The Washington Nationals tried coming back in the bottom of the 9th inning against the Florida Marlins but they came up just short as they lost the game by the score of 4-3.  Another close game for the Nationals where they were on the wrong side of the outcome.

Starting pitcher Odalis Perez picked up the loss as he is now 0-2 on the season.  Perez lasted 5.2 innings as he gave up six hits and two earned runs.  Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch both gave up a earned run each in relief.

Nick Johnson, Ronny Belliard, and Johnny Estrada all had one RBI each for the Nationals.

Nationals Blog

The Washington Nationals tried, but they couldn’t come back from a 5-1 deficit.  A three run homerun by Christian Guzman made it 5-4 in the sevent inning but that was all the Nationals could do against the Cardinals as they went onto lose 5-4.

Had starting pitcher Odalis Perez performed better in the middle innings, I think the Nationals would have been able to get a victory.  I think Perez will come back during his next outing and have a good game though.

The Nationals record stands at 3-2 on the season and they will try to make that 4-2 when they play the Cardinals again on Saturday.

Nationals Blog

The Washington Nationals broke in the new ballpark with an exciting win as Ryan Zimmerman hit a walkoff homerun to give the Nationals the 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Nick Johnson got the team off to a good start in the first inning as he doubled in Christian Guzman.  Austin Kearns then singled to right field that scored Johnson.  Those were the only two runs the Nationals got until Zimmerman ended the game with two outs in the ninth inning.

Jon Rauch picked up the win for the Nationals.  Odalis Perez was the starting pitcher and lasted five innings, giving up four hits and one earned run.  He did serve up a gopher ball to Chipper Jones, that was pretty much his only mistake of the ballgame.

The Nationals will now take on the Philadelphia Phillies as they try to move to 2-0 on the 2008 season.

The Washington Post is reporting that the Washington Nationals have signed veteran left handed pitcher Odalis Perez to a minor league contract.  Perez will earn $850,000 with the minor league contract.

It is to believed that the Boston Red Sox also offered a similar offer to Perez, but he accepted the offer from the Nationals because he will have a lot better chance at making the team in Washington compared to Boston.

Nationals Blog