Jon Rauch gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning to Hanley Ramirez and then served up the game winning home run in the 10th inning to Josh Willingham as the Washington Nationals lost to the Florida Marlins 6-5 in ten innings of action. Rauch blew the save and then took the loss to fall to 4-2 on the year.  Rauch will just need to clear his head and get right back on the mound tomorrow.

Starting pitcher Tim Redding pitched the first five innings of the game and gave up eight hits and four runs.  The middle relief of the Nationals did really good as Jesus Colome and Saul Rivera pitched a combined three scoreless innings before Rauch blew the game.

The Nationals got four seperate rbi’s from four different players in the game.  Cristian Guzman, Elijah Dukes, Dmitri Young, and Willie Harris all had a rbi in the game.  Dukes rbi came via the long ball as he hit a solo home run in the fifth inning.

The Nationals will just have to forget about this game and get out there and pick up a victory on Tuesday.  Hopefully they can do that.  Nationals Blog

Jesus Flores hit a rbi single to right center field in the bottom of the ninth inning and Elijah Dukes scored the winning run as the Washington Nationals beat the Los Angeles Angels by the score of 5-4.  The Nationals avoided a three game sweet by the Angels with the victory on Wednesday night.

Lastings Milledge led the Nationals at the plate with two rbi.  Both of Milledge’s rbi’s came in the first inning when he connected on a two run home run.  Ronnie Belliard walked with the bases loaded in the sixth inning to record one rbi and then Wily Mo Pena singled in the sixth inning to score another run and pick up a rbi.

Jon Rauch ended up picking up the victory for the Nationals as he pitched the final 1 2/3 innings of the game.  Rauch is now 4-1 on the season.  Even though Rauch picked up the win, he gave up the tying run in the top of the ninth inning so he actually received a blown save as well.

Nationals starting pitcher Tim Redding gave up seven hits and two runs over six innings of action to get a no decision in the game.  Saul Rivera pitched a scoreless inning of relief before Luis Ayala gave up two hits and two runs.  It seemed like the pitching staff just wanted to give this game away and they were lucky to come away with the win.

Are you a Nationals fan that watches or listens to most of the game?  Familar with box scores and game recaps?  Nationalshomeplate is currently looking for a new contibuter that can blog about the Nats and do some game recaps as well.  If you are interested please contact us by leaving a commend or using the contact us link on the site and we will get back to you!

Nationals Blog

The Washington Nationals got behind 8-0 in the third inning and lost to the Los Angeles Angels by the score of 8-3.  With the Nats getting down by eight runs so early in the game, you have to wonder if it took a lot of emotion out of the team.  They had to have been thinking, “here we go again”.  It was just another bad loss for the Nationals.

Shawn Hill stunk it up as he only pitched three innings and gave up eight hits and six runs.  Hill was rocked right from the get go as the Angels bats were hot and they were hitting him hard all over the field.  Hill dropped his record to 1-5 with the loss.

I will give the Nationals bullpen credit however as they limited the hot hitting Angels scoreless.  Steven Shell, Jesus Colome, Joel Hanrahan, and Charlie Manning all pitched well out of the bullpen for the Nationals.

Wily Mo Pena hit a solo home run in the third inning for the Nationals first run of the game.  Elijah Dukes then hti a solo home run in the fourth inning.  Kory Casto had a pitch hit rbi single in the fifth inning for the Nationals third and final run of the game.

Now the Nationals will look to avoid the sweep on Wednesday.  I really expect them to lose on Wednesday as well.

Nationals Blog

The Washington Nationals had a one run lead in th eighth inning but two runs in the eighth inning by the Los Angeles Angels put them in the lead and they held on for the 3-2 victory.  It was a dissapointing loss for the Nationals who had one of major league baseball’s teams on the the ropes.  Could have been a big win for the Nats, but that is all we can say is “could have”.

Jason Bergmann got a no decision in the game after pitching the first seven innings of the game.  Bergmann gave up six hits and one run while striking out six batters.  It was a good quality starts for Bergmann, the bullpen just didn’t hold onto the lead.

Saul Rivera pitched the eighth inning and gave up both runs to the Angels.  Rivera ended up taking the loss and is now 3-4.  The Angels first run in the eighth inning came on a error by Felipe Lopez, and then they scored their second run on a single to right center field.

Willie Harris hit his fourth home run of the season in the second inning to score the Nationals first run in the game.  The second run of the game didn’t come until the seventh inning when Paul Lo Duca lined a pitch back to John Lackey who caught it but then made a bad throw that allowed Harris to score.

The Nationals will now hope to even up the series at 1-1 on Tuesday night.  I really don’t like their chances but we will see what happens.

Nationals Blog

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 played a really good game on Monday night but they came up just short as they lost 2-1 to the Minnesota Twins.  One mistake in the sixth inning cost the Nationals the game as Justin Morneau took starting pitcher John Lannan deep for a two run home run.

Lannan took the loss and is now 4-8.  He didn’t throw that ball that badly at all as he piched seven innings and allowed five hits and two runs.  Charlie Manning pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Nationals.  The pitchers did great, there was just no offense for the Nationals.

Cristian Guzman had a infield single that scored Paul Lo Duca for the only Nationals run in the game.  The Nationals only had five hits in the entire game and just couldn’t push across one or two runs late in the game to get a victory.

Nationals Blog

The Washington Nationals just couldn’t get over the hump on Thursday afternoon as they lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-5.  With the loss, the Nationals lost two of three games against the Pirates.  Natioanls could have really used atleast one more win the series but it just didn’t work out that way.

Jason Bergmann only pitched 4 2/3 innings for the Nationals as he gave up eight hits and six runs.  Only four of the six runs were earned but he still did a poor job of pitching.  The Pirates jumped all over Bergmann, and the Nationals could never really recover.

Cristian Guzman had three rbi to lead the Nationals at the plate while Elijah Dukes wasn’t too far behind with two rbi.  The rest of the lineup (3-8) didn’t do a whole lot in the game as all the production came from Guzman and Dukes in the first and second spots in the order.

The Nationals will now board a plane and head out to Seattle to take on a the Mariners in a interleague series.

Nationals Blog

It was a low scoring game between the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.  The Nationals were on the losing end of a 3-1 ball game.  These are the games that the Nationals should really win if you ask me.  I think Nationals fans would also agree with that statement.

John Lannan threw six innings and gave up seven hits and two runs to take the loss for the Nationals.  Lannan is now 4-7 on the season but he threw the ball very good on Wednesday night and really could have had a better outcome had the Nationals scored more then one run.  Joel Hanrahan gave up one run in relief of Lannan and then Jesus Colome threw a scoreless inning in the eighth inning.

Elijah Dukes had the only rbi for the Nationals and that came in the seventh inning when he singled to center field to score Felipe Lopez.  The Nationals offense left 21 batters on base and you just can’t do that.  Especially against a team like the Pirates where you should take advantage of all those runners on base.

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