series to go that is for sure.

The Nats offense was only able to come up with four hits in the game.  Matt Cain threw all nine innings against them.  The guys just couldn’t get the bats going at all to score any runs.

It was awesome effort out of starting pitcher Tim Redding however.  Redding took the loss but he threw all eight innings while only giving up seven hits and the one run.  The run came in the bottom of the 8th inning when Dave Roberts singled in Eugenio Velez for what would be the game winning run.

The Nationals will stay out on the West coast and will begin a series with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.  Hopefully they can improve and win atleast one game in that series.  Nationals Baseball

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

Jason Bergmann fell to 1-7 as he lost on Tuesday night to the San Francisco Giants.  It was the second straight game that the Nationals have lost to the Giants out in San Francisco.  They will have to win on Wednesday if they want to avoid the dreadful three game sweep.

Bergmann just didn’t have it going on the mound.  That is something that we have been saying all season long about him though.  He allowed five hits and five runs (four earned) in the game while taking the loss.  Bergmann had a problem with the home run ball as Bengie Molina took him deep twice and Fred Lewis did as well in the first inning.

Saul Rivera gave up two hits and one run in the eight inning.  The bullpen didn’t do a bad job besides for Rivera.  Jesus Colome and Charlie Manning combined to throw two scoreless innings.

Paul LoDuca hit a rbi ground rule double and added on a rbi ground out to lead the team at the plate with two rbi.  Willie Harris also hit his 7th home run of the season which was a solo shot in the 5th inning.

I would probably expect the Nationals to lose on Wednesday as well they way they are playing right now.  Hell they can’t even beat Barry Zito!

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It was a wild night between the Washington Nationals and the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night.  The Nationals tied the game with two runs in the ninth inning, and then the two teams traded shots in extra innings before the Nats ended up losing 7-5.  The Nationals were beaten in two out of three games as they dropped their season record to 35-58.

The offense couldn’t get anything going against Dan Haren who struck out nine Nationals through eight innings.  However in the ninth inning, Haren let the first two runners on base and then the Nationals scored two runs off closer Brandon Lyon.  In the tenth inning, both teams scored three runs but in the 11th inning it was all Diamondbacks as they Nationals didn’t have another comeback left in them.

Nationals starting pitcher Jason Bergmann gave up six hits and two runs over seven innings.  Charlie Manning did throw a scoreless eighth inning before Jesus Colome tossed a scoreless ninth inning.  Jon Rauch gave up all three runs in the 10th inning and then Luis Ayala gave up two runs in the 11th to take the loss.

The Nationals will now play the Houston Astros for their final series before the All Star break.

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The Washington Nationals got back at the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night with a 5-0 victory.  It was a great game all around for the Nationals as they limited the Diamondbacks to only three hits and held them scoreless the entire game.  That is the way you want to play every game!

John Lannan improved to 5-9 on the season with the victory as he tossed six innings and only allowed two hits.  It was a good quality start for Lannan as his only mistakes were three walks but they never came back to haunt him.

Joel Hanrahan, Luis Ayala, and Jon Rauch all pitched one inning of relief and all did a great job out of the bullpen as they all pitched scoreless innings.

Jesus Flores led the Nationals at the plate as he hit a three run home run in the sixth inning and finished the game with three rbi.  Kory Casto finished the game with two rbi as he walked in the second inning and then had a rbi double in the sixth.

The Nationals will try to win the series on Thursday as they face off against the D-backs once again.

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The Washington Nationals had a bad night at the plate on Tuesday night as they were shutout by the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0.  Terrible job by the offense on a night where the pitching staff actually threw the ball well.  If it isn’t the offense, it is the pitching, the Nats just can’t get both things clicking on the same night.

Odalis Perez tossed 2 1/3 innings and gave up one hit and a run but was tossed from the game after he argued a balk call.  Steven Shell then came into the game to throw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball.  The Diamondbacks did get one unearned run off of Saul Rivera in the sixth inning.  Joel Hanrahan then tossed the final two innings of the game and did not allow a hit or a run.

Austin Kearns and Dmitri Young both had two hits but were unable to help the team score any runs.  Just another night where the Nationals offense stunk.

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The Washington Nationals finished up a dissapointing three game series with the Florida Marlins with a 4-2 loss on Wednesday afternoon.  The Nationals had a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth innint but the Marlins then scored four runs over the next three innings to pull away for the victory.  With the loss, the Nationals lost two our of three games to the Marlins.

Odalis Perez pitched 6 2/3 innings and gave up five hits and two runs.  Perez didn’t pitch to badly and ended up getting a no decision in the game.  Charlie Manning was charged with one run after he gave up two hits without recording an out and took the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season.  Saul Rivera was also charged with one run in the eighth inning.  Bad job by the bullpen at the end of the game.

Paul Lo Duca had both rbi’s for the Nationals as he singled in two runs in the second inning to get the Nationals on the scoreboard.  The bad news was that those were the only two runs in the game for the Nats.

The Nationals will now start a four game series with the Cincinnati Reds on Friday.

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