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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The Washington Nationals didn’t get off on the right foot Thursday as they lost game one of a double header against the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 4-1.  Hopefully the Nationals can bounce back in game two and get a split in the double header.

John Lannan took the loss and dropped to 4-6 on the record.  Lannan tossed six innings and gave up four hits and two runs.  Joel Hanrahan then came in and gave up two more home runs.  Lannan gave up a two run home run to Troy Glaus while Hanrahan gave up a long ball to Albert Pujols.  Luis Ayala was able to come in and pitch a scoreless inning in the ninth.

The one Nationals run came in the eighth inning when Felipe Lopez singled in Kory Casto.  Not much was happening for the Nats at the plate.

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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.

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